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Jesus stingray

David Pescovitz at 10:38 am Wed, Apr 4, 2012

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Stingrayyyyy On Friday, Erica Scheldt, 24, noticed Jesus in a dead stingray on the beach of Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. From the Charleston Post And Courier:

"I just kind of thought it looked like a bearded homeless man," said Erica Scheldt, 24. "But when I posted pictures on Instagram, one of my friends was like, 'That's Jesus.' And I was like, 'Oh, my God. You're right…' "

Scheldt, a Catholic who is getting married this summer at Christ our King Catholic Church in Mount Pleasant, said she didn't read anything into it, but she did see some coincidences. "I did think it was interesting, with Easter coming up," she said. "And it's such a beautiful image on such a harmful thing."

"Charleston woman sees Jesus on back of stingray"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • http://orbitnet.com JIMWICh

    Pareidolia strikes deep
    Into your heart it will creep

    • Anon_Mahna

      It starts when you’re surfing a wave,
      You step on shore line, jesus face on  back of a stingray….

  • shamowfski

    Looks like “Harry” from Harry and the Hendersons to me.

    • http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

       That’s funny, because I was thinking it looked a lot like John Lithgow.

      • Antinous / Moderator

        Treebeard.

        • Brainspore

          If one was going to crucify an Ent, what would they nail him to?

        • http://theangryhug.blogspot.com William Owen

          That’s what I thought too!

          • niktemadur

            Really?  Because it looks like orc mischief to me.

    • http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore

      Slightly elongated Howard Hesseman.

    • Edward Pearse

       Jim Henson

  • simonbarsinister

    Stingray’s are not “harmful things”.
    Jesus, on the other hand…

    • RuthlessRuben

      …isn’t really harmful either. I have no problem with Jesus, it’s his fan base that gets to me.

  • http://twitter.com/echolman Ethan Holman

    Stingrays, like Jesus, are fascinating things that can be quite dangerous in the wrong circumstances. Neither one is “harmful,” because “harmful,” to me, suggests that somethings very existence causes harm. But both can certainly be dangerous. I don’t believe that this is a divine message, because I don’t believe in the magical bits of any religion, but this is the first example of pareidolia that has me thinking about interesting (to me) connections between the “media” and the “content.”

  • Brainspore

    “I just kind of thought it looked like a bearded homeless man […] But when I posted pictures on Instagram, one of my friends was like, ‘That’s Jesus.’”

    I thought Jesus WAS a homeless man.

    • http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

      Reading the New Testament, I got the impression that he probably couch-surfed a lot, but I’m not sure you could call him homeless in the strictest sense.

  • Judas Peckerwood

    Is there anyone more insane than religious nutjobs?

    • http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

      The Joker.

      • Judas Peckerwood

        I’d like to see your data.

        • http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

          I’d show you the data, but the Joker made a parachute out of it the last time he escaped.

  • dculberson

    Looks more like Jerry Garcia to me.  It’s telling you to quit proselytizing and start smoking pot.

  • Sparkstalker

    Jesus – too busy to stop pain and suffering in the world because of his cameos on dead fish….He’s gone Hollywood…..

  • biginjapan

    Pretty sure that’s The Dude.

    • niktemadur

      Yeah?  Well that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

  • http://www.facebook.com/heather.cristofaro Heather Cristofaro

    Funny that, I saw an image of a Velociraptor in a gasoline puddle on my way to work…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BOOM27DBLMZQIJVK4BQLE7K5YA Nagurski

    I’m wondering if anyone has done a study on what elements are essential for an image to gain currency as a Jesus replica. Long hair, for sure. A full beard, check. Does the face have to be somewhat long? I think so, but how short of a face can be Jesusy enough? Where do the features have to fall on the Caucasian-African spectrum? Thesis topic, anyone?

    Also, “such a harmful thing”? Poor lady.

    • Judas Peckerwood

      “I’m wondering if anyone has done a study on what elements are essential for an image to gain currency as a Jesus replica.”

      I believe that crippling superstition is the only requirement.

  • http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

    I wonder if the people who believe in these things have ever seriously considered the implications of living in a universe where the Creator is obliged to send us ambiguous messages by putting his mugshot on rotting fish and pieces of toast. I know that He moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform, but still …

    I’d be curious to know if theologists have come to any consensus on what this unorthodox mode of communication tells us about the nature of God.

    • http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

      “I’d be curious to know if theologists have come to any consensus on what this unorthodox mode of communication tells us about the nature of God”.

      That He was rocking memes long before the internet?  That He is into the New Aesthetic?

    • Culturedropout

       So… Banksy is god?

  • grs

    George Harrison after a long day.

  • http://twitter.com/Kra1d Alex

    I see Alan Moore, but fair enough.

  • Nathan Swick

    Not that we need to further establish that Ms. Scheldt is something of a simpleton, but that’s not a Stingray, it’s a Southern Eagle Ray.  And they really are harmless.  

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BOOM27DBLMZQIJVK4BQLE7K5YA Nagurski

       Similar, but it’s a Cownose Ray, I think. Does have a barb, near the tail base. I’m pretty sure Southern Eagle Rays are confined to the Southern Hemisphere, but not certain.

  • http://twitter.com/MC_Swartzalot Tom Swartz

    Nope, definitely just a stingray in some mud. 
    Also, “Dangerous”? Hardly. 

  • http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

    Why the long face?

  • BBNinja

    Jesus’s chin is that stingray’s butt apparently.  In other news…every guy with a beard is Jesus? :/
    I see faces in a lot of things.  In fact, people’s brains are wired for object and facial recognition insomuch that the human brain actively seeks to create patterns even when there aren’t any.  You can stare into a carpet and see faces and other things, just like with clouds.  If you’re a devout religious person great, proclaim your faith, practice your religion but don’t get all worked up when you see a beardface after you burn your toast.

    • http://instantaneousinstances.com/ Spieguh

       Not the butt, Jesus’s big cleft chin is the front end of the stingray.

    • cubby96

      Christ, what an asshole.

  • Mark Dow

    Makes the stingray in the shroud of Turin really pop out.

  • http://fallsastar.com Crashproof

    Jesus Stingray is the name of my new Nirvana cover band.

  • cjhowareya

    My homie Jesus had a badass Stingray.

  • joshlake

    Jesus rays

    • Bonnie Ash

      Jesus rays the dead

  • Flashman

    I for one welcome our new myliobatiformic Messiah

  • http://twitter.com/gratefulvideo gratefulvideo

    Looks just like Chuck Norris to me.

  • Bonnie Ash

    The chin. The chin.  Remind you of a South Park episode maybe? An Alien from MIB2?  Or just Peter Griffin’s chin b….

  • Robert

    Jesus, stingray.

  • andre paris

    it’s that drunk Canadian singing Bohemian Rhapsody

  • Petzl

    That’s just great.
    25 years of atheism down the drain.

  • Ian Anthony

    I don’t see the resemblance.

  • http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

    Well, Jesus’ Dad was The King Of All Cosmos

  • http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

    Gives new meaning to the “Jesus Fish”. 
    Now how do I slap this one on my truck’s bumper????

  • Geek Aesthete

    I could be mistaken, but I believe that’s the King of All Cosmos.

  • MandoZink

    Damn! And I thought it was Jim Henson!

  • pjcamp

    That’s not Jesus!

    It’s Eric Idle.

  • self-propelled

    “…such a beautiful image on such a harmful thing.”

    I’d say she got it exactly backwards.

  • BombBlastLightingWaltz

    Terry Gilliam is at it again. Looks like a wayward dead head fan.

  • Culturedropout

    Throw that thing in a bucket of water.  If it comes back to life and swims off after 3 days, we’ll talk…

  • professor

    It looks to me more like Iggy Pop…. and let’s face it (no pun intended) Iggy having a bit of rumpy-pumpy with a mama-stingray is not beyond the realms of possibility

  • Henry Pootel

    Clearly a Man Ray work.

  • retepslluerb

    Whoever designed our visual cortex has much to answer for!

  • McGauth925

    NAH!  That’s not Jesus.  That’s my uncle Ned, high (low?) on downers.

  • WinstonSmith2012

    Yeah, everyone sees the white Anglo-Saxon protestant version of what Jesus looked like, you know, the one in the most famous paintings of him from people who never saw him.  Here’s a scientific take with a forensic model:

    “British scientists, assisted by Israeli archeologists, have re-created what they believe is the most accurate image of the most famous face in human history”

    Read more: The Real Face Of Jesus – What Did Jesus Look Like? – Popular Mechanics