Liberty County man sees image of Jesus in tree

LIBERTY COUNTY, TX (KTRK) -- A Liberty County man is opening up about a spiritual experience -- a holy face appearing in a tree in his backyard.

Tucked in the corner of David McGraw's backyard is a vision he says he'd never seen before, until recently.

"I kinda leaned my head back in my recliner and I turned and as I turned my head I looked straight through my door there, my little windows, and I seen an image," said McGraw.

He did a double take and looked again.

"Wow, there's a face here. I was amazed," McGraw said. "What is this?"

"What do you see in the tree," we asked.

"I see the outline of the hair, the Roman nose, the eye, the other eye, the mouth, the beard. And the shroud -- a little bit of the shroud coming down," he said.

For so many, David says, the face is that of Jesus.

"To me, it's a phenomenon. It's nature at its best. Or it's Jesus Christ telling us, 'Here I am,'" he said. "Maybe he's telling me to get up off my butt and go to church. I don't know how else to say it."

David says he is a religious man, despite not attending church much, and while he does see Jesus, he says whatever appeared on the tree should be in the eyes of the beholder.

"I let people make up their own minds. If they see Jesus, they see Jesus. I'm not the man to tell them that they don't see him," said McGraw.

While our camera was visiting his Plum Grove home, some neighbors stopped by, seeing it for the first time, acknowledging what David McGraw believes is a message of some kind.