What makes this snake captured on camera even scarier? Some see Satan on its head

Images of Jesus have been seen in everything from clouds to Walmart receipts, but what about the devil?

Turns out he occasionally shows up, too, and Texas Parks and Wildlife posted an example days ago, when it shared a photo of a rat snake with an odd pattern on its head.

“Do you see a face?” the department asked.

Sure enough, some people might see a forbidding black and white image of a horned demon on the snake’s head.

Then again, some insist it’s the face of a cat, or the Kung Fu Panda, and/or heavy metal singer Glenn Danzig.

More than 2,000 people have so far reacted to the photo (taken by Gustavo Saldaña), with one calling it “scary” and another citing it as an example of “Satan rearing his head.”

Several pointed out it was also an example of humans demonizing reptiles, and they came to the defense of rat snakes. The species is big (up to 77 inches) and a belligerent biter, but they are non-venomous and considered beneficial, according to the University of Texas at Arlington.

“I will not wait to see if he is poisonous, when I see a picture of the devil on his head, I’m out of here,” an unconvinced Cynthia Hatfield wrote on the state’s Facebook page.

“I see the Holy Virgin,” Michael Diatalevi said.

No one has suggested the photo is fake. In fact, several people said they also found odd shapes on the head of a rat snake and they shared photos. One of the images showed a pattern that closely resembled the logo for the vigilante The Punisher, while another looked like Michael Myers, the killer in the “Halloween” movies.

This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 1:58 PM with the headline "What makes this snake captured on camera even scarier? Some see Satan on its head."