# Milk sucking statues

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-sucking-statues/135757>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 7, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-sucking-statues/135757 "2002-11-07T19:02:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zombie\_dude13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecccb3/32.png) [@zombie\_dude13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombie_dude13)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-sucking-statues/135757/1 "2002-11-07T19:02:48Z")

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I recall some years ago that there was numerous news reports about idols of Ganesh (an Indian god) drinking offerings of milk placed before them. As I recall, statues all around the country did so (the event wasn’t localized) and took place during a religious event. I remember distinctly seeing actual footage of the occurances. Does anyone else recall this? Was this ever debunked or is it still unexplained?

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-sucking-statues/135757/2 "2002-11-07T19:31:45Z")

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Seems to me I heard that the stone absorbed the liquid. Not much of a mystery.

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**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-sucking-statues/135757/3 "2002-11-07T20:24:19Z")

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Capillary action between the statue and the bowl/spoon of milk.

The guy who debunked it, was, if I remember correctly, able to duplicate the “miracle” with a Mr. Potato head, or somesuch toy.

b.

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-sucking-statues/135757/4 "2002-11-07T22:13:20Z")

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What **Billy Rubin** said.

It was during the festival called “Ganesh Chaturthi”… which is when Indians worship the elephant headed god called Ganesh or Ganpati.

Temples took advantage of the situation and the chaos that arose from the initial reports… there were huge lines at all Ganesh temples… believers were awe struck… now stronger in their belief that there is indeed a god… and it is him… but, at the end of the day, science explained the phenomenon rather plainly.

Part of the problem with this country is that we have a lot of people who are not educated in the sciences (or even not educated at all), so they are less skeptical, especially when it has anything to do with religion or god.

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-sucking-statues/135757/5 "2002-11-07T22:40:18Z")

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Some possible explanations:  
[Milky Miracles: the drinking statue](http://www.cicap.org/en_artic/at101019.htm)

The most common explanation of the skeptics seems to involve capillary action causing the milk to flow down the sides of the statue.