By STAFF REPORTER

Published: 17 February 2010

WHEN Rob Millist stared into a fire he got an Almighty shock — the face of Jesus glaring back at him.

The Holy visage made an appearance on a burning log and the stunned 29-year-old couldn't resist taking a snap to capture the moment.

There was no mistaking the Christ-like features that formed on the wood — including a nose, eyes and a beard.

The face remained glowing within the flames for 20 minutes before disintegrating into ash in the open hearth fire.

Phenomenal

Rob, a freelance video editor, was out in the kitchen cooking when he went into the living room to look at the fire and spotted the image.

He immediately pointed out Christ's image to his partner's mum, Judith Bailey, 56, a buyer for a lingerie company, at her home in Hatfield, Herts.

Rob, who was brought up a Catholic and a Spiritualist, said: "It was phenomenal. I came in from the kitchen and there the face was. It was crazy.

"I had one of those moments where everything goes surreal and I just shouted to Judith to get over here.

"She was as shocked as I was. It was like a parallel universe had opened up right there in the living room.

"I would like to believe it was the face of Jesus, but it could be an incredible coincidence.

"I do believe in miracles, but I'm undecided as to whether this was one - I'm on the fence."

As they studied the face, neighbour Patrick Rodgers, 51, popped round and was dragged over to the fire to see the face.

He said: "It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to what I was looking at, but it's totally clear.

"It's only ash around the log, but it's absolutely formed that classic iconic image."

Rob added: "I know because I'm a video editor people will say I have tinkered with the pictures, but trust me, they're totally genuine."

This is quite possibly the oddest example of an illusory face I have ever discovered.

Seeing meaningful information in meaningless data is a psychological effect known as pareidolia or apophenia and this is an example that was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1996:

The case of the haunted scrotum

A 45-year-old man was referred for investigation of an undescended right testis by computed tomography (CT). An ultrasound scan showed a normal testis and epididymis on the left side. The right testis was not visualized in the scrotal sac or in the right inguinal region. On CT scanning of the abdomen and pelvis, the right testis was not identified but the left side of the scrotum seemed to be occupied by a screaming ghostlike apparition (Figure 1). By chance, the distribution of normal anatomical structures within the left side of the scrotum had combined to produce this image. What of the undescended right testis? None was found. If you were a right testis, would you want to share the scrotum with that?

J R Harding
Consultant Radiologist, Royal Gwent Hospital

Link to PubMed entry for 'The case of the haunted scrotum'.

Looks a bit like Belial from the Frank Henenlotter's seminal (ahem) "Basket Case" to me...

An image captured in a baby scan has been claimed to be the 'double' of Michael Jackson.

Published: 10:11AM GMT 19 Nov 2009

Photo: NORTH NEWS AND PICTURES

Parents-to-be Dawn Kelley and William Hickman were looking at the ultrasound scan of their unborn baby when they realised it looked like the late pop singer.

Mr Hickman, 29, a window cleaner, said: “I showed my daughter Ami, who’s six, and she saw it straight away, so I thought 'well if she can see it too it’s not just me seeing things’.”

Mother-of-six Miss Kelley, 34, went for her 20-week scan at Sunderland Royal as normal last month, but doctors could not see the foetus’s stomach or diaphragm.

A few weeks later she was sent to Grindon Lane Walk in Centre for a closer look.

The more powerful scanner there is normally used to examine internal organs so the images it produces much more detailed.

Mr Hickman said: “We were looking at the pictures again, and I just saw Jacko there.

“None of us are really Michael Jackson fans. I mean I like him, but we’re not crazy about him or anything.”

The children Chris, 16, Amanda, 15, Jason, 13, Alisha, 10, Ami-Lee, six, and Kye, four, all see the famous singer’s face in the scan photo too.

But the new family member will not be called Michael – the couple already know they are having a girl.

Miss Kelley is 24 weeks pregnant and due to give birth to her daughter in March. She said: “I’ve had plenty of scans before and none of the photos have ever looked like this one. It’s a bit spooky really.

“But it is my seventh child, and they say seven is a mythical number.”

Funny that, I always thought seven was a very real number, not a mythical one...

Jim Stevens standing next to his truck with the image of Jesus on the window. The image has been there for two weeks and appears every morning when the morning dew is on the window.
(Lee Talbert / Johnson City Press)

Did Jesus take the wheel? Jonesborough resident claims image of Jesus appears in truck window

By Brad Hicks
Press Staff Writer
bhicks@johnsoncitypress.com

 

Jonesborough resident Jim Stevens admits he’s not a particularly religious person, but even he is awed by what he has seen nearly every morning for the last couple of weeks on the driver’s side window of his Isuzu pickup truck.

It was two weeks ago today that an image, resembling the face of Jesus, made its first appearance on the window. Stevens, who said he has a “bum shoulder,” was having friends from Rogersville help move some items. He entered his truck from the passenger’s side to put his drink inside the vehicle. He said when he went around the truck to the driver’s side, the image was there. Initially, Stevens said he figured the image would go away and that would be the end of it.

But since it first showed up, a morning dew has led to the appearance of the image. Later in the day, when the dew from the morning evaporates, Stevens said the image goes with it. However, when the dew returns the next morning so does the image on the window. Even rolling the window up and down has not stopped it from reappearing.

Stevens said no matter who sees the image, the reaction is the same, as a recent trip to the grocery store proved. He said a woman at the store had seen the image prior to him entering. By the time Stevens had bought a few small items, a number of the store’s employees and patrons had been out to catch of glimpse his window.

“There was no doubt when they came out they saw what they saw,” he said.

Stevens said he has not done anything to or had anything in the truck to explain the sudden appearance of the image. However, he’s not ready to see it go.

“Of course, I’m not going to wash it,” he said of the window.

Stevens said he believes strange things happen and that he has no explanation for the image on his truck’s window.

“Why it happened to me, I don’t know,” he said. “I have no idea.”

Stunned farmer Zheng Dexun dug up a crop of fleeceflower, or Chinese knotweed, and found one shaped like a person, in Langzhong, China. The eerie-looking plant, measuring 62 centimetres tall, has clearly defined arms, legs, and head. Zheng said: "I don't know whether it is good or bad to dig out a Chinese knotweed that looks like a human. I'd better put it back in the earth!"

I'm surprised nobody has "seen" Jesus or the BVM in this yet...

"These shadows all point towards the West side of Westminster Bridge, the Houses of Parliament side.."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've just discovered a curious medical finding that can be detected on MRI brain scans called the 'face of the giant panda sign' where, quite literally, it looks like there's a panda face in the middle of the brain, indicating a specific pattern of neural damage.

The image you can see on the left is the 'face of the giant panda sign' that appeared in a brain scan of a patient with multiple sclerosis who started showing unusual sexual behaviour and is taken from a 2002 study. Click the image if you want to see the whole scan.

The pattern is apparently caused by "high signal in the tegmentum, normal signals in the red nuclei and lateral portion of the pars reticulata of the substantia nigra, and hypointensity of the superior colliculus".

It is most associated with Wilson's disease, a genetic condition which causes a toxic build-up of copper in the body, but obviously can appear in other disorders as well.

Thanks to Twitter user @sarcastic_f for alerting me to this.

It's not just pandas that appear in brain scans of course, the Virgin Mary has also been known to make an appearance.

Link to PubMed entry for MS study.
Link to brief description from Neurology.

Eerie ... 'Jesus' face in Ikea door

HEAVENS above! The 'face of Jesus' peers eerily out of this door at Swedish furniture giants Ikea.

Shoppers have been left stunned by the spooky Turin Shroud-like image at the entrance to a loo.

The long flowing hair and beard of Jesus can clearly be seen in the grain of the wood on the door of the gents' toilets in Ikea's Braehead outlet, near Glasgow.

Mystery ... Turin Shroud

Last night one shopper said: "It takes you by surprise. It is really clear in the wood.

"I was only heading to the toilet and found God.

"My wife thought he looked like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings but it is definitely more like the Turin Shroud.

"It's certainly not what you expect to find in an Ikea store. Mind you, you need a little divine intervention to get out of here sometimes."

But Ikea bosses reckon it looks more like the founder of Sweden's most famous pop group ABBA - Benny Andersson.

A spokeswoman said: "Swedishness is engrained in every part of our stores."

The famous Turin Shroud - which bears the image of a crucified man some believe is Christ - was handed to the late Pope John Paul II in 1983.

Earlier this month, an Italian scientist said it could be "a medieval fake".