Over the holidays, an Ohio man named Dennis Bort cut a potato in half and was surprised to find the image of a cross inside.
Any other time this might not have been remarkable, but during the Christmas season this was seen as a sign -- not of the apocalypse, but of opportunity.
Bort did what any non-devout cross-finding potato peeler would do: he put it up for sale on eBay with a starting bid of a cool grand. Miraculously (or not), a second potato-bearing cross was discovered by an Iowa man a few days later on New Years Eve.
Will the sellers get rich? Maybe, but the images have less to do with miracles than psychology: People see Christian crosses in potatoes for the same reason they see faces (or other meaningful images) in clouds or other ambiguous images: a process called pareidolia.
There are so many random patterns in the world around us that eventually, by pure coincidence, some of them will resemble well-known images and icons.
Religious imagery is quite common, partly because it's so widely recognized. A pattern in tree bark or a coffee stain may be the spitting image of your mailman, but nobody cares or notices unless your mailman happens to resemble Jesus.
And before Christians get too cocky, it should be noted that the Arabic calligraphic script for “Allah” has been seen by the faithful in various unusual places, including on fish and inside fruit. If you want to make some extra cash this year, keep a watchful eye out for meaningful laundry stains!
For more on the miracle spuds, go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_odd_special_spuds.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
Tags: Current Events, Folklore and Superstition, Holidays, Myths and Legends, Religion and Spirituality
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