Hoax: Hitler’s Diaries, Lincoln’s Assassins, and Other Famous Frauds

4. The Shroud of Turin

4 The Shroud of Turin Tell Me What You Want to Believe and I Will Tell What You Will Believe Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. —John 19:40 To believers, the Shroud of Turin is the authentic burial cloth that covered the body of Jesus Christ following his crucifixion prior to his resurrection. To skeptics the shroud is a man-made object created in the fourteenth century by a medieval painter as a religious icon to attract pilgrims and their money. The shroud first came to light in 1357 and passed through several hands and places before ending up in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, where it is preserved today. Once privately owned, it is now the property of the Roman Catholic Church, which oversees its care, and its public display on rare occasions. Controversy has followed the shroud since it first appeared in the midfourteenth century and continues to the present. One would think that modern science with all of its sophisticated technology could settle the controversy beyond a reasonable doubt. Unfortunately, as in the case of evolution, the controversy continues in spite of the science. In fact, as with evolution, it is science that comes under attack, not the shroud, whenever the authenticity of the relic is questioned. At times one wonders if it is worthwhile to devote so much effort to determine the true nature of the 118 HOAX shroud since no amount of evidence has changed opinions on either side of the controversy. It is not surprising that of all the revered relics from time immemorial the most treasured are those of a religious nature. Religious relics of the most extraordinary kind abound throughout Christendom, ranging from Christ’s foreskin (carefully preserved following his circumcision), to his mother’s breast milk, to pieces of the cross on which he was crucified, to the nails that held him to the cross, to a thorn removed from the mock crown placed on his head by Roman soldiers, to the spear that pierced his side, to blood collected from the wound caused by the spear, to the Titulus Crucis or plaque placed on the cross bearing the inscription “King of the Jews.” Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, expertly describes these relics, and many others, in his book Relics of the Christ.1 Of all of the religious relics that exist today, none are more sacred or more revered than the Shroud of Turin. While most of the relics mentioned This glass tube protects a small piece of the alleged true cross of Christ’s crucifixion , carried to the Maryland colony by Father Andrew White aboard the Ark and Dove in 1634. The relic resides in St. Ignatius Church in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. (Photograph by the author) The Shroud of Turin 119 above are treated with considerable skepticism by even devout Christians, the Shroud of Turin is embraced as genuine. Considered the holy of holies, the shroud is a piece of linen cloth approximately fourteen feet in length by four feet in width. Its most important feature is the image of a man, believed to be that of Christ. The image depicts a man carefully posed with his hands folded in front of him covering his genital area. The image depicts both the front and the back of the man along with traces of what appears to be blood emanating from wounds on the head (presumably from a crown of thorns), the right side (caused by a Roman spear), wrists and ankles (from nails), and on the upper back (presumably caused by scourging ). The cause of the image is unknown, but many of those who believe the shroud to be authentic explain it as being the result of a sudden burst of energy released at the moment of resurrection. Other believers reject this theory, simply stating that various tests have failed to reveal the source of the image. To nonbelievers the image is a clever painting, the product of a medieval artist. What is the history of this interesting piece of cloth? When did it first appear, and where did it come from? As mentioned above, the first recorded description of the cloth occurred in 1357, when a man by the...