Bélmez de la Moraleda

The Bélmez Faces

In August 1971, in the Andalusian village of Bélmez de la Moraleda, a human face appeared in the concrete kitchen floor of the Pereira family's house. The floor was broken up and relaid — the face came back, and then others did. The house became a place of pilgrimage and was written about across Spain. Chemical analysis in the 1990s found traces of pigments in the concrete, and investigators noted that new faces only ever appeared when somebody was in the house. The house is still there, the faces are still there, and the argument is not closed.