Dan X. McGraw / DMN

Some customers believe a granite slab at Verona Marble Company shows an image of Jesus Christ.

DALLAS — Over the past two days, John Ganster has seen cars creep, crawl and park in front of his East Dallas stone company, as their occupants try to catch a glimpse of a granite slab stained with what some think is an image of Jesus.

“Some customers and people have just wanted to take a look for themselves,” said Ganster, a co-owner of Verona Marble Company, in the 4800 block of Olson Drive near Mesquite.

No one at the company noticed the image, Ganster said, until a customer called and asked about buying the “Jesus” stone, a hunk of granite that comes from Brazil.

“We said, ‘What are you talking about?’” he said. “We went to see for ourselves.”

The stone, which weighs around 1,000 pounds, had been in the company’s Tulsa, Okla. Store. It was moved to the Dallas office in December, after builders in the Tulsa area kept passing on it, because of cosmetic imperfections.

“That’s kind of ironic,” Ganster said. “Christ said that he would build his church on the stone that the builders rejected.”

Now, the company has little trouble getting offers for the slab, which would normally sell for about $1,500. Some of those offers have come from competitors.

But Ganster said Verona has no plans to sell.

Instead, he said, the company hopes to donate the stone to a Catholic church in Oklahoma.

“This came to us for a reason,” Ganster said. “I don’t know why, but it did.”