You have to see it to believe it, so the saying goes. But in the case of one very unusual carpet, seeing may not help at all.
This mesmerising black and white geometric patterned floor looks as if it is covering up huge craters underneath that are so big that you would be able to step into them.
But it’s all an illusion, as the ground and the carpet is actually flat.
Youtuber Muselk – who records himself playing video games – tweeted this photo of a mesmerising but baffling carpet to his 224,000 followers on Twitter
The carpet – believed to be covering the floor at a branch of the French electronics shop chain FNAC – appears to be swelling, with large craters in the middle of the ground.
However the floor is in fact as flat as a pancake, and those holes are in fact created by the clever use of curvy lines on the carpet.
It was first brought to the attention of Twitter by the account WHS_Carpet, which tweets pictures of faded branches of WHSmith in the UK.
But it didn’t go viral until the same picture of the curvy carpet was tweeted by Australian Youtuber Muselk.
The carpet at a branch of FNAC in France appears to have huge craters in it but actually the floor is flat
The carpet looks as if it is swelling from multiple angles
The tweet was liked 64,000 times and retweeted 35,000 times.
Many said it would be hilarious if the carpet was in a bar or a pub, where intoxicated adults might be confused by the baffling illusion.
But others warned that the mesmerising carpet may in fact be dangerous to people suffering from dementia or epilepsy.
Some people shared examples of other optical illusion caprets, including a bathroom that looks like it has no floor at all.
Twitter users started sharing photos of other optical illusion floors, including this quirky Rubik’s Cube-inspired design that looks as if there is a massive chasm in the bathroom
From this angle, this hallway looks as if there is a large curve in the floor but actually the ground is flat and the illusion is due to the way the tiles have been made
Many joked that it would be funny if the optical illusion carpet was in a bar or a pub
It’s not the first time optical illusions have confused the Internet before, of course.
Last month, a collection of images that were inadvertently taken at a perfectly opportune moment were shared by Go Social – and they’ll leave you doing a double take.
All of the photos featured an accidental optical illusion effect that will mess with your mind, and force you to take a closer look to see what’s really going on.
These photos were captured at just the right moment – and all is not what it seems. This picture appears to show a fire breathing dog when, in fact, the dog yawned at just the right moment
This mind-boggling snap appears to show a woman with a foot attached to her arm – but it’s simply the angle of the snap
This poor woman was convinced she was posing for a snap with her pal when her male friend’s leg ruined the shot and made it look as though she had a very hairy arm
The angle of this snap of a seagull perched on a wall makes the male passer-by look minuscule
This laugh out loud photo of a woman snoozing next to her pet pooch left the internet in stitches
Two pooches who crossed paths at the same time appear to have morphed into one
This amusing photo of a woman in hot pants hugging her boyfriend from behind looks very different at first glance