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INVESTIGATIVE FILES

The ‘New’ Idolatry

or a live, prime-time television ond commandment is an injunction worship among the Church’s excesses. program, I was asked to evaluate against “graven images,” but only those Ironically, Catholic bibles (unlike Fclaims that a in Sacramento that were to be adored or served (Exodus Protestant ones) contain an extra, four- streamed tears of blood. The case 20: 4–5); others were explicitly allowed teenth chapter of Daniel that condemns prompted me to take a retrospective (Exodus 25:18). Influenced by Islam idolatry with a story. It involves the look at a wide variety of related phe- and Judaism, a movement of iconoclasts Babylonian idol of Bel (or Baal) which nomena, ranging from weeping to (Greek “image-breakers”) from about consumed vast quantities of food and perambulating , many of which I 723–842 sought to carry out the injunc- wine—or so it seemed. The apparent personally investigated over the years. tion, destroying countless religious won over King Cyrus to worship of the idol. However, Daniel sifted ashes on the floor of the sealed temple and so recorded the footprints of the priests Catholic bibles and their families who used “secret doors” to enter and devour the offerings. (unlike Protestant ones) contain an extra, As Daniel had reasoned to the king, the idol consisted only of brass-covered fourteenth chapter of Daniel that clay and “never ate or drank anything.” Neither, he might have added by way of extrapolation, do statues move, weep, condemns idolatry with a story. bleed, or otherwise become animated. Or was Daniel wrong?

Idolatry works and persecuting those who made Animated Statues Belief that an effigy is in some way ani- and venerated them. In the ninth cen- In September 1995, reminiscent of the mated (from anima, “breath”) not only tury, iconoclasm was declared a heresy. Idol of Bel, statues of Lord Ganesh and challenges science’s natural-world view, Images proliferated, being widely other Indian deities throughout the but it also crosses a theological line. It used for ornamental, instructional, and Hindu world began to sip spoonfuls of moves from veneration (reverence devotional purposes. In the Orthodox milk offered to them. Some observers toward an image) to idolatry (or image Church image veneration largely did notice milk pooling at the bottoms worship) in which the image is regarded focused on icons (wood panels painted of the statues, but they could not as the “tenement or vehicle of the god in the Byzantine tradition) and was gen- explain how it was getting there. and fraught with divine influence” erally more elaborate than the venera- The secret was discovered by govern- (Idolatry 1960). tion in Roman Catholicism, which ment scientists who offered a statue Religious prohibitions of idolatry are tended to favor statues (Images 1993). milk mixed with red dye and noted that, ancient. In the Old Testament, the sec- A new iconoclasm arose during the while the liquid disappeared from the Protestant Reformation in sixteenth- spoon, it coated the statue due to surface Joe Nickell is CSICOP’s Senior Research century Europe. Reformers like Martin tension. (This is the same principle that Fellow. His Web site is www.joenickell.com. Luther and John Calvin listed image causes two drops of liquid that are

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brought together to form a single drop.) picture camera revealed that no such nous, life-sized crucifixion figure of The spoon being naturally tilted a bit, movement had occurred. They soon Christ reportedly closed its eyes. At first, the milk was imperceptibly drawn over determined that the effect was an illu- no one claimed to have seen the eyelids the wet (ritually washed) idol. (I was sion. According to the science magazine actually moving, only that the eyes had able to study the phenomenon when Discover (Those 1985, 19): been about one-third open when the Indian skeptic Vikas Gora statue was relocated in visited my paranormal-inves- January, and that during the tigation lab in May 2001. He special three-hour prayer had witnessed the original meeting the eyes were ob- “miracle” and taught me how served to be shut. However, to make statues and figurines the pastor of the church was seem to drink.) (Nickell soon reporting additional 2001, 312–315) claims: “At times the eyes In contrast to this singular seem to be opening and a lit- Hindu case, Roman Catholi- tle later seem to close again.” cism yielded several modern Soon, an investigation was instances of allegedly ani- launched by the Diocese, with mated statues. In 1981, a commission appointed to for example, in a church examine the evidence and at Thornton, California, a report on the astonishing phe- sculpted Virgin Mary not nomena. After careful study only altered the angle of her of the before-and-after video- eyes and the tilt of her chin, tapes, the commission found churchgoers reported, but “no convincing evidence” that also wept and even strolled the statue closed its eyes dur- about the church at night. ing the Good Friday service. Although no one ever actu- When close-up views of the ally witnessed the latter, the face from each videotape statue was frequently found showed the eyes in a similar, several feet from its usual partially open position, the location, standing at the altar. commission rejected claims A bishop’s investigation, that a miracle had occurred. however, failed to support Commission members stated the miracle claims. Investi- that they felt the witnesses gating clerics determined were sincere but could have that the purported move- been deceived by the church’s ment of the statue’s eyes and lighting and by the angles of Figure 1. At a site at Conyers, Georgia, the author exam- chin were merely due to ines a statue of the Virgin Mary that some pilgrims claim exhibits heart- viewing. In the wake of the variations in photographic beats. (Photo by William Evans) commission’s report, the pas- angles. Worse, they branded tor was barred from celebrat- the weeping and perambulations a It is induced when people rock gently ing Mass, and he responded by resigning back and forth while looking at the probable . For their efforts, the statue. At dusk, when the sky is grey (Nickell 1998, 65–66). investigators were denounced by some and landmarks are obscured, the eye But if that statue’s eyes did not close, believers, even being called “a bunch of has no point of reference except the what about another’s that allegedly devils” (Nickell 1998, 67). halo of blue lights. Therefore, say the opened? They belonged to a “sleeping” scientists, the eye is unable to detect In 1985 came reports that a figure of the fact that one’s head and body are figure of Jesus that a Hoboken, New the Virgin in a grotto at Ballinspittle, unconsciously moving. The viewer Jersey, street “preacher” had once res- Ireland, began to sway gently. Thou- who sways is likely to get the impres- cued from a garbage bin. He claimed in sands of pilgrims, eager to witness the sion that not he but the statue is July 2005 that while he was cleaning the moving. phenomenon flocked to the village to figurine it opened its right eye. Stories view the statue, which was adorned with Other phenomena were reported in soon spread of the statue “blinking” its a halo of blue lights. Pennsylvania in 1989. The case began right eye, turning its head, and perform- It remained for a group of scientists on Good Friday at the Holy Trinity ing other unverifiable feats. from University College, Cork, to dis- Church in Ambridge, a quiet Ohio Actually the statue’s eyes were never cover the truth about the statue. They, River mill town fifteen miles northwest closed. I studied high-resolution photos too, saw the figure sway, yet a motion- of Pittsburgh. During the service a lumi- of the figure and determined that it had

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glass eyes and that portions of its upper changed color in 1992. One witness saw days. When the city of Syracuse in and lower right eyelids had been broken the base of the statue turn a “dark, dark lay under Spanish siege in off, the explanation for the opening-eye pink,” while another said the figure 1719, a marble statue of St. Lucy in the city cried continually. effect (Nickell 2005). once “turned the brightest blue.” The Yet other statues—a pair representing statue was actually white with pink and Similar manifestations have been Jesus and Mary on a church’s bell tower blue tones, and the effect appeared to increasingly reported in modern times. in Campbell, Ohio—had eyes that correlate with the emotive force of the Interestingly, Syracuse was the site of “glowed.” Their halos and Sacred Hearts believers. Not surprisingly, therefore, another “weeping” statue in 1953. It was glowed too, parishioners claimed in many people were unable to witness the reported that the liquid was consistent 2003. Soon thousands of pilgrims and color change and went away disap- with real tears, although doubts were curiosity seekers had flocked to the site. pointed (Nickell 1998, 66–67). raised about the scientific competency I was one of them. However, I soon Still other statues were supposedly and impartiality of the investigators. determined that the statues were not even more remarkably alive: they were The woman who owned the original glowing at all. Gold leaf on the areas in said to have heartbeats! The statues were statue had received it as a wedding gift question was merely shining, due to sun- at a Marian apparition site in Conyers, in March, and it began to weep in her light during the day and other sources Georgia. Asked by an Atlanta television presence in late August, the culmination of several weeks of upheaval in her household. She was pregnant, and for several weeks had been suffering In one case in 1980, no one witnessed “seizures,” fainting spells, and attacks of blindness. Local doctors were unable to the initial weeping, diagnose her condition, and she may have been seeking attention. The case and soon, the woman who was followed by an epidemic of similar manifestations across Roman Catholic owned the plaster bas-relief was . Rogo (1982, 178) remarked that they were “no doubt spawned by wide press coverage of the Syracuse miracle.” caught surreptitiously applying Two other Italian cases are especially instructive. In one that took place in “tears” with a water pistol! Pavia in 1980, no one witnessed the ini- tial weeping, and soon, the woman who owned the plaster bas-relief was caught surreptitiously applying “tears” with a (e.g., street and security lights) at night. station to investigate the claims (and oth- water pistol! In 1995 an epidemic of cry- Using a flashlight, I demonstrated that ers), I found that there were no heart- ing effigies followed one that began the gilded areas were merely reflecting beats detectable by stethoscope (figure 1). weeping in Sardinia. However, tests on light, not transmitting it. Other statues In fact, people were reaching up to feel the blood were clinically analyzed and the on the grounds—all lacking gold leaf— the throbbings and were instead either DNA was shown to be that of the statue’s failed to shine. The local priest and a feeling the pulse in their own thumbs or owner. Her attorney explained, “Well, monsignor of the diocese had reached once again suffering the effects of pious the Virgin Mary had to get that blood the same conclusion, but one parish- imagination (Nickell 1996). from somewhere” (Nickell 1997a). ioner told me, “I prefer not to believe Exuding Effigies Another instructive case transpired that” (Nickell 2003, 6). in 1985 when a statue of the Virgin Other statue animations have been Not only statues but icons and other began first weeping then bleeding in the reported, including chameleonesque images may seemingly become ani- home of a Quebec railroad worker. effects. For example, the previously mated. (Icons are common in Orthodox Soon the phenomenon spread to other mentioned 1989 eye-closing statue at churches.) According to D. Scott Rogo, nearby icons, statues, and crucifixes. Ambridge, Pennsylvania, also reportedly in his : A Parascientific Inquiry Thousands of pilgrims waited in the changed color—from vivid tones on into Wondrous Phenomena (1982, 161): brutal winter cold to view the “mira- Good Friday to dull ones after. How- Cases of religious statues, paintings, cle”—as many as 12,000 in a single ever, these were attributed to the light- icons, and other effigies that suddenly week. The local bishop went largely ing and to pious imagination. begin to bleed or weep have been doc- ignored as he implied the affair was a umented throughout history. Before Similar explanations applied to a Rome was sacked in 1527, for false miracle. Then, suddenly, the thirty-inch figure of Mary in a church at instance, a statue of Christ housed in Associated Press reported that the affair Patterson, New Jersey, that reportedly a local monastery wept for several was “all a hoax—not even a very clever

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hoax.” Newsmen from the Canadian grant resin) or myrrh-scented oil—as in (Paula Zahn Now, CNN, December 2, Broadcasting Corporation had been a case I investigated in Moscow. The 2005) that I had good news and bad permitted to borrow an and had it “myrrhing” involved an icon of the news: The bad news was that the weep- examined. The blood had been mixed assassinated Czar Nicholas II and ing was fake; the good news was that few with animal fat so that, when the room occurred at a time when there was a of the faithful would believe me. warmed from the body heat of pilgrims, campaign to bestow sainthood on him I told the Sacramento Bee (Kollars the substance would liquefy and flow and his family (Nickell 2002). and Fletcher 2005) that the weeping was realistically. The owner confessed he a “clumsy, obvious hoax.” When a had used his own blood to produce the Investigative Approach church spokesperson, the Rev. James effects (Nickell 1998, 58). As these examples show, more and more Murphy, said there were no plans to There are not always such definitive frequently we are seeing news reports of investigate the incident, I responded: “If results. An icon I investigated in Astoria, “weeping” and other animated effigies. a statue is a fraud or a hoax, or even just Queens, New York, May 11, 1991, was Not one has ever been authenticated by a mistake, it should be determined and no longer weeping and my stereomicro- science. However, rather than simply that should be that. If it’s a fake, then it scopic examination showed little. dismiss such claims, I actually investi- should be repudiated.” However, a videotape of the earlier gate them—whenever possible. However, the Rev. Murphy expressed weeping revealed that the “tear” rivulets It is not unusual for me to be refused an all-too-typical attitude, stating, “If flowed from outside the eyes and were access. For example, for a TV documen- people view this as a miracle and it greatly disproportionate to the diminu- tary about a comatose “miracle” girl, brings them closer to God, then that’s a tive size of the saint’s face, observations Audrey Santo, near whom icons and fig- good thing” (Milbourn 2005). But such that suggested a rather crude hoax urines dripped oil—producers requested an end-justifies-the-means approach is (Nickell 1998, 54). I be permitted to visit the Worcester, untenable—especially given the serious- Later, the priest who had presided Massachusetts, home. The girl’s mother ness of the matter: an affront to science, over the Astoria church when it was vis- at first agreed, but then, on advice from religion, ethics, and good sense, as well ited by the weeping phenomenon was a priest closely associated with the case, as truth, all in one. presiding over a Toronto church with an she withdrew permission for my visit. I icon that had also begun to weep. I was could only comment on the very suspi- References called in on the case twice: first by the cious circumstances of the case, includ- Idolatry. 1960. Encyclopedia Britannica. Toronto Sun newspaper and later by ing the fact that one test of the oil Images. 1993. Collier’s Encyclopedia. attorneys for the parent church. It revealed it to be 20 percent chicken fat Kollars, Deb, and Ed Fletcher. 2005. Weeping or not, Mary is a magnet. Sacramento Bee, turned out that the priest had previously (Nickell 1999). December 7. been defrocked and excommunicated One weeping icon was brought to Milbourn, Todd. 2005. No probe is planned of for working in a brothel in Athens! me from Syria by a BBC producer. “weeping” statue. Sacramento Bee, November 29. With a fraud-squad detective stand- Suspiciously, it ceased to stream oil as Nickell, Joe.1996. Examining miracle claims. ing by, I took samples of the oily “tears” soon as it left its owner, a member of the Deolog, March 4–5, 14, 23. for analysis by the Ontario Center of Chaldean . Alas, noth- ———. 1997a. Those tearful icons. Free Inquiry 17:2 (Spring), 5, 7, 61. Forensic Sciences. The substance proved ing, apparently—neither pleas nor ———. 1997b. Something to cry about: The case to be a nondrying oil, as I had thought insults, not even slicing onions before of the weeping icon. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER it to be on inspection; its use is an effec- it—seems able to make it cry again, 21:2 (March/April), 19–20. ———. 1998. Looking for a Miracle. Amherst, tive trick, since one application remains although I keep it as part of my para- N.Y.: Prometheus Books. See this source for fresh-looking indefinitely. Because no normal collection (Nickell 2004). additional cases and sources. one could prove how the oil got on the Sometimes, I am contacted on short ———. 1999. Miracles or deception? The pathetic case of Audrey Santo. SKEPTICAL icon, the legal case went nowhere, but notice, as when CNN asked me to assess INQUIRER 23:5 (Sept./Oct.), 16–18. the church’s North American head pro- the case of the Sacramento statue that ———. 2001. Real-Life X-Files. Lexington, Ky.: nounced it a hoax (Nickell 1997b). appeared to be crying blood. University Press of Kentucky. ———. 2002. Moscow mysteries. SKEPTICAL An interesting feature of the exuding Fortunately, I had been able to see pho- INQUIRER 26:4 (July/Aug.), 17–20, 24. icons is the variety of substances tos and videos of the supposed weeping. ———. 2003. Riddle of the glowing statues. involved, together with some apparent I observed that the streams of “blood” Skeptical Briefs 13:4 (December), 5–6. ———. 2004. Gewezen wenend icoon (formerly trends. In Catholicism the images came only from Mary’s left eye, and that weeping icon). Skepter (Dutch skeptic’s jour- tended to yield watery tears or blood, one of the rivulets in fact began above nal), March, 41. until relatively recently when—seeming and outside the eye itself. Moreover, the ———. 2005. “Winking Jesus” statue: Mystery solved! SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, November/ to tap the Greek Orthodox tradition streams were not flowing but rather December, 7–8. which has received media attention— remained static, as if there had merely Rogo, Scott D. 1982. Miracles: A Parascientific there has been an occasional shift to oil. been an application of the red substance. Inquiry into Wondrous Phenomena. New York: Dial Press. And in the Russian Orthodox tradition, These observations led me to tell Paula Those Who Sway Together Pray Together. 1985. the icons tend to exude myrrh (a fra- Zahn when I appeared on her show Discover, October, 19. !

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