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Mary Mary, Where Ya Going to?

Explore the Virgin Mary reflection phenomenon as sunlight through a window sparks claims of an apparition. Is it pareidolia or something more?

Written byPhil Plait
| 1 min read
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I am at rock bottom. I really am. I have seen pareidolia both subtle and gross, but nothing so incredibly obviously silly as this one (note: the video on that page has made my browser all wonky (maybe it needs to be blessed) so caveat emptor).

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People are claiming a reflection of sunlight off a window is the Virgin Mary. Yes, really. One woman made a big deal (both quoted in the article and on the embedded video) of how the apparition moved: "And as the night progressed she goes up slowly, and she just kept going up." Yeah, so as the Sun set, the reflection moved up. Here is the sun flare:

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I keep thinking, this is the 21st century. Men have walked on the Moon. We have instantaneous communications across the planet. We've mapped the human genome. Sigh.

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