But he himself was broken / Long before the sky would open
March 18, 2019 3:08 PM Subscribe
Two weekends ago, people waited in line to stand over a hole cut in the ice of Michigan's Little Traverse Bay to view a submerged 1,800-pound marble crucifix. It was placed there in 1962, at a depth of 22 feet, to serve as a memorial to deceased divers and others who have lost their lives in maritime accidents. Poor weather has precluded viewings in recent years. The weather cooperated this year, and people couldn't help but notice that Jesus' arm was missing. Come spring thaw, a search for the wayward appendage is planned.
Video: Underwater crucifix viewing
Northern Mich~Mash Preserve: ~ LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY CRUCIFIX ~
Video: Underwater crucifix viewing
Northern Mich~Mash Preserve: ~ LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY CRUCIFIX ~
They apparently had to reattach it in 1997, so it's not the first time the arm has gone walkabout in the bay.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:40 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:40 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
And you stare at me
In your Jesus Christ pose
Er... one arm held out
Like you've been carrying a load
posted by Wolfdog at 3:48 PM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
In your Jesus Christ pose
Er... one arm held out
Like you've been carrying a load
posted by Wolfdog at 3:48 PM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
...and that arm on the ground over there is thanks to your fat ass.
posted by allkindsoftime at 3:56 PM on March 18, 2019 [8 favorites]
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
...and that arm on the ground over there is thanks to your fat ass.
posted by allkindsoftime at 3:56 PM on March 18, 2019 [8 favorites]
All I know is that it's a short drive to Short's Brewing, which has a Ween-themed menu.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:05 PM on March 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:05 PM on March 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
Viewing the crux at that prone angle through all that blue water with the limbs detached and all those concrete work benches did not exactly bring to mind the Pearly Gates, if you take my meaning. It was fascinating, though, thanks for posting.
posted by effluvia at 4:37 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by effluvia at 4:37 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
One armed Jesus was nailed to an L.
posted by w0mbat at 4:39 PM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by w0mbat at 4:39 PM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
...and that's why you always leave a note.
posted by peeedro at 4:48 PM on March 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 4:48 PM on March 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
Immersion (Mich-Christ)
posted by glonous keming at 5:29 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 5:29 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is my hometown!! I’ve been to that many times. It’s very underwhelming but you take what you can get in Petoskey in mid-winter.
I did not hear about Jesus losing an arm (surely the other non-native lake invaders, zebra mussels, are to blame). Can’t wait to chat with my mom about this when I next call her to catch up and get the rest of the gossip about town.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 5:46 PM on March 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
I did not hear about Jesus losing an arm (surely the other non-native lake invaders, zebra mussels, are to blame). Can’t wait to chat with my mom about this when I next call her to catch up and get the rest of the gossip about town.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 5:46 PM on March 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
"The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms...”
Deuteronomy 33:27
“And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
Isaiah 53:1
posted by darkstar at 5:49 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Deuteronomy 33:27
“And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
Isaiah 53:1
posted by darkstar at 5:49 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
surely the other non-native lake invaders, zebra mussels, are to blame
Or lampreys.
I kind of thought it would be amazing to put an ice fishing hut directly above it and rent it out to people, without telling them what was under it. They'd find it when they ladled some of the freeze-over out of the hole and looked down.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:10 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Or lampreys.
I kind of thought it would be amazing to put an ice fishing hut directly above it and rent it out to people, without telling them what was under it. They'd find it when they ladled some of the freeze-over out of the hole and looked down.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:10 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
It offended Him.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:12 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:12 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
Q: Where does Jesus keep his armies?
A: Well, usually they’re nailed to his crossey, but you see up in Little Traverse Bay, there’s this little situation you see and ...
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:20 PM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
A: Well, usually they’re nailed to his crossey, but you see up in Little Traverse Bay, there’s this little situation you see and ...
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:20 PM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
So, does the water there never get warm enough to boat? By which I mean, could not one see said crucifix in the summer, without the whole drilling through ice thing?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:51 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:51 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
So, does the water there never get warm enough to boat? By which I mean, could not one see said crucifix in the summer, without the whole drilling through ice thing?
The interesting thing about going ice fishing is that if you're in the dark during the daytime (as you would be in an ice hut or tent) looking down into the hole you've drilled, there's amazing visibility to depths you don't get looking down from the surface of unfrozen water in the daylight, as in from a boat. Unless it's a glass-bottomed boat.
Also, with the bay frozen, people can just walk out there for a look-see.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:00 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
The interesting thing about going ice fishing is that if you're in the dark during the daytime (as you would be in an ice hut or tent) looking down into the hole you've drilled, there's amazing visibility to depths you don't get looking down from the surface of unfrozen water in the daylight, as in from a boat. Unless it's a glass-bottomed boat.
Also, with the bay frozen, people can just walk out there for a look-see.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:00 PM on March 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
The story of how the crucifix ended up there (second link) is fascinating.
> [The 11-foot tall, Italian marble crucifix] date[s] back to the late 1950s, when a grieving mother and father from Rapson in Michigan’s Thumb area had it crafted in memory of their son, Gerald Schipinski. Gerald was 15-years-old in 1956 when he was accidentally killed by a shotgun on the family farm.
> After being crafted in Italy, the cross was broken during shipping to the Rapson Catholic church; the family rejected the damaged crucifix and it was sold in an insurance sale to the Wyandotte dive club.
So it's been having breakage issues since before it was even put in place. In fact, the only reason it exists where it currently is today, is because it was broken to begin with. That's… I don't know, it makes it somehow more endearing. (I wonder if the original purchasers ever got their memorial?)
Here's a 1962 article from the Detroit Free Press on the crucifix's original installation. Apparently it originally stood upright, and was accompanied by stonework from St. Joseph's Retreat in Dearborn. (I'm curious if that came from the same insurance auction, or if someone on the diving club just knew a guy who could get them a great deal on an altar.) It doesn't look like there's any of it left; when it was repaired in the 80s it looks like they replaced it in a horizontal configuration, on some sort of metal frame.
The modern description says it's "the only known freshwater-underwater crucifix", which leads me to wonder how many other underwater crucifixes there are (saltwater? brackish? hypersaline?). Google knows of no others.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:20 PM on March 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
> [The 11-foot tall, Italian marble crucifix] date[s] back to the late 1950s, when a grieving mother and father from Rapson in Michigan’s Thumb area had it crafted in memory of their son, Gerald Schipinski. Gerald was 15-years-old in 1956 when he was accidentally killed by a shotgun on the family farm.
> After being crafted in Italy, the cross was broken during shipping to the Rapson Catholic church; the family rejected the damaged crucifix and it was sold in an insurance sale to the Wyandotte dive club.
So it's been having breakage issues since before it was even put in place. In fact, the only reason it exists where it currently is today, is because it was broken to begin with. That's… I don't know, it makes it somehow more endearing. (I wonder if the original purchasers ever got their memorial?)
Here's a 1962 article from the Detroit Free Press on the crucifix's original installation. Apparently it originally stood upright, and was accompanied by stonework from St. Joseph's Retreat in Dearborn. (I'm curious if that came from the same insurance auction, or if someone on the diving club just knew a guy who could get them a great deal on an altar.) It doesn't look like there's any of it left; when it was repaired in the 80s it looks like they replaced it in a horizontal configuration, on some sort of metal frame.
The modern description says it's "the only known freshwater-underwater crucifix", which leads me to wonder how many other underwater crucifixes there are (saltwater? brackish? hypersaline?). Google knows of no others.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:20 PM on March 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Excellent title.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:02 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:02 PM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Not a crucifix, but the Italian Riviera has Christ of the Abyss in the cove of San Fruttuoso. There are a couple of copies elsewhere, in Grenada and in Florida off Key Largo. Interestingly, the one in Florida was brought over from Italy in 1962 - the same year that the Petoskey crucifix was submerged.
Apparently the original has also had issues with missing extremities -- when it was hauled up for restoration in 2003 a hand was missing, presumably detached by an anchor.
posted by theory at 10:38 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Apparently the original has also had issues with missing extremities -- when it was hauled up for restoration in 2003 a hand was missing, presumably detached by an anchor.
posted by theory at 10:38 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
So should we also be quoting Cohen's "Anthem" here?
...forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack in everything...
posted by McCoy Pauley at 5:56 AM on March 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
...forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack in everything...
posted by McCoy Pauley at 5:56 AM on March 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
And that's how the lake gets in.
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:16 AM on March 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:16 AM on March 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
One diver took the arm for safekeeping, but died soon after.
There's a story there.
posted by doctornemo at 4:26 PM on March 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
There's a story there.
posted by doctornemo at 4:26 PM on March 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
Police are on the lookout for three armed men.
posted by w0mbat at 9:27 PM on March 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by w0mbat at 9:27 PM on March 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
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