Images In Famous Plumes Of Smoke

Often, we stroll down the lane of pareidolia, examining what may or may not be miraculous or at least somehow signifying in the plethora of cloud, volcanic, solar, and astronomical photographs taken in modern days.

Some really deserve that second look. Others mandate engagement of the imagination.

What about (famous) smoke?

The word “famous” is deployed due to one example: the U.S. space shuttle Challenger.

When that tragedy occurred in 1986, there were those who saw something or someone unusual in the trail of indelible smoke.

“That night,” noted a writer, “one witness repeatedly watched a videotape of the disaster hoping, perhaps, to grasp its reality.

“Viewing the tape closely, however, she noticed an image that greatly affected many devastated employees at the Kennedy Space Center.

“Now a space center medic, Debi Hall witnessed the disaster firsthand, seated alongside reporters and the astronauts’ families.

“At home, exhausted and emotionally drained by the day’s events, Hall initially thought she was imagining things when she sat in front of the television. She kept rewinding the tape and playing the scene until she convinced herself that, yes, there was an image of Christ in the clouds of smoke enveloping the Challenger.”

In video a second before, the top bifurcation looks a bit like Jesus, arms upraised from the Cross; below one may see a rather large face.

In the dynamic of other photographs, was there also a demonic visage?

We’re not sure in what picture or portion of video it looked to Hall and her husband like a large, bearded face. Do you see anything? Hall claimed when she showed it around the center — where folks tend to be far more scientific than mystical — others noted it without being prompted. “Divine intervention,” she concluded.

To what end — what message? Christ, but also perhaps a demonic image? Or below, a number of faces upon lift-off?

Whatever you perceive or don’t perceive is fine with us.

Any number of smoke images from 9/11 showed startling images of what seemed like sinister or disincarnate visages. As we have mentioned a number of times before, including in the current “special report,” there are very clear images of Mary and Jesus Crucified in a photo that we first saw in Newsweek of an nuclear-bomb test above the Pacific island of Mururoa in 1969. Message?

In that case, we almost challenge viewers not to see them.

And then there is what the camera does with light.

“My name is Sandy Krahn,” writes a viewer, “and I was visiting the San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, California, on March 9th and captured this photo attached of Mother Mary. I had just lit a candle with my mom and sister at Mother Mary’s altar and poured my heart out to her. My mom and sister had their hands on my back as I knelt in deep prayer to our Blessed Mother.

“We left Mary’s altar and went in the main cathedral minutes after our prayer with Mary. I started taking photos of the chapel randomly while several women to the left of me were saying a Rosary out loud.

“I did not realize I had taken this photo until several hours later while visiting at my Sister’s house with relatives. When I pulled up my photos, I was swiping through and found this massive light in my photo stream. I was startled and instantly showed my brother-in-law Jeff; he and I both looked at each other in awe. I shared the photo with a room full of relatives. We all were surprised and wondered how this could be!

“I went back to Mass at the Mission a few days later for their Sunday service. I showed the priest there and he said to share this with everyone. Today I am still in wonder why Mary gave me this photo.