|
?:reviewBody
|
-
In this example collected on the Internet in 2001: Origins: This inventive work of fiction was penned and released onto the Internet on 2 August 2001. It was written by Elroy Willis, proprietor of Religion in the News, a site that warns visitors what they're in for: Some of these stories are really true. See if you can figure out which ones they are. Apparently, some readers didn't manage to work out which were which, because this tale has washed up in our inbox numerous times since its debut. In October 2001, the story was repeated in the pages of The Weekly World News, a tabloid whose stock in trade is sensationalistic fiction written up in the style of news accounts. In the WWN report, Little Rock, Arkansas, was changed to Atlanta, Georgia, and Georgann Williams, 28, became Geraldine Solstice, 58. The dead woman's husband shifted from being Everett Williams to Everett Solstice, and Jesus lookalike Ernie Jenkins, 32, was magically transmuted into Madison Grosnik, 28. Yeesh. (Elroy Willis later penned a follow-up article describing his reactions to his original story's becoming mistaken for a genuine news report.) The Rapture refers to a time when Jesus will return to claim the faithful. On that day, Christians dead and alive will be drawn up into the clouds to meet Him. A recurrent theme in descriptions of this event involves their floating up through the air, irresistibly drawn as if to a holy magnet. It's this image that fuels the mistaken Rapture piece, spurred by the twelve helium-inflated sex dolls heading skyward. The joke may be lost on those whose religions do not teach about The Rapture — for them, this story might seem an oddball bit of humor; not quite the belly laugh it is for those of us who have been taught to expect to see this flight to Jesus first-hand. Sightings: The 20 June 2004 episode of HBO's television series Six Feet Under (In Case of Rapture) opened with a dramatization of this item. Elroy Willis has set down his thoughts about HBO's appropriating his creation. Additional information:
(en)
|
![[This page as RDF]](http://data.gesis.org/claimskg/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}