NON-LIVING ENTITIES SEEN AT KNOCK AND OMISSIONS BY WITNESSES OF IMPORTANT MATERIAL SUGGEST LIES AND EXAGGERATION
SOURCE: 1879 Depositions of Witnesses of "Apparition" of Mary, Joseph, John and angels on the gable of Knock Chapel.
After the reported two hour apparition, depositions were taken from the witnesses. There are clues in those statements. Was it a miracle or paranormal or something more natural?
UNDERLINED TEXT AT FACE VALUE INDICATES THE SUPERNATURAL OR INEXPLICABLE
THE BOLDED TEXT IS CLEAR EVIDENCE OF THE MAGIC LANTERN THEORY OR A NON-MIRACLE
THE REST DOESN'T INDICATE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER
THERE ARE FAR MORE BOLDED INDICATING THAT THE EVIDENCE FAVOURS A NATURAL INTERPRETATION
It matters if the entities were able to move, Otherwise we have a
strange story about statues appearing or ghosts. They need to be
alive, clearly alive. And it matters if they were seen in daylight.
The whole episode sounds like a show typical of the time where images were
projected from a magic lantern and you need the dark for that.
It matters if there was a cross and altar and lamb there. These things
have not been clarified satisfactorily.
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
1 Patrick Hill |
Yes he vaguely said he saw them move but this was in the context of the images seemingly coming out from the wall and going back into it rather than the figures showing any sign of life. |
No - said he was told at at 8 about the vision and ran to the church and said it was very dark. The darkness probably fell early that night. |
Yes |
Yes |
WEEKLY NEWS 1880 |
NO IT WAS DARK |
|||
DAILY TELEGRAPH 1880 |
||||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
2 Mary McLoughlin |
Didn't say what she meant by saying the images were moving. The images could have moved as a block slightly or an entity might have seemed to be breathing. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
3 Mary Beirne |
Sort of. According to the published account - which was not authorised by her, it was still bright. Her declaration that she went away from the scene and saw the altar when she got back may imply that the vision was clearer the darker it got. Her original account says that it was a darker night than usual because of the rain. She says too that it was dusk when she first saw the images. You would expect the dark to have fallen earlier too if it was such a wet evening. |
Yes |
||
WEEKLY NEWS 1880 |
Says there was good light, when asked if it was daylight. Sounds like the light was okay but not the best. |
|||
1932 Testimony - not under oath |
||||
1935 testimony to Liam Ua Cadhain |
||||
1936 deathbed sworn statement for Commission |
Doesn't remember a lamb or stars |
|||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
4 Patrick Walsh |
No |
|||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
5 Patrick Beirne |
No |
|||
1932 Testimony |
Lamb |
|||
1936 Sworn statement |
||||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
6 Maggie Beirne |
No |
Yes |
Said she saw no cross |
|
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
7 Dominick Beirne |
No |
|||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
8 Mrs Flatley |
Not known - she says it was 8. It seems that as she thought they were statues and nothing unusual that she saw them in daylight. |
|||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
9 Bridget Trench |
No |
No |
||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
10 Catherine Murray |
No |
|||
WEEKLY NEWS 1880
|
||||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
11 John Curry |
No |
|||
1937 New York Tribunal |
Appeared to be alive. But this contradicts his claim that Mary had a face like a statue. He also says that Bridget Trench touched nothing but the picture when she tried to touch the figures. Said he did not see the figures move. |
Lamb may have been under Joseph's arm and not on the altar like the others said |
||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
12 Judith Campbell |
Says she was there when night came on but could have meant she arrived at twilight not daylight. |
Yes |
||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
13 Margaret Beirne 2 |
No |
Just mentions altar |
||
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
14 Dominick Beirne Sen |
No |
Just mentions altar |
Yes |
|
WITNESS |
MOVEMENT? |
SEEN IN DAY-LIGHT? |
ALTAR LAMB |
CROSS |
15 John Durkan |