Stuff You Should Know
The digital duo Josh and Chuck deconstruct your world.
Villagers See Face of Hindu Deity on Turtle’s Back
by Charles W. Bryant | November 12, 2009
Here’s something that you may not know about me — I’m a sucker for stories where people see religious images in their everyday lives. Most of the sightings I’ve heard about over the years have been in the United States and Christian-based visages. We’re talking Jesus’ face on a truck window, the Virgin Mary’s in a moldy ceiling stain – that kind of thing. I love these stories, partly because I’m fascinated by how seriously some people take it, and partly because most of the time the image really does look like the icon of record. And you never hear about anyone seeing Ernest Borgnine in an oil stain on the garage floor, so there’s that.
Some have been better than others — the Virgin Mary toast nabbed a cool $28,000 at auction, and that didn’t even include butter and jam! My main problem with most of these though, is that while the images generally resemble what we believe these religious icons look like, chances are they aren’t close to what they really looked like, which throws a wrinkle in the whole divine vision thing. I remember reading this story a few years ago, where some folks used forensic anthropology to construct a picture of what Jesus really looked like. Pretty cool, huh? He kind of looks more like a Middle Eastern Homer Simpson than Jim Caviezel or Willem Dafoe.
All of this brings me to the inspiration for today’s post, a vision story from India. Villagers there found a sea turtle that has symbols on its back that resemble Lord Jagannath, not to be confused with former WWF wrestler Lord Juggernaut. And once again, the image actually does resemble Jagannath, who consequently looks nothing like Jim Caviezel or Willem Dafoe. Apparently the villagers are refusing to give up the protected sea turtle, so we’ll see what happens.
My guess? Ebay.
Read:
History of India
Movies Quiz
How the Papacy Works
-
Pepe Silvia says:
Tired of your boring old turtle shell that is sans a deity? Put some fruit juice in there!
For your health. -
Robert Lamb says:
Perhaps it means we’re living in the Disc World?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d1/Discworld_mapp.JPG
~rl
-
Wow…the man with Jesus on his truck is from the same city as I am. How embarassing. The only other mention of my city was in the moonshine podcast where Josh talks about people living in buses. I’m going to have to move now.
-
Ben says:
Hey guys. Love your podcasts so much, I included a shout out in a podcaste I had to make for my class. See it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IGRQ_cGveQ
Thanks for being downright awesome!!!
-
Jen says:
Even I might be inspired to get religious if it had turned out that Jesus or a deity looked like Jim Caviezel…rrowww! Ernest Borgnine or Willem Dafoe….not so much.
-
Ty Williams says:
Hey Chuck –
If I wasn’t surfing the web at work right now, I’d take your photo off the website and render it in Photoshop so it appeared on a bearclaw or in the shadows on the surface of Mars. Instead, I’ll just write about it. Hooray for passive dreaming!
Love the show – it brings eager anticipation to my otherwise all-too-mundane Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Cheers.
-
andrew chapman says:
dear Mr. Bryant,
I am a fan of your podcast and have even caused my friends to get addicted to the podcast. we are regular listeners and think we have some ideas for you.
1. area 51 the elite government testing facility in nevada
2. alien abductions: they are actually blamed on sleep paralysis like some fans said they had
3. how black holes and worm holes work
4. how the JFK assassination worked
5 how the face on mars worked
6 how german paranormal experiments worked (world war 2)i would love if you could do some of these topics love the show especially the moon and fluoride episodes. if you did this you would be loved and praised by the nerd and geek community
your loyal fan… andrew -
Mac and Charlie might have something to say about it.
-
Jennifer says:
This post reminds me of the movie Jesus of Montreal. In the movie a theater director gets hired to put on a passion play. But being a theater director the one put on is rather avant-garde. One of the stations is an archeological dig that points out that Jesus would have been middle eastern. Needless to say that those sort of things get the folks in the movie into trouble.
-
Katie says:
Yes. Great points Chuck. Who really knows if Jesus had six-pack abs. I saw David Sedaris give a talk a while back. He made reference to this topic and suggested that for all we know Jesus was a big fat dude with no hair on top but with curtains of it on the sides and in the back. In essence, comb-over Jesus. The conclusion was that nobody wanted to hang the image of comb-over Jesus next to their baby’s crib. The result – relatively hot Jesus.
-
Premier Team International says:
This kind of stuff happends all the time in Mexico with the Virgin of Guadalupe. People then go and worship her at these sights. One lady I met said that she saw a bright light pouring out of her shower head and then the image of the Virgin was printed on her shower wall in soap scum. Lots of people came to see it.
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Interesting Reading #414 – The tiniest computer, hearts really can break, family pays $5,000 per year for connections, New font saves ink and much more…
- Public Service Announcement – Soft drinks nearly double your chances of pancreatic cancer
- Amazing – Going inside the Giant Crystal Cave
FanStuff
- What’s art — and what’s groundbreaking — in video games?
- Ursula K. Le Guin vs. Google Books: Round Two
- “Lost,” “Fringe” and That Whole Alternate Universe Thing
How-to Stuff
- How to Take a Road Trip, Abraham Lincoln-Style
- How to Explain Love in the Least Romantic Way Possible
- How to Quiet a Barking Dog
ScienceStuff
- Space Music Vol. 8: Sun Ra and Afrofuturism
- Stuff from the Science Lab Roundup: Space Eats and Grow Houses
- Why does time fly as you get older?
Stuff You Should Know
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
High Speed Stuff
- The Toyota Recall: Where can you get the latest information?
- What is Toyota doing to fix its gas pedal problem?
- High Speed Stuff Wrap-up: Automotive Pet Peeves and Polar Vehicles
Keep Asking
- How does an airbrush work?
- Is the Internet free? If you want to make a website, will it cost you to put it online?
- If you look at a piece of glass from an angle, why does it have a bluish or green tint?
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Last Week in History Podcasts: Battle Horses and Black Moses
- The Wonderful Adventures of the Nurse We Forgot
- Black History Month on HowStuffWorks
11 Comments