From Abracadabra to Zombies
reader comments: stigmata
stigmata
21 Sep 1999
I'm sure now with the movie's prevalence [Stigmata],
this topic will seem slightly trite, but the fraudulent claims of stigmata
can also be demonstrated by the point of puncture wounds on the hands (a physiological
impossibility) instead of just below the wrists (a fact that the movie
pointed out as well, and was one of its few saving graces).
Absir Dittee
Los Angeles
reply: Mr. Dittee is referring to the historical data which suggests that when the Romans crucified a person, the nails were driven into the wrists, not the palms. There is, of course, no physiological impossibility of nailing the palms, but physically to do so would put so much weight on the flimsy bones and flesh of the hands that the body of an adult male would not be supported for very long. Hence, a "real" stigmatic would have wounds on the wrists, not on the palms.
stigmata
