Jesus stingray

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"

• [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.

  • [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?

      • [William Owen]

        That’s what I thought too!

        • [niktemadur]

          Really?  Because it looks like orc mischief to me.

  • [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.

• [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.

  • [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?

  • [tristan eldritch]

    The Joker.

    • [Judas Peckerwood]

      I’d like to see your data.

      • [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.

• [Heather Cristofaro]

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

• [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.

• [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.

  • [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.

• [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.  

  • [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.

• [Tom Swartz]

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

• [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.

  • [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.

• [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

• [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.

• [Matthew Petty]

  Well, Jesus’ Dad was The King Of All Cosmos

• [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