Believers have been flocking to the Yopougon district location where the image of the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared to thousands just before Easter Sunday. But while some are calling the appearance a sudden and unexpected miracle, others are warning against the health effects that could be incurred by gazing into the sun. Was this a case of mass hysteria? Or did something truly miraculous appear in the sky? And if it was the latter, where did it come from?
Health authorities are warning against looking for a miracle in the sun and even going so far to place a sign on the grounds of the location warning travelers to avert their eyes from the sun’s harsh rays – which can cause blindness in mere seconds. It’s a race against rumors that a truly miraculous apparition appeared depicting the Virgin Mary directly in front of the sun. And it’s very similar to another incident that occurred before.
In 2008, The Eye Hospital in Kanjirappally, St. Joseph’s ENT reported to authorities that there had been at least 48 incidents involving people staring into the sun going blind – not from any supernatural cause, but rather by the harsh rays themselves. And with more travelers flocking to the scene by the day, they were trying to stifle the rumors of appearances and miraculous healings taking place there. The cause of the damage was directly related to viewing intense light for prolonged periods according to doctors.
And that not the first time a miraculous encounter had taken the form of an apparition in or near the sun, either. The intense rays were reportedly streaking across the sky during the Fatima incident, though Fatima was understandably more intense and one of the greatest mysteries of its time still left unsolved even today.
But believers say the incident causing the health scare now was actually a significant religious event, suggesting the Virgin Mary appeared to the faithful during the event that drew crowds from all over and had them looking either into the sun or just to the side of it. Experts have warned that the real cause may have been an optical illusion caused when the eye is damaged by intense light and leaves a darkened spot in the vision of a viewer. Still this has been unconvincing to thousands who say it’s a sure sign that something major will be coming to Earth in the next few months and along with it perhaps a rapture style event.
Skeptics of the event who suggest something truly unusual was going on in the skies have suggested the illusion was not of natural causes at all, but rather an incredibly advanced holographic program dubbed project Blue Beam by a secret black project within the military. Project Blue Beam is a project said to herald a faked event of religious or extraterrestrial origin to make viewers believe an alien invasion is in the midst of occurring in order to justify martial law or other draconian measures – or as a pretense for war.
Whatever the cause, it certainly has caught the attention of believers all over the world.