DIY crucifixion in quarry includes crown of thorns

A 58-year-old former taxi driver described by friends as a religious fanatic appears to have crucified himself atop a quarry on Good Friday, drilling his own palms with an electric drill.

Police found the dead man surnamed Kim on a wooden cross at the crest of an abandoned quarry in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang, early this week after a report on May 1 from a passerby.

Kim was found wearing a crown of thorns and had a 10-centimeter (3.9-inch) wound on his lower right abdomen, like one of the wounds inflicted on Jesus Christ, police said yesterday.

Police said that Kim’s hands and feet were nailed to a cross measuring 187 centimeters high and 180 centimeters wide, with his neck and legs tied to the cross. The four nails in his hands and feet were 14.5 centimeters long. Kim was clad in white boxer shorts.

At the base of the cross, police found a full-length mirror in which Kim could see himself, and a whip made out of green duct tape.

Inside a car parked about 100 meters away, police found a tent, hammer, electric hand drill, saw, wire, a hand-drawn plan for the cross and a three-page memo describing how Kim would crucify himself. Police said the memo had detailed instructions such as: “Tie the waist with rope ... Drill the palms ... Put elbows on the cross ... Tie neck to cross.”

Police said a suicide note wasn’t found.

An autopsy concluded that the holes in Kim’s palms were made by an electric drill, not the nails, and that the chances are high that the wound on his side was self-inflicted.

“The autopsy said Kim’s death was likely to be caused by suffocation, as his neck was tied to the cross, and from the wound on his side,” police said.

Police believe Kim hammered the nails into the cross before he mounted it. They are investigating further to see if anyone assisted him.

“We are not excluding the possibility of murder as well as suicide,” said a police official.

In order to determine whether Kim wrote the memo and drew the plan for the cross, police have requested DNA analysis of the pages from the National Forensic Service (NFS).

According to police, acquaintances described Kim as a religious fanatic obsessed with heaven and out-of-body experiences.

Police assume Kim crucified himself two days before Easter Sunday, which is Good Friday, the day Christ was crucified. They say he may have hoped for resurrection.

Kim divorced his wife in 1995 but has been out of touch with her and his two children ever since, added the police.

By Yim Seung-hye [sharon@joongang.co.kr]

한글 관련 기사 [중앙일보]

십자가 못 박힌 시신 미스터리

양손에 대못, 머리엔 면류관
문경 폐채석장서 50대 발견

경북 문경의 한 채석장에서 50대 남자가 십자가 형태의 대형 각목에 손과 발이 못에 박힌 채 숨진 상태로 발견돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다.

3일 경북지방경찰청에 따르면 1일 오후 6시쯤 문경시 농암면 궁기리의 한 폐 채석장에서 김모(58·개인택시 기사·경남 창원시 가음동)씨가 숨져 있는 것을 양봉업자 주모(53)씨가 발견해 경찰에 신고했다. 발견 당시 속옷 하의만 입은 김씨는 높이 1m80㎝, 가로 1m87㎝의 십자(十) 모양 대형 각목에 양손과 두 발이 대못에 박히고, 목은 나일론 끈에 묶인 채 숨져 있었다.

또 머리에는 가시 면류관 형태의 물건이 올려져 있었다. 오른쪽 옆구리에도 예수가 처형될 때 생긴 것과 비슷한 모양의 상처가 있었다.

경찰은 김씨가 십자가에 건 나일론 끈으로 목을 묶은 뒤 자살했거나 타살됐을 가능성을 열어 놓고 수사를 벌이고 있다.

자살로 보는 것은 김씨가 몇 년 전부터 종교에 심취한 데다 숨진 곳 옆 천막에서 십자가 모양과 제작 방법 등을 그린 도면과 십자가에 목을 매는 방법 등을 적은 메모지를 발견했기 때문이다. 손과 발에 대못이 박힌 것은 공구로 손발에 구멍을 뚫은 뒤 십자가에 미리 박아 놓은 못에 끼운 것으로 추정됐다. 하지만 혼자서 이런 자살을 감행하는 게 쉽지 않아 타살됐거나 아니면 김씨가 자살하는 데 도움을 준 사람이 있을 가능성도 큰 것으로 경찰은 보고 있다. 김씨는 지난달 9일 창원에서 문경으로 와 천막에서 생활한 것으로 알려졌다.