Fluke or Flake?: The Strange Case Of The East Pulham Manifestation

Sisters of the Nunnery of Our Lady of Strange Apparitions (East Pulham) were said to be "surprised and apprehensive' when an ice cream bought from a visiting concession by 85 year old Sister Concepta Incredibili was found to manifest the image of a man bearing a striking resemblance to Culinary Bio-ethicist and co-founder of the Royal Society of Culinary Bioethics Professor Brian Thrupiece. It is thought to be the first time that an image of the Professor - whose disappearance from a Swiss hotel room in 2004 remains "unexplained" - has turned up on an extruded milk-based product.

Mother Superior Magnum Caseum declined to declare the apparition a clear miracle on the grounds that authority in the matter lay "higher up the ecclesiastical chain". She also refused to confirm whether of not the matter had been referred to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Tarrant Launceston who alone has the power to consult the Vatican's Miraculous Food Product Iconography Commission.

However, ice-cream seller Max Hoax (aka Mr Whopper) from whose mobile facility the "lac uber fundatur" was dispensed was certain that something extraordinary had happened. 'It was possibly my fifth or sixth extrusion of the day and all the previous ones were normal. This one however came out fully formed - all of a piece (no pun intended) as it were - and we knew straightaway it was special. I asked Sister Concepta whether it was right to insert the flake in the top of his head or whether we should wait for advice but she said "I've paid for that flake and I'm having it you cheeky b****r". She's a game one is Concepta.'

The ice cream in question. Authorities are unsure whether or not the image is a miracle or a fluke. "Well it's certainly a flake" a spokesman for Cadbone's Chocolate confirmed.