Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, claims that his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, has appeared on the wall of an underground construction site.

"My hair stands on end just telling you about it," Maduro told Venezuelans on Wednesday, while holding up the photo. "Who is that face? That gaze is the gaze of the fatherland that is everywhere around us, including in inexplicable phenomena."

Construction workers were digging a new subway line in Caracas in the middle of the night when they came across the eerie apparition. Since his death in March, Chavez has taken on a mystical role within the mythology of the country's ruling socialist party. Maduro claims he has seen the spirit of his predecessor multiple times, including in the shape of a bird.

But only minutes after workers took a photo of the image (above), it disappeared.

"Just as it appeared, so it disappeared. So you see, what you say is right, Chavez is everywhere, we are Chavez, you are Chavez," Maduro told the nation.

[Getty]