Can You Spot the 'Invisible' Pillar in This Parking Lot?

A motorist in Spain came perilously close to colliding with a pillar in baffling circumstances.

Broadcast technician Toni Marante was busy maneuvering his car out of a supermarket parking lot in Terrassa, Barcelona, when he noticed something strange.

Marante had some help in the form of a reversing camera that allowed him to see everything behind his vehicle as he edged out—or so he thought. "Out of habit, I turned my head to look back and suddenly saw the pillar," he told Newsweek. "I checked the car screen again and I still saw no pillar there."

Marante was confused at what he was seeing. "I began to look back and forth, asking myself why the screen was actually not showing the pillar," he said. "First I thought that it was maybe an angle issue, but after a few seconds I realized what was happening."

Somehow, the position and design of the pillar had created an optical illusion. Only by looking closely at the screen was he able to realize what had happened.

Marante said tight or unusual parking spaces are not uncommon in Terrassa, where he lives with his wife Olga Almendrote and their two kids. "In Europe, and in Spain in particular, we are very used to parking lots with very little space, very steep ramps or pillars in unexpected places," he said.

However, what he dubbed an "invisible pillar" is a little more unique and something he and Olga decided was worth sharing on Reddit under the handle u/toni_bmw.

Judging by the comments on the post, they were right to be confused. "What am I looking at?" one user wrote. "Holy Toledo! That's an AWFUL confusing perspective," another said, with a third adding: "I would have backed right into that thing."

Marante isn't surprised at the reaction his post has gotten. "Once you see the pillar, it looks very obvious, but at first glance it isn't that obvious, and I think that's what got people so interested," he said.

He puts it down to a combination of factors though. "It's the low quality of the camera, the wide angle, the brake light (red) that illuminated the top of the pillar, and the exact location that makes this 'vanishment' possible," Marante said.

Above all else, it has taught him to stay vigilant when behind the wheel. "Despite the great utility of assistants in driving a vehicle, we cannot trust them unconditionally," he said. "Like the warning, written in Spanish on the screen says: 'Look in all directions.'"