Fortean Times: Madonna Mania

From Fortean Times on-line:Madonna Mania

TED HARRISON looks back at the strange summer of 1985, when statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary all over Ireland started to move – at least according to the thousands-strong crowds who flocked to see these modern miracles. But what was going on? Optical illusions? Mass hysteria? A religious revival for hard times? Or something very strange indeed?

The summer of 1985 was a strange time to be in Ireland, as rumours of miracles and extraordinary events swept the country.

It was the summer when I went to Ireland and saw for myself a solid, inanimate statue of the Virgin Mary appear to sway from side to side.

The moving statue epidemic started in February that year. By September, almost 50 separate claims of moving statues and other strange phenomena had been reported at religious sites across the country. It was the year of Madonna Mania! [see FT45:6–7, 30–34]