CHICAGO DAILY SOUTHTOWN (Illinois) 06 June 05 A sign from above seen on a turtle from below (Michael Drakulich)
Barbara Klinkhammer is not a devoutly religious person.
But after the 55-year old Sauk Village woman awakened her 2-year old pet painted turtle from hibernation this spring, friends and family noticed something. Set against an orange background on the turtle's underside is a bluish black marking that looks like a human figure.
After having a priest look at it, Klinkhammer believes it is a likeness of the Virgin Mary, perhaps similar to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
She has had the turtle about 18 months. It is her 11-year old son Justin's beloved pet.
The turtle was first found as a baby in a neighbor's pool, then passed among several neighbors who wanted to take care of it but didn't know how. Klinkhammer, who raised another turtle more than 10 years ago, decided to take it.
For 18 months, she noticed nothing unusual about her new pet. She said there were no significant markings on its undershell when she put it away for hibernation last fall.
Shortly after the turtle awoke from hibernation, her older son Bruce noticed the markings when the family was cleaning its tank.
"He brought it to my attention and said he thought it looked like the Virgin Mary. I said to him, 'You're crazy.'"
But, she said, other family members agreed with Bruce that there seemed to be the outline of a figure there.
She asked a priest from St. James Catholic Church to take a look.
"He said he thought there might be a silhouette there," Klinkhammer said. "I thought, 'Well the Lord works in mysterious ways.' It just appeared when it wasn't there before. And if a priest says there might be an image there, what does that tell you."
Klinkhammer named the turtle Tony Girl because she has yet to determine its sex.
Despite the rather sudden appearance of the distinguishing marks, Klinkhammer said it will continue to be what it has been for the last 18 months: a pet.
She has no plans to put Tony Girl on display for curious onlookers, no plans to open her home to them, no plans to sell it on E-Bay, no plans of taking advantage of it for notoriety or financial gain.
"How could you exploit your pet like that?" she said.
And while she believes it could be an image, she realizes there will be skeptics of her turtle and of her.
"It doesn't bother me. I question it myself, sometimes. I'm just telling people what I saw. If they don't believe it, that's their problem. I may be convinced, but that's my opinion. It's not necessarily others' opinion."
Klinkhammer said she is not even sure it's a sign of anything good or bad to come.
Her son Justin says otherwise.
"I think it's a sign something good is coming," he said. "I'm not really superstitious, but this is just plain freaky."
A sign from above seen on a turtle from below