### Author:  [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-this-missouri-angel-priest-turned-out-to-be-a-great-example-of-how-miracle-stories-spread/666325/41 "2013-08-18T12:18:21Z")
> [@razncain](#):
>
> [Reconsider.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/dog-butt-looks-like-jesus-photo_n_3436086.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news)
Now, that’s just… \ _ **wrong** _!
Okay, okay… it’s _ **not** _ wrong.
It’s actually pretty damn hilarious!
And it’ll be even funnier, [DEL]if[/DEL] _when_ people start making ‘pilgimages’ to pray to this dogs butthole. 😛
C’mon, you just _know_ that there’ll be a few of them that _ **will** _! :eek:
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-this-missouri-angel-priest-turned-out-to-be-a-great-example-of-how-miracle-stories-spread/666325/42 "2013-08-19T02:20:27Z")
To prod the topic a little (and because I find it ironically funny), Snopes points out that one of the reasons people said that Father Dowling was an angel was that he didn’t appear in any of the “nearly 70” photos taken at the accident site. So by Randall’s reckoning, that _was_ evidence that Dowling wasn’t there — or at least couldn’t be seen by photography. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-this-missouri-angel-priest-turned-out-to-be-a-great-example-of-how-miracle-stories-spread/666325/43 "2013-08-19T03:12:51Z")
> [@razncain](#):
>
> [Reconsider.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/dog-butt-looks-like-jesus-photo_n_3436086.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news)
I’ve been waiting my whole life for this…
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-this-missouri-angel-priest-turned-out-to-be-a-great-example-of-how-miracle-stories-spread/666325/44 "2013-08-19T13:13:50Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#):
>
> That statement stands for itself: research has shown no correlation between vaccines and autism.
> Not that there’s a lack of evidence. There is evidence, and that evidence shows no correlation.
There hasn’t been a strictly defined study of Bigfoot, Nessie, UFO and Angel photography, but every camera represents a data point.
From, let’s say, 1945 to 2005 there were X number of cameras “at the ready” and Y number of photographs purporting to be evidence of these phenomena.
From 2005 to today, there are far, far, far more cameras “at the ready” than there have ever been during the prior period. Yet, there does not appear to be an increase in the number of photographs of these phenomena.
This is evidence of something, namely a distinct lack of correlation between # of cameras and # of phenomena photographs. This is not likely to be the case if these phenomena are thoroughly real, unless those things have suddenly become rarer as cameras become ubiquitous.
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### Author:  [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-this-missouri-angel-priest-turned-out-to-be-a-great-example-of-how-miracle-stories-spread/666325/45 "2013-08-19T13:17:19Z")
You guys still chewing on that?
I’ll agree there does not seem to be a correlation between camera numbers and bigfoot pics. (I haven’t looked at numbers, but I’ll stipulate)
OTOH, there’s been a whole lot more UFO pics and movies in recent years. Does that then imply UFOs are real?
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-this-missouri-angel-priest-turned-out-to-be-a-great-example-of-how-miracle-stories-spread/666325/46 "2013-08-21T15:14:04Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#):
>
> OTOH, there’s been a whole lot more UFO pics and movies in recent years. Does that then imply UFOs are real?
Interesting you mention this. (Got a cite for that by the way? Not that I don’t find it plausible.)
I always figured the vast majority of UFO pics were simply of odd Earthly flying objects misidentified as alien craft, so I fully expected a rise in UFO pics as the number of cameras exploded. When that didn’t seem to be the case, I started to suspect that perhaps the vast majority of them had to be outright hoaxes.
If they actually have increased, then that supports my original theory of them mostly being honest mistakes. And yes, I admit it also is weak (IMHO) support for theory that we really are being visited by alien spacecraft. I still find the honest mistake theory vastly more probable.
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