Man sees distorted ‘demon-like’ faces because of rare neurological disorder
When Victor Sharrah woke up one day in November 2020, he feared he was in some sort of “demonic world”.
When he looked at people’s faces, they appeared “demon-like”, with their ears, noses and mouths stretched back, and with deep grooves in their foreheads, cheeks and chins.
“You can’t imagine how scary it was,” the 59-year-old, from Clarksville, Tennessee, said.
What he was actually seeing were distortions, caused by an incredibly rare neurological disorder, known as prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO.
Even more unusual in the case of Mr Sharrah was that, when he looked at a phone or computer screen, people’s faces appeared normally.
That gave scientists an interesting opportunity to put Mr Sharrah at the centre of an interesting new study – the results of which were recently published in respected medical journal, The Lancet.
For the first time, researchers were able to recreate these rare PMO distortions in the form of pictures.
Pic: Antonio Mello/The Lancet.
Pic: Antonio Mello/The Lancet.
“As the patient reported no distortion when viewing facial images on a screen or on paper, we asked him to compare an in-person face to a photograph of the face taken in the same room under identical lighting conditions,” the authors said in their report.
“By alternating between observing the in-person face perceived as distorted and the photo on a computer screen-perceived as undistorted, he provided real-time feedback on the perceived differences.
“We then used image-editing software to modify each photo until it matched his in-person perception.”
What is PMO?
There are reportedly fewer than 100 published case reports of PMO, and scientists don’t fully understand what triggers it.
However, they suspect it is caused by dysfunction in the brain network that handles facial processing.
The distortions can vary from case to case, with other people reporting seeing people with droopy or off-set eyes, and others reporting seeing “witch-like” features.
Interestingly, unlike a person experiencing hallucinations due to a mental disorder, a person with PMO is aware that what they are seeing is a distortion or that something is wrong with their vision.
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According to NBC, the US partner of Sky News, researchers offered two possible triggers in the case of Mr Sharrah.
The first was that he had carbon monoxide poisoning four months before his PMO symptoms started.
The second was he had endured a significant head injury 15 years earlier while hitting his head on concrete, with MRI scans showing a lesion on the left side of his brain.
Mr Sharrah also has a history of bipolar affective disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the study.
Pic: Antonio Mello/The Lancet.
Pic: Antonio Mello/The Lancet.
Though PMO symptoms often resolve after a few days or weeks, they can linger for years, and Mr Sharrah said he still sees demonic faces.
‘I came close to having myself institutionalised’
He has found ways to cope with his condition, including living with a roommate and her two kids, which he said has been helpful, because he’s used to having people around, so he isn’t as spooked when he sees new faces in public.
According to NBC, he also finds that green light alleviates his symptoms, so he sometimes wears glasses with green-tinted lenses when he’s in crowds.
Mr Sharrah wants others to know they can manage the condition.
“I came so close to having myself institutionalised,” he added.
According to the study’s lead author, Antonio Mello, a PhD student who works in Dartmouth’s Social Perception Lab, many doctors aren’t aware of PMO and may misdiagnose people with mental health disorders instead.
As a result, some PMO patients have been prescribed medications for schizophrenia or psychosis, which aren’t appropriate for their condition, he added.
About 10,000 pages of records related to the assassination of Robert F Kennedy (RFK) nearly 60 years ago have been released publicly for the first time.
The senator, who was the brother of US president John F Kennedy (JFK), was shot dead at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on 6 June 1968, moments after giving his victory speech for winning California’s Democratic presidential primary.
His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison.
RFK’s assassination, much like his brother’s in 1963, has been the subject of much speculation.
His son, Robert F Kennedy Jr, previously said he believed his father was killed by multiple gunmen, an assertion that contradicts official accounts.
After the documents were released on Friday, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said they would “shine a long-overdue light on the truth”.
Many files related to the senator’s assassination had already been released, but the ones posted to the US National Archives and Records Administration on Friday had not been digitised and sat for decades in storage facilities maintained by the federal government.
The move is a continuation of the release of historic withheld files ordered by US President Donald Trump, in an apparent bid to prove the transparency of his administration.
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Trump announcing release of JFK files in March
It started when he signed an executive order back in January for the release of thousands of files about JFK’s assassination, many of which were made public in March.
The files gave readers more details about the US’s covert operations during the Cold War-era, but did not lend legitimacy to any of the many conspiracy theories surrounding the former president’s death.
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RFK Jr, who is also Mr Trump’s health secretary, commended the president and Ms Gabbard for their “courage” and “dogged efforts” to release the files.
“Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,” he said in a statement.
In a statement, Ms Gabbard said: “Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination of senator Robert F Kennedy, the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation thanks to the leadership of president Trump.”
Lawyers for RFK’s killer have been pushing for his release for decades, saying he is unlikely to reoffend or pose a danger to society.
A parole board deemed Sirhan suitable for release in 2022, but California governor Gavin Newsom rejected the decision in 2022, keeping him in state prison.
A different panel denied him release in 2023, saying he still lacked insight into what caused him to shoot RFK.
Donald Trump has said his second state visit to the UK could take place in September.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed over an invitation from the King when he visited Washington in February.
Trump teases return to UK – latest updates
Buckingham Palace previously only said the visit would happen “when diaries allow”, but Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday: “I think they are setting a date for September.”
“I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one,” he said.
“The last one was incredible, but they say the next one will be even more important.”
Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump the invite earlier this year. Pic: PA
Mr Trump will become the only elected political leader in modern times to be invited to two state visits by a British monarch.
The president called the UK a “great country” in his comments at the White House on Thursday and said it was “an honour to be a friend of King Charles and the family, William”.
His first state visit was in 2019, when he was hosted by the late Queen.
Second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit usually get tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
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The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters
But Mr Trump is set to get all the pomp and ceremony laid on again in his honour – with another state banquet likely at Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family‘s soft power diplomacy is viewed as a way of currying favour with the president, who’s known for his love of the monarchy and links to the UK through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
It comes as the government seeks an economic deal with the US, in the hope of potentially lessening the impact of the president’s tariffs.
Four people are in hospital as police deal with an active shooter on a university campus in Florida.
Videos showed people running through traffic, fleeing the scene, around the time of the shooting at the student union at Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.
Local police were “on the scene or on the way”, according to an alert sent out by the school and students have been told to “shelter in place”.
The FBI is also said to be responding to the incident.
Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne
In a statement, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it was “actively receiving and caring for patients” from the incident.
“At this time, details are still unfolding, and we do not yet have specific information to share. However, we want to assure the community that our teams are fully mobilised and prepared to provide the highest level of care and support to all those affected,” it added.
President Donald Trump said he was fully briefed on the incident and described it as “a shame”.
He added: “It’s a horrible thing. Horrible that things like this take place.”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, in a statement posted on X, said: “Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding.”
Ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles raced to the campus around midday local time (5pm UK time) on Thursday.
As students streamed away from the area of the student union in their hundreds, some were visibly emotional and others were glued to their phones.
Dozens later gathered near the university’s music school, waiting for news.
Florida State University student Daniella Streety told NBC News of the chaos that unfolded at the scene.
She remained on lockdown in a campus building and said: “I did see them carry out one student in what looked like on a stretcher and kept them in the road until an ambulance was able to pick them up.”
Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the university’s main library when he said alarms began going off warning of an active shooter.
Police escorted him and other students out of the library with their hands over their heads, he said.
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