# Virgin Mary is seen in Illinois underpass - again !!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 27, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155 "2006-03-27T21:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/21 "2006-03-28T14:32:02Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > what if this random stainization caused whole countries to change their religion? Likely how religions got started in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/22 "2006-03-28T15:12:30Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Funny - I’d always thought she looked like tomato juice over ice with a dash of Tabasco and garnished with a celery stick. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/23 "2006-03-28T18:18:33Z")
I read the thread title, and I wondered, “What the heck are **Illinois Underpants**?” I’m tired. I can’t see clearly. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/24 "2006-03-28T21:42:28Z")
**AskNott** Take a look at reply #2 in my previous Virgin Mary Sighting Thread: > **[Virgin Mary image in Chicago underpass](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=312589)** > > Perhaps you have heard about this vital bit of news. The thread title pretty much says it all but for those who want to read more: http://www.nbc5.com/news/4388177/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=news I am not very religious (no surprise there). ... Yeah he thought it said underpants too. Am I to be subjected to this frivolity _every_ time I post the news that the Virgin Mary has been observed in an Illinois _ **underpass** _ ? 😃 Just kidding of course !!! ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/25 "2006-03-28T22:22:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m so happy to be back in New York, hundreds of miles away from these people. How close are you to [the Bayside neighborhood of Queens?](http://www.roses.org/intro/intro.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/26 "2006-03-29T00:47:01Z")
Clearly I am not spending enough time scrutinizing my skid marks. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/27 "2006-03-29T00:53:56Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **AskNott** > Take a look at reply #2 in my previous Virgin Mary Sighting Thread: > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=312589](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=312589) > Yeah he thought it said underpants too. > Am I to be subjected to this frivolity _every_ time I post the news that the Virgin Mary has been observed in an Illinois _ **underpass** _ ? > 😃 > > Just kidding of course !!! After I posted, it occured to me that Her underpants would be a **holy** pair, and the label would say **BVM instead of BVD.** They’d be clean, of course, in case She got into an accident. I don’t think we’re talking thong, French cut, or black lace, either. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/28 "2006-03-29T04:23:55Z")
**AskNott** And I think we can rule out the idea that the Holy Mother would not be wearing anything from the Victoria’s Secret catalog. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/29 "2006-03-29T04:26:37Z")
BTW, Salt-Stain Mary is still alive and kicking under the Fullerton underpass. There are usually several candles and flowers left there when I pass by it each day. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/30 "2006-03-29T07:29:57Z")
**Frostillicus** I thought the Salt Stain Mary image had been painted over or scrubbed away or something like that. In spite of our attempts to erase her divine image, the Blessed Mother perserveres. Wow it gives one pause doesn’t it? Well, no it really doesn’t. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/31 "2006-03-29T08:10:44Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > How close are you to [the Bayside neighborhood of Queens?](http://www.roses.org/intro/intro.htm) I lived in Bayside from 1983 to 1988, actually. I’m not saying there are no nuts in New York- just that they’re _my_ kind. At least this woman had the courage to have visions inside her own head instead of going with salt and an underpass. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/32 "2006-03-29T12:01:46Z")
Shit…er…goddam…er… Wow. I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/33 "2006-03-29T12:34:23Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Likely how religions got started in the first place. Follow the GOURD! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/34 "2006-03-29T12:34:26Z")
Seeing Virgin Mary in uderpasses,Jesus on waffles etc, Is Like an ink blot test people see what they want, Because it looks like it is a woman in a veil to them they feel it is the Virgin Mary. I can see a lot of Arabs in some of the paneling in one of my rooms, others can see it too but it is just the way the grain was formed in the paneling plus the stain. People need something to strenghten their beliefs and they want it to be a sign. Strange but when my great grandson saw a picture Osama Bin Laden on TV he thought it was Jesus because he had long hair and a shawl over his head. Sometimes we want things to be so badly we believe things that are not necessarily true. Monavis ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/35 "2006-03-29T21:27:12Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > Seeing Virgin Mary in underpasses,Jesus on waffles etc, Is Like an ink blot test people see what they want, Because it looks like it is a woman in a veil to them they feel it is the Virgin Mary. There’s a word for this phenomenon – [_pareidolia_.](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/lenin.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/36 "2006-03-30T20:26:31Z")
Anyone who finds this really amusing should read Lucky You, by Carl Hiassen. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/37 "2006-03-31T03:06:10Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **Frostillicus** > I thought the Salt Stain Mary image had been painted over or scrubbed away or something like that. > In spite of our attempts to erase her divine image, the Blessed Mother perserveres. > Wow it gives one pause doesn’t it? > Well, no it really doesn’t. 😃 Au contraire, **Wolf Meister**. I counted a good 10 or so candles underneath Salt Stain Mary on my way to work today. She lives, I tells ya, she lives! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/38 "2006-03-31T13:43:05Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Anyone who finds this really amusing should read Lucky You, by Carl Hiassen. Turtles! ---
**Author:** ![FWorld](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FWorld](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FWorld)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/39 "2006-03-31T15:34:01Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > > [@monavis](#): > > > > Seeing Virgin Mary in **uder** passes,Jesus on waffles etc > > . > > There’s a word for this phenomenon – [_pareidolia_.](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/lenin.html) And what do you call \*that \*phenomenon? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155/40 "2006-03-31T19:32:12Z")
Once I thought I saw the Virgin Mary floating before me, but it was just an eye-booger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-mary-is-seen-in-illinois-underpass-again/350155.md?page=3)