It's not about money - it's about passing on a message of hope and redemption, says a Vallejo man who claims a rock he's had for years, suddenly has a new supernatural message, just in time for Easter.
Jake Forte said he believes the stone is imbued with special qualities - and sometimes the image of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus - and he's listed it for sale on eBay.
"My whole point was to put it on eBay so people could see what I saw, more than anything," Forte said. "I didn't expect anyone to bid on it. But it's always had a calming effect on me, and someone else might need it, like I needed it so long."
So far, there's been several thousand hits and at least one $1 bid on the stone, Forte said. He added he doesn't know how eBay arrived at the "absurd" $50-plus shipping charges it's asking, and that he's willing to refund the difference between that and the actual shipping costs to whoever buys the stone.
EBay lists several other Virgin Mary images in stone. The Redford, Mich., owner of one is asking $7,500, which he writes is a year's music school tuition for his son who found the stone along the shores of Michigan's Lake Huron.
Forte said he can't vouch for the authenticity of the others, "but mine's for real," he said. The others list for 99 cents (for a keychain stone), $10.95 for a tabletop fountain stone and $14.95 for a hand-painted stone.
"My mother said this kind of thing happens - the Virgin Mary appearing in stone or some other way - for one or two people in the world around Easter time," Forte said.
The 32-year-old health care aide said he was given the approximately 4-pound stone in 1986 by his godfather, who Forte said brought it back with him from a Jerusalem archeological dig. The stone, which is about the length of an average forearm, is black and appears to contain a mix of materials, including wood fragments, obsidian and amber, Forte said.
"My godfather was a geologist who freelanced with National Geographic, and a very spiritual person. He was originally from Yugoslavia but lived in Vallejo for many years," Forte said. "He always brought me back trinkets from his digs, and this time he brought back this stone, and I held onto it because it was from him."
Forte's godfather, who died in 1993, was also Benicia Industrial Park's vice president, Forte said.
Forte's stone was found during a dig focusing on recovering artifacts related to Jesus and the ancient Hebrew prophets, he said.
The stone's held a place of honor on Forte's computer table for many years, and while it's always had a special meaning for him, its religious significance only became clear to him recently, he said.
"I always felt something from it, but I thought it was only because it was from (my godfather)," Forte said. "Holding it was always soothing somehow. But I never really saw anything in it before I started taking pictures of it March 31."
Forte said he suddenly noticed some unusual glintings in the stone, and decided to take pictures to try and isolate them.
"I noticed little glassy parts, a different light from inside, and in one or two of the pictures, a face appeared. I haven't been able to duplicate it since," he said. The pictures in which Forte claims the face is clear are posted on eBay, as item number 9505349694, under the eBay ID, jforteinc.
He said it's possible he may have imagined the face in the stone, but Forte doesn't think so, and he's not the only person to see it, he said.
"I've had other people hold it, and it comforts them, so when I saw that image, I thought, 'Oh, my God, it's the Virgin Mary,' " Forte said.
"The stone impressed me very much," said Forte's former roommate Victoria Verdugo, 53, of Vallejo "It's very comforting, very soothing, to look at and to hold it. I know there's something special about it, but I've never been sure what it was. But now that I've seen the face in it, and the image of the child ... I just can't explain it. It's soothing just to talk about it."
Forte said he thinks the image may have contained a message of encouragement for him.
"I'm just a regular guy and I don't know why this happened. But the most ironic thing is that I've struggled with my belief for the longest time, and it
wasn't until the past five or six years that my belief regained its power," Forte said. "Seeing that image in the stone, it was almost as if a higher power was sending me a message that it's all OK now, because I've finally regained my faith."
Source: http://www.timesheraldonline.com/todaysnews/ci_3679617
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