Woman Hopes To Sell Her 'Virgin Mary' Rock On eBay

BROOKSVILLE - It's sort of like that grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary on it.

Only it isn't edible.

It's a fine-grained rock, allegedly created by nature and found by Brooksville resident Dena Patterson, who hopes to cash in on the rock by auctioning it off on eBay.

Patterson, 79, stumbled upon the rock when walking through the woods in West Virginia in 1996. She found it near a stream, where water had apparently poured over it and formed the image of a veiled Mary cradling the baby Jesus in her arms.

She knows about the other highly-publicized sales of unexpected Virgin Mary collectibles: For example, the 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich that sold for $28,000 or the pretzel that sold for $10,600. Both items reportedly bore the image of Jesus' mother.

"I expect to get a lot of money," she said. "This is a rock. It's not like it's a piece of cheese."

Peter Harries, associate professor of geology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said the rock is not granite, as Patterson initially thought, but a piece or shale, or fine-grained sedimentary rock.

He guessed that it might be a silt stone, and said its layered design was most likely induced by preferential cementation of grains, or water percolating through sediment after it has been deposited.

"Things that mimic (other things) are pretty constant in nature," he said. "Nature's ability to randomly produce things that mirror what we think other images look like is certainly very common, like when people look at clouds and see (designs)."

Harries said the university's geology department gets periodic visits from residents who bring in objects that they feel are particularly unique or symbolic.

"I haven't seen any Virgin Marys yet, but I've seen a footprint, and (formations) that people think are fossils," he said. "It could be a pretty hot seller."

Patterson, who has had two strokes in recent years, said she is surviving on Social Security checks and does not have much extra money. She hopes the sale of the rock - which served as a doorstop in her home for years - will provide her with enough money to visit her family in West Virginia before her health declines further.

"I have no way of doing that unless I sell it," she said.

Currently, there is another rock listed on eBay that claims to resemble the Virgin Mary - also found in West Virginia - with bids starting at $775. At press time, it had no bidders.

There's also another problem with Patterson's quest: She does not have a computer and doesn't know how to go about auctioning it off. Therefore, she's hoping to first see if anyone area residents are interested in buying it first.

Since she also does not have a phone, any interested buyers can contact her via U.S. mail at 16180 Tampa St., Brooksville, 34604.