"Polaroids from Heaven": Photography, Folk Religion, and the Miraculous

"Polaroids from Heaven": Photography, Folk Religion, and the Miraculous Image Tradition at a Marian Apparition Site Author(s): Daniel Wojcik Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 109, No. 432 (Spring, 1996), pp. 129-148 Published by: American Folklore Society Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/541832 Accessed: 25-04-2020 19:50 UTC

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This content downloaded from 44.224.113.36 on Sat, 25 Apr 2020 19:50:34 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms DANIEL WOJCIK

"Polaroids from Heaven" Photography, Folk Religion, and the Miraculous Image Tradition at a Marian Apparition Site

At a Marian apparition site in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, New York, Catholic pilgrims use photography to document miraculous phenomena, produce signs of the supernatural, and create sacred images. As an emergent folk religious practice, "miraculous photography" constitutes a creative, technological innovation on traditional Catholic beliefs about miraculous images. This essay explores the meaning of miraculous photography for believers, discusses the compatibility of photographic image-making with previous miraculous image traditions, and exam- ines the appeal ofphotography as a means ofaffirming the reality of the supernatural through the creation of tangible, sacred proofs.

THOUSANDS OF Catholic pilgrims annually visit Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens, New York City, to celebrate the heavenly visitations of Mrs. Veronica Lueken, through whom the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and numerous saints are believed to reveal apocalyptic prophecies to humanity. On Saturday evenings, devotees gather at the apparition site located a quarter mile from Shea Stadium, near the rusted metal shell of the Unisphere built for the 1964-65 World's Fair. The rhythmic, meditative sound of their prayers is heard above the distant roar ofjumbo jets landing at LaGuardia Airport, cheering New York Mets fans, and automobiles speeding on the Long Island Expressway. There they kneel or sit in folding lawn chairs and pray the rosary from 8:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m., before an adorned five-foot statue of the Virgin Mary which stands on a modest slab of cement that marks the former Vatican Pavilion site, the spot where Michelangelo's Pieta was housed during the World's Fair. Not all of the people at this makeshift shrine sit, kneel, or pray for the duration of the vigil: many walk about and snap Polaroid photographs of the shrine, the statue of the Blessed Mother, the sky, each other, or anything in the vicinity of the apparition site. The shrine's literature states, "Our Lady has said that the Eternal Father is making use of modern technology 'to communicate with a fallen generation,' a

Daniel Wojcik is an assistant professor offolklore and English at the University of Oregon

Journal ofAmerican Folklore 109(432):129-148. Copyright ? 1996, American Folklore Society.

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generation whose hearts are so hardened, and eyes so blinded, that they need some kind of tangible proof of the authenticity of the Bayside visions" (Our Lady of the Roses n.d.:9). Taking Polaroid photographs of the miraculous phenomena associated with the apparition site is central to the religious experiences of many of the shrine's followers. Referred to as "miracle photos" or "Polaroids from Heaven" by believers, these images are said to contain allegorical and apocalyptic symbols and are interpreted as divine communications offering insights of prophetic and personal relevance. Devotees have adopted the image-making qualities of photography to produce signs of the supernatural and reproduce tangible manifestations of the sacred. As an emergent Catholic folk practice, miraculous photography is an innovation on previous Catholic traditions of miraculous images and offers insights into the dynamic nature of religious traditions and the role of creativity in people's religious lives. The visionary of this apparition site, Mrs. Veronica Lueken, is from Queens, New York, a housewife and mother of five children. Her heavenly visitations began on June 5, 1968, the day that Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. As she prayed for the dying New York senator, Mrs. Lueken experienced a perfume of roses in her car. Shortly thereafter, she had a vision of St. Therese of Lisieux, who later gave her sacred writings and poems by dictation. On April 7, 1970, the Virgin Mary appeared to Mrs. Lueken in her home, instructing her to establish a shrine on the grounds of the St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Bayside, New York, and promising to make a personal appearance if rosary vigils were held there on June 18, 1970. The Virgin Mary requested that this shrine be named "Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers." The Virgin Mary also promised to appear and speak through Mrs. Lueken (who would act as a "voice box" repeating words from heaven) on the evenings of all the great feast days of the Catholic Church, if vigils were faithfully kept on those days. In addition, the Virgin Mary told Mrs. Lueken to spread the messages from heaven throughout the world. Beginning in 1970, vigils were held regularly at the Bayside apparition site. Several hundred missives have been transmitted by Mrs. Lueken, who claims she repeats the Virgin Mary's messages word for word, although she often adds her own descriptions of what she sees in her visions.' In 1975 the apparition site was moved from Bayside to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, because of the objections of the residents around St. Bellarmine's Church to the Saturday-night vigils and the controversial nature of the messages. Although the apparitions now occur at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, they are still referred to as the "Bayside apparitions," and Mrs. Lueken's followers continue to call themselves "Baysiders."2 Mrs. Lueken's apparitions address a litany of topics, but the most prominent subject is that of imminent earthly destruction.3 Her apocalyptic prophecies claim that "a worldwide Warning, Miracle, and fiery Chastisement in the form of a 'Ball of Redemption'-a comet that will strike the earth, and along with World War III and other disasters, will remove three-quarters of mankind-are

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very near at hand" (Our Lady of the Roses n.d.:i). According to the apparitions, the signs of the end are everywhere: nuclear weapons, AIDS, famine, pornog- raphy, natural disasters, communism, rampant murder, drug abuse, corruption and conspiracy in the government and especially in the Roman Catholic Church. Imminent worldwide cataclysm, or what Baysiders refer to as the "Great Chastisement," may be averted through personal penance, prayer, adherence to pre-Vatican II Catholic teachings, and the conversion to Christi- anity of Russia, which continues to be identified as an evil threat. Veronica Lueken's visions have antecedents in an extensive tradition of Marian apparitions that have been a part of Roman Catholic religious experience for centuries and that often have been the basis for the continuing popularity of Marian devotion. Many of the most prominent and active contemporary Marian shrines, such as Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe, and until recently, Medjugorje in Croatia, were established as the result of sightings of the Virgin Mary. Tradi- tionally, the Catholic Church has taken a very restrained position toward the acceptance of Marian sightings, sanctioning only a few of the thousands of visions that have been reported. The Bayside apparitions are among those that have not been approved. After an investigation in 1973, the Diocese of Brooklyn declared that it found no basis for belief that Veronica Lueken had seen the Virgin Mary. The diocese issued a similar declaration in 1986 which stated that the Bayside visions "completely lacked authenticity" and advised Catholics to "refrain from participating in the 'vigils' and from disseminating any propaganda related to the 'Bayside apparitions' " (Mugavero 1989:209-211). This condem- nation has not discouraged belief in the apparitions among Baysiders, however, and in fact may have motivated many of them to increase their efforts to disseminate the Bayside messages and attempt to gain ecclesiastical acceptance for Mrs. Lueken's visions. Belief in the prophetic importance and apocalyptic reality of Marian apparitions not only persists among Baysiders but is a predominant idea associated with numerous Marian apparitions in the 20th century (Wojcik, in press; Zimdars-Swartz 1991:246-259).4 The Bayside phenomenon exemplifies Don Yoder's definition of folk religion as religious beliefs and practices expressed "apart from and alongside the strictly theological and liturgical forms of the official religion" (1974:14).5 The religious behavior of Baysiders exists outside the sanction of ecclesiastical authority and is based in personal needs and experiences rather than prescribed by institutional doctrines. At the apparition site, encounters with the sacred are not mediated by a priest or by official religious texts, but are directly accessible to all. Anyone may attempt to take a miraculous photograph, and the presence of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the saints are experienced by many who attend the vigils. Miraculous healing is commonly reported, and devotees witness supernatural phenomena in the sky during the periods when Mary, Jesus, and the saints speak to Mrs. Lueken. The Baysiders' emphasis on prophecy, divination, manifestations of the holy spirit, and supernatural intervention illustrates the importance of direct religious experiences in their lives.

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As an urban phenomenon, the Bayside apparitions are not isolated from the influences of modern technology. Although Baysiders lament the state of current society, condemn modernity, and emphasize tradition, like many other contemporary apocalypticists they embrace technology wholeheartedly, promoting the apparitions at a grassroots level through mass-produced religious tracts, books, videos, audiocassettes, radio broadcasts, and cable television. Advertisements for the apparitions regularly appear on highway billboards, subway posters, and in publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times to the Weekly World News, and the shrine's latest prophecy tracts and other devotional materials may be ordered 24 hours a day from These Last Days Ministries, an organization affiliated with the shrine that has a toll-free telephone number. Modern technology has not eradicated the power of the supernatural but is creatively used. Indeed, at the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park apparition site, Baysiders are explicitly encouraged to use Polaroid technology to document messages from the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and various saints. A booklet distributed by the shrine organization states that "in view of the fact that the [Book of] Apocalypse itself makes extensive use of symbols, Heaven seems to be using the same method by communicating with symbols in the miraculous pictures" (Our Lady of the Roses n.d.:9). According to the shrine's literature, the Virgin Mary has directed Baysiders to use "Polaroid or other self-developing cameras, since these pictures develop on the spot and therefore eliminate later accusations of tampering with the negatives" (Our Lady of the Roses 1986:22). Baysiders are familiar with the legend of St. Veronica and her veil, a piece of cloth believed to have been imprinted with a miraculous and true image of Christ, somewhat like a photograph, after Veronica wiped his sweating and bleeding face with it on his way to Calvary. Baysiders note that their visionary's name is also Veronica, a word that they claim comes from the Latin vera icona, or "true image," and they say that heaven, through miraculous photography, is showing its "true face" to humanity. On the occasions at which I was present at the apparition site, Baysiders took miraculous photos throughout the three-hour vigils, although most began taking pictures once Mrs. Lueken entered a trance state of divine ecstasy. As she described the approach of Jesus and Mary in the heavens, Baysiders fervently snapped photographs of the sky and shrine. The sound of clicking and fluttering camera shutters and then the whirl-buzz of film being ejected from hundreds of Polaroid cameras could be heard all over the apparition site. Once the sheets of Polaroid film are dispensed from the cameras, images begin forming almost immediately, and the photos are completely developed within 60 seconds, as the photographers and other anxious Baysiders look on. The supernatural symbols and figures manifested on the photos include streaks and swirls oflight; the faces of Mary, Jesus, and various saints; symbols for angels and demons; the "red bear of communism"; the fireball of redemption; and the world in flames. Dotted lines and beads of light appear in most of the photos; these are said to be the Baysiders' rosary prayers ascending to heaven. Some Baysiders scotch- tape rose petals believed to have miraculous powers to the side of their cameras

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in order to enhance the possibility of taking a miracle photo. These rose petals are said to have been blessed by Jesus and Mary during previous apparitions at the site. Several individuals I spoke with told me that they also had their cameras blessed by a priest. Various publications and videocassettes distributed by the shrine organization contain reproductions of some of the more famous miracle photos, which Baysiders often show to the public during lectures and video presentations. While non-Baysiders have difficulty seeing the miraculous imagery in the photos and may even laugh at the pictures, many Baysiders believe that the photos defy all scientific analysis, claiming that they are proof of the miraculous nature of Mrs. Lueken's visions. Rationalistic explanations attribute the imagery on the photos to double exposures, long hand-held exposures, and the fact that Baysiders usually take the photos at night, without a flash. This results in a slower shutter speed, thus exposing the Polaroid film to the various light sources on the apparition grounds and creating unusual photographic imagery. For the skeptical, the Baysiders' misunderstanding of photographic technology has resulted in the mystification and sacralization of the Polaroid process. Baysiders confidently deny such explanations and openly discuss their own views about how the photos are miraculously created. One explanation that I frequently heard was that the Holy Spirit enters the camera and "directs" the content and symbolism of the photos. Other explanations are that Mary, Jesus, the saints, and previous visionaries actually draw or create the images inside the camera. The photos are considered by Baysiders to be graces bestowed for private revelation. As one Baysider said, "Our Lady gives us the miracles on the photos. These are her gifts to us."

Photographic Divination at the Apparition Site

As a method of predicting apocalypse, determining the will of God, and obtaining information about future, present, and past events, miraculous photography is a form of divination, a technique of interpreting symbolic messages communicated by supernatural forces believed to shape the destiny of individuals and history itself. Like other forms of divination, miraculous photography involves specific technical skills and ritual performances to produce and interpret messages communicated by supernatural sources. Divination is usually distin- guished from prophecy, which generally involves the direct and immediate communication of information from deities who speak through an inspired individual (Overholt 1989:140-147).6 Historically, some of the more popular forms of divination have included numerology, palmistry, astrology, decoding the behavior of animals or reading their entrails, interpreting natural phenomena, analyzing dreams, and communicating with the spirits of the dead (Foster 1972). In an age in which people have become increasingly dependent on technology, it is not surprising that Polaroid cameras are now being used as divinatory devices.

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Various shrine publications about the Bayside phenomenon provide a guide to the main symbols that appear on the Polaroids, similar to a divinatory chart, giving Baysiders a basis for deciphering the miracle photos. The types of symbols are divided into four categories: numbers, letters of the alphabet, concrete symbols, and colors. For instance, the number 2 symbolizes a man or woman; the number 3 means warning; the letter M means Mary; W is for worldwide warning; and the omega means the end is at hand. Concrete symbols often include snakes, which represent the forces of hell, and colors: blue is for the Virgin Mary; pink, Jesus Christ; green, St. Michael; and purple means suffering or sorrow (Our Lady of the Roses 1986:22). The photodivination of Baysiders resembles what usually is characterized as "technical divination," which is based on the knowledge and abilities of the diviner to interpret signs, sacrifices, or dreams (Aune 1983:23, 349). While the symbolism that is manifested on miraculous photographs is divinely communicated, the meanings of the photos are not, nor are Baysiders divinely inspired, with the exception of their visionary, Veronica Lueken. The photographs must be decoded by Baysiders, and interpretation is based on one's knowledge of the established divinatory system. While the imagery on the photos is ambiguous and undecipherable to non-Baysiders, the meaning of the cryptic symbols is not always apparent even to Baysiders themselves. After I took a Polaroid photo at the apparition site, for instance, various people at the site offered somewhat general interpretations of its meaning. One person stated that the scrawls on the side of the photo represented the Baysiders' rosary prayers, said at the apparition site, ascending to heaven. But this individual was unable to decipher the other imagery on the photograph. Later, another Baysider confidently deciphered various images on the photo. This person had previously asked me about my religious background and knew that I was not a Baysider and that I did not necessarily believe in miraculous photography. He proceeded to identify various symbols in the photos, such as the Baysiders' rosary prayers ascending to heaven, as well as a symbol of the Freemasons, identified as enemies of the Church, and a green streak representing St. Michael. The photo indicated that evil forces were battling for my soul and that St. Michael could protect me. After explaining this imagery, he discussed the Bayside apparitions at length, his own initial doubts about them, and Veronica Lueken's miraculous abilities. He also said that he did not understand some symbolism in the photo but that Veronica would be able to tell me what it meant. He advised me to examine the photo further and contemplate its meaning. Like the divinatory symbolism of the Ndembu diviners of northwestern Zambia (Turner 1968), which is sufficiently ambiguous to allow a flexibility of interpretation according to social context and relations between clients, the vague symbolism on miracle photos similarly permits a multitude of interpretations, influenced by individual and social contexts. I did not provide the interpretation of the photos; their meanings were formulated in situational context, suggested by others present who were familiar with the divinatory system and the Bayside literature. In my case, miracle photography served as a

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means of spiritual diagnosis and as a basis for a discussion of the Bayside apparitions, the folk theology of the shrine, and Mrs. Lueken's supernatural abilities. Later, after I took another photograph that had streaks of light in it, I asked the man who suggested that I take a photo, and from whom I borrowed a Polaroid camera, what it meant. He replied, "Well, do you see anything in it that relates to your own life? What did you ask for?" When I responded that I had no idea what it meant, he told me to take another photo, this time concentrating on a specific subject or "asking heaven" a specific question. Like a religious Rorschach test, the ambiguous imagery on miracle photos allows for a variety of attributed meanings, which reflect both the theology of the shrine and the dominating concerns of individuals at the apparition site.

Previous Traditions of Supernatural Photography

Miraculous photography did not originate at this Marian apparition site in New York. The belief that the supernatural may be documented by photographic means has existed almost as long as the history of photography, which began with the daguerreotype photographic process in 1839. By 1861, the first reported example of spirit photography occurred-an inexplicable image of someone appeared on a photographic negative in addition to the image of the person sitting for a portrait (Eisenbud 1977:414). This extra image on the photograph was interpreted as the spirit of a deceased person, and various spiritualist publications promptly claimed the photo to be confirmation of the continuation of life after death. Studios specializing in spirit photographs soon became popular and flourished by the turn of the century. In addition to spirit images of deceased family members on photographs taken by conventional means, turn-of-the-century spiritualists claimed to be able to psychically impress images directly onto unexposed film through a process called "scotography" or "thoughtography." Others claimed to get messages in the handwriting of deceased persons on photographs, a form of spirit communication referred to "psychography" (Eisenbud 1977:414-416). Nineteenth-century ideas about supernatural photography are also suggested by numerous legends concerning flashes of lightning imprinting extraordinary photographic images on glass window panes. Early accounts often refer to the miraculous or supernatural nature of these lightning prints, some of which included faces of ghosts and the recently deceased, as well as ineradicable images that served as supernatural reminders of the miscarriage of justice or divine retribution for blasphemy (see Allen 1982:90-92; Nelson 1970:247-248; Wilgus 1970). In a study of this subject, Barbara Allen (1982) notes that these lightning print legends began circulating after the new technology of glass-plate negatives was first used in studio photography in 1851. The lack of understanding of the photographic process at the time, and the mental association of glass plates, a flash of light, and the creation of photographic images in studio portraiture may have given rise to the belief that lightning could similarly create photographic images on a pane of glass (Allen 1982:99). Such legends reveal the ways that

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new ideas about the photographic process were adapted to express traditional themes and how established beliefs about the supernatural may be transformed by new technologies.7 In Christian tradition, the most widely known miraculous photograph that has inspired numerous legends is commonly referred to as The Hidden Christ Picture or The Sacred Heart in the Branches. This photograph, familiar to both Catholics and Protestants, appears to have been taken sometime in the late 1930s and has been widely reprinted and circulated throughout the world. Assorted accounts from the 1940s and 1950s claim that the picture was taken by a skeptic who either doubted the existence of God or took the Lord's name in vain, allegedly wisecracking, "If God is everywhere, I'll take his picture." When the film was developed, one print contained an image of Jesus, and the skeptic reportedly either died of shock, went insane, or converted (Farmer's Almanack 1965:53). Other legends claim that the photograph was taken by someone desperately seeking God or experiencing a spiritual crisis, whose faith was restored after taking the picture.8 In addition to the The Hidden Christ Picture, there are a number of other precursors to the Baysiders' miraculous photographs. Legends in the Western Kentucky Folklore Archive about a blasphemer or skeptic driven mad by supernatural photograph (Wilgus 1970:254-255) resemble those associated with The Hidden Christ Picture, while another version of the blasphemer and the photograph tale is included in a collection of stories about supernatural encounters in the Carolinas (Johnson 1974:39).9 In the early 1950s, various legends circulated about a miraculous picture of the face of Christ in the clouds beneath American and Communist Chinese airplanes engaged in combat during the Korean War. According to one account, when the photograph was published in the Ashland (Kentucky) Daily Independent, the issue immediately sold out, and when the picture was reprinted the following week, that edition sold out as well (Michell 1979:91). These legends and beliefs illustrate that the production of ideas about supernatural photographic images is not a new phenomenon but a familiar and *enduring aspect of American folk belief. Although the Bayside literature does not acknowledge these previous legends and beliefs, it is explicit about the prior use of photography to substantiate the reality of the supernatural, stating that "Bayside sets no precedent in what might be seen as the dramatic use by Heaven of the modern invention of photography" (Our Lady of the Roses 1986:22). The shrine's publications attempt to establish precursors to miraculous photography specifically within Catholic tradition, noting that on May 28, 1898, a man named Secondo Pia, who had been commissioned to photograph the shroud of Turin, developed a photograph and "nearly went numb with shock. What he saw violated all the scientific laws of photography .... For on that negative was revealed, for the first time in human history, the physical features of the Holy Face of the murdered Christ... the actual Face of Our Divine Saviour, bruised, swollen, full of pathos, yet with a majesty unsurpassed by any known work of art" (Our Lady of the Roses 1986:22). Although the Bayside literature implies

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that Secondo Pia's photographs were themselves miraculous, in actuality the photographic process had simply revealed what was previously unseen-the shadowy, negative imprint of a crucified male's face and body (Wilson 1979:26- 27). Pia's photographs, publicized throughout the world, inspired a renewed interest in the shroud of Turin at a time when it was dismissed by many as a forgery. His photographs had in fact performed something of a miracle: by rendering the vague imprint on the shroud visible, photography had brought international attention to the shroud and confirmed its supernatural reality for believers. The Bayside literature states that today because of unprecedented evil in the world and the imminence of apocalypse, "Heaven is again making use of that modern invention, the camera, to authenticate the presence of the supernatural" (Our Lady of the Roses 1986:22).

Polaroid Photography and Miraculous Image Traditions

Soon after its invention, photography was attributed with the "miraculous" ability to reveal the unseen. This assumed feature of photography, and the lack of knowledge about the photographic process in the 19th-century, no doubt inspired the early association of photography with spiritual and occult phenomena. Although a primary function of photography is to document and preserve images of reality, the photographic process also appears to dematerialize reality, producing traces of things and disembodied images detached from originals. The Baysiders' beliefs about miraculous photography merge these concepts, since miracle photos both reveal an invisible, dematerialized reality and verify this reality by offering physical evidence. The Polaroid process in particular exemplifies the apparitional quality of photography, as images appear instantaneously and seemingly of their own accord, through a chemical-optical process that produces spectral doubles of reality. Since the introduction of the Land Camera in 1948, instant photography frequently has been referred to by commentators and in the popular press as a "magical" process.10 The invention of the affordable Polaroid SX-70 camera put this process into the hands of the general populace in 1972. References to the magical qualities of Polaroid photography evoke dual meanings of the term magic, as a simulation of a supernatural effect and an invocation of supernatural forces. The magical, uncanny quality of Polaroid photography is conveyed by Jean Baudrillard's description of the process: "The ecstasy of the Polaroid is ... to hold the object and its image almost simultaneously as if the conception of light of ancient physics or metaphysics, in which each object was thought to secrete doubles or negatives of itself that we pick up with our eyes, has become a reality. It is a dream. It is the optical materialization of a magical process. The Polaroid photo is a sort of ecstatic membrane that has come away from the real object" (1988:37). This perceived magical relationship between photographs and their subjects is illustrated by the belief in some societies that the camera will somehow steal a part of one's physical or spiritual being (a fear shared by Honor& de Balzac, who believed that the human body radiated layers of phantom

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images and that the photographic process detached these layers and reattached them to the photographic plate) (Sontag 1983:353)." Unlike other images (such as paintings), photographs appear to contain an essence of the original object and are imbued with an aura of authenticity and authority. As Roland Barthes observes, "Photography never lies: or rather, it can lie as to the meaning of the thing, being by nature tendentious, never as to its existence.... Its force is nonetheless superior to everything the human can or can have conceived to assure us of reality. ... Every photograph is a certificate of presence" (1981:87). Baysiders have ritualized the magical and apparitional qualities of Polaroid technology, venerating the authority of photographic images as authentication of supernatural presence. The filmic membranes released from their cameras are regarded as conclusive documentation of an intensely felt, numinous realm. As tangible miracles, the photographs affirm Baysiders' beliefs and prove that God is active in their lives. Similar to the Virgin Mary's role as mediatrix between God and humanity, the Polaroid camera, for many Baysiders, is a technological mediator between the supernatural and its physical manifestation. At the apparition site, God's will is directly communicated through the visions of Veronica Lueken, while the presence of the sacred is documented through the lens of a Polaroid SX-70. Baysiders are not unique in their use of cameras to record miraculous phenomena associated with sightings of the Virgin Mary. Numerous photographs taken at other Marian shrines also are believed to document supernatural phenomena or contain miraculous imagery. Some of the better-known miraculous photographs include images of the Virgin Mary appearing over a Coptic church in Zeitoun, Egypt, and pictures taken at Medjugorje of crosses and images of the Virgin Mary in the sun. Pilgrims visiting the Marian shrine in San Damiano, Italy, also have taken photographs of the sun that are believed contain revelatory images; photographers in Lubbock, Texas, in 1989 took pictures of the miracles associated with that apparition site, as have many followers of Nancy Fowler's apparitions that began in 1987, in Conyers, Georgia. 12 The creation of sacred images through photography is an emerging Catholic folk tradition associated with contemporary Marian apparition sites.13 Unlike examples of miraculous photography which are idiosyncratic and accidental documents of supernatural presence taken by one iindividual (such as The Hidden Christ Picture), the miraculous photographs taken at Marian apparition sites are produced repeatedly by a community of believers deliberately seeking to document supernatural phenomena in a sacred context.14 As a folk-religious phenomenon, miraculous photography is an institutionally unsanctioned expression of the Roman Catholic tenet that the sacred manifests itself in matter and intervenes in the lives of people. The doctrine of the communion of saints asserts that a spiritual relationship exists between the faithful on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven. The saints may be petitioned and may respond to the prayers of individuals, interceding with God on behalf of the faithful, and communicating with the living, through apparitions, prophecy, visions, dreams, and by miracles (Turner and Turner

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1978:203-205). Yet, as Victor and Edith Turner note in their study of postin- dustrial pilgrimage, "the invisibility and intangibility of the spiritual and supernatural order obviously create problems regarding communication between incarnate and discarnate members of the Church. How does one know, how can one feel sure, that one's prayer has been heard by God or a saint?" (1978:205). The miracle photos taken in Flushing Meadows Park resolve this dilemma, providing Baysiders with direct and palpable experiences of supernatural intervention in their lives, as well as permanent photographic records that verify the reality of contact with the sacred. The emphasis on tangible manifestations of the divine has a long and controversial history in Roman Catholicism, exemplified by the iconoclastic crisis in the eighth century, during which the popular adoration of icons and their attributed miraculous powers often resulted in idolatry, fetishism, and the threat that the deity would be displaced by the icon. In an essay on the effacement of the real by simulacra, Jean Baudrillard asks, "But what becomes of the divinity when it reveals itself in icons, when it is multiplied in simulacra? Does it remain the supreme authority, simply incarnated in images as a visible theology? Or is it volatized into simulacra which alone deploy their pomp and power of fascination-the visible machinery of icons being substituted for the pure and intelligible Idea of God?" (1984:255). Baudrillard claims that the despair and rage of the iconoclasts were based in the realization that icons were dangerous simulacra that threatened to replace and efface the concept of God. Such images reveal perhaps that there is no God but only captivating simulations of God, which reduce the divine to the signs that confirm its existence (Baudrillard 1984:255-256). In contrast to the iconoclastic aversion to images, iconolaters such as John of Damascus (700-754 C.E.) asserted that Christ's incarnation was itself a sanction of the material representation of the divine, since God's embodiment in flesh rendered the invisibility of the sacred visible and brought the divine into the realm of physical experience and depiction (Barasch 1992:209). Catholic folk piety and Marian devotion in particular traditionally have emphasized the importance of material representations of the divine in the form of sacred images and objects and have accepted the changing nature of iconography (Turner and Turner 1978:140-171). Devotion to holy objects such as relics and icons, as well as to various miraculous manifestations, has had an extensive history in folk Catholicism. Legends concerning miraculous images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, or religious symbols appearing on church walls, windows, or altars have been recorded since the third century (Rogo 1982:113). The venerated rem- nants of holy men and women, pieces of the True Cross, the shroud of Turin, Christ's crown of thorns and the nails driven into his body, and even vials of the breast milk of the Virgin Mary spilled on various occasions remain centers of devotion (see Nolan and Nolan 1989:163-171). Miraculous objects and images that weep, bleed, sweat, speak, grow hair, move, and emit light continue to inspire pilgrimages as well (Cruz 1984; Freedberg 1989:93-98).

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While the shroud of Turin is the most famous and controversial miraculous image in Catholicism, other legendary images include Christ's face imprinted on Veronica's veil, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe that appeared on Juan Diego's cloak, and the mandilion of Edessa, a miraculous impression of Christ's face on cloth sent to Edessa to cure the ailing King Abgar and convert him to Christianity (Rogo 1982:113-140). These objects are regarded as "true images" not made by human hands but divinely created and believed by some to have been imprinted by emanations of divine energy or divine light. The shroud of Turin, for example, is commonly believed to have been created by a luminous glow radiating from Christ's body or by a burst of divine power at the moment of the Resurrection. Descriptions of the creation of such images suggest the features of photographs, as emanations and luminous imprints, and like these previous divine images, miraculous photographs appear similarly free from human influences. Polaroid photography, as an image-making system with seemingly incarnational qualities, is compatible with this tradition of miraculous images, and its use by Baysiders constitutes a creative reworking and innovation within the tradition. For Baysiders, miracle photographs are true, revelatory images, divine signs that substantiate the reality of the sacred and serve as a source of the folk hermeneutic of believers. At Flushing Meadows Park, the supernatural is actively engaged in the image-making process, reproducing proofs of itself through sacred simulacra. Miraculous photography exemplifies the emphasis on the manifestation of hierophanies that is central to much popular religious belief and experience, and to folk Catholicism in particular. According to Mircea Eliade (1959:11-12), hierophanies involve a disclosure of the transcendent through matter and represent a numinous realm of an entirely different order from the profane world. The sacred is not simply communicated by deities or holy persons but may be manifested in the structure of the world, in profane objects, and in cosmic phenomena (Eliade 1959:116-117). Although the forms of hierophany vary from one religious group to another, and certain objects and places traditionally have been designated as holy, almost anything may become a hierophany: "There is hardly any object, action, psychological function, species of being, or even entertainment that has not become a hierophany at some time" (Eliade and Sullivan 1987:313).15 As the source of hierophanous manifestations, Baysiders' Polaroid cameras offer direct contact with the sacred and filmic proof of the presence of the supernatural, providing the lens through which the divine is apprehended and God's plan is brought into focus. The profane act of photography is thus transformed into sacred ritual. Not only does the Polaroid camera capture this numinous reality, but the film itself is imbued with sacrality and the inherently invisible is rendered tangible through the medium of film, which provides a means of instantaneously participating in the miraculous. Through photography, Baysiders document what artists and sculptors throughout history have attempted to depict-the interaction of a spiritual, immaterial power with the material world, the incarnation of sacred in matter.

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In comparison to the firsthand, palpable religious experiences of Baysiders, the textual and historical orientation of institutional religion may appear a distant and impersonal abstraction of religious experience. The practice of miraculous photography reaffirms an immediate sense of the sacred which may be obscured in institutionalized Catholicism. For Baysiders, one miracle photo, as a divine image confirming the reality of the sacred, is worth a thousand words, mediated by the Church and codified in doctrines. Miraculous photography also allows for a degree of religious autonomy, personalization, and creativity. Based in personal perception and confirmation, folk religious practices such as miraculous photography may be modified and creatively adapted to express specific needs and concerns. This dynamic, personal quality accounts for both the longevity and persistence of certain folk religious ideas, as well as the emergence of new beliefs and practices, such as miraculous photography. In addition to dispensing tangible signs of the reality of the sacred, Polaroid technology also serves as a means of divinely sanctioning various criticisms of the doctrines and authority of institutional Catholicism. Like Mrs. Lueken's pronouncements, the messages on miracle photos often are believed to contain critiques of the rationalist and liberalizing changes in church doctrine and policy that occurred after the Second Vatican Council. The images on the photographs are said to enumerate the ways that traditional Catholic attitudes about God, morality, community, family, sexuality, and the roles of women and men, among other things, are being challenged or destroyed. Walter Benjamin's (1969[1936]) observation that photography has the poten- tial to undermine the authority of art and displace the aura of the fine-art object is applicable to the Baysiders' production of miraculous photos. At Flushing Meadows Park, photography and its means of reproducing images is used to challenge the authority of institutional religion and capture the otherwise distant and unapproachable aura of the sacred. At the apparition site, holy miracles are not the sole domain of the Catholic Church, the saints, or the divinely chosen few but are accessible to all who can buy or borrow a Polaroid camera. Not only do Baysiders literally "capture" the privileged aura of the sacred on film, but their photographic messages condemning current church practices, legitimated by their divine origin, are believed to have a greater authority than official ecclesiastical proclamations. Contrary to Benjamin's conclusion that the cult value of the aura fades with the photographic reproduction of artistic images, miraculous photography expands the aura of the sacred by replicating its signs, spreading its emanations and increasing its presence among believers. Similar to the reproduction of sacred power associated with saints' relics, photography allows for a proliferation of transportable sacred objects by reproducing the signs of the supernatural on photosensitive membranes. In his study of the cult of saints, Peter Brown (1981) notes that the practice of traffic in relics that developed in the fourth and fifth centuries helped spread Christianity by making sacred objects mobile and complemented the practice of pilgrimage, since the proliferation of relics brought the sacred remains of the saints to the people instead of requiring the

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people to make pilgrimages to the saints' shrines. In a similar manner, the Baysiders' thousands of miracle photographs that are put into albums, shared with friends, and disseminated through reprints bring the sacred to the people. Unlike relics, miracle photos have not been in contact with divine earthly beings; but like relics, they are believed to emanate spiritual power, their surfaces supernaturally inscribed and "touched" by Mary, Jesus, the saints, or the Holy Spirit. Similar to relics, the spiritual power associated with miracle photos suggests Frazer's (1976[1922]:12-55) concept of sympathetic magic-that objects and images that were once in contact or that resemble each other continue to influence each other at a distance through a secret sympathy. In addition to their status as sacred objects that emanate spiritual power, miraculous photographs also serve as focal points for talking about one's experiences of the divine and the apocalyptic and traditionalist ideology of the shrine. The photographs are miraculous mementos, created on sacred grounds, which then become accessories to personal devotion and the recollection of past religious experiences. During a return flight after my attendance at one of the anniversary celebrations of Mrs. Lueken's visions, the Baysiders I traveled with spent much of their time sharing photos, discussing them, and analyzing their prophetic meaning. Many had dozens of photos and had already put them into albums that were circulated among passengers on the airplane. While individuals who experience the sacred often may have trouble describing their experiences or may even doubt the actuality of the experiences over time, Polaroid technology preserves an image of these experiences on film, providing sacred souvenirs for future reflection and discussion. Contemporary society has been characterized as swimming or even drowning in seas of mass media imagery. The sacred photographs that Baysiders produce oppose these generally secular, mass media images-miraculous photos are a form of semiotic combat waged against modernist ideas and the secularizing influences of the post-Darwinian world. Like other Marian apparition sites, the Bayside phenomenon gives expression to traditionalist beliefs attacked by scientific and rational criticism, and confirms the reality of the supernatural by advocating a return to a form of religiosity characterized by the belief that miracles readily occur. For Baysiders, the camera is not only a spiritual weapon; its technology has become both mystified and sanctified, providing believers with a means to engage in a discourse with heaven and bridge the gap between the sacred and profane. In a world believed to be seething in sin and teetering on the edge of destruction, Our Lady of Bayside promises to bestow graces, to heal and convert, to save, and to protect those who believe. Miraculous photographs are material proofs of the ability of Mary, Jesus, and the saints to intervene in people's lives, and their personalized messages on Polaroid film not only indicate that apocalypse is imminent but assure Baysiders that they will ultimately rejoice in God's millennial paradise.16

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Notes

A preliminary version of this article was given at the 1990 meeting of the American Folklore Society in Oakland, California. A longer version was presented at the conference "Saints: Old/New World," sponsored by the UCLA Folklore & Mythology Program and Archives, May 26-28, 1995. I thank the conference organizers, DonaldJ. Cosentino and Joseph F. Nagy, for inviting me to that event, and the conference participants for providing the feedback that led to the present essay. I am also grateful to Robert A. Georges, Michael Owen Jones, Sharon Sherman, Leonard Norman Primiano, Diane Dugaw, Bill Ellis, Leslie Jones, and Barbara Corrado Pope for comments and suggestions. 1Each time Mrs. Lueken has a vision at the apparition site, she is recorded on audiotape. The messages are then transcribed and printed by the Our Lady of the Roses Shrine organization and distributed to thousands of Baysiders through a grassroots communication network. Audiocassettes of Mrs. Lueken in a trance state receiving the messages are also available, as are an introductory pamphlet describing the shrine (Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers: An Introductory Booklet on the Apparitions of Bayside, henceforth referred to as Our Lady of the Roses n.d.) and the larger, 168-page Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers "Blue Book" (referred to as Our Lady of the Roses 1986), which provides detailed information about the messages and the shrine. Other literature, inspirational pamphlets, videotapes, and various sacramental items-such as rosaries, medallions of saints, crucifixes, scapulars, and laminated rose petals believed to be blessed by Jesus and Mary during the apparitions-are also available. 2The number of Baysiders is difficult to estimate. The shrine's publications claim that there are over 40,000 Baysiders worldwide. As many as 10,000 people reportedly attended the 19th anniversary celebration of Mrs. Lueken's visions in 1989, at which I was present. 3Although there have been no published studies of the Bayside apparitions, the apocalyptic themes of previous Marian apparitions have been noted by Christian (1984), Kselman and Avella (1986), Turner and Turner (1978), and Zimdars-Swartz (1991). In addition to these works, other studies of the Virgin Mary and Marian devotion include attempts to trace the origins of the veneration of Mary to pre-Christian goddess and fertility cults (Gimbutas 1982; James 1959; Neumann 1963), works that discuss the psychological needs fulfilled by Marian imagery and devotion (Cunningham 1982; Greeley 1977; Jung 1970), psychoanalytical explanations (Carroll 1986), feminist interpretations (Kristeva 1986; Warner 1976), and the political implications of Marian devotion (Bax 1987; Perry and Echeverria 1988). A sampling of other significant studies include the Nolans' (1989) survey of pilgrimage in modern Western Europe, Orsi's (1985) history of devotion to the Virgin Mary in Italian Harlem, and the historical analyses of Marian devotion in 19th-century France by Kselman (1983) and Pope (1985), and of Marian apparitions in rural Spain from 1399 to 1523 by Christian (1981). 4While prophecy has been associated with Marian apparitions for centuries, apocalyptic themes have become increasingly important in the 20th century, emphasized especially in the Fatima apparitions in 1917 and the ecclesiastically unsanctioned apparitions at Garabandal (1961-1965) and San Damiano (1964-1981). The visions reported in Medjugorje also had apocalyptic overtones, as did the apparitions in Lubbock, Texas, in 1988-1989. Although less apocalyptic, the apparitions that began in 1987 in Conyers, Georgia, also warn of imminent divine punishments to be unleashed because people have rejected God. In most of these apparitions, the Virgin Mary reveals God's plan in the end times and warns of divine chastisements unless humanity repents. The Bayside apparitions are the most apocalyptic of contemporary Marian visitations, representing an intensification of previous eschatological beliefs and the anticommunist and conspiratorial ideas associated with several previous Marian apparitions (Wojcik 1996). The inevitability of nuclear holocaust is a predominant theme in the Bayside messages, as it is in numerous other traditions of apocalyptic prophecy belief in the United States today. Although perceived crises such as environmental destruction, incurable diseases, and overpopulation increasingly have been incorporated into current apocalyptic prophecies, the nuclear bomb remains the dominant symbol of the imminence of apocalypse even in the post-Cold War era, largely due to the compatibility of visions of nuclear

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holocaust with biblical prophecies about "fire from the heavens" and the conviction that nuclear weapons will be used by hostile nations or extremist organizations in the future (Wojcik, in press). 5For a reconceptualization of the idea of folk religion, see Leonard Norman Primiano's (1995) article on "vernacular religion" in Reflexivity and the Study of Belief, edited by David J. Hufford, an important special issue of Western Folklore. See Jack Santino's (1982) essay for a discussion of folklore and Catholicism, and Hufford's (1985) article for a study of Roman Catholic pilgrimage and healing. 6Divination and prophecy are similar in that they involve determining the will of supernatural entities and forces; the individuals engaged in such practices are intermediaries between the supernatural and natural worlds. Such practices are often inherently fatalistic, implying that certain future, present, or past events have been ordained by external forces beyond one's control, and that the causes of such events may be determined by consulting these supernatural forces. Through prophecy and photodivination, Baysiders discover God's plan, and by following God's decrees they obtain knowledge of their own fate and the fate of the world, derived from the will of God and contingent upon human behavior as prescribed by God. 7Although legends about lightning imprints on glass appear to be a 19th-century phenomenon, there are earlier accounts of images miraculously etched or imprinted on glass. For example, in 1797 in the alpine village of Absam in Austria, an image of the Virgin Mary mysteriously appeared on a window pane. Church authorities later determined that the image was created in a miraculous fashion and have subsequently documented the miraculous healings associated with the image, which is now referred to as Our Lady of the Window Pane (Cruz 1993:16-17). 8One story, for instance, claims that the photograph was taken in 1938 by a Norwegian woman who prayed for a sign of the existence of God and then received a divine order to take a picture at random in her garden (Michell 1979:90). An account printed on an old postcard that I acquired of the photograph states that the picture was taken in the winter of 1937-38, in Pomona, California. After a prayer meeting, a group of Christians noticed an exceptionally beautiful rose bush and snapped a picture of it, later discovering the miraculous image of Jesus on the print, which they explained in terms of the following biblical quotation: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). Other accounts of the origin of this photograph, however, do not include the motifs of the skeptic, the disillusioned seeker of God, or the group of Christians but simply state that the picture was taken randomly by someone in a snowstorm, in a thunderstorm, in a garden, or of a pattern of shadows in the snow. One of these brief accounts actually contains the "lightning through glass" motif, stating that the photo was taken by a woman caught in a lightning storm who tried to snap a picture of the lightning from inside a car and who captured an image of Jesus instead (Farmer's Almanack 1965:53). 9The legends about miraculous photographs cited by D. K. Wilgus were told in Kentucky in the 1950s. One story recounts the fate of a female disbeliever who was talked into attending an annual church picnic, at which the pastor exclaimed in a prayer that he knew that God was in the midst of everyone at the picnic. The skeptic laughed and said, "If He is here, let's take a picture of Him," and she then took a photo of the sky. When she returned home she looked at the roll of film and saw an outline of Christ on the cross on one negative; she went mad, and was put into the state insane asylum in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Later, some people attempted to have the negative made into a print, but it could not be developed (Wilgus 1970:255). The other legend, also documented in a variant form in a book of supernatural tales from the Carolinas, tells of a girl who in an irreverent moment curses God and then proclaims that she will take a picture of "that old devil" or "that SOB up yonder." When the image of a supernatural being appears on the photo, she loses her mind (Johnson 1974:39; Wilgus 1970:254). 10The cover of the issue of Life magazine that introduced Edwin H. Land's Polaroid SX-70 camera to the public, for instance, is entitled "A Genius and His Magic Camera" (October 27, 1972). "11Susan Sontag suggests that this idea of a magical, sympathetic affinity existing between the photographic image and its subject persists today, revealed by our reluctance to tear up or throw away photographs of a loved one, especially of someone who has died or far is away (1983:354).

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12One devotional publication about the Conyers apparitions contains over twenty photographs of the miraculous phenomena documented by people visiting the site (a silhouette of the Virgin Mary in the clouds, images of doors in the sky, and rays of light and luminous streaks on photos [Hancock 1993]). This same publication also includes a statement about the importance of photographic and video documentation of the miraculous phenomena associated with the sightings, and requests that readers send any miraculous images to a devotional organization that is collecting evidence of the authenticity of the apparitions for future ecclesiastical investigation (Hancock 1993:203). 13Although miraculous photography is an emergent Catholic folk tradition, contemporary beliefs and legends about the photographic documentation of supernatural phenomena are associated not only with Marian apparition sites. The book Voudoun Fire (Denning and Phillips 1979), for example, contains photographs of Haitian Vodou ceremonies with streaks of light running through them that resemble many of the Bayside photos. Publications about psychic phenomena often include photographs of paranormal occurrences (reprints of psychic photography, images of ghosts, the activities of poltergeists [see Beloff 1974:133; Eisenbud 1977:insert at 424-425, Figures 1-29]). Accounts of miraculous photography also are periodically printed in tabloid magazines. For instance, the September 25, 1990, issue of the Weekly World News had on its front cover the headline "Miracle Photo Reveals the Face of an Angel!" The tabloid included a full-page reproduction of the photograph and the accounts of family members who testified that an angel had appeared to cure a boy dying of cancer. The cover of the November 10, 1992, issue of the Sun had a miraculous photograph of an image of the Virgin Mary appearing behind Pope John Paul II descending from an airplane; and the cover of the August 15, 1995, issue of the Weekly World News consisted of a miraculous photograph of the face of Satan hovering over Chicago during a heat wave in which temperatures rose to 120 degrees and killed hundreds of people. In contrast to these dubious tabloid accounts, a number of people have personally told me that they have obtained or seen photographs that they believe to be communications from deceased family members, friends, or supernatural forces. 14A recent example of an accidental miraculous photograph was reported on November 2, 1995, when hundreds of viewers phoned the Cable News Network convinced that they had seen the face of Jesus in a picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and shown on CNN of stars being born in a six-trillion-mile-long gas cloud (Associated Press wirestory dated November 3, 1995, and cited in The Register Guard, Eugene, Oregon, November 4, 1995:3A). A previous interstellar picture believed to have superhuman significance occurred on July 25, 1976, when the Viking I Orbiter photographed what resemble faces in rock formations on Mars and that some claim are signs of extraterrestrial life (see Childress 1993; Michell 1979:61). An earthly counterpart to these photographs of intergalactic faces was reported in 1991, when many people claimed to see Christ's face in a forkful of spaghetti depicted on Pizza Hut billboards in Atlanta. 15A hierophany of an everyday object that generated considerable interest occurred in 1978 when a miraculous image of Christ's face appeared on a tortilla. According to a Los Angeles Times article (July 23, 1978), Mrs. Maria Rubio of Lake Arthur, New Mexico, was frying some tortillas when she noticed that a detailed image of the suffering Christ with a crown of thorns had appeared on one of them (Rogo 1982:140). The image, created by skillet burns, has attracted thousands of visitors to the small shrine next to Mrs. Rubio's house where the tortilla is displayed. Unlike most tortillas, which crumble after a week or two, this one has not deteriorated and the image of Christ remains clearly visible. The local priest, Father J. Elinnigin, was persuaded to bless the tortilla, although he told reporters, "I'm not too impressed with that kind of miracle" (Rogo 1982:140). 161n August 1995, after this essay was completed, visionary Veronica Lueken died at the age of 72. The most recent newsletter mailed by the shrine after her death calls for a renewed effort to disseminate the Bayside prophecies and carry on the mission of the Bayside movement. It also reiterates the belief that the Virgin Mary and Jesus are always present at the apparition site vigils, even if Mrs. Lueken is not, and includes as proof of this heavenly presence a miraculous photo taken at a vigil held at the site in remembrance of Mrs. Lueken on August 5, 1995. Beneath the photograph the caption reads:

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After the announcement was made of Veronica's death, an audio segment of timely and uplifting words from Jesus, Mary, and Veronica was played for the crowd. Just as it ended at 7:50 p.m., Mrs. Anne Scrivener, a Maryland organizer, snapped a Polaroid photo. A beam of light descends upon the statue of Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers. Heaven was punctuating Their own words with a wondrous and permanent sign to remember: that this Shrine is of Divine origin and that its growth and development will continue to be directed by Jesus, Mary and, of course, Veronica, from her new abode of the blessed. [Veronica of the Cross, n.d., photo insert]

If this is any indication, it seems unlikely that Veronica Lueken's death will put an end to the practice of miraculous photography among Baysiders. Now that the messages from Mary and Jesus are no longer directly conveyed by Mrs. Lueken through apparitions, miraculous photography may come to play an even more important role in the religious lives of believers as a way to personally communicate with heaven, determine the divine will, and experience the sacred at the apparition site.

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