The city of Petoskey, which is located in the US state of Michigan, has one unusual attraction: 240 meters from the shores of the local Lake Torch, at a depth of 6.4 meters, lies a 3.4-meter crucifix of Christ, made of Italian white marble. The statue of Jesus was erected here in 1962 by members of the local diving club and has since become a real magnet for divers, especially those who believe in the Savior.
Initially, they wanted to make the sculpture a memorial in honor of the scuba diver Charles Raymond, who drowned here, but then it was decided to dedicate it to the memory of all those who died in the water. As seen in the video below, the sculpture is missing its right arm. It was broken back in the 1950s during the transportation of the crucifix from Italy to the Rapson Catholic Church. American clerics abandoned the damaged statue, and a few years later, divers bought it for a song at an auction.
Rumor has it that if you go to the frozen lake Torch in this place on a winter night and shine a flashlight down, you can see the body of the Savior in a completely intact state, but the “ghostly hand” will disappear with the first rays of the sun. Another rumor in the city says that everyone who goes down to the bottom and touches the marble statue will be lucky. However, all this is nothing more than legends, in reality - at the bottom of Lake Torch lies an amazing underwater statue of the Savior, which is carefully looked after by divers, cleaning and protecting it as the most valuable Christian relic …
However, as it turned out, this is not the only underwater statue of Jesus Christ. Not far from the Italian Riviera in the Bay of San Fruttuoso, there is a bronze statue of the Savior, made by the sculptor Guido Galleti (main photo). The very idea to install an underwater statue of Jesus here belongs to the diver Duilio Marcante. According to journalists, once, while meditating under water, at the moment of enlightenment Duilio "dreamed" a similar statue in the bay, and he literally was eager to bring something similar to life.
Later, already installing this unique monument of Jesus Christ, its organizers thought that the monument would remind here of the founder of Italian diving, Dario Gonzatti, who died in 1947 in the Bay of San Fruttuoso.
Soon after installation, the bronze statue under water two and a half meters high received the popular name - "Christ from the Abyss". The statue was raised several times for restoration and cleansing, in 2004 "Christ from the Abyss" was installed on a new pedestal.
Promotional video:
Daniil Myslinsky