Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Stone's Stone

Did you miss me? I was in Frankfurt last week for the Book Fair. More on that soon, but in the meantime how about some new news about a recognizable face showing up unexpectedly? Reported by the Danbury, Connecticut, The News-Times, we have yet another rock chiseled by geology, and perhaps lawnmowers, to intimate the face of Jesus.



Allen Stone – quite the last name for a self-declared rock collector – found this rock while doing yard work at his Ridgefield, Connecticut, home. This was about a year ago, and at the time what impressed him about the object was its feel. He stowed it away for a while but then got a digital camera, and he snapped the stone. He showed the image to a friend and she declared, “Oh, my gosh, it's Jesus Christ!”

Brigitta, Stone's wife, likes the details that reference the Christ iconography: "The wreath at the image's head, the robe and the staff.”

Another friend, after seeing the object, asked Stone to drive the rock to a Greek Orthodox priest in New Rochelle, New York, for examination but in Stone’s words, "that's quite a distance to go." Steve’s skepticism isn’t surprising for a rock lover: "A lot of people believe in these things . . . Do I? I don't know. But I think this is interesting. This is a rock -- made by nature. It is unique and notable." Plate tectonics do outdate the Bible after all.



The article goes on to gloss the history of these phenomena, from Leonardo da Vinci to Stewart Guthrie’s Faces in the Clouds, to the Chocolate Virgin Mary and Grilled Cheese Madonna (both of which appear in Madonna of the Toast).

Even when I go away, the faces and forms keep manifesting, the media never tires of these true human-interest stories and that’s what makes them worth examining time and again.

More anon . . .

2 comments:

Rocker said...

Buzz:
Thanks for the entry on your website regarding the rock I found. Yes my name is aptly positioned for the topic I am now referring to as "rock-umentary" details.
Although, who Steve is beyond me; it was definitely a typo! I'm sure the directive was to be "Stone". I want to get the word out of my discovery but am not having much luck in the media. People should know about this stuff, believers and non-believers, but how? I am willing to tour but hopefully at someone else’s expense. Any advice you can give me? I would really like to speak with you.

Buzz said...

Hi Allen,

Apologies for the typo, I have fixed that.

More than happy to chat with you about your rock and its future. Feel free to email me here:

buzz@markbattypublisher.com