Seeing is believing: Longboater believes he sees Holy Trinity in photograph

On a cloudy day aboard the Oasis of the Seas in December 2011, Ted Kohn took a sunset photo.

He was trying to replicate a photo he had taken on a previous cruise, and he thought he had done just that.

Keywords: just that.

Instead, about a year later, Kohn, 84, was looking at the photo and turned it upright. What he saw scared him, and to this day, still fascinates him.

When the 24-year Bayport Beach & Tennis Club resident turned the photo vertical — it was shot horizontally, he claims he sees six images — three of which he said make up the Holy Trinity. The others are a dove, the cross and triangle.

Why was he scared?

“Because I’m basically a non-believer,” he said. “I went through the war, the second World War. I was born in Hungary.”

His father died before the Holocaust in Hungary and his mother died in the Bergen-Belsen  camp in Germany. He doesn’t know the location of her remains. 

“I didn’t think much of God, per se. Any god that allowed that type of slaughter to take place, and do nothing about it, I don’t know. I just don’t know,” he said. 

But his disbelief changed with the hidden images in his photograph.

“This kind of threw me,” he said. “I’m beginning to wonder: Is there a god? Question mark. I guess there is. I hope there is. But here, I think he was showing himself. Why to me? I have no idea.”

Since he has found the hidden images, Kohn has sent the photo to about a dozen people, including President Donald Trump and Pope Francis.

“If it is God, question mark, as I said, ‘Why me?’” Kohn asked. “There’s plenty of good people out there that deserve to see that image more than I ever did. I’m very honored, yes. I hope there is a god out there. I really do.”

The only alteration Kohn made to the photo was turning it black and white. He said he thinks images show up sharper in black and white rather than in color. The original photo in color is of a gray cloudy sky at sunset. Kohn also added phrases to the image.

In one instance, Kohn wrote a poem to those buried in a pauper’s grave, including his father, but he keeps that one to himself. The copies he shares with others have white writing and says “And God Said, ‘Let there be Peace’ and “And Yes There Is a God!” and “And God Said, Can You See Me Now?” The photo is also marked with the latitude and longitude of the ship’s position when Kohn took the photo.

“... It’s really not let there be peace, God said let there be light, and I think we could use some peace,” Kohn said.

Kohn said not everyone sees the images. For the most part, he has to point them out to others, and even then some people still can’t see them. But, he continues to share it because he said it’s something the world should see.

“I see that clear as I’m looking at you,” he said. “It’s still clouds, if you want to look at it that way. People see the clouds.”