One of these was previously posted ... but I put them together because I couldn't resist creating the topic title! (Get thee behind me turtle!)
Photos at urls listed with each item.
Cheers
Wes
DAILY HERALD (Chicago, Illinois) 23 April 05 Pet turtle offers heavenly display (Stacy St.Clair)
You’ve seen Our Lady of the Underpass.
Now meet Our Lady of the Underbelly.
A miracle of reptilian proportions may be occurring in Glendale Heights, where a pet turtle’s markings look eerily similar to the Virgin Mary.
Resident George Sourile noticed the spot on the turtle’s tummy while cleaning his tank several months ago. Sourile didn’t think much about the spot until a few weeks ago when people swore they saw a Marian apparition on the Kennedy Expressway.
The faithful and the curious have flocked to the image, a salt stain located on a concrete wall near Fullerton Avenue in Chicago. Dubbed Our Lady of the Underpass, the spot’s resemblance to Mary is, at best, debatable.
The suburban turtle, named Red Belly, bears a much stronger likeness to the Blessed Virgin — even if his owners don’t believe Mother Mary has come to comfort them.
"I’m Catholic," George Sourile said, laughing. "But not that Catholic."
Convinced Red Belly looked holier than the salt stain, the Sourile family began showing his tummy to neighbors. Their shell-shocked reactions convinced them they weren’t the only ones who saw deux ex tortoise.
Sourile brought the picture to his office and co-workers marveled at its likeness. His brother asked him to e-mail a photo so he could show Mary on a half shell to others, as well.
Eastern painted turtles like Red Belly often have markings, but the spots typically look more Rorschach test than Virgin blessed.
"It does kind of look like the pictures on those holy cards you get at wakes," Sourile said.
The turtle ended up in the Western suburbs by chance — or divine intervention, depending how one looks at it. Sourile’s 13-year-old son, Nick, found him while fishing with his uncle about a year ago and brought him home.
Red Belly was placed in a tank with the family’s other turtles, where he swam and sunbathed under a heat lamp. Red Belly lived with the family for several months before Sourile noticed the markings while changing the pets’ water.
Sourile also checked the family’s two other pet turtles, but neither of them had divine markings.
"They’re non-denominational," Sourile said.
Thousands of Marian apparitions are claimed each year, though the Catholic Church has verified only about two dozen of them. None of the official sightings have involved turtles or underpasses.
Though the Souriles remain unconvinced of Red Belly’s piety, they don’t think he’s cursed either.
"Having a religious icon on your turtle’s belly can’t be a bad thing," Sourile. "It might be a good thing."
http://www.dailyherald.com/news/dupagestory.asp?id=40032
THE TIMES (Frankfort, Indiana) 18 March 05 Speak of the Devil: Couple Sees Satan’s Face on Pet Turtle’s Shell (Janis Thornton)
Photo: The owners of Lucky the turtle, Marsha and Bryan Dora, say the likeness of Satan has emerged on his shell following an October fire in downtown Frankfort that destroyed their pet shop. (Janis Thornton)
Michigantown: Bryan and Marsha Dora insist that in no way do they fear their pet turtle or believe it is possessed.
They assert it is a normal, contented, healthy reptile, who enjoys lounging in its tank and being hand fed snack-sized shrimp.
Perhaps, but even so, the Doras do admit that staring into the face of Satan they see emblazoned onto their turtle’s shell does give them pause.
Lucky, the palm-sized, red-eared slider, gained fame last October when it was the sole survivor of the fiery inferno that consumed the Doras’ pet store at 57 N. Jackson St. Now they contend the turtle might not have been alone.
Viewing a picture of Lucky’s colorful, bumpy shell shown on their big-screen TV, Bryan Dora points out lips, eyes, a goatee, shoulders and a pair of pointy horns. It’s proof, he says, that the fire attracted more than firemen and spectators.
“The marking on the shell was like the devil wanted us to know he was down there,” Dora said. “To me, it’s too coincidental that the only thing to come out unscathed would have this image on it.”
Having not noticed Satan’s face on the turtle before the fire, the Doras theorize the intense heat may have caused the shell’s coloring to change, thus highlighting the devil-like face.
They think their discovery could prove serendipitous.
Recognizing the uniqueness of Lucky’s tale, Dora produced a DVD, depicting both the turtle’s survival story and the pet shop’s history, including footage of the fire. He titled the DVD “The Pet Shop Story of Lucky the Turtle” and plans to place it for auction on eBay.
Because eBay forbids the sale of animals, he said he will offer the highest bidder the option of buying Lucky separately off-line.
Although parting with Lucky will be difficult for the Doras, they will use the money generated through the sales as start-up money for another A-Dora-ble Pet Shop, he said.
Lucky’s two tankmates, along with about 150 other exotic pets, perished the night of the Oct. 13 fire. Dora can only speculate how Lucky managed to live through the smoke and intense heat.
“Turtles can hold their breath quite awhile. He may have taken one breath just before and held it through the fire,” he said. “Except that the fire went on and on for hours.”
Lacking a concrete explanation for Lucky’s survival, they affectionately call him their “miracle turtle.”
The blaze took out the courthouse square’s northeast section and several county offices and businesses. Its cause was never determined.
A laboratory in Maryland has ruled out natural causes in the samples it tested. Thus, test results leave the fire’s origin a smoldering mystery.
Whether the fire’s outbreak was due to arson or a stroke of bad luck, the Doras steadfastly believe it did contain a supernatural element.
“Regardless of the cause,” he said, “with the destruction and the fire that raged on, I feel the devil was present.
“Out of all the animals that perished, why would it be the one with this image is the only one to survive?”
http://www.ftimes.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=26096&SectionID=88&S=1
