that there are many descrepencies with the location, shape, size, and types of wounds, and the wounds are consistent to what the stigmatic believed happend to Jesus at the crucificiton. Earlier cases experienced wounds in the palms and feet, while later cases, after research revealed the impossibility of nails being driven into the hands and feet to hold up a body, showed wounds in the wrists and ankles. Some stigmatics experience wounds on the head, from the crown of thorns, and still some have abrasions on the shoulders and back, from carrying the cross and the whipings Jesus received. They also suggest that the stigmata happens because the stigmatics mind is so impressionable. (Stan Griffin, Workers for Jesus; Is Stigmata for Real?; Miracles vs. Forteana; Joe Nickell, Skeptical Inquirer) "Faith may be necessary to summon the concentration, but it is not the mechanism of the result." (Miracles vs. Forteana). However Nickell says that "after death the bodies of a few stigmatics were discovered to incorruptable (i.e., to withstand decay). Also vials of blood preserved from the stigmatic wounds of Passitea Crogi purportedly reliquify on occasion." suggesting that the stigmata may be more than the work of the human mind. As with any activity, normal or supernatural, there are some fakes. Nickell's article overall suggests that there may not be even one authentic case of stigmata, but he shows that there are, unmistakably, some cases that are proven frauds:For example, Magdalena de la Cruz, having become ill in 1543 and fearful of dying a sinner, confessed that her stigmata, inedia, and other phenomena were deliberate deceptions. Another, Maria. de la Visitacion, known as the "holy nun of Lisbon," was accused by a sister nun who saw her painting a fake wound onto her hand. Although initially defended by doctors in 1587, she was brought before the Inquisition, whereupon her wounds were scrubbed and the coloration washed off, revealing "un...
