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@ Mad Dog:
Great work, maybe I can include some of the more recent ones when I find the time.

@ Richard Moorton:
I don’t intend to deliver the one and only rational explanation of this Egypt Mary. I don’t have the time nor the interest to analyze this in detail. Especially as these events have stopped such a long time ago and I’m sure most of the evidence since then has vanished and reports mixed with anecdotes and myth. You will have to agree that most inquiries were performed by people from the church (like … in case of the “Miracle of the Sun”), they have to be considered biased. As said, I intend to show up *possible* other explanations.
The underlying question is a more fundamental one: Even if I succeed to refute this event, somebody will come up with another one. It’s like UFO sightings: We know they are bogus, but do we care to proof this for every single one? I don’t want to write the beginning chapter to a never ending story. You are right: It is consistent with a supernaturalist position. The problem: Everything is consistent with a supernaturalist position, even and especially without any further inquiry. There always is the possibility to postulate an intervention by god or the flying spaghetti monster. But this doesn’t explain anything so science has to reject it.
To sum up: We will most probably never come to the same conclusion. Similar to what you said for the “Miracle of the sun” case: Skeptics have enough grounds for doubt, but believers can always come up with counter-arguments, at least with ones based on their set of believes.

@ Sire:
I wouldn’t do it either (see below). But if you could create more of them they would make a very nice exhibition I think. “The water people” or something

@ Bella Jo:
How do you conclude from my reference to Wikipedia to the fact that what you say will not convince me?
We all have to prove our opinions to ourself and shouldn’t believe in dogma without questioning. Accepting the scientific method usually excludes supernatural believes. Thus it would not help much if I were to visit this place. It would be interesting to meet some people there that had this experience, though, as I’m a curious person.
But thanks for the hint to the Marian apparitions resource library, maybe I check that out.

@ Mike T.:
Just call me Marcel, “this blogger” sounds strange, don’t you think? Gives the impression that you are not willing to talk to me, but only about me. Even if we have different opinions we still can be on friendly terms.
Unless the people that observe those “sightings” urge or even force others to see and believe the same, I agree that they are pretty harmless. There are exceptions: Those that make money out of it sail close to the wind, I personally think what they do is fraud.
Still, I have to disagree with you: These sightings don’t really annoy me, they are merely funny in a large part. And very interesting because they tell a lot about the people that “discover” them. So I don’t beat me up about this. I’ve collected the list to perform an analysis of the sightings, with rather interesting results that confirmed my first impression (see part III: http://8minutesold.com/?p=60).

I don’t know if anything I could say would convince you. After all, you are referencing Wikipedia!

You need to prove it to yourself. The question is: “How hard are you really willing to work to find the answer?”

You should go to Sylvan Springs in Rome City on a sunny Friday afternoon for the rosary. It may change your perspective on a lot of things!

P.S. i think a lot of your “examples” are taken from sources like The National Enquirer. try looking at the Marian apparitions resource library at the University of Dayton.

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Your reasonings are indeed speculative and do not compel assent. This is materialism in the gaps (abg, or “anything but God”), and as we know, such reasoning is not strong. The evidence is sufficiently robust here to require specific refutation, not maybe this, maybe that. I can agree that a case like this need not compel assent in a skeptic, but it is rightly taken as consistent with and even supportive of a supernaturalist position.

It seems the apparitions stopped when the Egyptian government got the idea of charging tickets for access to the site to view the phenomenon. Apparently Mary prefers not to be vended. If the site below is to be trusted (it is biased, but the info could be independently checked), the apparitions have come back with little fanfare.

http://www.medjugorjeusa.org/zeitoun.htm

As for the miracle of the sun, I take it seriously, and think that there is substantial evidence for it having occurred at Fatima, but there are reasonable grounds for doubt and I think that here the skeptics have a respectable case. It’s not the only case, and believers can make reasonable counter arguments, but imho neither acceptance nor disbelief is risible.

Best,

Richard Moorton

@ Richard Moorton: Too bad you did not want to give that impression . The problem with those decades old apparitions is, that we can not analyse them in enought detail. I agree that people probably saw something, so the photos are probably not faked. But the question is what did they see. I think possible explanations include sort of a conspiracy or some kind of light effect, like a reflection that occurs only from time to time, maybe a nearby window that only reflects like this when in some special position. But this is speculation. Maybe one starting point to look for an explanation would be to find out when and then why the effect stopped. What else did change at that time? Where there some constructon works nearby, or did somebody move away/die in the neighborhood? And then it has to be checked if these correlations could be causal.

@ Sire: That’s a funny photo and a good illustration that it only needs many random structures and an some attention to discover something. Too bad you can not sell the splash to some zealot .

@ Bella Jo: Hm, you don’t stop it. Even if it is non-profit, it looks like spam to me. Because there is not much correlation with the post’s topic. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_sun) there are several possible explanations for this “Miracle of the Sun”. But as these “miracles” usually happend many years ago, it is hard to find an explanation everyone accepts.

I’m just trying to spread the devotion. The owners need help and are looking for Catholics to help them move it into Non-profit ownership. They are not looking to profit.

One of the best sites I’ve found for this devotion is http://www.oltiv.org.

It is in NE Indiana and is easy to get to. You should take a visit and see the facts for yourself.

BTW: The miracle of the sun was witnessed by 80,000 people at Fatima, Portugal. It was one of the major factors in the Church declaring the Fatima apparitions approved. Some things cannot be explained by scientific skepticism. It’s what makes it so “miraculous”.