Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

The state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, was victim of heavy rain near the end of 2008, which caused floods and landslides. More than 70.000 people lost their houses and the death toll was above 128 victims, most involved in landslides.

And a landslide is what affected the hill on Antonio Zendron Street. But a very peculiar landslide: after the trees went down, some remained forming a cross that could be seen hundreds of meters away.

The locals without surprise understood that as a divine sign. “It’s the End of the Times, a Sign from God”, many proclaimed. Others quickly associated the glyph with aliens, flying saucers, crop circles and such.

Though no real investigation has been made on site – there were other priorities, clearly – I think it’s reasonable to assume the cross was just a casual coincidence. Here’s what it looks like today, months after the landslide:

It’s easier to see the cross was not so well-defined in the first place, and how it was related to the soil and terrain. A very curious case, nevertheless.

No matter how we may point at the hundreds and hundreds of landslides during the tragedy that didn’t look like anything like a cross, and how in this context it’s not necessarily a supernatural thing to find one that does look like one.

I don’t condemn anyone for looking at the cross at distance and being puzzled. It’s a giant cross in a hill, after all. A curious case indeed.

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Sources:

• A Enchente Blumenau – Foto curiosa com CRUZ em deslizamento
• Cruz aparece em meio à destruição
• vc repórter: cruz em morro leva visitantes a Blumenau

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