Regular readers of this blog know that I turn a jaundiced eye to claims of sightings of supernatural beings in mundane objects. Mary in an oil stain, Jesus in the wood grain, angels in a window pane. I am of the strong feeling that these are random or semi-random patterns that our brains are desperately trying to make sense of.
Certainly there is no lack of examples. Just check out this very blog’s pareidolia category.
Still, that’s a jumble. Wouldn’t you rather have your Messiahtings (say it out loud) all arranged in a nice, neat ordered list?
Sure you do! So head over to The Shark Book blog, where they list the Top 11 Jesus Sightings. Now, I don’t necessarily agree with their choices on the list or the order (a shower sighting with no mention of Lenin?) but it’s still a good one and shows, all in one place, how some people really really want evidence of their faith, a process I have always found a little bit like cheating. If it’s faith, it doesn’t need proof. And if it’s real, then wouldn’t the evidence be a little bit better than a smudge in a pancake?*
P.S. Yeah, I’ve seen the Jesus on the Ultrasound, too, and it cracks me up. It looks more like Nosferatu leaning over a victim. And there’s more than one ultrasound sighting, too.
*…that looks more like Salvador Dali than Jesus anyway.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Looks like a leopard man to me.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
The second one looks like a duck.
The first link tried to give me so many cookies I thought I was being assaulted by an army of Girl Guides.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I see a generic conquistador.
According to the linked article, that image was made from a frying pan with a “Jesus” build into it. Instant breakfast with a savior(TM).
May 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Looks like the FSM to me.
Just look at all those noodly appendages.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
It’s D’Argo from Farscape!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Ah – I saw the ciderbottle somewhere yesterday and thought of you. (I think it was in the Daily Hate – don’t look at me like that! Ben Goldacre linked it.)
Idly – the Sharkbook blog really doesn’t like Opera. The text is offset to the right, way out of the central frame. Sloppy.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I’m going to say it looks like Vlad the Impaler.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Look like Gaius Baltar from BSG.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Just once, I’d love to see someone interviewed and say “No, it’s not Jesus. Don’t be stupid. It’s just a trick of the mind.”
May 5th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Looks more like Osama bin Laden to me. That’s why he hasn’t been captured — he’s hiding in a pancake.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Now I totally see Osama bin Ladan! Ah, the power of suggestion.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
This is the best one I’ve seen http://features-temp.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/116272/116272_1210017102_large.jpg
May 5th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
ROFLMAO at riki’s post of nuclear Dumbo.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Looks more like a woodcut of Vlad Tepes to me.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Couldn’t help but dig through some of these. For #9 on Sharkbook there is a link to a chest x-ray that supposedly includes an image of jebus. I didn’t see him, but I was rather concerned that the individual in question appears to have a powerline and a series of utility poles running through his abdomen and chest. It may just be me, but that would have caught my attention first.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
That’s the best one I’ve ever seen too, riki. Imagine, a giant cosmic clown looking down and laughing. Biblical, my friend. And unexpected, unlike images that are passed off as depicting certain “celebrities.”
May 5th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Several years ago, I saw an ultrasound image that exactly resembled* the skull-faced character that adorned so many Iron Maiden album covers & posters. Cool, a rock star is born!
*Get it? “Exactly resembled.” No room for subjectivity with “exactly resembled” is there? It’s precisely approximate.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Huh… 6 looks like Charles Manson, 4 looks like the Unabomber, and 3 is definitely James Hetfield.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Dumbo? It looks more like Bozo the Clown to me.
May 6th, 2008 at 1:13 am
All my pancakes looks like the Moon, any takers?
May 6th, 2008 at 1:48 am
I thought of BAB when I saw this bit on the show LOST (from “The Other Woman”):
JOHN: How does Widmore know about the Island?
BEN: I don’t know, but he does.
JOHN: What does he want?
BEN: John, three months ago in Gainesville, Florida, the Virgin Mary seemed to appear in a patch of mold on the side of an old housing complex. When the word got out, over 5,000 people came to see her face for themselves. You’ve survived an airline crash on this island. One minute, you’re in a wheelchair. The next minute, you’re doing jumping jacks. If 5,000 people came out to see a piece of mold, how many people do you think would come here to see you?
May 6th, 2008 at 1:50 am
Buzz, when I first saw it, it looked like Dumbo the elephant, but as I look again, it could also be Bozo. Either way, it’s the best I’ve seen.
May 6th, 2008 at 2:41 am
It doesn’t look that human to me, it’s looks more like an alien
May 6th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Mary in an oil stain/Jesus in the wood grain/ angels in a window pane
It’s the end of the world/as we know it…
May 6th, 2008 at 5:39 am
That pic looks like a boss I fought in a video game once.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I cannot believe people can be so stupid… Though not a skeptic I whole heartedly agree that if you have faith you don’t need Jesus to show up on a tortilla.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:39 am
I see a face-hugger from the Alien movies. That can’t be a good sign.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Looks like Agamemnon to me…
May 6th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Pancake jesus looks like . . . Phil Plait to me. You just need to take off your glasses and let the beard grow a little.
Tailgate Jesus looks like Jimi Hendrix.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:22 am
12 yrs ago on a backpacking trip to the Canyon Lands, we drew straws to see who would eat the “Jesus tortilla” cooked up on our camp stove. Actually it was more akin to a very large smilely face, but it provided a great deal of entertainment. We photographed it before we ate it.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:08 am
The brain is wired to impose order on what it perceives, even if no order exists.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
This is late in posting, but it looks like that fish guy that sells Gorton fish sticks. One way to tell if it’s a diety or son-of-diety is to pour on the syrup. If it looks like it’s “walking” on top of the syrup then maybe so.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:36 am
[...] Die besten Jesus-Sichtungen – von Pfannkuchen bis schmutzigen Autos (engl., via BA). [...]