Reflection where there couldn't be one...

[SupermanStoleMyPants]

This happened a couple of months a go but it has been really bugging me.

I live in a small 2 bed flat with Dh and lodger (male). One early evening I was walking up the stairs and realised I could see my reflection in the facing wall at the top. As I got closer I realised the face wasn't mine. It was completely different. Hair type/colour/face shape. It was also just the head/neck of a woman which didn't move or get bigger just clearer to me as I came closer.

To the right of the wall is a small room where we keep our laundry and it has a small window which had the late sun coming through. I thought it could have been the light playing tricks (not sure how). But I retraced my steps several times and nothing was there, and I can't even start to explain how a wall could reflect an image as clear as a mirror....

Any explanations?

None sorry, bit that's definitely creepy!

Once I realised I could see blurry trees and houses from outside on the opposite wall, like a old movie projector, even though there was no mirror and the curtains were closed.

Turns out the curtains were open a teeny tiny bit causing an aperture effect - basically how cameras work. The light from outside comes through the tiny hole and is projected upside down.

Perhaps something similar?

I really don't think so. The washing room has a very small window which would only shine on the wall opposite the one I was looking at. All the bedroom and bathroom doors were closed so no light from them.

I don't look at the wall as I walk upstairs now

Paredoilia ( spelt wrong ). Our brains are hard wired to make sense out of random shapes. It's why clouds look like ' things' and why people see the Virgin Mary in potatoes

Very common not woo