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Jesus Stingray: Does Christ Appear On This Dead Fish?

The Huffington Post  |  By Posted: 04/ 3/2012 2:09 pm Updated: 04/ 3/2012 2:17 pm

Jesus On Stingray
Erika Scheldt believes this stingray found near James Island, S.C., has the image of Jesus on its back.

When most people think of Jesus fish, they might think of fishes and loaves or bumper stickers.

Erika Scheldt, 24, got a lot more literal when she photographed a stingray last Friday while playing on the beach at James Island, S.C.

When a dead cownose ray washed up on the beach, Scheldt took a photo of it, fascinated by the strange image on its back that looked vaguely familiar.

"I just kind of thought it looked like a bearded homeless man," Scheldt told IslandPacket.com "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.'"

Since encountering this ray of hope, she says she and other members of her family have been trying to come up with a name. So far, the top choice is Ray Rey, since "Rey" means "king" in Spanish.

Scheldt, a Catholic who is getting married this summer, doesn't think the ray sighting has any special message, but does see some interesting coincidences.

"I did think it was interesting, with Easter coming up," she told the Post and Courier. "And it's such a beautiful image on such a harmful thing."

Although almighty images have reportedly been seen on Wal-Mart receipts, the side of a cliff and even a fish stick,
Jim Underdown of the Center for Inquiry Los Angeles, an organization that works to promote reason and science, says that humans are biologically tuned to put meaning to random patterns.

"There is a word, 'pariedolia,' that means assigning meaning to patterns that are actually just 'noise,'" he told HuffPost Weird News in December. "We are hard-wired to recognize patterns in whatever we do. It has helped us biologically, but it can also be a hindrance."

SEE JESUS IN OTHER STRANGE OBJECTS IN OUR SACRED SIGHTINGS GALLERY
Loading Slideshow...
  • Bird Turd Jesus

    "It's like Jesus staring right at me," says Jim Lawry of Brooklyn Ohio, who posted a YouTube video of bird poop that looks, at least to him, like the face of Jesus.

  • Jesus In Hotel Window

    Chuck Rickman photographed this window at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego after seeing what he thought might be the image of Jesus. He's not religious so he thinks it could also be Led Zeppelin

  • Virgin Mary In Log

    FOX 13 viewer Dean Hansen sent us a picture of a piece of wood that he says bears the image of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. CREDIT: <a href="http://fox13now.com/2012/11/05/virgin-mary-image-found-in-piece-of-wood/">Fox13</a>

  • HOLY MOLE! Jesus Taco

    Edward Garza, an 80-year-old from Texas, found that his usual breakfast taco had a divine garnish: a burn pattern that he thinks looks a lot like Jesus Christ. What do you think? <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/jesus-in-taco-edward-garza_n_1752149.html?1344395443" target="_hplink">Vote here.</a>

  • Angel Above Century 16 Aurora, CO

    People viewing this image claim to see an angel above the scene of the Aurora, CO movie theater shooting. Credit: Crystal Fuller

  • Crab Shows Image Of Jesus (Or Osama Bin Laden)

    John Canfield of Snohomish County, Wash., was on a crabbing trip with his family when he found a crab that looks, depending on your opinion, Jesus Christ or Osama Bin Laden.

  • Jesus Appears On Sting Ray

    Erica Scheldt believes this stingray found near James Island, S.C., has the image of Jesus.

  • Push Pin Jesus

    Artist Rob Surette used 24,790 push pins to create this incredible pointillist portrait of Jesus.

  • Tampa, Florida -- An Ybor City restaurant's name has taken on a new meaning after some say the image of the Virgin Mary appeared on one of its walls. The restaurant is Hamburger Mary's and the image first got attention over the weekend after some customers noted its appearance on a stainless steel plate on the wall near the kitchen. (<a href="http://ybor.wtsp.com/news/weird/99508-image-virgin-mary-appears-hamburger-restaurant" target="_hplink">WTSP.com</a>)

  • Dec. 29, 2011 - London, England, United Kingdom - A woman was left stunned when she hung out her laundry to dry and discovered the face of Jesus staring back at her from a crumpled sock. Sarah Crane, 38, was amazed when she went to collect her washing and realized she had the most holy pair of socks in Britain. She was so impressed by the clarity of the face they even built a shrine to the sock. (Paul Cunningham, Caters News / ZUMA)

  • Jesus On a Cliff

    American tourist Sandra Clifford took a photo of this cliff allegedly showing an image of Jesus at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. Source: <a href="http://www.irishcentral.com/news/US-tourist-says-she-captured-image-of-Jesus-on-Cliffs-of-Moher-133715288.html" target="_hplink">IrishCentral.com</a>

  • Jesus On A Cliff

    American tourist Sandra Clifford took a photo of this cliff allegedly showing an image of Jesus at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. Source: <a href="http://www.irishcentral.com/news/US-tourist-says-she-captured-image-of-Jesus-on-Cliffs-of-Moher-133715288.html" target="_hplink">IrishCentral.com</a>

  • Jesus in Wal-Mart Receipt

    Jesus in Wal-Mart Receipt

  • Kudzu Jesus

    In this June 28, 2011 photo, a patch of kudzu grows on a utility pole, in Kinston, N.C. People in the area see a likeness to Jesus Christ on the cross. Kent Hardison runs Ma's Hot Dog stand nearby. He says he was getting ready to spray it with herbicide until he noticed the resemblance. (AP Photo/Daily Free Press, Charles Buchanan)

  • Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help

    The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin, is the only place in America that has an officially approved Virgin Mary sighting. The sighting occurred in 1859 when a Belgian woman named Adele Brice claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to her and asked her to teach religion to students. Ever since the sighting was approved in December, 2010, the tiny church has seen a massive increase in visitors.

  • Jesus on a Tea Towel

    Roisin McCourt says Jesus' face appeared on one of her stained towels. The 31-year-old dance instructor discovered the discolored smudge after giving the towel a wash in her home in Coventry, England. Though Jesus' likeness might be hard to make out, McCourt believes it is a sign from God.

  • Jesus in Wax - 2011

    An "image of Jesus" seen in dripped wax by worshippers at a church in Wiltshire, England has been removed by a cleaner. The face was first spotted by church warden Nicky Irwin at the parish church of Ogbourne St George at Easter.

  • 30ft Virgin Mary -- 2011

    Michael Meredith swears the nearly 30-foot tall statue he built in his Springfield backyard isn't intended to be a representation of the Virgin Mary. But the pilgrims have come to his doorstep anyway.

  • Surfing Madonna -- 2011

    The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a surfboard is a popular attraction in Encinitas, Calif. was installed recently by disguised artists under a train bridge.

  • Pizza Jesus

    Owners of Brisbane, Australia's Posh Pizza shop say that the face of Jesus mysteriously appeared in one of their three-cheese pizzas.

  • Virgin Mary?

    Centuries after Leonardo painted "The Virgin of the Rocks," a British receptionist says she photographed "The Virgin on the Rocks" -- capturing an image of the mother of Jesus Christ on a cliff in England. Caroline Gray says she took this picture on rocks over a beach in Cornwall on Valentine's Day.

  • Fish Stick Jesus

    You've heard of the Jesus fish, but what about the Jesus Fish Stick? The folks at <a href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/understanding-people-who-see-jesus-in-burnt-toast/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrackedRSS+%28Cracked%3A+All+Posts%29" target="_hplink">comedy website Cracked have compiled a list</a> of some of the tastiest sacred sightings.

  • Rocking Jesus

    Is this a patch of peeling paint on an old wooden rocking chair, or is it the face of Jesus Christ? A couple in Orange County, Calif., say a seat in their backyard contains a striking image of Jesus

  • Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus on Tortilla

    Compare this Solis family picture of tortilla with the image of Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus, left, with a Byzantine image of the Virgin Mary, right

  • Naan Bread Jesus

    Diners at the India Dining restaurant in Esher, Surrey, England, had a religious experience after spotting what appears to be the face of Jesus -- on naan bread. His facial features, complete with beard and flowing hair, are plainly visible in the blackened patches. There is still debate whether the image truly represents the Son of Man, or if it actually shows comedian Billy Connolly.

  • Painted Jesus

    John Keohane, manager of the Seanchai Irish Tavern in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, looks at an image of Jesus Christ that has appeared in the painted facade of the pub

  • Odd Street View

    Did the folks at Google Earth Street View capture an image of God and Jesus appearing in the clouds over a lake in Quarten, Switzerland -- or is that bird poop on the camera lens? At this point, the answer isn't clear.

  • Satan Tile

    Laszlo Csrefko spent a fortune renovating a bathroom at the family home in Bekasmegyer, Budapest, with a new bath, shower and tiles. But after taking her first shower, horrified wife Andrea, 47, fled from the bathroom when she spotted the horned head of the devil in one of the tiles

  • Jesus Toasted -- Sept. 10

    Thanks to the new Jesus Toaster, you can have the body of Christ with your daily bread.

  • Jesus on a Pole -- Sept. 10

    A Hathaway man recently came across a utility pole with a powerful image. Rickey Navarre did a double take of the pole while driving along Highway 26 and said he sees what appears to be Jesus Christ hanging on the cross.

  • Electric Iron With Image of Jesus -- Nov. 27

    A Massachusetts woman said she saw this image of Jesus Christ on the bottom of her iron on Nov. 27. Mary Jo Coady, who had recently separated from her husband and suffered economic hardship, said the image has reassured her that "life is going to be good."

  • Jesus Found in Grilled Bacon -- March 14

    A British man cooking bacon in March found this in his frying pan. Toby Elles of Lancaster, England, thought it resembled Jesus.

  • Jim Stevens Next to Truck With Jesus Image -- Nov. 2

    Jim Stevens stands next to his truck that has an image on the window resembling Jesus Christ. Stevens, of Jonesborough, Tenn., said Nov. 2 that the image keeps reappearing, but he doesn't know how or why.

  • Jesus Marmite -- May 29, 2009

    A 36-year-old British mother said she knew exactly what she was looking at when she opened up a jar of Marmite and saw this image on the lid. "Immediately I thought, 'That's Jesus,'" Claire Allen of South Wales told London's Daily Mail in May.

  • Virgin Mary Griddle -- April 25, 2009

    A mark resembling an outline of the Virgin Mary appears on a griddle at the Las Palmas restaurant in Calexico, Calif., in April. Manager Brenda Martinez said that more than 100 people had come to see the likeness, which first appeared when the griddle was being cleaned April 22.

  • Virgin Mary in Window -- Sept. 30, 2008

    Hundreds of believers and curious spectators ventured to Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 30, 2008, for a glimpse of what some said looked like an image of the Virgin Mary in a window.

  • Chocolate Mary -- August 2006

    In August 2006, workers at Bodega Chocolates discovered a two-inch column of chocolate drippings under a vat that some think looks like the Virgin Mary

  • Jesus' Face on Sheet Metal -- Feb. 28, 2006

    Thomas Haley said in February 2006 that he saw the face of Jesus in this piece of sheet metal from Hardy's Hardware in Manchester, Conn. He worked at the hardware store.

  • Image of Jesus on Waterstained Plaster -- June 23, 2005

    A Pittsburgh man cut this water-stained piece of plaster from his bathroom wall in June 2005. He said he could see the face of Jesus in the stain.

  • Pierogi Bears Image of Jesus -- Aug. 16, 2005

    A divine dumpling? Donna Lee said she saw the face of Jesus in this pierogi, a kind of Polish dumpling, she made for Easter dinner in 2005 at her home in Point Place, a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. Rather than eat the inspirational treat, she kept it in her freezer.

  • Underpass Mary -- 2005

    Crowds gathered around what many thought was an image of the Virgin Mary on the wall of a Chicago underpass in 2005.

  • Frying Pan Bearing Jesus' Likeness -- April 8, 2005

    In April 2005, an Australian man said he saw the image of Jesus Christ in this frying pan after he burned lemon mustard cream sauce in it.

  • Mary Stains -- 2004

    A deacon at a Sacramento church said red stains running from the left eye of a statue of Mary reappeared after they were wiped away in 2004.

  • Grilled Cheese Mary -- 2004

    This grilled cheese bearing what some say is the likeness of the Virgin Mary sold for $28,000 on eBay in 2004.

  • Window Mary -- 2003

    Visitors believed they saw a white apparition of Mary in a third floor window at a hospital in Milton, Mass., in 2003

FOLLOW WEIRD NEWS

When most people think of Jesus fish, they might think of fishes and loaves or bumper stickers. Erika Scheldt, 24, got a lot more literal when she photographed a stingray last Friday while playing ...
When most people think of Jesus fish, they might think of fishes and loaves or bumper stickers. Erika Scheldt, 24, got a lot more literal when she photographed a stingray last Friday while playing ...
 
 
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05:53 AM on 07/08/2012
wow talk about stupid people...
04:52 AM on 06/21/2012
No.

It looks NOTHING like Him.
02:32 PM on 04/15/2012
definitely floyd my car mechanic
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Razpooten
Nil homini certum est
01:52 AM on 04/11/2012
Further proof of how christians are easily fooled.
04:58 AM on 06/21/2012
Not really, my friend. It's just that an awful lot of people (not only Christians) like to feel that their lives have somehow been touched by Wonder.

Whether it's UFOs, Bigfoot, or their Grandmother's ghost who still sits in her rocking chair (which is why it rocks back and forth BY ITSELF...feel free to say OOOH!" here) it makes them happy.

Now, of course, we DO know what Christ looks like, the Apostle John describes Him in the Book of Revelation. Chapter One:

"And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."
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Razpooten
Nil homini certum est
12:52 PM on 06/21/2012
Don't know what you are on but if you see a guy with stars coming out of his mouth seek help immediately.
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Razpooten
Nil homini certum est
01:47 AM on 04/11/2012
And they know because they know what Jesus looked.
01:32 PM on 04/09/2012
We all know zombie jesus is coming to get us one day. THis was a warning if I've ever seen one.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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01:38 PM on 04/08/2012
I'd say that the stingray died from swimming through an oil slick and that's just the design of death left on his back? Why does everything that resembles a face that "appears" on things have to be a mythical man named Jesus?!? Why can't it be Moses or Noah or Zeus ?!? See how religion (especially Christianity) has poisoned everything? In this case, our imagination...
07:11 AM on 04/10/2012
This is clearly Poseidon, duh!

I'd say the appearance of a 'face' with such a look of abhorrence on it, appearing on the oil covered corpse of what was once a majestic sea creature, is drama enough on itself.

No need for deity's to add to the fray :/
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Razpooten
Nil homini certum est
01:47 AM on 04/11/2012
Or just an oil slick stain?
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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12:45 PM on 04/08/2012
That's not jesus. That's Iggy Pop!!!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Van Hammersly
01:10 PM on 04/07/2012
You say Jesus. I say Frank Zappa.
01:03 PM on 04/07/2012
religious people are nuts.
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Razpooten
Nil homini certum est
01:48 AM on 04/11/2012
They are nucking futz.
05:10 AM on 06/21/2012
Really? And yet there are those who can believe that this universe (with natural laws such as gravity) has always been here and everything that is in it came about by random chance right down to life somehow evolving on a molten glob that was ejected from the interior of a star.

ALL planets etc have that origin. Now, the sun (our star) has a temperature of 27 million degrees at its core...I am not aware of any bacterium...any amoeba...or, indeed, any LIVING thing that could exist there nor can anyone explain how the COOLING of this molten glob could cause life to somehow manifest where none was before....

THIS is sanity?
12:02 PM on 06/21/2012
Just because you don't understand it you don't have to fear it.No we don't know of anything living on the sun(our star).The cooling of the sun does have a effect on life here on earth.If the sun is to hot we bake but if its a bit cooler we can survive how is that hard to understand? To answer your last question yes science is sanity.Lets look at a religious point of view.There is this all mighty being in the void of nothingness who decides you know what i'm bored "let there be light"...LOL at least science uses logic and reason to explain things.Life can create itself all the time.Certain fish can switch being male or female if need be.http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21332-zoologger-transgender-fish-perform-reverse-sex-flip.html     so yes life does what it needs to not by a creator but by chemical processes that occur in nature.
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MrsOrtiz
They don't teach micro-bio in vokie school
01:13 AM on 04/07/2012
Looks more like my ex-boyfriend.
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Razpooten
Nil homini certum est
01:48 AM on 04/11/2012
And you admit that?
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MrsOrtiz
They don't teach micro-bio in vokie school
07:40 PM on 04/11/2012
I might have been drinking.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
oldwolf49
Religion is a tool of the evil.
12:41 AM on 04/07/2012
I can see some pattern that might be confused with a face but I don't think the fish had that in mind when it got up this morning. Moving on.
10:31 PM on 04/06/2012
Enough with these "findings" smh...seriously, just because you see some religious image doesn't mean it is.
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american-dolt
Divide and Conquer
03:37 PM on 04/06/2012
Wrong, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull.
01:27 PM on 04/06/2012
It's Cheech!
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Razpooten
Nil homini certum est
01:49 AM on 04/11/2012
Or Chon after a big doobie.