MILTON, Mass. – Five years have passed, at least, since the seal broke in the third-floor window at Milton Hospital, turning the glass a blotchy white.

But only last week did the murky patches begin taking on a form that – without much imagination – looks very much like a robed Madonna, with bowed head. And is that a craggy rock she’s standing on?

“It seems like every day it gets clearer,” said Sharon McGarty, of Braintree, an office administrator for a doctor who works across the hall from eye examination room where the image appeared. “It used to look like just a dirty window. Why did the vision all of a sudden pop out to people?”

Word of the vision has spread through media and word-of-mouth, drawing more than 25,000 believers and gawkers to the hospital’s nondescript brick wall and turning it into an impromptu religious shrine.

Dozens of bouquets have been placed beneath it, along with a large Tupperware container for money. One hospital worker saw a mother bring her son, who uses a wheelchair, to touch the wall with his legs.

“The message I think that she is trying to relay is that we need to pray for peace, for a stop to abortion, for a conversion of sinners,” said John Pires, 59, of Flagler Beach, Fla., who said the rosary with his wife in the parking lot below the window Tuesday. “Whether or not it’s a true apparition, it’s a sign to us.

And Pires is kind of an expert on these kinds of things. He and his wife, Diane, also saw the image of the Virgin Mary in the window of an insurance company in Clearwater, Fla. “That one was in color,” Diane Pires said.

Officials at the hospital about 10 miles south of Boston have sought advice from the Archdiocese of Boston about the phenomenon, and issued a statement this week, asking visitors to view the image only between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

“The hospital respects fully the religious beliefs of the many viewers and is seeking advice from the Chancery on what appropriate steps to take,” the hospital’s statement read. “In the meantime, a substantial safety issue has arisen that jeopardizes the ability of the hospital to do its charitable work.”

The hospital’s parking lot looks like a mall’s on Christmas Eve, with cars circling the aisles looking for spaces. Private security guards have been installed at the entrance to direct traffic.

Hospital officials and experts on the phenomenon have said the seemingly miraculous image is simply the product of a spreading chemical deposit trapped within the window pane.

“The phenomenon is basically the human ability to see pictures out of randomness. There are trillions of these and they just wait for someone to notice them,” said Joe Nickell, a senior research fellow at the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. “This one’s pretty good, as things go, but there’s nothing miraculous about it. It’s almost anti-miraculous, because its cause is so mundane.”

‘No doubt in my mind’

Try telling that to Isabel Beaulieu, of Mansfield, who brought her nephew to see the image on Sunday, two days before he underwent surgery to replace a piece of his skull.

“We were told it would last four to six hours, but it only last one and a half,” said Beaulieu, who visited the hospital wall again Tuesday. “I think it worked.”

Even medical practitioners are beginning to believe that the image in the window is more than a bit of condensation.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” said Marie Passi, a medical assistant to a cardiologist at the hospital.

And why this particular window at this particular hospital? Alexandra Zahak, for one, has a theory.

“An eye doctor works in that office,” said Zahak, of West Newton, who plans to visit the hospital every day. “She’s trying to tell us to open up our eyes.”

Copy the Story Link