# People flock to see Virgin Mary in foggy window. Are people really this stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 26, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557 "2003-06-26T17:14:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![birdgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/51bf81/32.png) [@birdgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/birdgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/1 "2003-06-26T17:14:45Z")
[A Fogged Window to Faith: Pilgrims See Vision Of Mary at Hospital](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33790-2003Jun25.html) > [@](#): > > “It’s amazing,” says Kenney, 50, as a security guard on the building’s rooftop lifts a bright blue tarpaulin to reveal the window and its frosted image. “I don’t see how that could just have happened. It looks impossible for that not to be real.” > > Maybe, Uwimbabazi, 41, wonders aloud, “she has come to tell us something.” > > The faithful call it a miracle, this ethereal silhouette of the Blessed Mother, her head tilted just so. The skeptics call it coincidence, the uncanny result of condensation trapped in a double-pane window whose silicone-type sealant reportedly cracked several years ago. > > In any case, there has been little time to quibble. An estimated 40,000 people have journeyed to Milton Hospital outside Boston since the first reported “sighting” by a hospital employee more than two weeks ago. The window has triggered a Lourdes-style avalanche of attention, with devout Catholics and others traveling hundreds of miles to lay their eyes on what they believe is a religious visitation and to press their palms against the cold red brick wall as if this were Jerusalem itself. Are people really this stupid? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![birdgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/51bf81/32.png) [@birdgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/birdgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/2 "2003-06-26T17:17:33Z")
Reality: > [@](#): > > After visiting his father in the hospital, Steve Perry, 48, looked up, scanned the crowd, shrugged and walked away. “I don’t get it,” he said, smiling. “I don’t see anything except a dirty window.” Ignorance: > [@](#): > > But Barbara Cesanek, 52, needed no convincing as she peered through sunglasses at the whiteness above. “To me, it’s definitely the Blessed Mother. If you follow her arms, you can see she’s holding something, and it could be the baby Jesus, and she’s standing on clouds,” Cesanek said. Puh-leeze :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/3 "2003-06-26T17:23:56Z")
I thought this quote summed up my response nicely: > [@](#): > > The Rev. Harvey Egan, a Jesuit priest and Boston College theologian, agreed. To a point. > > "If people came to me and asked if they should go see the window, I would say no. I would say: ‘Go visit somebody in a nursing home. Go visit somebody in jail. Treat a street person to lunch,’ " he said. “My advice is to . . . do something good for the hospital. Keep out of their way.” ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/4 "2003-06-26T17:25:05Z")
I was in New Zealand earlier this year, and a news item was on telly about how this fence, which when viewed from a certain angle looked somewhat like the Virgin Mary, had been vandalised. Lots of people had been visiting it, and there were all sorts of people demanding that it be rebuilt exactly the same. To me this entirely misses the point of miraculous apparitions, but there you go. Ah, [here](http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/15/1044927848905.html) it is. Unfortunately that’s the only picture I can find, and it’s got no photo. Rats. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/5 "2003-06-26T17:25:56Z")
Once again, I find myself in agreement with gobear. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/6 "2003-06-26T17:27:23Z")
Shhhhh… you’ll wake the baby. ---
**Author:** ![Fin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@Fin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fin_man)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/7 "2003-06-26T17:28:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*Shhhhh… you’ll wake the baby. \*\* No, you’ll make it cry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/8 "2003-06-26T17:44:49Z")
There was something like that on an office building window here in South Florida a few years ago. Jon Stewart on The Daily Show said “Hey, where else is a 2000 year old Jewish woman gonna go?” ---
**Author:** ![Ben\_Hicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Ben\_Hicks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben_Hicks)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/9 "2003-06-26T17:46:14Z")
Looks like a ZZ Top roadie to me. ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/10 "2003-06-26T17:53:30Z")
Well shit, to me it looks like a Rita Hayworth head shot. You know, the one from “Hilda”, where she’s tilting her head back, sort of looking over her shoulder…, maybe it’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/11 "2003-06-26T17:58:08Z")
I can see it, but that could just as well because it said that it looked like the Virgin Mary before I actually saw the picture. It looks like it could just as well be the grim reaper in the window instead. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Marathon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Marathon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marathon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/12 "2003-06-26T18:01:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by birdgirl \* > \*\*Reality: > > > [@](#): > > > > Steve Perry > > \*\* Yeah, because the former lead singer of Journey makes SUCH a credible source. :rolleyes: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/13 "2003-06-26T18:03:06Z")
Well, at least the divine is ahead of the aliens in the “communication through obscurity” sweepstakes. While foggy windows may be on a par with crop circles, at least there’s less rectal probing involved. Well, on an official level, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/14 "2003-06-26T18:12:32Z")
I get this picture of God running out of ideas. “I sent visions to prophets, they ignored them. I commissioned a book, and they got that wrong. I sent the boy down to talk to them, and they nailed him to a tree. Okay, maybe they don’t _get_ obvious, so I tried subtle. Writing my name inside vegetables didn’t work, neither did putting my picture on tortillas, and neither did the talking fish. If the windows and fence posts don’t work, I’m gonna have to go down there myself and straighten things out.” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/15 "2003-06-26T18:13:41Z")
Yes. It goes like this: Ten nine eight… ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/16 "2003-06-26T18:16:18Z")
I can’t see shit on that window. It happens all the time, it’s really sad to see people kneeling and praying to a dirty window. > [@](#): > > Some say she came to warn away Milton Hospital – which does not perform abortions – from its recent clinical affiliation with a Boston area hospital that provides the procedure. There’s food for thought. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sinful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Sinful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinful)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/17 "2003-06-26T18:17:18Z")
People see a lot of things. They see UFO’s, ghosts, and more mundane things that simpley aren’t there. But maybe i’m just bitter cause i took more than my fair share of LSD and never had a single visual hallucenation. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/18 "2003-06-26T18:34:50Z")
" . . . a Rita Hayworth head shot. You know, the one from “Hilda” . . . BWA-hahahaha! I’m sorry, I can’t get the image of “Broomgilda” out of my head . . . ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/19 "2003-06-26T18:45:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*" . . . a Rita Hayworth head shot. You know, the one from “Hilda” . . . > > BWA-hahahaha! I’m sorry, I can’t get the image of “Broomgilda” out of my head . . . \*\* Hey! I could claim a typo, G-H are awfully close on the keyboard. Or I could claim Gilda=Hilda are pronounced the same in Spanish, and I think in Spanish. Then again, I really thought it was Hilda. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557/20 "2003-06-26T18:51:28Z")
Well, now that I know I’m supposed to be looking for something, I’ll get my brain to fill in an image. It looks to me like a guy with a long beard. Ian McKellan or Christopher Lee, perhaps, or maybe Fidel Castro or Osama Bin Laden. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-flock-to-see-virgin-mary-in-foggy-window-are-people-really-this-stupid/184557.md?page=2)