# Worcester MA "Healer"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worcester-ma-healer/128783>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 20, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worcester-ma-healer/128783 "2002-09-20T13:16:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worcester-ma-healer/128783/1 "2002-09-20T13:16:40Z")

</div>

A few years back, the BOSTON GLOBE carried a story about a girl in Worcester, MA, who is in a vegetative state. She was in some kind of accident that rendered her brain-dead, paralyzed, etc. Her parents are convinced that she has the power to heal people-they have turned her bedroom into a shrine. In addition, the claim has been made that statues in tje girl’s room constantly drip a fragrant oil, whose source is unknown.  
Does anybody know if this thing has been formally investigated? What is the opinion of this phenomenon?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worcester-ma-healer/128783/2 "2002-09-20T14:02:17Z")

</div>

CSICOP article from 1999. “No, it’s not real.”  
[http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990121-audrey-santo/](http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990121-audrey-santo/)

Skeptic’s Dictionary article from 1999. “No, it’s not real.”  
[http://skepdic.com/refuge/bunk8.html](http://skepdic.com/refuge/bunk8.html)

The last news update I could find offhand was from 2000.

[http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/santo000807.html](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/santo000807.html)

> [@](#):
>
> W O R C E S T E R, Mass., Aug. 7 — Thirteen years ago, Audrey Santo nearly drowned.  
> But while the little girl was rescued, she has been a coma ever since the accident. She’s also become a destination for thousands of pilgrims who believe she can perform miracles.  
> On Sunday, some 3,000 people came to Christ the King Church in Worcester, Mass. — as they do each year — to pray for Audrey, now 16. And perhaps they’re also hoping for a blessing from the girl, who has laid motionless and speechless since her near-death at age 3.
> 
> \< snip \>
> 
> the Catholic Church in Rome, which two years ago launched an investigation into the mystery of the little girl in Massachusetts (see Web Link).

Their “web link” only goes to the Diocese’s [Interim Report](http://www.worcesterdiocese.org/news/communications/releases/audrey.html), I presume from 1999, and I don’t see any updates anywhere offhand, but then, there’s a limit to the amount of time I have to spend on this. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worcester-ma-healer/128783/3 "2002-09-20T15:17:59Z")

</div>

[anecdotal hijack]  
A number of years ago there was some commotion among the members of the Syrian Orthodox Church here in Sweden because a young girl started to “sweat” oil from her palms and performing other miracles. A friend of mine, who taught at her school, told me that it was general knowledge among the Syrianic neighbours of the family that their consumption of olive oil was very large.  
[anecdotal hijack]:rolleyes: