Giant Vagina Defaced. Zealots Upset.

I thought this salt stain looked more like a giant pussy than it did the Virgin Mary. One would have to be on some serious drugs to see the Virgin Mary in this.

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Police Arrest Man For Allegedly Defacing Virgin Mary Image

CHICAGO -- A man was arrested for allegedly scrawling "Big Lie" over a stain on an expressway underpass that some believed was an image of the Virgin Mary.

Authorities then painted over the stain because it had been defaced, police spokesman David Banks said Friday.

Authorities charged Victor Gonzalez, 37, of Chicago with criminal damage to state supported property, a misdemeanor. Witnesses had seen him painting the image, Banks said. A telephone listing for Gonzalez could not immediately be found.

A steady stream of the faithful and the curious, many carrying flowers and candles, had flocked to the emergency turnoff area under the Kennedy Expressway since last month. On Friday, some people gathered at the site and expressed sorrow.

The stain was likely the result of salt runoff, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Worldwide, people have been drawn to images believed to resemble the Virgin Mary seen on windows, fence posts and walls.

One of the best known was an image on windows of an office building in Clearwater, Fla., that drew hundreds of thousands of viewers after it was spotted in 1996. Experts said the image was created by corrosion. The windows were shattered last year, and a teenage boy pleaded guilty to felony criminal mischief and sentenced to 10 days in jail.

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