Shroud of Turin Fake

For some, it comes down to a question of faith.

The Shroud of Turin is one of Catholicism’s most controversial and mysterious artifacts. It is believed by some to have shrouded the body of Jesus Christ, while others consider it a hoax perpetrated by medieval con men. Despite multiple rounds of testing using radiocarbon dating, pollen testing, microscopic analysis and image enhancement, scientists have been unable to say whether the object is legitimate or not.

The researchers used a live volunteer to simulate the position of the body that would be required to create the strains found on the shroud. But it was impossible for the stains to have been made by wrapping a dead body, the researchers found. The volunteer created a range of bloodstained materials from simulated wounds to the head, hands, feet, back and waist, mirroring those supposedly suffered by Jesus. When the volunteer was laid out on a shroud, each wound made specific marks that could be cross-referenced with the holy shroud.

Blood splatters on the cloth were inconsistent, suggesting the stains had been made with several different poses and likely by a standing person—not a corpse lying flat.