reply to post by chelsdh
It goes without saying--and indeed, is often a criticism levied by many against the Catholic Church among several--that there is a particular
morbidity and moroseness of the emphasis on such grotesque imagery--adoration of a Crucified man, himself utterly naked and emaciated, saints depicted
in the method of their grueling executions, sometimes carrying their own dismembered body parts, even Christ himself producing his own burning heart
from his own chest--so perhaps the sight of such a depiction might have been amplified in its seeming eeriness when you first encountered this place,
given also the hour at which you did, and the interference of the radio devices.
Demographically and historically, as you concur, there is little Catholic presence or precedent in the region you describe, and that there would be in
so remote a spot is also itself unnerving, only insofar that it does not complement existing data, but Catholicism being the Universal Church
(regardless of claim or belief, its linguistic origin, "Katholikos", is Greek for "Universal", hence its name), so maybe its faith penetrates even
the wilds of the rural United States in otherwise Protestant regions.
It is not unusual for depictions of such standardized Catholic symbolism to deviate from what its traditionally used, some statues might be more
"grotesque" than others, others more "cartoonish", so your statue you encountered very well could have been a more emphatic gesturing of this
traditional depiction, which would be plausible given its supposed age--an age, perhaps, in which more realistic, more disturbing depictions of
mortality, especially Christian corporeality, might have been more-accepted than by our own toned-down expectations today.
Or, the contortion you describe the statue as having possessed very well could have been sculpted with a malicious intent, or in the utterly
paranormal sense, what you saw was some distortion of the otherwise devotional figure being perverted before your own eyes. Regardless, it is a
compelling encounter, and one which poses great interest to share here.