Quotes of note:
The sandwich is said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary in its grill marks. It was cooked 10 years ago by a Florida woman, who sold it in November to an Internet casino for $28,000. The casino took the sandwich on a nationwide tour, out of the goodness of its heart.
"People need to find spirituality these days,'' said Eric Amgar, the sandwich's advance man. "There's nothing wrong with helping them to do that.''
...along with the Virgin Mary statue you get to see the skull with the spike through it, and also the portrait of Rudolph Valentino made from laundry dryer lint.
S.F. takes grilled sandwich with a dab of skepticism at Believe It or Not Museum
Virgin Mary image supposedly can be seen in grill pattern
- Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 17, 2005
The possibly miraculous grilled cheese sandwich arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday, accompanied by bodyguards.
It will be here for five days only. The grilled cheese sandwich has prior commitments and cannot long remain.
"We're excited to have it,'' said Ian Iljas, manager of the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, which is hosting the sandwich during its Bay Area visit.
Banners hung from the museum entrance. The eyes of the bug-eyed wax man seemed to bug out just a bit more as the sandwich was unveiled in a prime location, next to the 2-foot-wide ball of string and the vampire-killing kit.
The sandwich is said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary in its grill marks. It was cooked 10 years ago by a Florida woman, who sold it in November to an Internet casino for $28,000. The casino took the sandwich on a nationwide tour, out of the goodness of its heart.
"People need to find spirituality these days,'' said Eric Amgar, the sandwich's advance man. "There's nothing wrong with helping them to do that.''
The sandwich was facing a spiritual tough sell in San Francisco, however, where absolutely no one thought the image was that of the Virgin Mary.
"Looks like Mae West,'' said Joyce McGregor, a visitor from Perth, Australia. "Maybe Jean Harlow.''
"That's supposed to be the Virgin Mary?'' said Daniel Garside, a visitor from Huddersfield, England. "Looks like a piece of bread to me.''
"I'm not profoundly moved,'' said Susie Swentosky, of Billings, Mont., who took time out from her honeymoon to look at the sandwich. "It looks like something. A lady, I suppose. But not the Virgin Mary.''
