Eight Minutes Old

@Richard Moorton: I’m happy to hear that there are Catholics that disagree with these sightings.
@Bella Jo: Looks like your comment is some kind of catholic spam. And I really don’t understand what this “miracle of the sun” is all about, the text on this site isn’t telling much. Staring in the sun for minutes will definitely make you see strange things and feel dizzy. The only miracle involved can be that you are not blinded forever . BTW: Is that website trying to sell “the magic place”?

First, to all of you: Thanks for your comments.

@ 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.

As I’m focusing most of my intellect and powers of observations on other things than this blog, it took me some time to answer your comments .
Of cause I can do other things with my time, but I’ve decided to spread some reason with my blog (in addition to presenting my photography). Thus, I deem it important to show that there are many possible explanations for those alleged apparitions. There is no good reason to postulate a spiritual, transcendental origin.
I know that I will not convince those of you that have a strong opinion on this. I don’t even want to change you, you have every right to believe in whatever you want. My point is to state that from a scientific stand, there is no need for the supernatural.

@ 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).

Just for those who wonder what these “Miracles of the Sun” lead to: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/10/and-the-blind-shall-see/