According to Wikipedia, pareidolia is the psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Apparently, it is also the reason some people are making lots of money off really old grilled cheese sandwiches and tiny pretzels. From chocolate to Cheetos, it seems our religious icons are happy to appear in the stuff we like to eat.

7) Frying Pan Jesus

?Hailing from Australia, this burnt frying pan once housed the ingredients for a lemon mustard cream sauce to pour on top of John Dory (a type of deep water fish). Apparently, the sauce was divine, in more ways than one. It was eventually sold on eBay for approximately $78 U.S. Who knew Frying Pan Jesus was such a cheap date?

6) The “Immaculate Confection”
 

?A heavenly piece of chocolate formed from the drippings at a California chocolate company resembling the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Workers scattered rose petals around it and prayed to the mini chocolate Mary, who is said to melt in your mouth, not on your soul… “Our Lady of Chocolate Factories” is the new patron saint of premenstrual women.

5) Nun Bun

?For years, a shellacked cinnamon bun (for preservation purposes) thought to resemble Mother Teresa sat in a Nashville coffee shop. The only holy icon we see in the Nun Bun is a replica of what Mother Teresa would look like if she were a Muppet. Eventually, Mother Teresa, before her death in 1997, wrote Bongo Java Coffee Shop to ask them to stop selling her likeness for profit. Muppet Mother Teresa, however, was totally cool with the whole thing.

4) Virgin Mary Pizza Pan

?I’d like mushrooms, onions and one apparition of the Virgin Mary on that pizza please…actually, just leave the apparition on the pizza pan, thanks.

Some cafeteria ladies in a Houston elementary school spotted the holy stain on Ash Wednesday, while scrubbing the pan that previously held a cheese pizza. The ‘panifestation’ (totally stole that from a roadsideamerica.com article) is no longer in the school cafeteria, and according to some sources, has been moved into custody of the Archdiocese of Houston Galveston.

3) Cheesus is Just Alright With Me

cheesus.jpg

?No, it’s not a Weird Al version of the Doobie Brother’s tune, but it is what a Dallas couple nicknamed their favorite Cheeto reincarnation of the world’s most popular Savior. Found while snacking on a bag of the unnaturally orange munchies, Sarah Bell had a self-proclaimed “religious experience” when she found the cheesy resemblance of a robed Jesus praying in her bag of gas station treats. Cheesus appearances on eBay are being considered.

Apparently, Cheetos are the preferred channel for Jesus appearances as a woman in Missouri also claims to have found a mini snack in the form of Jesus on the cross. There are no plans of selling the little orange relic, but instead, will be placed inside a safety deposit box for preservation and safekeeping. Hope it’s a little more secure than that tomb he resurrected from.

2) Our Lady of Rold Gold

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?Never eat a pretzel again without scrutinizing it closely for similarities to any religious figures, it could cost you $10,600. That’s how much Golden Palace Casino (an internet casino based in Antigua) bought the twisted snack for on, what else, eBay, from a family in St. Paul. No word on whether the honey mustard flavoring played any part in the value of the sacred pretzel.

1) Grilled Cheese Mother Mary

?Diana Duyser’s steps for immortalizing the Virgin Mary:
1.    Make grilled cheese sandwich (with Publix bread and Land O’Lakes cheese)
2.    Take bite, then carefully interpret markings on bread for any trace or resemblance to Mary.
3.    Stop eating immediately, place in plastic box on top of cotton balls, Mary side up, on bedside table.
4.    Wait 10 years.
5.    Sell on eBay for $28,000 to online casino.
6.    Have online casino display sandwich outside famous tattoo parlor in Miami while getting tattoo of the grilled cheese sandwich on chest and have it filmed for a national reality television show.
7.    Live with a grilled cheese tattooed on your chest for all eternity.
 

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