Skepticism

Our Creepy Creepy Lady of Fatima

I found a shrine near Buffalo, NY with tons of creepy saint statues. No seriously CREEPY

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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22 Comments

  1. Am I the only person who started thinking of the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who? Perhaps to make it extra creepy, you should watch that episode and then go there at night.

  2. I think you need to go easy on Mary, Rebecca. You’d probably be a little sadistic, too, if you’d been a virgin for 2000 years!

  3. The google ad on this video linked to a bible study site…

    Maybe next time I’m out east I’ll bring a solar filter and my telescope and let people gaze at the sun… safely.

  4. Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good Luck.

  5. I don’t want to be a naysayer, but I think those statues look pretty cool. The beliefs are all B.S. obviously, but I’m generally in favor of more things that look that they’re straight out of Dr. Who.

  6. Have you read The Third Secret by Steve Berry? Load of tosh about the third prophecy, and I’m going to reveal the big secret: women are allowed to be ordained. Or something. I was skimming pages by that point…

    and his other books aren’t any better.

  7. Creepy Rebcca? Creepy?

    Sorry madam, you don’t have anything to complain about here. I’m from Rochester. Why don’t you try being dragged to this nightmare-brought-to-life as a 14 year old in the mid ’90s, after an excruciating day trip to Niagara Falls with your strict elderly grandparents; whereupon you arrive at this fucking horrorshow at roughly 1 A.M. on, I kid you not, a frigid and windy late-October night.

    There was exactly ONE other (disheveled, possibly drunk) man wandering around the place the whole time we were there, and my grandfather INSISTED we go inside that dome thing to pray after like a half hour of looking at those damn statues.

    FUCKING. TERRIFYING. The tacky early ’60s decor, the cold and totally empty, eerie silence in there. As we left, it started snowing. I will never forget that indescribably bizarre experience.

    ……Although to be honest, despite my inveterate atheism, I kind of want to visit again as an adult to relive the extreme lonely creepiness of that night. Creepy, right?

  8. @Steve D: “… and maybe invite penwiper along for a laugh.

    Wow, that’s a pretty cool costume. And I can relate to the usual loss of comfort and of several pints of perspiration while walking around in a cool-looking costume.

  9. @scribe999: *shudder* I finished the most recent angel episodes at 3am and realized that this creepy angel statue my mom owns was staring at me. I nearly sprinted upstairs and hid under my parents bed.

    Yea the whole Fatima thing is kinda crazy supposedly the world will end when the last sibling dies. But Lucia died in 2005 and we’re still here. Maybe God was hitting the snooze button on that one.

    Also as you flashed over each of those statues Rebecca I was going “Pedo. Pedo. Pedo” in my head.

  10. @Siveambrai: As frightening as the Weeping Angels are, at least they are the “only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely”…well, until this previous season.

  11. I vaguely remember being taught about Fatima in 2nd grade catechism. What I remember most vividly is that the trio apparently spent a good deal of time praying with those little wire garters with barbs on them, like the ones in the DaVinci Code. And I remember the teacher saying that it hurt, but they didn’t mind “suffering for God”

    So apparently, in the Catholic church, birth control, pre-marital sex, and homosexuality are sins, but masochism is not only perfectly kosher, but also an appropriate topic of conversation for a second grade audience.

  12. I am a regular listener of SGU and out of curiosity decided to check out your webpage. Then the first thing I run into is the video of fatima.
    Honestly, disapointed, humm honestly. Humm yeah , no really honestly. I am a devote agnostic believer so therefore I could care less what is said about the catholic church, but whenever i try to convince people that it is nothing more then a human supersition turned mafia, at least I do it with respect for their beliefs. I dont call a Virgen a Jerk, nor do I say that it was a dick move on her part. Speaking in that disrespectful tone only distences more people that at some point might actually listen to you. I believe that you have a responsibility as a known persona of the skeptical society that people know and admire all around the world to treat each topic with the respect that the peole that follow that idealolgy have invested in it even if you dont have any respect for it.. Your newyorkerish myshitdontstink im smarter than everyone attitude that you didnt even bother to hide a little, while reporting on a topic was quite pathetic. (also a little pathetic the way your grupies just put up comments following your lead…in a “guru thrown on her sofa in a bathrobe” way.) honestly I am very disapointed with you. And please if you comment on this onair, please dont try to make it about me, or about the virgen or about my bad spelling. I´m a NYer living in Spain for many years, and i´m out of practice, but i thunk you , humm, honestly, no really, humm yeah, Got my point.

  13. golly, Rebecca I was gonna comment on how conservative I thunk you were in your irreverence on this topic… but I guess you can’t say anything non-offensive.

  14. “whenever i try to convince people that it is nothing more then a human supersition turned mafia, at least I do it with respect for their beliefs. ” — There’s a way to compare someone’s beliefs to a heartless, violent, criminal organization in respectful way? Awesome…I’m stealing that.

    “treat each topic with the respect that the peole that follow that idealolgy have invested in it even if you dont have any respect for it” — in other words: lie

    I gotta get him to write the intro to a book someday…maybe something on the arrogance of ignorance or something.

  15. Here I am, several days late, and probably more than a dollar short, but I had to add this…

    The seriously creepy part of the story for me is that Lucia is the unfortunate one – she was in seclusion most of her life. As in locked up in solitary confinement in some convent somewhere (supposedly of her own free will). Or at least so i was heard many times growing up in Portugal. I keep thinking of three kids that maybe ditched their chores to play and came up with the story of seeing the virgin to get out of trouble. It works, so they do it again. Next thing they know, the story has escalated out of control. Sometimes I wonder if Lucia was isolated because she got tired of it all and tried to come clean. THAT is creepy.

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