Is this train going forward or backward? You tell us!

Who doesn’t love a good optical illusion? With videos of people seeming to defy gravity going viral and dress color controversies causing such a fuss they prompted 10 million people to tweet about it, we’re preeettty the Internet does.

In today’s gotta see it to believe it moment, we present to you this gif of a train. Is it going backwards? Is it going forwards? Is it going BOTH backwards and forwards (wait, can that happen?)? Do we have magical powers? You take a look and let us know.

Ask your friends, your co-workers. Can you figure it out? Even better, focus in on one of the ends of the train and you’ll see the train suddenly change directions. Why? Well, would you really want to spoil the magic?

We were alerted to this phenomenon when Metro dug it up from the depth of the Internet yesterday. The GIF itself is actually two years old, and has been stumping the web since its introduction. Here’s what others had to say about the train image:

Want more? How about this spinning woman who also changes directions? Can you see all the animals in these images? And how can we forget about these pics that rely on optical illusions to create adorable and unbelievable baby photos? So many illusions, so little time.

(Images via Imgur, iStock)