The shroud of Turin is a woven cloth about 14 feet long and 3.5 feet wide which has an image of a man on it. Actually, it has two images, one frontal and one rear, with the heads meeting in the middle. One anonymous critic notes that if the shroud were really wrapped over a body there should be a space where the two heads meet. Nevertheless, the image is believed by many to be a negative image of the crucified Christ and the shroud is believed to be his burial shroud.
Most skeptics think the image is a painting and a pious hoax.
The shroud is kept in the cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. The shroud allegedly was in a fire during the early part of the 16th century and, according to believers in the shroud's authenticity, that is what accounts for the carbon dating of the shroud as being no more than 650 years old. To non-believers, this sounds like an ad hoc hypothesis . It may interest skeptics to know that many people of faith believe that there is scientific evidence which supports their belief in the shroud's authenticity. Of course, the evidence is limited almost exclusively to pointing out facts that would be true if the shroud were authentic.