Look everyone, it's...

JESUS!


Stay Free! tracks everyone's favorite deity as he leapfrogs across America



1978

Mario Rubio is rolling a burrito when she notices skillet burns on the tortilla resembling the mournful face of Jesus Christ. Shortly thereafter, 8,000 curious pilgrims trek to the Rubios' small stucco house in rural New Mexico to view the sacred icon. Mrs. Rubio leaves her house unlocked so that visitors may freely enter and examine the tortilla. (Newsweek, Aug. 14, 1978)

1980

Oklahoma evangelist Oral Roberts spots a 900 foot Jesus straddling a hospital complex he is building next to his university. Roberts, interpreting the divine image as a plea for financial assistance, appeals to his followers and nets millions of dollars in donations. (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 8, 1992)

1981

Christ appears, crucified, on a garage door in California and draws 8,000 visitors in one weekend. The image is later found to be caused by reflections from two street lights that had merged with shadows of a bush and a real-estate sign. (USA Today, April 12, 1989)

1986

In Fostoria, Ohio, Jesus is found on the side of a soybean oil tank. A month after the image is reported, vandals attack the tank with paint balloons. (USA Today, April 12, 1989)

1987

Jesus appears on the chimney of a suburban bowling alley. The four- foot high image is formed from rusting metal. Local truckers are split on whether the rust pattern on the chimney means anything other than it's time to buy a new chimney. Some say it looks like Popeye; others say it is Christ. A bowler at Town and Country Bowl had spotted the figure and immediately notified a Chicago television station. Town and Country owner Irwin Korzen says he and his employees noticed it months earlier but didn't think it was a big deal. (Chicago Tribune, June 24, 1987)

1988

In Lubbock, Texas, members of a small Roman Catholic Church see visions of Mary and Jesus in the clouds during an outdoor Mass. The diocesan report that follows takes a cautious stand and draws no conclusions. (USA Today, April 12, 1989)

1989

Thousands of believers flock to a home in northeast Harris County to view a linoleum table top that mysteriously reflects the images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. Sources aren't quite sure. (Houston Chronicle, April 12, 1992)

1991

Jesus makes national news as the centerpiece of a Pizza Hut billboard in Atlanta. Joyce Simpson spotted the face of Christ in the advertisement immediately after praying for a divine sign. She couldn't decide whether to stay in the church choir or quit and sing professionally. The shadowy image of Jesus' face in strands of spaghetti hanging from a fork meant she should stay with the choir. John Moody, a marketing director for Pizza Hut, said the picture, one of 35 put up in the area, is a standard food photograph that the Wichita headquarters provides franchises. Moody said several people, however, called his office to say they see other notably less religious images in the picture: deceased rock star Jim Morrison, a puppet and Willie Nelson. (Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1991)

1992

Jesus is discovered, on a cross, in the gnarled bark of a sycamore tree in New Haven, CT. (The Hartford Courant, Sept. 19, 1992)

1993

Approximately 3,000 people line up outside an apartment building in upper Manhattan to witness apparitions of Jesus Christ on the frosted-glass window of a 5th floor bathroom. The Rev. Jose Aquilar, a Catholic priest from St. Judes Church several blocks away, claims the source of the apparition is a dirty double-paned window and a little moisture. Upon Aquilar's suggestion, police remove the window and have it taken to a hardware store and scrubbed with Brillo - an act some residents called sacrilegious. (Newsday, Aug. 7, 1993)

Return to Stay Free #5 Table of Contents.