An image some say resembles the face of Jesus Christ has appeared on the stump of a tree felled in a Belfast cemetery.
Locals say the image shows a bearded man who resembles Jesus, on the tree stump beside the grave in West Belfast.
A video of the mysterious image, entitled “Belfast City Cemetery Phenomenon” was posted on YouTube with the following message.
"An image has appeared on a tree stump in Belfast's City Cemetery.
"Upon close inspection, it’s hard to tell just how this image got there.
"Recently City Council employees trimmed trees in the cemetery, and as a result this phenomenon appeared."
This is not the first time a religious depiction has been spotted in a tree in Ireland. In June 2009, workers at Holy Mary Parish Church in Rathkeale discovered what they believed was an image of the Virgin Mary in a tree stump in Co Limerick.
“One of the lads said look, our Blessed Lady in the tree,' Rathkeale Community Council Graveyard Committee chairman Noel White said at the time.
'One of the other lads looked over and actually knelt down and blessed himself, he got such a shock.
“It was the perfect shape of the figure of Our Lady holding the baby,” he said.
Thousands of people signed a petition to ensure the tree stump remained in the grounds permanently.
However, the local parish priest was not convinced.
Fr Willie Russell said: "There's nothing there . . . it's just a tree. You can't worship a tree."
Although not tree related, last November, an American tourist also captured an image of an
apparent apparition of Jesus Christ at the Cliffs of Moher.
As reported by IrishCentral, Sandra Clifford, a pilot from San Francisco, captured the image on her digital camera when she visited the famous Co. Clare tourist attraction on November 4 last.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.YoungPike | Aug 13, 2012, 11:00 AM EDT
If they'd cut the tree a few inches higher it might have looked like Gerry Adams! Higher still, Russell Brand!
seanomelb | Aug 11, 2012, 07:25 PM EDT
Looks like me during my hippy days LOL
irishcoffeekid | Aug 11, 2012, 04:39 PM EDT
hardly matters - does look like that image we are led to believe is jesus but in truth the church wont care if it gets people back to mass/church and the government are making such a has of running the country, they'll be delighted with anything that takes the focus off them- in time we'll probably discover the government arranged it to distract people from noticing how messed up they are!!!
Nicoletta | Aug 11, 2012, 01:10 PM EDT
Our Lord Himself said that if people stopped witnessing about Him, even the stones would cry out.
timbobdennehy | Aug 11, 2012, 12:39 PM EDT
i see faces in the clouds all the time,im not making anything out of it.
bonjouryall | Aug 11, 2012, 10:55 AM EDT
Knot!
TisEyerish | Aug 11, 2012, 08:17 AM EDT
Okay, we have entered the realm of fantasy with the words, "...resembles the face of Jesus." Does anyone realize we don't actually know what Jesus looked like? All we have are artist interpretations. There is, of course, the Shroud of Turin, but there is no way of knowing if this was actually Jesus' shroud and analysis tends to say it is not old enough to be that shroud. My own feelings are that someone was just very, very clever. Having said that...why not cut the stump down further and see if the image is just on the surface, or it if continues on through the stump. If it continues on, that would lend credibility to it being a miracle. As for me...I think some very clever person found a way to accomplish this and is sitting back laughing.
IrelandNorth | Aug 11, 2012, 06:23 AM EDT
PS If the grave is of John Steven, the famous Irish Fenian, dated 1916 - does this apparition retrospectively authenticate the Rebellion of the same year. More interestingly, perhaps, does this mean that Jesus was/is a Fenian? Albeit and Jewish one - ie a Zealot. A case of Tíocfaidh ár Judea!
IrelandNorth | Aug 11, 2012, 06:10 AM EDT
The Catholic Church used to preach that God was at all times and in all places. Would that not include a tree in a Belfast graveyard, and therfore sacrocant and worthy of worship? (Something Native-Americans and Celtic Druids knew well before pale-faced fork-tongued Europeans presumed to tell them about a Naturism they already knew). My guess is that it is an apparition of St Ernesto 'Che' Guevara-Ó Loingshie, whose had to manifest this way due to the disapproval of a certain US Congressman and Florida Senator to his statue to him in Eyre Sq, Galway.
citizen69 | Aug 11, 2012, 03:51 AM EDT
Maybe Jesus has come to smote Belfast City Council in revenge for the Lennox affair!
Silling | Aug 11, 2012, 03:01 AM EDT
I have been thinking about this! Normal chain lubricant leaves no trace on the wood, but if one used waste oil, it does taint the stump. Chances are it is this.
Silling | Aug 11, 2012, 02:18 AM EDT
Has anybody looked at the other end to see if Jesus had a twin? CaoimhinWPB's comment re Lot's wife was very clever.
CaoimhinWPB | Aug 10, 2012, 08:20 PM EDT
Whoaa! It could be Jesus! I spilled some salt this morning that looked so much like Lot's wife!
canadianirish | Aug 10, 2012, 07:46 PM EDT
It definitely resembles Jesus but it also looks a little like Brendan Hughes.
seanomelb | Aug 10, 2012, 06:27 PM EDT
Charles Manson comes to mind
myhomenj | Aug 10, 2012, 06:01 PM EDT
I don't know about Marnie O'Doherty laughing, but i sure am. Very funny stuff here. Thanks for the good laugh.
GregShox | Aug 10, 2012, 05:51 PM EDT
Is Antoinette not embarrassed to be writing this sort of nonsense?
pilib04 | Aug 10, 2012, 05:40 PM EDT
Upon second glance it looks like, could it be, Lennox. Why of course, the dog Americans love.
pilib04 | Aug 10, 2012, 05:39 PM EDT
Marnie O'Doherty mentioned the same thing about a tree in Milltown cemetery (West Belfast)in her novel, "Kate Lagan's Rough guide to heaven". Surprised they are still going on about this. Marnie must be having a good laugh.
GregShox | Aug 10, 2012, 04:58 PM EDT
It could be Kris Kristofferson.
Murph46 | Aug 10, 2012, 03:51 PM EDT
Its Charles Manson!
KerryLKing | Aug 10, 2012, 03:02 PM EDT
What I'd like to know is.....whose grave is that anyway? Cause it looks like the tree is coming right straight out of the gravesite. Can't make-out the name. Hmmm, maybe it's a spiritual event pertaining to that person.....
hybernia | Aug 10, 2012, 02:53 PM EDT
Has he nothing better to do??
Newrone | Aug 10, 2012, 01:59 PM EDT
Actually, it's the spitting image of Mohamme... OMG! Get in the cellar & batten down the hatches, there'll be a Fatwah out on the City Council!
Newrone | Aug 10, 2012, 01:43 PM EDT
"There's nothing there . . . it's just a tree. You can't worship a tree" Um, well at least it IS a tree! Not a pretend-ethereal-mythical tree-in-the-sky!
Newrone | Aug 10, 2012, 01:22 PM EDT
'Fr Willie Russell said: "You can't worship a tree."' Father Russell sounds like a bit of an iconaclast to me. Are we sure he doesn't have Protestant tendencies?
garbo55 | Aug 10, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT
Sorry but it just looks like a charcoal drawing to me. I was not there when it was cut down so to me a drawing it is, put there by someone....
mayoman | Aug 10, 2012, 12:36 PM EDT
Looks like someone busted his poor blessed nose. Must have been one helluva a fight.
Stropaire | Aug 10, 2012, 12:16 PM EDT
Looks more like Blessed Osama Bin Liner to me, and we catually know what he looked like
CindyDoyle | Aug 10, 2012, 11:43 AM EDT
WOW, Sure looks like Jesus and I am a skeptic. This happens alot in the US and I wonder if someone up stairs is trying to tell us something.
GregShox | Aug 10, 2012, 11:26 AM EDT
But it's real. They even compared it against an original photo of Jesus.
handsome68 | Aug 10, 2012, 11:22 AM EDT
Fir the love of God, would yiz STOP?! I already told yis thet when yiz have no news to report -- like now in the doldrums of August, -- to try usin' yir BRAIN for something other than a hat rack. Yir Druid tree-worshipping roots is showin like yir cheap underwear. Get a life, fir God's sake.
ballyhip | Aug 10, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT
Oh Jasus! I just saw it move. Call that guy from Knock to verify!
ArmaghCity | Aug 10, 2012, 10:06 AM EDT
Looks more like one of our heroes from the blanket protest to me. TAL.
alongester | Aug 10, 2012, 09:43 AM EDT
This is such a load of nonsense and superstition Yes it could resemble a face but come on!! O dear--people have little or nothing to do or focus on to make a story out of this!! They should chop down the rest of the tree trunk and burn it and get on with life :):)