The “devil face” that many saw in the billowing smoke within seconds after Flight 175 smashed into the South Tower was almost certainly not Photoshopped. It is there, fully visible in the AP photo above, as well as on the CNN feed archived on YouTube, hovering below the point of impact, around the 70th floor. Of course, it helps to believe in Satan, as rendered by church artists during the Middle Ages, to fully appreciate the image. Also helpful in amplifying the effect is to listen to George W. Bush’s address that night, in which he said, “Today our nation saw evil.” There’s no doubt, there he is: Lucifer, a dead ringer for Osama bin Laden, sure as you breathe.
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Smoke Science
Two UTEP computer scientists explained the face through “simple geometric analysis” of the physics of smoke-shapes after an explosion—a cone, horizontal lines.