Mind-bending optical illusion shows ghostly ship floating in the air

A mind-bending optical illusion has left onlookers gobsmacked after appearing to show a massive ship floating in the air off the British coast.

The bizarre image shows a large cargo ship near the small village of Coverack in Cornwall, England and it seems to be soaring high above the horizon.

The astonishing picture was snapped by photographer Martin Stroud as he was strolling through the village.

Posting in ‘Coverack Life’ on Facebook, he said: “Almost looks like it’s flying! Beautiful day for a visit to Coverack.”

Despite it’s ghostly appearance, the effect in fact has a simple explanation.

Known as Fata Morgana, the phenomena takes place when the colour of the sea is a perfect match for the sky above it.

The ship then appears to float through the process of refraction – light bending – where cold air lies close to the sea with warmer air above it.

The deception is then made more realistic as the horizon line sits along the top of choppy water.

The term means “Morgan the Fairy” in Italian and stems from the Arthurian legend of the sorceress Martha La Fay.

The belief is that she conjured up fairy castles or fake islands with the mirages to lure sailors to their deaths.

The Fata Morgana is thought to be the cause of a range of strange sightings, like the famous Flying Dutchman.

While sadly not actually some kind of futuristic boat-plane hybrid, the picture amazed people on a local Facebook group, describing it as “an amazing shot”.

Andi Wootten-Williams chimed: “It’s freakin’ me out.”

While Stella Lumyou noted: “Looks like boat is in the sky.”

Such phenomenon has been seen before in Cornwall, with different explanations given.

Last year a similar image was captured by David Morris at Gillan Cove.

He was left “extremely baffled” when he spotted a large vessel apparently floating just above the waves.

Days earlier, several cruise ships were also seen “hovering” above the waters off the coast of Paignton, Devon

At that time BBC meteorologist David Braine described as a “superior mirage”, which were common in the Arctic but happened only “very rarely” in the UK.

A superior mirage is one in which the image appears to be located above the real object, caused when the air below the line of sight is colder, and therefore denser, than the air above it.

This is the opposite of what normally happens during the daytime.

It results in the light rays bending downwards as they pass through the so-called ‘temperature inversion’.

In 2017 Rosie Patterson in Porthleven captured what appeared to be a ‘flying’ container ship off the coast of the port

At the time it was explained as a rare state of weather conditions where the sea in the foreground of the picture is choppy while further back out to sea the water is mirror-flat.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.