Exclusive pix of Our Lady of the Underpass!

[Ellen Forradalom]

I took these around 2:45 PM today. As you can see quite the shrine has sprung up, and there's quite a little crowd, too. It's not as dangerous as it seems since it's in an area for maintenance vehicles and suchlike, well away from the road.

[katinmn]

1. OMG. Those poor people.

I can't help laughing.

[matcom]

2. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"Daddy. Can I touch the huge vagina?"

[Goldmund]

6. Alright, so it's not just me.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. You beat me to it

It really does look more like vagina than anything else. :rofl:

[JVS]

22. "Virgin, my ass!"

[RetroLounge]

61. I said that here yesterday, and no one responded.

GD has NO sense of humor...

RL

[joeybee12]

3. It is an interesting shape...think anyone will hack it off and sell

it on e-bay?

[deadparrot]

4. I'm baptized Catholic and still consider myself a Christian...

but wow. Just wow.

That looks like a splotch on the underpass. Water issues or something.

[bushisanidiot]

5. Our what of the where?!

what the frick?

[Ellen Forradalom]

8. The Fullerton Avenue underpass

under the Kennedy Expressway.

I heard murmuring in Spanish and Polish around me as I snapped pix. Someone was selling something there; I didn't catch what but I saw money changing hands. There were cops and other city workers there to keep order. Lot of people walking to and from.

[ltfranklin]

7. Oh, come on...

...That's Jesus! Compare it with the Shroud of Turin!

You'd think with all the artistic talent they have up there, they could come up with some decent artwork. Assuming, of course, that artists go "up there".

[Blue Diadem]

9. If you look really close at the 2nd picture..it looks like Pooh bear

underneath the water spot. Does anyone else see Pooh?

[Merope215]

14. Damn

Yes, I can definitely see a Pooh. He looks a little more defined to me than the Virgin Mary. :P

[Speck Tater]

10. If you piss on a wall, they will come.

Christians! Go figure.

[Robeson]

20. LOL!!!.....

....:rofl: :rofl:

[johnnie]

12. I'm at a loss for words here

People see something in that stain? I hope it isn't from leaky natural gas or something. All those candles and all...

[LynneSin]

13. Maybe I was over catholized today with the new pope and all but...

...this does kinda look like a female from this angle



then again this is a faith that goes nuts over a grilled cheese sandwich

[Elidor]

16. Anyone can see that's Veronica Lake in the sandwich

Or maybe Debbie Harry.

Humans are simply the dumbest creatures in half of creation. But we sure are entertaining.

[ScreamingMeemie]

48. I thought it was more Greta Garbo.

:hi:

[sinkingfeeling]

15. What did you see on the wall? I've looked at all the pictures and

I see nothing....just a water stain!

[Ian David]

17. Humans are pattern-seeking animals

Humans are pattern-seeking, storytelling animals. We look for and find patterns in our world and in our lives, then weave narratives around those patterns to bring them to life and give them meaning. Such is the stuff of which myth, religion, history, and science are made.

Sometimes the patterns we find represent reality—DNA as the basis of heredity or the fossil record as the history of life. But sometimes the patters are imposed by our minds rather than discovered by them—the face on Mars (actually an eroded mountain) or the Virgin Mary’s image on a building (really an oil stain). The rub lies in distinguishing which patterns are true and which are false, and the essential tension (as Thomas Kuhn called it) pits skepticism against credulity as we try to decide which patterns should be rejected and which should be embraced.

That tension is at the forefront of Robert Wright’s latest work, “Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny.” At Skeptic magazine I routinely receive what I call “Theories of Everything”—manuscripts by authors purporting to have discovered the ultimate pattern that explains, well, everything. Usually they deal with physics and cosmology, claiming that Newton, Einstein, or Hawking are wrong and that this theory will revolutionize all of science. Sometimes they employ ersatz-evolutionary explanations for various questions about nature and humanity. Occasionally they compress all of human history into a handful of patterns that can be explained in even fewer principles. Never have I seen anyone try to explain the evolution of all nature and history in one sweeping theory based on a single principle. Until now.

More:
http://www.skeptic.com/review09.html

[Ellen Forradalom]

19. Particularly with faces.

We seem programmed to look for faces.

[Deja Q]

18. That's either Elvis, circa 1950, or a glory hole. It ain't Mary, sorry.

[LiberallyInclined]

21. i can definitely see the image they're talking about-

i think it's more clear than most of these type of "visions"- and the blue and gold colours in what would be the robes really sets it apart from a lot of them- it looks a lot like "Our Lady of Guadalupe", and the area it's in borders on a fairly heavily "latino" area.

[Deja Q]

26. I'll curtail my puerile comments, but I can easily explain how it's a hoax

The resemblence is slight. People also envision what they want to see from objects or visuals that can easily be explained otherwise.

That could be Mother Teresa for all we know. At least the color is more accurate than the faded painting, which is clearly a teal color and not a purer blue color ala Mother T.

That could be a gigantic ad for the new design of a Coors beer bottle.

But the reality is that time and weathering caused the discoloration. A larger pic would confirm, but the very top is a dark round circle - likely a hole. Fluids would create the discoloration below; and the concrete itself is obviously made up of several different shades; conveniently forming a vague 'face-like' appearance at just the right spot. Never mind the gaping crack just about the dark circle too.

or, it's also possible graffiti artists came in and did this as a big hoax. After all, it's far more distinct than other "visions". People are known to play on others' emotions, they're so wonderfully human; what with some clever pranksters hurting the feelings of geeks worldwide after they came forward claiming responsibility and proof-of-how for crop circles. GPS technology makes the task utterly simple... so if people will go to those idiot lengths, you bet more people will whgip out the old paintbrush to make a Mary lookalike scaled on a dank, moldy wall. (those could be mold formations or discolorations left by a one-time formation too...)

So, I don't see a miracle. Plus I didn't have to be so dismissively puerile or crude for once.

[LiberallyInclined]

28. i don't see a miracle either- but i can still see the image-

it's kind of like seeing a bunny or a bear in a cloud formation
what it is- it's NOT a "hoax", it's just a coincidence.
it's a retaining wall under a viaduct- there's a crack in it, and there has been seepage of water through the ground behind the wall.

there's another makeshift shrine(i think it's still there- i haven't gone by the spot recently) that's been next to a far northside(chicago again) bus stop on Jarvis- somebody was trimming a tree, and when a large branch was cut off, the brown spot in the center of the rings was shaped like a silloette of mary- a very similar "shrine" went up, and was there at least 18 months- and it may still be there for all i know.

This new image is on a fairly busy street, and in a fairly heavily latino area, so if it's there for awhile(it probably will be), it's gonna cause a lot of traffic problems- it's not to far from where there was once a large billboard of Dennis Rodman's head on the side of a building along the kennedy expressway- for several weeks that billboard caused BIG traffic jams on the freeway- the traffic reporters on tv/radio took to quoting travel times "from the juction to Rodman".
(btw- try Image Googling: Dennis Rodman picture number 2 is kinda...different)

[Ellen Forradalom]

30. Not only Latino but Polish

Heavily Polish areas are not too much further away.

I heard murmuring in both Spanish and Polish as I took pictures.

[LiberallyInclined]

32. the Latino "community" is the one that really take these things seriously

because of the whole pope thing, it may have attraced some Poles- although they aren't a very big part of the neighborhoods in that area- i think you have to get up by milwaukee & irving park to start seeing the "mowimy po polski" signs in the businesses anymore- they're being edged out of the area.

also- the similarity between the image and the 'our lady of guadalupe' is what's making them really loco...

[Deja Q]

42. Even with moderate safesearch being turned on?

:wow:

That IS different!

[LiberallyInclined]

23. somebody put a poster over the "Satan Loves U" graffiti-

yesterday:



today:

[Redstone]

24. Boy, your neighborhood is a helluva lot more

interesting than mine. Nothing like that EVER happens around here. Just people mowing their lawns and the occasional drunk, who us usually me.

Redstone

[Ellen Forradalom]

29. It wasn't my neighborhood actually

but I realized today that I'd have to drive by the Road Rage Virgin on the way to having lunch with a friend, so I grabbed the camera.

[Maestro]

25. Looks like water stains to me

:shrug:

[Bouncy Ball]

27. Looks like.....

.....well nevermind.

[Maestro]

38. I know where you are going with this...

Be nice. ;)

[barackmyworld]

31. This happend in CHicago near my house--Mary in a tree trunk

I swear it was 5-7 years ago and there are STILL candles and wreaths and stuff.

[LiberallyInclined]

34. isn't that the one up on/by Jarvis? behind the bus stop...?

I thought that it was only about 2-3 years old, tho...
and that's not as busy a street as Fullerton- the traffic is going to get to be a problem.

[barackmyworld]

54. it's on touhy, by pottawotamie park

[LiberallyInclined]

56. the one i'm thinking of is at Honore & Rogers-

and started in 2001- i found an article about it.

http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/bvm_6.htm

[barackmyworld]

63. oh yeah, that's it, rogers not touhy

[Radical Activist]

36. Did that one make you think

the people were nuts too? This really boggles my mind.
ITS A VAGINA!!!

[LiberallyInclined]

46. you've apparently been dating the wrong kind of women-

i mean- if that's what the vaginas that you've come across looked like, maybe you should start trolling classier bars or something...

...ewwwwww!

[barackmyworld]

55. hahaa

so true

[Ellen Forradalom]

50. The DUer mopinko lives around there too

and also remembers that.

[luvLLB]

52. It happened in my town too, back in the 70's..Mary on a screen door.

[-..__...]

33. Send the "Our Lady of the Underpass" to the Boston "Big Dig" project.

Maybe she has better solutions and/or fixes than the engineers.

[Zuni]

35. Has Golden Palace bought that piece of concrete yet?

That looks even more like the Virgin than the grilled cheese sandwich

:P

[BringEmOn]

37. Cowpie Punk

[marions ghost]

39. here's the AP story

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=18&u=/ap/20050420/ap_on_re_us/underpass_virgin_mary
(excerpt)
Police have patrolled the emergency turnoff area under the Kennedy Expressway since Monday as hundreds of people have walked down to see the image and the growing memorial of flowers and candles that surround it. Beside the image is an artist's rendering of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II in a pose some see echoed in the stain.

"We believe it's a miracle," said Elbia Tello, 42. "We have faith, and we can see her face."

Tuesday morning, women knelt with rosary beads behind a police barricade while men in work shirts stood solemnly before the image, praying. A police officer kept the crowd of about three dozen from getting too close to the traffic but didn't stop them gathering around the stain.

The stain is likely the result of salt run-off, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The agency does not plan to scrub it off the wall. (more)

[sniffa]

40. retards

[Ganja Ninja]

41. If that's a miracle then so's the hash marks in my jockey's.

:wtf:

[terrya]

43. It's...it's....a waterstain.

Am I missing something here? Something I'm not seeing?

[sniffa]

45. oh ye of LittLe faith

that's what we caLL saLvation.

[bridgit]

44. reminds me of that line in american president...

"they drink the sand because they don't know the difference."

[ScreamingMeemie]

47. How come I can never see anything but a blob? Am I going to Hell?

:shrug:

[Starlight]

49. You didn't drink the special moron koolaid.

:beer:

[Ellen Forradalom]

51. It's a Rorschach test.

If you're a Mary devotee, you see her; if you're not, you don't.

[marions ghost]

53. It will be a grave and unforgiveable mortal sin...

to let this thread die a natural death.
We must KEEP IT ALIVE in honor of Our Lady of the Underpass O8)

[Field Of Dreams]

57. Thanks!

Much better pics than the one on CNN's homepage this a.m.

[dhinojosa]

58. Hey they covered up "Satan Loves U"

hahah

[pdx_prog]

59. Walk into a house where there is some cheap paneling

from the 70's and you will see her image in 25 different spots around the room...:)

Our lady of the vaneer paneling

[HughBeaumont]

60. You squint at my bathroom cupboard and you can see La Pieta

[RetroLounge]

62. What a fucking joke

RL

[LiberallyInclined]

64. a little more background-

the woman who "discovered" the 'holy image'(Obdulia something- her name is next to it, on the lower right) had been praying to the bvm(blessed virgin mary) to help her pass her exam in a culinary class(apparently more effective than say...i dunno...studying?)
so she's going thru the intersection one day, the light's right, her mind's not, and she sees the holy visage of the bvm where the faithless see only a cracked & crumbling infastructure- she hears the peal of heavens bells, where the faithless heard only the horns of cars honking at the crazy lady who's stopped her car in the middle of a busy intersection...and now the city may have to erect a cathederal under the interstate.

[Susang]

65. Not exactly

It's an accident investigation site, so she was not impeding traffic and she was stopped in traffic when she noticed the water stain Mary, as is normal on that stretch of road.

Here's the real story, it's a lot less dramatic: http://www.nbc10.com/irresistible/4389444/detail.html


This is my neighborhood. I happen to pass that spot daily on my commute, I was by that spot this morning. Here is a WMAQ picture that demonstrates what I'm talking about

[LiberallyInclined]

66. That's not the story she gave to the Trib-

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0504190294apr19,1,867798.story

Obdulia Delgado turned toward the on ramp of the Kennedy Expressway when she saw something in the middle of traffic that made her stop.

She saw the image of the Virgin Mary in a large yellow and white stain on the concrete wall at the Fullerton Avenue entrance last week.

"I was so stunned I couldn't move. People were honking," said Delgado, 31. "It was a dream. I don't even know how I got home."

... Delgado said she had been praying to the Virgin Mary to help her pass a final in culinary school when she saw the image.

"There are many people here who believe in her. She's here for a reason," she said. "For me, it's not a watermark, it's the Virgin Mary."

[Susang]

69. Check the date on the Trib story

It's dated nine days after she supposedly spotted Mary. Every other story that quotes her has her saying she pulled over to the accident site to pray. Her story is getting more elaborate and dramatic each time she tells it. That's why I posted the link to the first reported story I could find. As you can see by the photo, there's really no way cars would be honking at her in an I-Dot accident investigation area.

I'm sorry, but next thing you know, we'll be reading about how the underpass glowed and she levitated out of her car towards the apparition. Anything for an extension on that fifteen minutes of fame. Though I'll bet with all this excitement and attention being paid to her, those exams have been all but forgotten.

[Ellen Forradalom]

68. Good picture, Susang

The pictures I took don't show how well protected from the road the area is (thank goodness.)

[cheezus]

67. And to the left is cartoon Dick Cheney

----v