Authors wrote a book about "Blessed Virgin Mary" appearances in Saskatchewan and the pilgrimages that ensued.
They say that some surviving pioneers relate that a wandering light kept appearing on a high hill just west of the village of Cudworth in 1908-09, and during the summer of 1909 a light appeared to three small children as they were tending cattle near the hill. To the little boy, the light embodied a vision of a barefooted, beautiful young bride, dressed in white, with a bright gold cross attached to the end of a chain. When the boy tried to pick up the cross that was trailing on the ground, the vision disappeared.
They say the little boy died the following year from wounds inflicted by a wild cat, while the two little girls grew up and married.
According to other reports, the young woman allegedly appeared a total of five times, once with an infant in her arm.
Although they did not see the actual vision, several witnesses saw unexplained phenomena, namely, grass rapidly moving at the site on a calm day; an aura or glow of light surrounding the hill at the time of the vision and after it had ended. One of the witnesses was instrumental in setting up the first wooden altar and also a wooden cross on the summit of the hill. He has since passed away.
The place where the young woman allegedly appeared was staked off, a makeshift altar set up and a holy picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary placed on it. A sum of thirty-five dollars was voluntarily given by donors towards erecting some sort of permanent markings but was later turned over to a local parish. Located on N.E. corner of Section 35, Township 40, Range 27, west of Second Meridian, the hill originally was bald on the top and the south side and wooded on the north.
When the little boy who claimed seeing the bride-like vision died, his body was being transported to the cemetery, the people in the funeral procession allegedly observed a cloud following them, though it was, otherwise, a bright day, with not the slightest indication of a rainstorm. He was born in 1902 and died at mid-summer of 1910.
The auhors say that not much more is known of the alleged apparition of the unknown young maiden, and a relative of the young eyewitness is presently engaged in researching this incident. To their knowledge there has never been any official church investigation of the happening at Cudworth.
One may wonder what this has to do with ufology; however, a modern ufology catalogue author apparently considered this as ufology material.
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[Ref. lk1:] JOSEPH LOZINSKY AND HEATHER KOLLA:
These authors wrote a book about "Blessed Virgin Mary" appearances in Saskatchewan and the pilgrimages that ensued.
They say that some surviving pioneers relate that a wandering light kept appearing on a high hill just west of the village of Cudworth in 1908-09, and during the summer of 1909 a light appeared to three small children as they were tending cattle near the hill. To the little boy, the light embodied a vision of a barefooted, beautiful young bride, dressed in white, with a bright gold cross attached to the end of a chain. When the lad tried to pick up the cross that was trailing on the ground, the vision disappeared.
They say the little boy died the following year from wounds inflicted by a wild cat, while the two little girls grew up and married.
According to other reports, the young woman appeared a total of five times, once with an infant in her arm.
Although they did not see the actual vision, several witnesses saw unexplained phenomena, namely, grass rapidly moving at the site on a calm day; an aura or glow of light surrounding the hill at the time of the vision and after it had ended. One of the witnesses was instrumental in setting up the first wooden altar and also a wooden cross on the summit of the hill. He has since passed away.
The place where the young woman allegedly appeared was staked off, a makeshift altar set up and a holy picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary placed on it. A sum of thirty-five dollars was voluntarily given by donors towards erecting some sort of permanent markings but was later turned over to a local parish. Located on N.E. corner of Section 35, Township 40, Range 27, west of Second Meridian, the hill originally was bald on the top and the south side and wooded on the north.
When the little boy who claimed seeing the bride-like vision died, his body was being transported to the cemetery, the people in the funeral procession observed a cloud following them, though it was, otherwise, a bright day, with not the slightest indication of a rainstorm. He was born in 1902 and died at mid-summer of 1910.
The authors say that not much more is known of the alleged apparition of the unknown young maiden, and a relative of the young eyewitness is presently engaged in researching this incident. To their knowledge there has never been any official church investigation of the happening at Cudworth.
[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
Albert Rosales indicates that near Cudworth, Saskatchewan, Canada, in the of Summer 1909 at an unknown time, "Around the same time that a wandering light kept appearing in the hills, on a Sunday 3 children aged six and less saw a beautiful but sad lady carrying a chain and dragging a gold cross across the grass on top of the hill. One of the young children ran up to the beautiful woman and tried to pick up the dragging cross, but she, the chain, and the cross disappeared. Nobody else saw the woman except the little boy and the two girls. Within two weeks the boy caught sick and died, while the girls grew up, married and moved away."
Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Unidentified in Saskatchewan".
This story appears of course in various religious texts in magazine or on the web; with no more details. I do not think it brings anything to cite them all.
For some ufologists, as John Keel and Jacques Vallee later, the "apparitions of the Blessed Virgin" must be considered as ufology material, because their theories are that there is some "intelligence" of a particular nature, alien, supernatural, or coming from whatever "other dimension", which would have people see the "Virgin Mary", fairies, UFOs, aliens or any other "entities" or "phenomena".
For some other ufologists, the "apparitions of the Blessed Virgin" prove that people claim to see or think they see just about anything, but all is strictly delusions, "socio-psychological" in nature, and the "apparitions of the Blessed Virgin" show the delusional nature of UFO sighting reports and UFO occupants sighting reports. It is, they say, the context of the time that would somehow successively make it "fashionable", "acceptable", to see demons, fairies, the "Virgin Mary" and nowadays, aliens.
Whatever the story, and without denying the influence of a socio-psychological context, I think it is important to filter any report on the basis of the evidence presented, the credibility of witnesses, or traces or physical evidence, corroboration by multiple witnesses and so on.
In this story, what should be obvious to all is that there is no evidence, no verification, no corroboration, that the information in a ufological sense is almost null on crucial points, that the "witnesses", if they even existed, were only young children "aged 6 or less", that we do not know who recorded the story, that we do not know whether the girls confirmed or not the boy's story, etc.
If we consider for example the "lights", a ufologist should seek real information: in what directions, what dates, what times, what angular size, elevation? What were the moves, durations? Etc. A ufologist is supposed to know that Venus for example has been called a "UFO", especially when observers are - this is probably the case here - not so educated people, not necessarily capable to identify the bright planet low on the horizon. To make of these "lights" something important or even relevant here would be a pure act of faith.
A ufologist should agree that the minimum of the minimum before theorizing about UFOs from any case whatsoever is to conduct a proper ufological investigation. This is obviously not the case here, and it's probably too late to do so now.
I note, incidentally, that it is interesting to see that the [ar1] version may create the impression that the boy's death had something to do with his alleged encounter; whereas it seems he just died from the consequences of a wildcat's attack.
| Id: | Topic: | Severity: | Date noted: | Raised by: | Noted by: | Description: | Proposal: | Status: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None. | ||||||||
Child's inventions. Not UFO-related.
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
| Main Author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Created/Changed By: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 2, 2013 | Creation, [lk1], [ar1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 2, 2013 | First published. |
