Shroud of Turin REAL? Expert urges investigation into Jesus’ burial cloth be REOPENED

For centuries, Christians had believed the Shroud of Turin was used to wrap Jesus Christ’s deceased body in after he had died. Many even thought you could still see the imprint of his face. However, newer evidence suggested the Shroud of Turin is fraudulent and that carbon dating showed that it only emerged in the Middle Ages.

But BAFTA-winning film-maker David Rolfe who has spent 40 years investigating the shroud believes it could be the cloth Jesus was buried in after his crucifixion.

Mr Rolfe first broached the subject in his 1978 documentary, The Silent Witness.

Since then, he says the “establishment” has been keen to dismiss the Jesus theory, but little research has been done in trying to prove its authenticity.

Mr Rolfe told 200 students at Christ the King Sixth Form: “The face on the shroud was first seen in that form in the 6th century.

“The clear inference was that this face that we now all recognise as Jesus was taken from the image on a well-known cloth of that time.

“This obviously placed the shroud much earlier than the middle ages, which was what had been assumed.

“The establishment, instead of saying let’s investigate it, rubbished it. Three decades passed before it was photographed again in 1938.

“That prompted medical men to get interested. There were amazing details on the body that looked like wounds of a crucifixion – but not as depicted in paintings, with nails going through the palm.

“A French surgeon did some macabre experiments on cadavers in hospital. He discovered that the palms of hands don’t carry the weight of the body.

“The only place that would is the wrist, which is where the wound is on the body in the shroud.”

Despite carbon dating essentially disproving the Shroud of Turin was Jesus’ burial cloth, Mr Rolfe believes the mystery is still open.

He continued: “It is a story waiting to be told. I have hopes of making a new film which will bring it all up to date.”

More recent research has also suggested the Turin Shroud was a fake.

Forensic evidence revealed the blood stains on the cloth came from a vertical position as if someone were standing over it.

This would mean the stains are not consistent with someone who had just been crucified.

John Moores University, Liverpool, forensic expert Matteo Borrini and his team had been hoping to see if the blood stains were consistent with someone who had been executed on a T-shaped or Y-shaped cross.

Instead, the research found the blood splatter came from neither.