Queries & Comments

The Shroud of Turin

To the Editor:

Congratulations for your courageous publication of “New Evidence May Explain Image on Shroud of Turin,” BAR 12:04! Undoubtedly, the article will generate scientific controversy.

To the Editor:

For 600 years, distinguished investigators have studied the Shroud of Turin with increasingly myopic vision until, in the July/August issue, there is mentioned a dimension of a micron—1/25,000 of an inch!

These distinguished groups of investigators should back off about five feet and consider:

1. Would the near shoulder-length hair remain rigidly framing the face as a body was turned this way and that as laid out supinely for enshrouding? No!

2. Would the heads of the two images meet at a point? No! (The artist forgot skulls also have a dimension from front to back.)

3. The shadowed features of the face indicate light coming from the front upper right, perhaps the aura from a lopsided halo?

The cloth—do not call it a shroud—never was imprinted by anyone’s dead body.