It has remained chief among religious relics that the likes of the Catholic Church and secret societies have touted for years as proof of the existence of Jesus. Now, Italian scientist Luigi Garlaschelli claims he has created a copy of the famous “Shroud of Turin” by wrapping a custom-made specially woven cloth over one of his students, painting it with red ochre pigment (iron oxide), baking it in an oven for several hours, and washing it. According to CNN News Garlaschelli’s results appear to mimick like the cloth that many Christians believe to be the actual burial shroud of Jesus.
“What you have now is a very fuzzy, dusty and weak image,” he said. “Then for the sake of completeness I have added the bloodstains, the burns, the scorching because there was a fire in 1532,” Garlaschelli says of his creation. Citing an interest in mysteries of history and the world, he took initiative to try and replicate the shroud years ago, until he finally happened upon this process. Now he says a similar shroud lookalike could be produced in as little as a week. Garlaschelli is also famous for the alleged debunking of myths such as Will-o’-the-Wisp, Kirlian photography and martial artists claiming to produce “touchless knockouts”.
In an opposing viewpoint expressed by Barrie Schwortz at the website Shroud.com, it appears that Garlaschelli may not be the first to claim iron oxide as a source for the mysterious images on the shroud. “It is apparent immediately that (Garlaschelli) knows very little about the actual Shroud of Turin,” Schwortz sasy. “He is not the first to suggest that the Shroud image was produced by red ochre pigment (iron oxide). In fact, he is at least the fourth to have proposed this theory in the last 30 years. Of course, this issue was anticipated by the STURP team in 1978 and a number of highly sensitive tests were performed that determined there was not enough iron oxide on the Shroud to be visible without a microscope. Iron oxide does not constitute the image on the Shroud. They also determined the image areas of the Shroud contain no more iron oxide than the non-image areas. It is more or less evenly distributed across the entire cloth.”
The largest, and perhaps most famous of the macropod family (that is, creatures with large feet) are Australia’s iconic hopping delight, the Kangaroo. Used as a national symbol appearing on the Australian coat of arms, some of its currency, and a variety of other places, this unique saltatating (jumping) creature has become a mainstay of Australian culture.
Based on what was described, I’m not convinced that what the witnesses actually saw wasn’t a raccoon. I asked if this creature had appeared to move upright or on four legs, to which she said she wasn’t certain. As for the mysterious “scratching” sounds on the roof of her car, the clawed paws of a raccoon certainly would be the most likely solution, and the raccoon hypothesis nonetheless explains the fur she and her boyfriend described seeing in the creature’s silhouetted outline also. Whether or not the folks who shared this story were actually accosted by a strange little “man”, North Carolina and many other parts of the world nonetheless have folk traditions and histories that involve “little people”, presumed to be spirit folk, which sometimes do appear to cause mischief. 
Of course, as a researcher of a variety of alleged cryptozoological wonders, this story reminds me of a term I’ve thrown around in various Fortean circles for years now. Indeed, these little Marmosets must be the closest I’ve come to seeing what I’ve always referred to as a “Fire Monkey”.