# Virgin Mary appears . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319 "2004-11-23T18:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/1 "2004-11-23T18:23:13Z")
I’m pretty sure there’s a term for the ‘appearance’ of Mary in frost on the window, or in a cheese omlet, or on a rock face, or other unassuming places. What is it? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/2 "2004-11-23T18:36:27Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I’m pretty sure there’s a term for the ‘appearance’ of Mary in frost on the window, or in a cheese omlet, or on a rock face, or other unassuming places. What is it? idiocy ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/3 "2004-11-23T18:38:24Z")
delusion? mindless wishing? hucksterism? I know, none of these are what you were looking for. [aside]One morning I took a dump and it looked like the last supper.[/aside] d&r ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/4 "2004-11-23T18:38:59Z")
Googling seems to suggest “apparitions” is the most common word. Maybe “visions” too? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/5 "2004-11-23T18:58:36Z")
**Pareidolia**. [Steamy Visions of Vladimir Lenin](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/lenin.html) ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/6 "2004-11-23T19:05:20Z")
The Vatican seems to use ‘apparition’ (‘apparitio beatae Mariae’ or ‘apparitio virginis Mariae’ in Latin) for events where people actually claim to see the Virgin Mary appearing as a person. The name for the phenomenon where people recognize faces or other distinct objects in random patterns is [pareidolia](http://skepdic.com/pareidol.html). Visions of the Virgin Mary in a tortilla or a cloud or a cheese omelet fall into this category. So do the ‘face on Mars’, the man in the moon, and heavy metal songs that order the listener to submit to Satan when played backwards. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/7 "2004-11-23T19:08:14Z")
Legend has it that her appearance returns each spring to a church in Capistrano. Or maybe that is Proud Mary, she keeps on rollin’.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/8 "2004-11-23T19:35:13Z")
simulacrum? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/9 "2004-11-23T21:58:12Z")
It’s usually called a Marian apparition. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-appears/276319/10 "2004-11-23T22:05:44Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I’m pretty sure there’s a term for the ‘appearance’ of Mary in frost on the window, or in a cheese omlet, or on a rock face, or other unassuming places. What is it? **The result of an overactive imagination!**