A woman who was trying on a wedding dress momentarily dropped into an episode of “Black Mirror” with a photo of her experience horrifying fans on social media. Writer and comedian Tessa Coates took to Instagram to share a photo of herself standing in front of two mirrors while trying on a wedding dress.
“I went wedding dress shopping and the fabric of reality crumbled. This is a real photo, not photoshopped, not a panorama, not a Live Photo,” she captioned the image. “If you can’t see the problem, please keep looking and then you won’t be able to unsee it.” She said the “glitch in the Matrix” almost made her vomit in the street.
In the image, Tessa’s hands are snapped in three different positions between the two mirrors and where she actually stands. Many social media users were perplexed by what was happening in the photo, with several torn between congratulating Tessa on her engagement and telling her to run.
The Apple Store visit
Tessa explained she had gone to the bridal shop on her own and sent some pictures to her sister, who pointed out the discrepancy between the three versions of herself. The member of the sketch comedy group Massive Dad admitted she was stunned, falling to her hands and knees upon seeing the eerie picture and almost vomiting.
Later, she checked whether it was a live photo or a burst and neither of these seemed to be the case. “I am freaking out, so the first thing I did was go back to the shop and ask if they were in fact mirrors or cameras,” Tessa recounted. “My sister is a very rational person so she asked one of the tech people she works with. She told me eight men were looking at the photo and all freaking out.”
Out of options, Tessa went to her local Apple Store in a desperate bid that a “Genius” would be able to help her figure out what had gone down. She waited two hours to speak to somebody, with an Apple employee named Roger admitting he’d never seen a case this bad but it does happen. He explained that phones are computers not cameras, and so even without the live photo setting turned on it does take a burst of images from left to right.
The explanation
Roger told Tessa that the phone had stitched together three different images to create the final photo, which resulted in the bizarre reflection. He said it was a rare occurrence and that he had only seen it once before. He also said that the photo was not a sign of anything sinister or supernatural, but just a glitch in the technology.
Tessa was relieved to finally have an answer, but also amused by the whole ordeal. She thanked Roger for his help and posted the photo on her Instagram account, where it quickly went viral. She received thousands of likes and comments from people who were either fascinated, freaked out, or amused by the photo. Some even joked that it was a sign of her future husband having multiple personalities or that she was a time traveler.
The reaction
Tessa said she was overwhelmed by the response to her photo, but also grateful for the support and humor. She said she had no idea that her wedding dress shopping would turn into such a surreal adventure. She also said she was happy with the dress she chose, which was not the one in the photo.
She said she hoped that her photo would not deter anyone from trying on wedding dresses, but rather encourage them to have fun and laugh at the unexpected. She said she was looking forward to her wedding day, where she hoped there would be no more glitches in the matrix.