A Scots diner couldn't believe his eyes when he was served up an onion ring that looked like the Virgin Mary.
And Jim McElvar, 48, from Falkirk is closely guarding his prized ring in a sealed bag in the fridge - to make sure his dog gets nowhere near it.
Jim, who was flabbergasted when he saw the biblical piece of food, admits he's planning to keep it for as long as possible - unless anyone offers him a reasonable amount of money for the special sign.
He said: "I just keep looking at it and it doesn't seem real. It's in the fridge as we speak in kitchen roll and a plastic bag and I'm trying to preserve it for as long as possible."
Jim was served up the sign from God as he dined with his girlfriend and two friends in Wetherspoons in Falkirk.
He said: "I'd just got back from holiday and I'd ordered some drinks and a burger with half a dozen onion rings.
Amongst those onion rings was this. I've seen this kind of thing in the papers on toast before, but never this.
"I'm not a religious man but I might have seen the light now."
Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena are called simulacra.
The Virgin Mary has appeared on fences, felled trees, windows and other everyday objects before.
A grilled cheese sandwich, a pretzel and a pebble said to resemble images of the Virgin Mary have also been offered for sale on internet auction sites, and have made large amounts of money.
Jim said: "Usually you know an onion ring when you see it. It's a circle but this one had the bit in the middle standing there. There wee four of us there and I couldn't believe it.
It looks like something out of a nativity play, like a wee bride or the Virgin Mary."
Jim was so excited about his find that he alerted staff of his discovery.
He said: "I asked to speak to the staff in the restaurant because I thought it was so good. I took a photo and initially said to one of the bar staff who wasn't responsive and then I got hold of a manager in the evening and he was a bit more excited about it."
Jim is all too aware that his find might divide opinion but his biggest concern right now is to ensure the dog stays away from it.
He said: "At the end of the day it's an onion ring and the dog has had his eye on it a couple of times. I know it sounds silly but it looks brilliant."
He's keen to hold onto the onion ring for as long as he can but he says he's also open to offers if anyone appreciates it even more than he does.
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: "We serve hundreds of thousands of onion rings across our 900 UK pubs each year, so this appears to be a one off.
"We are not sure how we managed to serve an onion ring that resembled the Virgin Mary, but perhaps there was some divine intervention along the way."
Jim Mcelvar spotted his Virgin Mary last Sunday.
The Virgin Mary has popped up in many bizarre places across the globe.
Thirteen years ago a decade old toasted cheese sandwich said to resemble The Virgin Mary was sold on an eBay auction site for $28,000.
Internet casino goldenpalace.com bought the piece of toast saying it had become part of pop culture.
The same business bought a pretzel with a similar image for $10,600 in 2008.
Diane Duyser from Florida said she noticed the image burned into her sandwich as she was about to tuck into it in autumn 1994.
She said: "I went to take a bite out of it, and then I saw this lady looking back at me."
Workers at Martucci Angiano's gourmet chocolate company, Bodega Chocolates in California, also discovered a 2-inch-tall column of chocolate drippings under a vat that they believed bore a striking resemblance to the Virgin Mary in 2006.
Kitchen worker Cruz Jacinto said: "My eyes went directly to the chocolate. I thought, 'Am I the only one who can see this? I picked it up and I felt emotion just come over me. For me, it was a sign."
Christchurch woman Lisa-Marie Corlet listed a 1cm-wide pebble with a picture resembling the Virgin Mary on it on an auction site with a buy now price of $50,000 in 2007 after running out of money.
In 2007 a Texas bar owner who happened to be a police officer said he was shocked when he learned his son saw the face of the Virgin Mary in a lemon slice.
"It kind of freaked me out," Nance said. "I'm a detective, and I believe in facts." When he looked at the lemon, Nance said he sort of saw the face. It wasn't until he took a picture of it that the countenance really was visible to him. He saved the lemon in the freezer so others could admire it.
More recently the Holy Mother was also seen in clouds over Venezuela and Ireland.
The Virgin Mary has also appeared on windows of churches, hospitals and finance companies.
From Scotland with Love - theshowbizlion.com
This article has since appeared in the Scottish Sun
