Very interesting video from a Camera phone.

http://paranormal.about.com/gi...rgin-mary-apparition

I forgot to add possible to the title as there is always the possibility that this may be a hoax.

Why, et al,

I looked at it last night and again this morning. To me, it is nothing any more remarkable than a cloud formation. Did I miss something?

Yes, Glenn, you did miss something. Here is another website about this very same sighting. I think Whyisit posted a more skeptic account of the sighting. "God Discussion" is, as it states on its homepage, "The Place for Seekers Who Do Not Want to Go to Church".

The main thing to be concerned about is: ~~ Is this a good sign or a bad one?

I say IT IS BOTH! And my topic, "This is the Apocalypse", explains why.

Sela

quote:

Originally posted by Glenn:
Why, et al,

I looked at it last night and again this morning. To me, it is nothing any more remarkable than a cloud formation. Did I miss something?

Glenn,

Yeah...same here. I just watched the video and couldn't see the apparition. It just looked like a cloud formation to me too. And yet the people were all tremendously excited, as you could tell from their voices. They were obviously seeing something we didn't see. It could just be the poor quality of the video, but I think they were seeing what they wanted to see.

So many of these "Virgin Mary sightings" and other apparitions are just a big Rorschach test. My feeling is that the witnesses were basically getting a contact high off each other. The image (if there was one) was so vague you could read into it pretty much whatever you wanted. I have to remain a skeptic on this one, because I just flat-out didn't see it.

--Linda

quote:

Originally posted by Sela Juneau:
Yes, Glenn, you did miss something. Here is another website about this very same sighting. I think Whyisit posted a more skeptic account of the sighting. "God Discussion" is, as it states on its homepage, "The Place for Seekers Who Do Not Want to Go to Church".

The main thing to be concerned about is: ~~ Is this a good sign or a bad one?

I say IT IS BOTH! And my topic, "This is the Apocalypse", explains why.

Sela

Sela,

Okay, now I watched the second video, the one you posted on what looks like a conspiracy website. So the image is in the sun? I looked at the close-up pictures, and they show what COULD be a human figure against the sun. It isn't "obviously a woman" like the caption says. You'd have to read into it to see a female figure.

But that raises a whole other set of questions. I know I can't look directly at the sun for more than a few seconds. It's difficult to impossible in the physical sense, and furthermore it's very hard on your eyes. Nobody should make a habit of looking directly at the sun. How could all those people look at the sun long enough to see an image of any kind in it?

--Linda

Raksha

The image doesn't appear for a minute or so in the video that I linked to but it does show a humanoid shape to it when it does. My concern is that it is somehow faked. There isn't enough information on who took it, where it was taken and when it happened.

If the pictures were taken with a camera-phone, the person does not have to look directly into the sun, does he?

There will always be skeptics. In fact, I was teaching Bible classes when the Virgin Mary appeared at Medjugorje and still have copies of books on the subject. It was something we discussed in the class since there were both Catholics and Protestants involved in the study.

There is much I could say about these appearances but it's all on the Internet, anyway. Why take the time?

Oh, and I do have something to say about it today on 'The Apocalypse' topic.

Sela

     If you watch carefully near the bottom of the "V" made by the silhouettes of the trees, you can see, intermittently, the outlines of what appears to be the static shape of the standard image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I suppose it is projected, but have no idea how that was done.
Seán

Sean et al,

Well, I have been eagerly awaiting the input of Brother Jeff. Anyway, I already said it was to me nothing more than a cloud formation. I am more skeptical that someone could have "photoshoped" the image, but that is possible.

One time when I was flying, I was going from El Paso to Albuquerque. There were clouds to my west and I might add I was VFR so wanted to avoid them. One formed a perfect image of a man slaying a lion. Wish I had had a camera. It was impressive. But, a natural cloud formation. Think of the billion cloud images that form and one can be a man slaying a lion and another can be a woman.

Whoop te doo.

quote:

I have been eagerly awaiting the input of Brother Jeff

Really?

All such sightings are hallucinations/delusions/misinterpretations of something natural if there's anything there at all. Aside from the sheer ridiculousness of the idea itself, how would anyone know what the "Virgin Mary" (who was obviously no virgin) looked like anyway? It's like people who claim to see Jesus describing him as looking like Fabio or some other actor who played him recently in some movie, or the way medieval artists pictured him in their paintings and sculptures. (Jesus, of course, most likely looked like most other persons born in the area at the time--dark haired, short...)

And then you have to come up with some reason why Jesus or Mary or whomever would decide to make an appearance in a cloud or a piece of toast or dust on a window pane. What information is conveyed by such a thing? Why not appear in the White House with an interpreter (if needed) and call a press conference instead?

Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by CompGuy:
misinterpretations of something natural

The something natural that gets misinterpreted could be anything from a hoax to an actual zero point gravity/EM interaction.

-- John G.

     The image in question is not a cloud formation; it is an indistinct, but actual picture viewed against a shimmering, probably cloudy, background. The effect could be accomplished by using a screen of transparent plastic—Saran wrap, for example—suspended on a string stretched between the trees. An ordinary slide projector would be sufficient to display the image.
     It seems probable to me that the whole production was intended to draw pilgrims hoping to see a recurrence of the "apparition." Shrines of this description can be a real bonanza for the locals.
Seán

Maybe not as the last few times that the Virgin Mary has appeared the region in question has been plaqued by wars. Serbia comes to mind and the Ivory coast is in the middle of a tense political situation.
Not good...

quote:

Originally posted by Sean:
     The image in question is not a cloud formation; it is an indistinct, but actual picture viewed against a shimmering, probably cloudy, background. The effect could be accomplished by using a screen of transparent plastic—Saran wrap, for example—suspended on a string stretched between the trees. An ordinary slide projector would be sufficient to display the image.
     It seems probable to me that the whole production was intended to draw pilgrims hoping to see a recurrence of the "apparition." Shrines of this description can be a real bonanza for the locals.
Seán

Whyisit,
     My conjecture about the motive for staging the sighting may very well be wrong. Did you notice, in the video, how the grounds were littered with paper products? It looks as if it were the scene of a picnic, which would be a good way to assemble a crowd in the spot where the apparition could be seen to best advantage.
Seán

It looked like a park or open air area.

quote:

Originally posted by Sean:
Whyisit,
     My conjecture about the motive for staging the sighting may very well be wrong. Did you notice, in the video, how the grounds were littered with paper products? It looks as if it were the scene of a picnic, which would be a good way to assemble a crowd in the spot where the apparition could be seen to best advantage.
Seán

     On further thought, it occurs to me that no perspective is available to enable estimation of the image' size. If it is at the distance of the trees it would be approximately life size. In that case, it could be a simple cut-out and no projector would be needed. If that's correct, a breeze might cause the erratic movements of the figure, if it is suspended on a string.
Seán

Sean,

I did go back and look at the video again. I still don't see much of interest. As for an image suspended, that seems like a bit much to fool anyone, but someone might have done it very expertly. I do know that magicians can do things that to the observer seem almost totally remarkable. Who knows?

The thing that is as at least as interesting to me is the association with the Virgin Mary. Back to when I was in the Cessna 172 going up to Albuquerque from El Paso. The cloud formation of the man and lion was startling. And I will add quickly that with cloud formations your brain fills in some of the blanks. But I never associated the figure with anyone. Not to Hercules, not Buddha, not Jesus nor anyone in particular. Why did these people pick up on the Virgin Mary thing in your opinion?

Regards,

quote:

Why did these people pick up on the Virgin Mary thing in your opinion?—Glenn

     Fair question! I never doubted the womanly figure, robed in royal blue and purple, was a representation of the Virgin Mary. That is because of my life-long exposure to images of Our Lady of Guadalupe—There is even a picture of her, done in tile, set in the wall, beside the entry to my home.—and it is close in shape and color to the one we are discussing. I have no reason, actually, to think the apparition does not portray another person.
Seán