# I Dropped My Potted Plant and Now See the Virgin Mary **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 17, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292 "2000-02-17T19:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/1 "2000-02-18T06:00:00Z")
The south-of-the-border brand of Catholicism does tend to be more mystical and just different than up north. I am generally respectful. Many of these spiritual events mean night parades of lights and other fun events, but these Jesus and Virgin Mary sightings that seem to happen about every month get ridiculous. “I baked Jesus in a tortilla.” Or “your porch lights make an image of the Virgin Mary.” Then someone goes to a priest to get an official miracle sanction, which the priest respectfully comments on it (while he is likely laughing his ass off in silence). How is the virgin Mary appearing in cracked glass a miracle. It is all quite ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![cleosia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@cleosia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleosia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/2 "2000-02-18T06:30:00Z")
People will see what they need to see. There are quite a lot of Elvis and Mickey Mouse sitings. It’s just nobody goes into religious ecstasy over them. Well, maybe about Elvis. * * * Bitch by Birth ---
**Author:** ![batgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@batgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/3 "2000-02-18T06:33:00Z")
What I’ve always wondered is how these people know it’s Mary or Jesus, given that we don’t really know what they looked like. The face they see in the cracked glass could be Atilla the Hun for all they know. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/4 "2000-02-18T06:54:00Z")
I’m with you, Batgirl. I remember about ten years ago, people were “seeing Jesus” in a billboard of spaghetti along some Southwestern highway. A magazine printed the billboard and I said, “Hey—that’s not Jesus! That’s 1930s British character actor C. Aubrey Smith!” How C. Aubrey Smith got into a spaghetti billboard is a mystery in itself. ---
**Author:** ![cleosia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@cleosia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleosia)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/5 "2000-02-17T19:02:00Z")
Hey batgirl, “When you’re a Christian, you know!” :rolleyes: * * * Bitch by Birth ---
**Author:** ![Nu\_Vo\_Da\_Da](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@Nu\_Vo\_Da\_Da](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nu_Vo_Da_Da)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/6 "2000-02-17T21:26:00Z")
You know, if you look at this thread at just the right angle it kind of resembles the profile of the virgin mary… ---
**Author:** ![ReservoirDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@ReservoirDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReservoirDog)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/7 "2000-02-17T21:51:00Z")
Aahhh… something I can rant about. A couple years ago, I lived in Clearwater, Florida. About two blocks down from my apartment complex was a large glass building that was owned by some finance company. Evidently, their was some sort of water stain on the front of this building that had been there for quite some time. The property owners decided to remove two rather large palm trees near the entrance, thereby uncovering this stain. Some nimrod said to some other nimrod that they thought that the stain resembled the Virgin Mary. Within a week, hundreds of morons from all over the country were flooding this parking lot to leave flowers, say their prayers, and basically worship this giant discoloration. Soon, the pedestrian traffic got so bad that they needed to install a second traffic light, not 150 feet from the traffic light at a MAJOR intersection (six lane highway meets four lane major road). The gas station on the corner loved it, and began selling T-shirts and other “Virgin Mary” memorabilia. Local radio stations had a blast with promotions, including one in which the “winner” got to lose their virginity in a hotel across the street. This all happened right around Christmas time, and it was a mess for months! I wanted to run those fucking people over. “YOU TRAVELLED HUNDREDS OF MILES TO WORSHIP A STAIN!! MORON!!” From ABC News: "Clearwater police say the crowds that have gathered to see an apparition of the Virgin Mary show no signs of slowing down, despite the cold. Thousands of people have turned out at the Seminole Finance building at U-S 19 and Drew Street since Wednesday. What looks like an outline of the Virgin Mary has appeared on the side of the building. The city of Clearwater has set up a special hotline to answer questions about parking and traffic. That phone number is (813) 562-4400. The faithful have numbered 450,000–4.5 times the city’s population–over the three weeks since the image was first noticed. And a city report put the tab at $40,000 to deploy police to handle the crowds and direct traffic. The city will remove portable bathrooms and mobile police and fire command posts." Here’s some pics: [http://www.realpix.com/vmsite.html](http://www.realpix.com/vmsite.html) And another little story:[http://parascope.com/articles/0797/mary.htm](http://parascope.com/articles/0797/mary.htm) ## God, just reading over this stuff has pissed me off all over again!! Every morning on the way to work…aaaarrrgggghhh!!! I wanted to put a big rock through it! Fucking idiots… “It is only out of sheer, morbid curiosity that I am allowing this freakshow to continue…” ---
**Author:** ![ReservoirDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@ReservoirDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReservoirDog)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/8 "2000-02-17T21:52:00Z")
That second link should be: [http://parascope.com/articles/0797/mary.htm](http://parascope.com/articles/0797/mary.htm) Sorry bout that. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/9 "2000-02-17T22:20:00Z")
Eve said: > [@](#): > > How C. Aubrey Smith got into a spaghetti billboard is a mystery in itself. Perhaps that might be an appropriate question to “Ask Jeeves.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/10 "2000-02-17T22:30:00Z")
ReservoirDog: That reminded me of the Daily Show’s comments about that event. They made a comment about how it’s no surprise that the Virgin Mary would appear in Florida when she did: “Where else would you find a 2000 year old Jewish woman in the middle of winter?” * * * **Gypsy** : Tom, I don’t get you. **Tom Servo** : Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby. ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/11 "2000-02-17T22:21:00Z")
I was going to scoff, but then I followed the link and saw the pictures! Those idiots who think they see Mary are just deluded by their religious devotion. It’s obviously an image of Elvis wearing a wimple. Anyone can see that. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/12 "2000-02-17T23:51:00Z")
Personally, I saw neither the Blessed Mother, nor the King. I _did_ suddenly realize that I’m almost out of rollling papers, though. ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/13 "2000-02-18T00:52:00Z")
Someone in my hometown once saw the face of Jesus in the frost patterns in his freezer. Unfortunately, it was an auto-defrost freezer, so no lucrative tourist trade sprung up. * * * An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/14 "2000-02-18T03:10:00Z")
ReservoirDog, That probably pissed the Scientologists off so bad, they bought the building. Don’t they own most of Clearwater by now? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/15 "2000-02-18T03:52:00Z")
“It is only out of sheer, morbid curiosity that I am allowing this freakshow to continue…” ## Dang. Someone figured out why the Straight Dope has a message board… Lynn If it’s helpful, I’ll compare everyone to Hitler so we can get this over with as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Jomolungma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@Jomolungma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jomolungma)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/16 "2000-02-18T10:28:00Z")
Does anyone know . . . do Hindus see Vishnu in their vindaloo? Do Buddhists discern the Englightened One in the scales of a carp? And does Mohammed appear in the folds of a _kaffiyah_? ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-potted-plant-and-now-see-the-virgin-mary/4292/17 "2000-02-18T11:24:00Z")
> [@](#): > > does Mohammed appear in the folds of a kaffiyah? Not that I know of, but the names of Allah and of the Prophet and the opening words of the Koran appear from time to time in the seeds of an aubergine (eggplant) or tomato, when it is sliced open. This seems to be quite a common occurrance in England: there’s a story in the papers two or three times a year.