Nice that he could get a picture of it. I saw something similar (vertical stretching) as a child, the family car was driving along a fjord when I noticed a boat with two giant men standing in it. Then as we drove further the image shifted and there was a tiny rowing boat out on the water, with two men sitting.

My great-grandfather once saw a semi-mythical island settlement on the horizon in the area where he used to fish (he was a fisherman). There are many stories about that place. My great-grandfather understood what he saw though -- it was a mirage of a real settlement, on an island much farther out. Too far out to see normally, but conditions can sometimes show a mirage of it. And that's where the mythical place and the stories came from.