Jesus 1| 0 Touchdown Jesus

Jesus Statue Struck By Lightning, Destroyed - News Story - WHIO Dayton

MONROE, Ohio -- Police said a six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a southwest Ohio highway has been struck by lightning in a thunderstorm and has burned to the ground.The "King of Kings" statue had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.MONROE: Jesus Statue Struck By LightningMonroe police dispatchers said the lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m. Monday. Officials said at their tallest, the flames reached 100 feet.The sculpture showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way his arms were raised. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remains.Police Chief Mark Neu said the fire spread to an amphitheater next to the statue but was confined to the attic area. He says no one was injured.The Monroe fire department requested mutual aid from Middletown and Liberty, and they managed to contain the fire in the attic of the amphitheater, but were unable to save the statue.Officials said the structure's outer shell was made of wood and Styrofoam, covered in fiberglass and resin, making it extremely flammable.On Tuesday morning, all that is remained was a heap of mangled steel.