Unbelievable or Edited? The Mind-Bending Photos of Everyday Objects That Defy Shadows and Reality

Ever held out your arm on a sunny day and noticed that familiar shadow tagging along? Of course you have—unless you’re sitting in the dark or, well, pushing up daisies. But here’s a brain teaser: what if I told you there’s an actual spot on this spinning rock we call Earth where everyday objects just straight-up refuse to cast a shadow? Sounds like something cooked up by sci-fi writers or a glitch in your favorite video game, right? Nope. It’s real, it’s baffling, and it’s got folks on Reddit scratching their heads as photos of traffic cones and spirit levels basking in blazing sunlight without a single shadow go viral. This shadow vanish act happens twice a year in tropical zones—a phenomenon with the snappy name Lāhainā Noon. Curious how this ‘cruel sun’ manages to mess with physics and your perception of reality? Dive into this curious quirk of our planet that left the internet wondering if we’d stumbled into the Matrix. LEARN MORE.

If you hold out your arm in the air, chances are you’ll see a shadow.

Unless you’ve found yourself sitting in the dark – or you’re dead.

But what if told you there is a place on Earth where objects occasionally cast no shadow? Sounds made up, but it turns out this is actually a very real occurrence.

The concept of day-to-day objects without a shadow became a topic of fascination over on Reddit recently, when a user posted photos of items such as bollards, traffic cones and a spirit level ruler outside in broad daylight without casting even the tiniest shadow.

Turns out this phenomena occurs twice every year in a handful of places situated the tropics, often referred to as Lāhainā Noon.

Take a look at the examples below.

Looks like AI… or a drawing (Reddit)

Lāhainā Noon explained

A Lāhainā Noon – or a subsolar point if you’re feeling scientific – is when the sun appears to be directly above ground. An event which typically happens twice every year, before and after the summer solstice. Typically in late May and July.

So why does it cause our shadows to vanish?

Cast your minds back to school science lessons and you’ll likely recall learning that our shadows are created by the sun (if you’re outdoors) or artificial lights (if you’re inside), due to the fact that light cannot travel through our bodies.

Our shadows will grow and shrink as the Earth spins round on its axis throughout the day, but they’re always there.

Unless, of course, you stand directly under the sun during a Lāhainā Noon.

The phenomena is exclusive to countries which sit between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, which includes: Hawaii, Indonesia, Mexico and parts of northern Australia.

As for the name Lāhainā Noon, this originates from a 1990 naming contest arranged by Honolulu’s Bishop Museum.

The phenomena happens when the sun is directly overhead (Reddit

The name comes from the Hawaiian words, with the words lā hainā, translating to ‘cruel sun’. Meanwhile, the traditional Hawaiian name for the event was ‘kau ka la i ka lolo’, a phrase which roughly translates to ‘the sun rests on the brains’ (via Honolulu Star-Bulletin).

Which is a pretty cool way of putting it if you ask me.

The images, of course, left people feeling pretty weirded out when they were posted to Reddit, as people couldn’t believe how strange everyday items looked without their trusty shadow.

Don’t expect to see it in the UK though (Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0)

“Makes it look like a video game,” joked one person, while a second agreed: “It makes reality look like a rendering error in a video game.”

“Even seeing it in person it kind of messes with your brain,” wrote a third.

Several people even compared it to the weather in their own countries, with one rather grump Scotsman adding: “Pffft. We get ‘zero shadow day’ on the way coast of Scotland every day, at all hours..

… because we never see the f**king sun for all the clouds.”