IMAGE OF JESUS FOUND ON SHEET METAL! CONDUCTORS, LISTEN TO GOD.
by THIS IS YOUR SIGN TO VOTE YES!
CONDUCTORS,GOD HAS GIVEN YOU A SIGN TO JOIN THE TINMEN.................
Miraculous metal: Hardware store workers say piece of sheet metal shows face of Jesus
By Ben Rubin, Journal Inquirer
02/24/2006
MANCHESTER - For anyone who's seen a silhouette of the Virgin Mary on a stained hospital window, the face of Mother Teresa in a cinnamon bun, or the visage of Jesus in an ultrasound, this one's for you.
Possibly the most recent sighting of a holy figure on a random object happened in Manchester, in Hardy's Hardware store at 277 W. Middle Turnpike, where two workers say they found an image of Jesus on a piece of sheet metal.
And what does one do with a sheet metal Jesus? Sell it on eBay, of course.
The thin piece of metal is on the online auction block at a starting price of $19.99, but has a modest "Buy it Now" price of $10,000. As of Friday night, there were no bidders.
Thomas Haley, 23, who's been working at Hardy's for the past three years, said he was busy unloading a supply truck about two weeks ago when he turned a corner at the back of the store and was struck by the face of Jesus staring back at him.
To make sure he wasn't going crazy, he called over another worker, Jonathan Jackson, 18, who confirmed there was definitely a face on a piece of sheet metal sitting in the store's racks.
"We both realized it kind of looked like Jesus," Haley said.
Since then, the two workers have shown the piece to a few other workers and customers, and even took it on a short pilgrimage to a nearby hair salon.
Haley, who was raised Catholic but doesn't consider himself religious, said, "I mean, it hasn't done anything miraculous as of yet, but seeing it is kind of groovy. Just seeing it brightens people's day."
As fate would have it, this was Haley's first Jesus sighting, and he seems at least a bit of a Doubting Thomas about the blurry oil stain he claims is Jesus.
"You're going to see what you're going to see," he said matter-of-factly. "It's a piece of sheet metal with the likeness of Jesus, supposedly, depending on who sees it."
He said people's reactions have been those of amazement and amusement. While some remarked that the $15.49 piece of metal had a striking image of Jesus on it, others suggested the image looked more like Jim Morrison, Haley said.
Still a tad ambivalent about the sale, Haley added, "I feel kind of bad just pawning off Christ."
He said whatever money was raised would be divvied up between him, Jackson, another worker, and two customers.
With any luck, the Hardy's workers could find their sheet metal Jesus joining in notoriety a few other recent religious discoveries. Just last year, to name a few, the face of Jesus was found on a nacho pan in Jacksonville, Fla., the Virgin Mary appeared at an underpass in Chicago, and a water-stained plaster wall Jesus was uncovered in a Pittsburgh bathroom - and then sold on eBay for $1,999.99 to goldenpalace.com.
About the sheet metal Jesus, Jackson said, "Some people said, 'Are you sure it's Jesus?' and I think, 'Who else would come to give us a sign, Groucho Marx?'
"I think it's a good thing. Maybe it's trying to give some people hope."
And with a little help, from maybe a higher power, Haley's strange find may be parlayed into an eBay miracle.