What Would Jesus See?

Rock 'n The Baby Jesus

2008-05-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

Dena Patterson of Brooksville, Florida, was walking through the woods in West Virginia in 1996 when she came upon a rock near a stream with what she though was the image of a veiled Mary cradling the baby Jesus in her arms. She's looking to sell the rock because her health is declining and she wants the money to go back to West Virginia to see her family. Peter Harries, associate professor of geology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, says the rock is shale and doesn't think the image significant. "Things that mimic (other things) are pretty constant in nature," he said. Perhaps, but there is a striking resemblance to Mrs. Butterworth.

He Cures What Ales You

2008-05-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Michael Cartwright and his friends were in Tanners Hall, a pub in Darlington, England, when they saw what looked like the face of Jesus in the foil wrapping of a bottle of Bulmer's cider. The next day when they looked at a photograph one of them had taken of it, they realized the image was clearer than they remembered. When they went back to the pub to retrieve the bottle they discovered it had been thrown out. "I'm not sure what message Jesus was sending and maybe now we'll never know," Cartwright said.

Window To Heaven

2008-04-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

There's a prayer garden in the hallway at Leaders of the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Orlando, Florida that sits between the chapel and the emergency room. Recently, someone spotted an image of Jesus Christ on a window there and took a photo with their cell phone. where life is saved, an interesting image is popping up on a window. One person who saw it says, “It looks like a face to me, first of all I haven't seen Jesus, personally, and so I can't say that it's Jesus." The hospital is calling it "an unexplained image."

Spoon Fed Religion

2008-04-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

JW Davis of Marshall County, Kentucky, was taking dishes out of the dishwasher when he noticed one of the spoons had the image of Jesus Christ on it. The spoon originally came from a restaurant where his daughter worked and it was a plain old spoon when she first brought it home. It's for sale on eBay but there's no word on whether the restaurant will get a cut of the proceeds.

Wood You Believe It?

2008-02-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

While cutting down a tree to make furniture, Craig O’Connor of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, found an image inside the log that was formed by the sap. He thinks it looks like Jesus with his arms outstretched, the tree rings forming a halo around his head. Naturally it's going on eBay, so the question is, WWJC*?

*What Would Jesus Charge

A Twisted Sighting

2008-02-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

A DJ on Eugene, Oregon's rock radio station KFLY is selling a pretzel on eBay in the shape of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. Tanner Haney says he found the twisted icon in a bag of Rold Gold pretzels a little over two years ago. The pretzel is in mint condition and comes with the original packaging stamped with the "Sell by" date. As of today, there have been 63 bids with the current high offer being $7,600.

IHOP - International House of Pareidolia

2008-02-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

A Houston area family sat down to breakfast when they noticed that one of the pancakes Mom made had the image of the Virgin Mary on it. They say it's a good omen and plan to hold onto the fantastic flapjack.

Sweet and Savioury

2008-01-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

Pastor Renee Brewster of Orlando, Florida, was looking for an excuse to get out of making potato salad for the church's weekly rescue mission because “Sister Frankie makes the potato salad at church and I said lord if it’s not for me to make potato salad then send me a sign.” She cut into a potato and put it aside because it looked rotten. Her 10-year-old granddaughter pointed out that there seemed to be an image of a cross with Jesus on the cut potato. Brewster froze the piece, then used the rest to make the potato salad. They say it was the best she ever made.

Like A Rock

2008-01-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, a granite distributor in Pinellas County, Florida bought a slab at a granite mine in Brazil near the town of Espirito Santo, which translates as "holy spirit." Although it was in two pieces, cut and ready to be sold, he immediately noticed an image of Jesus on the cross. After holding onto it for two years, the anonymous owner is putting the 7-by-7-foot piece of polished granite up for sale on eBay next week. How much it will sell for? A normal piece of granite like this would sell for $4,000. But one with the image of Jesus? Priceless.

Oh, Shell!

2007-12-26T16:29:00.000-08:00

Nancy Kelly McCabe of Wellington, Florida, found a seashell in Palm Beach last August that she thought looked like the mirror image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in prayer. Since finding it she says "every negative aspect of my life has taken a turn for the positive." That's more than you can say for the mollusk who once lived in the shell.

Putting The X[rays] Back in Xmas

2007-12-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

A Phoenix, Arizona, man went to the dentist for a routine exam, including X-rays. When the X-rays were developed, he was shocked to see the image of Jesus on one of them. Though a devout Christian, he says he's never seen Jesus in an X-ray before. Neither had the dentist and staff, but they agree that it does look like Christ. Incidentally — or maybe not so incidentally — the man had no cavities.

X-ray[ted] Jesus

2007-12-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

After experiencing chest pains, Reynaldo Farinas of Homestead, Florida, went to the hospital where doctors ordered a chest X-ray. When shown the X-ray film, Farinas spotted the face of Jesus Christ. Both the doctor and a medical technician agreed that it resembles Christ, but neither could explain what it was doing there or whether he needed antibiotics.

Half-Baked Mary

2007-11-30T18:56:00.000-08:00

Shunattee Lewis of Sacramento, CA, spent Thanksgiving in Denver at her mother's funeral. When she got home, for some reason she pulled out a muffin pan, even though she had no plans to make muffins. Or even cupcakes. When she looked into one of the muffin slots, she saw what looked like an image of the Virgin Mary. Her husband thought it looked like the Mona Lisa. Her 8-year-old son thought that whatever it was, it had a happy face. Shunattee is showing the pan by appointment. The phone number is here.

A Toast To A Rock

2007-11-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Lisa-Marie Corlet of Christchurch, New Zealand, was walking along a beach last year when she found a pebble with what she thought was the image of the Virgin Mary on it. Friends urged her to sell it, but she kept it instead. "I started having an awesome run of luck," she said. When her luck started to run out she decided to sell it on the auction website Trade Me. "I won't take less than $38,000 for it," she said. "If someone is willing to pay $28,000 for a piece of toast, I'm sure someone out there would pay at least that for rock."

Wintering In Miami

2007-09-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

People have been lining up to see the image of the Virgin Mary ever since a security guard saw it on a cloth in a chapel at St. Brendan Catholic Church in Miami. Some say they only see Mary while others see the whole family, including "the silhouette of Joseph and the curve of the head of baby Jesus." While it's a little soon to be wintering in Florida, it could be an Early Bird Special appearance.

Concrete Evidence

2007-08-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

A teacher in Forest, Virginia, lifted a 5-gallon can of driveway sealant that had been sitting on the garage floor and discovered an image of Jesus had appeared underneath it. Deb Serio said "it does not change, cry, or manifest itself in any other way," so keep that in mind if you bid for it on eBay. The price includes hiring someone to cut out the section but not the cost to ship a slab of concrete.

Postscript: The slab was bought by "islandoffthecoast" for $1,525.69.

Flipping Over Jesus

2007-07-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Amy Clark of Conneaut , OH, was making pancakes on a recent Sunday morning when she noticed an image taking shape on one of them. "I flipped the pancake, looked down and then called for my fiance," she said, "I get chills when I think about it." He agreed that the image looked like Jesus and Amy says 99.9% of the people she's shown it to agree. It certainly doesn't look like Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth.

Barking Up The Wrong Image?

2007-06-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

A patron of the Willow Creek health club in Rosemont, IL, recently looked at the peeling bark on a tree out front and saw the image of Jesus Christ. Once word went around, people started saying it looked more like the late mayor, Donald Stephens, who died in April and had spared the tree years ago when some people wanted it cut down to make way for the health club. Bradley Stephens, who was named mayor after his father died, thinks it looks like his Dad. The health club's membership director thinks it looks like The Son. Either way, people are flocking to it and lighting candles. It never hurts to be safe.

Now This Is Nuts

2007-04-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Melissa Benson of Toronto, Canada, sends this photo of a cashew she found in a can of mixed nuts that she thinks looks like the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. She's emailed photographs of the nut to Pope Benedict and is still awaiting a response. You can email him too if you find anything odd in your can of Planter's.

Mary On The Rocks

2007-03-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

Irma Vega's husband, who for some reason is remaining anonymous, was building houses in San Antonio when a special rock caught his eye. Looking closer, he saw the image of the Virgin Guadalupe on the rock. When he took it home, his wife turned the rock over and discovered an image of the Virgin Mary without the crown. They've set up a backyard shrine and welcome the public to 1450 Surfside to take a look.

Is The Nun Bun Still Alive?

2007-03-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

On Christmas morning 2005 someone broke into Bongo Java, a coffee shop in Nashville, Tennessee, and stole the Nun Bun — the famous cinnamon bun that looks like Mother Teresa. I can attest to the resemblance since I saw it on my way across country in 1997. Well, it's resurfaced. The Tennessean received a letter postmarked from Seattle that says “She’s in good hands.” Accompanying it was a photograph of a young bearded man resembling Jesus lying on a sunny beach holding the Nun Bun in his outstretched hand. It's the third letter and photograph the newspaper has received from "Hu Dunet." Nashville police closed the case last year.

Hot For Jesus

2007-03-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago a fire destroyed Christine York's house in Yuba County, California. When she went back in to see what she could salvage, she found her grandmother's rosary was intact, as was a statue of the Virgin Mary which was still filled with holy water. Feeling desperate, she said, "Lord I can't carry it no more. I need help." She turned around and, there on the wallpaper, was the image of Jesus Christ. She cut it out, framed it, and is keeping it, in spite of already being offered $10,000 for it.

Mary With Pepperoni

2007-02-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, which happened to be Ash Wednesday, a lunchroom worker at Pugh Elementary School in Houston, Texas, was washing a pizza baking sheet when she saw the familiar shape of the Virgin Mary on it. Word got around and soon crowds flocked to the school. The principal gave the baking sheet to the PTA to display on an altar outside a student's house who lives nearby. The kitchen manager wanted the baking sheet back. The lunchroom worker, Guadalupe Rodriguez, wanted to keep it to set up a permanent altar. The principal played Solomon, negotiating a deal whereby Rodriguez keeps the baking sheet, the PTA gets to display it this weekend, and the kitchen gets a brand spanking new pan. Peace prevails.

Doorway To Heaven

2007-01-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

The Bowman family of Yucaipa, California, were days away from giving their two unruly dogs to the pound when an image they think looks like Jesus Christ appeared on the plastic flap of their pet door. A combination of dirt, claw marks, and the manufacturer's logo, the miraculous image was enough to make them change their minds and keep the dogs. At least as long as the image remains intact.

Now Appearing On Platform Two

2007-01-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

Some commuters in Sydney, Australia, say they see the image Jesus in a patch of eroded paint on platform two at the Waverton railway station . The Daily Telegraph notes that the appearance of the image comes a year before Pope Benedict XVI is due to visit Sydney for World Youth Day. Talk about an influential advance man.