To the editor:
The recent claim by the Italian Committee for Checking Claims of the Paranormal that they have debunked the Shroud of Turin is hysterically funny. Obviously they don’t know the first thing about the shroud nor about authentic scientific method.
Number one, the much-vaunted 1988 radiocarbon sample was taken from an area of the shroud known to have been repaired after the December 4, 1532, fire. The linen thread used in the repair is a reverse twist from that of the shroud proper.
Number two, using red ochre to reproduce the face in no way authentically reproduces the original image, which is in fact deposited on the topmost fibrils by an oxidation reduction process, that is, a scorch.
The nuclear scientists who have studied the shroud have concluded that the most likely mechanism for leaving the image was a total instantaneous, simultaneous breakdown of all the molecular bonds of the body and that the cloth fell right through the body.
A close study of the shroud has even revealed internal body structure. In addition, an anatomically correct image of the man in the shroud has been constructed using data deposited thereon.
Studies of the shroud by the renowned Swiss criminologist, Dr. Max Frei, revealed significant deposits of plant pollen native to the environs of Jerusalem. Some of this pollen originates from plants now extinct.
Anyone interested in authentic information regarding the shroud should check out the DVD Silent Witness or any book by Dr. John Jackson, nuclear physicist and head of the School of the Shroud located in Colorado Springs. There is also a Web site devoted to serious study of the shroud (www.shroud.com).
Judy Winter, Platteville