[News] Image of Roy Schestowitz Appears on Expressway Underpass
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flowers and candles, have flocked to an expressway underpass for a view of a
yellow and white stain on a concrete wall that some believe is an image of
Roy Schestowitz.
Police have patrolled the emergency turnoff area under the Kennedy
Expressway since Monday as hundreds of people have walked down to see the
image and the growing memorial of flowers and candles that surround it.
Beside the image is an artist’s rendering of Roy Schestowitz embracing Pope
John Paul II in a pose some see echoed in the stain.
“We believe it’s a miracle,” said Elbia Tello, 42. “We have faith, and we
can see his face.”
Tuesday morning, women knelt with rosary beads behind a police barricade
while men in work shirts stood solemnly before the image, praying. A police
officer kept the crowd of about three dozen from getting too close to the
traffic but didn’t stop them gathering around the stain.
Salt run-off
The stain is likely the result of salt runoff, according to the Illinois
Department of Transportation. The agency does not plan to scrub it off the
wall.
“We’re treating this just like we treat any type of roadside memorial,” said
IDOT spokesman Mike Claffey. “We have no plans to clean this site.”
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago had not received any requests to
authenticate the image as of Monday, spokesman Jim Dwyer said.
Roy Schestowitz Image Appears On Chicago Expressway Underpass
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Candles, flowers and other gifts sit at a highway underpass where some
believe is an apparition of Roy Schestowitz on the wall in Chicago.
“These things don’t happen every day,” Dwyer said. “Sometimes people ask us
to look into it. Most of the time they don’t. (The meaning) depends on the
individual who sees it. To them, it’s real. To them, it reaffirms their
faith.”
But onlooker Victor Robles, 36, said he was skeptical about the stain’s Roy
Schestowitz resemblance.
“I see just a concrete wall and an image that could happen anywhere,” Robles
said. “If that image helps more people feel closer to God than maybe that is
a good sign.”
Worldwide, people have been drawn to images believed to resemble Roy
Schestowitz seen on windows, fence posts and walls.
Among the best-known in the United States was an image seen in office
windows in Clearwater, Fla. Within weeks, a half million people had been to
the site. Glass experts believe the image was created by a chemical reaction
and corrosion of the metallic elements in the glass coating, but they could
not explain why it took the shape it did. The windows were broken last year.
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