Bizarre optical illusion of sitting women has left people scratching their heads

From viral videos to social media debates, there are a few sturdy things we can always trust will do the rounds on the internet.

Of course, one of those has to be optical illusions. There are the mad patterns that make you think you’re on something to the simple-looking photos that spark conspiracy theories.

And while some might prove you have the ‘eyes of a sniper’, this bizarre snap has just left people scratching their heads.

At first glance, the snap of the women sitting and smiling on a sofa is a pretty innocent one. You know, the kind of thing you’d see reposted onto six different Instagram Stories when those girls you went to school with ‘reunite’ every two weeks.

Where are those missing legs? (Reddit)

But, when you take a closer look, there’s something really odd about the photo.

Yep, there are six of them sat posing for the camera but it looks like there are only five pairs of legs.

A quick glance will make you think the third woman sitting on the sofa is only a torso with no legs, but plenty of people on Reddit have disagreed over what they're looking at which would explain it.

One person asserted: "The first girl is sitting over the second girl’s legs."

A second agreed, adding: "The second girl's legs are behind the first girl's legs."

OK, I'm confused (Reddit)

While a third went into full detective level theory to explain to other baffled users: "Number one has her legs crossed, no tear in the knee. Number two has only one leg visible, the tear is in her knee.

"Those legs are blending together. (Follow that tear down, there’s a split where there’s a sock on the right and not on the left. Number two has a tear in her knee and a visible white sock."

Someone else offered up another method, focusing on the woman sitting second from the left as they wrote: "Her pants are the same colour, and almost blend. You can see the difference where there is a bit of sock/skin showing above the boot."

Another noted: "It's really hard to tell them apart but you can see the difference."

And sure, there’s still plenty of people convinced the total number of legs in the viral ‘doesn’t add up’, but hey, where would the fun of optical illusions be without some confusion?