by Joe Nickell
Circumstances surrounding the twentieth century’s two best-known stigmatics—Theresa Neumann and Padre Pio (both mentioned previously)—raise further doubts about the genuineness of the phenomenon. For example, a Professor Martini conducted a surveillance of Therese Neumann and observed that blood would flow from her wounds only on those occasions when he was persuaded to leave the room, as if something “needed to be hidden from observation.” He added: “It was for the same reason that I disliked her frequent manipulations behind the raised [bed] coverings.” (Similar suspicions also accompanied her professed demonstration of inedia.) (Wilson 1988, 53, 114–15) As to Padre Pio, the local Roman Catholic clergy accused his friary of putting him on display in order to make money. Certainly a cult grew up around him, and village hucksters sold his credulous disciples alleged relics in the form of pieces of cloth daubed with chicken blood. Some physicians believed his wounds superficial, but the determination was made difficult by their supposed painfulness and their being covered by “thick crusts” of supposed blood. A distinguished pathologist sent by the Holy See noted that beyond the scabs was a lack of “any sign of edema, of penetration, or of redness, even when examined with a good magnifying glass.” Indeed, he concluded that the side “wound” had not penetrated the skin at all. And while in life Pio perpetually kept his “wounds” concealed (wearing fingerless gloves on his hands), at death there was only unblemished skin (Ruffin 1982, 146–54, 305).
Many Catholic scholars have expressed skepticism about the genuineness of stigmata. One was a neuropsychiatrist who had personally observed thirty stigmatization cases and in none of them “was able to eliminate, absolutely and decisively, every kind of artificial action” (quoted in Biot 1962, 102–03). Although attributing most instances to suggestion rather than hoaxing, Herbert Thurston (1952, 100) found “no satisfactory case of stigmatization since St. Francis of Assisi.” Thurston and others defend Francis on grounds of his piety and character; however, his single-minded desire to imitate Jesus, his “immense capacity for self-sacrifice, ” and the fact that “he was a son of the church to the marrow of his bones” (Coulson 1958, 188) may have led him to foster a pious deception—something that many others have clearly been unable to resist.
A Recent Case
The Fox network’s “Signs from God” heralded the Bolivian miracle claimant Katya Rivas, whose repertoire included not only stigmata but the production of an unusual “delta state” on an EEG, automatic writing in languages she allegedly did not know, and multicolored “glitter” on a print of the Image of Guadalupe in her home. (For a review, see Nickell 1999.) The show was hosted by Australian journalist Michael Willesee who, during an airplane accident in 1998, had “re-embraced his Roman Catholic faith in an instant conversion” (Randi 1999).
Rivas claimed she received a message from Jesus telling her that while she would not produce stigmata as hoped on Good Friday (the day Christians commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion), patience would be rewarded. A later message announced that full stigmata would take place on the day following Corpus Christi (a Catholic festival honoring the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper). The night before the stigmata were to appear, Rivas gave a sample of her blood as a control, since there was speculation that the blood from her stigmatic wounds might not be hers exclusively. Come the appointed time, unsuspecting viewers were treated to what had all the signs of a staged event. Rivas was abed, in a fashion reminiscent of Therese Neumann, and the covers provided ample concealment if trickery were involved. No doctor was in attendance. Michael Willesee made a cursory examination of Rivas’s hands and feet and referred to scars from previous stigmata. These appeared on her feet, but it was unclear whether there were prior marks on her hands also. (This is significant in light of developments, as we shall see.)
During real or pretended suffering, Rivas exhibited, first, pricklike marks and bleeding on the forehead (as from a crown of thorns)—though apparently not on the sides or back of the head, suggesting the marks were only for show. Then there was (possibly) a pink mark on the left palm, followed by a tiny cross on the back of the hand that was initially without blood. Later there were bloody “wounds” on both sides of the hands and feet. Willesee used swabs to obtain samples of the blood for analysis. No side wound or other crucifixion markings ever appeared. At the end of the experience—or demonstration—Rivas displayed paroxysms of a deathlike agony imitative of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Rivas’s wounds were never seen in the act of spontaneously issuing but instead were shown in incremental shots after each appearance—just as they would if self-inflicted during periods of concealment. Among other suspicious elements were the mismatching of “entrance” and “exit” wounds, those on the left foot being far out of alignment. Also, those on the palms and soles of the feet were, as far as could be seen, only smears of blood. Moreover, such wounds as could be distinguished were not puncturelike but rather consisted of multiple cuts, including the cross on the back of the left hand (figure 44.1) and an array of slashes atop each foot. The latter are curiously in pairs (figure 44.2) as if produced by a two-pronged implement, like the sharp-cornered, calyxlike ring Katya Rivas wore during the event.
Supposedly only twenty-four hours later, the camera recorded Willesee inspecting Rivas’s wounds. Apparently those on the palms and soles had vanished completely (but were not specifically shown), and the markings that remained were seemingly in an advanced state of healing. Willesee treated this as remarkable, but another interpretation is that the vanishing of some “wounds” indicated they were never there in the first place and that most or all of the markings were old cuts from previously faked stigmata. A genuine element of the affair was the blood itself, which was shown by DNA analysis to be Katya Rivas’s. Unfortunately for the miracle-mongering journalist Willesee—who made much of the possibility that it might be Christ’s blood in whole or in part—it proved to be Rivas’s alone.
Figure 44.1. Cross-shaped wound on back of Katya Rivas’s left hand.
Figure 44.2. Post-stigmata marks on top of one of Rivas’s feet, most or all of which are scars from previous “stigmata.”
Figure 44.3. Small cuts on author’s hand produce sufficient blood to simulate a sizeable wound.
When I was asked to appear on a television documentary on stigmata and to discuss the Katya Rivas case, I decided to experiment beforehand by inflicting wounds on myself. I used a sharp blade to cut a cross on the back of my left hand. This shallow, superficial wound yielded enough blood to produce the effect of a larger wound (44.3) and even (by transfer) create a “wound” on the palm (figure 44.4). The next day, the latter had of course vanished and the cross had begun to heal. There are certain medicinal preparations that allegedly promote healing and, as I found, cosmetic creams that through their hiding power can seemingly advance the healing or eliminate the wound entirely.
My examination of the video showing Katya Rivas’s alleged stigmatization and the simple experiments I performed persuaded me that not only could her stigmata not be authenticated, but, indeed—like other instances of the alleged phenomenon throughout history—they cannot be distinguished from a pious hoax.
Figure 44.4. Transfer of blood from wound shown in figure 3 produced fake wound on palm.
References
Barbet, Pierre. 1950. A Doctor at Calvary, Fr. ed.; Eng. trans. Garden City, N.Y.: Image, 1963, 103–20.
Biot, René. 1962. The Enigma of the Stigmata. New York: Hawthorn.
CNN & Time. 1999. TV segment on CNN, August 8.
Coulson John, ed. 1958. The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary. New York: Hawthorn, 187–88.
“Francis of Assisi, St.” 1960. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Harrison, Ted. 1994. Stigmata: A Medieval Phenomenon in a Modern Age. New York: St. Martin’s.
Jones, Alison. 1994. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Saints. Ware, England: Wordsworth Editions, 116–18.
Nickell, Joe. 1993. Looking for a Miracle. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus.
———. 19
98. Inquest on the Shroud of Turin. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 61–63.
———. 1999. Thumbs down on Fox’s “Signs from God.” Skeptical Inquirer 23.6 (Nov./ Dec.): 61.
Radford, Ben. 1999. Movie review: Stigmata. Corrales (New Mexico) Comment, Sept. 25.
Randi, James. 1999. Randi’s Archive, James Randi Educational Foundation, http:/ /www.randi.org/jr/7-30-1999.html, July 30.
Rogo, D. Scott. 1982. Miracles. A Parascientific Inquiry into Wondrous Phenomena. New York: Dial.
Ruffin, C. Bernard. 1982. Padre Pio: The True Story. Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor.
Thurston, Herbert. 1952. The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism. Chicago: H. Regnery.
Schnabel, Jim. 1993. The Munch bunch. Fortean Times 70 (Aug./ Sept.), 23-29.
Willesee, Michael (exec, prod.) 1999. Signs from God, Fox TV, July 28.
Wilson, Ian. 1979. The Shroud of Turin, rev. ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Image.
——— . 1988. The Bleeding Mind. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Chapter 45
Haunted Inns
If testimonials in countless books and articles are to bebelieved, spending the night in a quaint old hotel might provide an encounter with an extra, ethereal visitor. In the course of thirty years of paranormal investigation, I have had the opportunity to experience many“haunted” sites. These have included burial places, like England’s West Kennet Long Barrow (where I failed to see the specter of a “Druid priest” that allegedly attends the ancient tomb); religious sanctuaries,such as Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada (where the apparition of the first bishop’s wife did not materialize); theaters,including the Lancaster (New York) Opera House (where a spectral “Ladyin Lavender” was a no-show); houses, like the historic residence of William Lyon Mackenzie in Toronto (where ghostly footfalls on the stairs were actually those of real people on a staircase next door); and other sites,notably inns—the subject of this investigative roundup. (Most of the inns cited—all personally investigated—included an overnight stay, staff interviews, background research, etc. [Nickell 1972-2000]).
Why haunted inns? Obviously, places open to the public have more numerous and varied visitors, and hence more opportunities for ghostly experiences, than do private dwellings and out-of-the-way sites. And inns—meaning hotels, motels, guesthouses, bed-and-breakfasts, and other places that provide overnight lodging—offer much more. They not only allowextended time periods for visitors to have unusual experiences but alsoinsure that the guests will be there during a range of states from alertnessthrough sleep. Almost predictably, sooner or later, someone will awaken toan apparition at his or her bedside.
Appearances of the Dead
The experience is a common type of hallucination, known popularly as a “waking dream,” which takes place between being fully asleep and fully awake. Such experiences typically include bizarre imagery (bright lights or apparitions of demons, ghosts, aliens, etc.) and/or auditory hallucinations. “Sleep paralysis” may also occur, where by there is an inability to move because the body is still in the sleep mode(Nickell 1995).
A good example of an obvious waking dream is reported by “A.C.” She was asleep on board the Queen Mary, the former ocean liner that since 1971 has been permanently docked at Long Beach, California. As the woman relates: “I awoke from adeep sleep around midnight. I saw a figure walking near my daughter’s sleeping bag toward the door. Thinking it was my sister, I called out. There was no answer. It was then that I noticed my sister was lying next to me. I sat up in bed and watched the person in white walk through the door! Another example reported at the Hotel Queen Mary is credited to “H.V.” :
I was awakened from mysleep and observed the image of a person standing in front of my bed. There were no apparent physical features, but it appeared to be holding a flashlight, with a light shining out of it that was brighter than the form itself. I watched as the image swayed back and forth. When I called my roommate the image backed up. I called again and the vision backed up even further, toward the door. I reached for the light switch and tried to turn it on. The light switch seemed to spark and wouldn’t turn on all the way.Finally, my roommate woke up; the light came on, and whatever it was, was gone. We slept with the TV on the rest of the night. It was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun! (Wlodarski et al. 1995, 33, 35)
To be sure, not all sightings of ghostly figures are of the waking-dream variety, many in fact occurring during normal activity. Some are like the report of “J.M.,” who was at the Queen Mary’s Purser’s Desk when, he stated, “I caught a brief glimpse out of the corner of myeye, of someone or something moving,” or like that of “P.T.,”who said, “I saw something move out of the corner of my eye … a brief glimpse of someone or something” (Wlodarski 1995, 32, 36). Actually, the illusion that something is moving in the peripheral vision is quite common.The typical cause may be a “floater,” a bit of drifting material in the eye’s vitreous humor, although a twitching eyelid or other occurrence is also possible. Such an illusion or a different stimulus—a noise, a subjective feeling, etc.—might trigger, as in one person who had such an experience aboard the Queen Mary;a “mental image.” In that case it was of a man “wearing a blue mechanic’s uniform” —a “feeling” that left after a few moments(Wlodarski et al. 1995,32). In certain especially imaginative individuals, the mental image might be superimposed upon the visual scene, thus creating a seemingly apparitional event.
This may be the explanation for a frequently reported type of apparition that is seen momentarily and then vanishes when the percipient looks away for an instant. For example, a New Mexico hotel, La Posada de Santa Fe—which is allegedly haunted by the spirit of Julie Staab (1844 - 1896), wife of the original builder—offers no fewer than three sightings of this type. One was reported in 1979 by an employee who was cleaning one night. Although the place was deserted, he looked up to see a translucent woman standing near a fireplace. Inexplicably, he “returned to his cleaning,” an act that one writer noted showed “remarkable composure.” Then, “when he looked up again the figure had vanished.” On another occasion a security guard showed less reserve when, seeing what he thought was Julie Staab, “He turned and ran, and when he looked back, the figure had vanished.” Yet again, a“beautifully dressed” Julie, reposing in an armchair, was seen by the hotel phone operator. However, “When she looked back at the chair a few seconds later, the ghost had vanished” (Mead 1995, 157-58). Such reports suggest that the apparition is only a mental image that occurs in a kind of reverie.
Indeed, personal experience as well as research data demonstrates that ghostly perceptions often derive from daydreams or other altered states of consciousness. Haraldsson (1988), for instance,specifically determined that apparitional sightings were linked to periodsof reverie. As well, Andrew MacKenzie (1982) demonstrated that a third of the hallucinatory cases he studied occurred either just before or after sleep, or while the percipient was in a relaxed state or concentrating on some activity like reading, or was performing routine work. The association of apparitional experiences with a dreamlike state was also reported by G.N.M. Terrell(1973). He observed that apparitions of people invariably appear fully clothed and are frequently accompanied by objects, just as they are in dreams, because the clothing and other objects are required by the apparitional drama. The three La Posada encounters are consistent with all of these research observations. That the apparitions vanish when the observer’s gaze is shifted could be explained by the hypothesis that there verie is merely broken.
Whereas “waking-dream” type encounters are obviously more likely to be experienced by hotel guests rather than employees, the reverie or daydream type is often reported by the latter—as in all three of the La Posada examples, as well as some of the instances from the Queen Mary (Wlodarskiet al. 1995, 48, 49) and elsewhere. Hotel staff performing routine chores maybe particularly susceptible to this type of apparitional experience.
Selling Ghosts
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bsp; The power of suggestion can help trigger ghostly encounters. According to noted psychologist and fellow ghost buster Robert A. Baker, “We tend to see and hear those things we believe in” (Baker and Nickell 1992,129). Even without the prompting that comes from an inn's reputation for being haunted, the mere ambiance of places with antique architecture and quaint decor can set the stage for spirits to debut. An example is Belhurst Castle (figure 45.1), a turreted stone inn in Geneva, New York, whose high-ceilinged lobby is graced with wood paneling, a large fire place, and a suit of armor to help conjure up romantic notions. Historic sites like Maine’s Kennebunk Inn (expanded from a home built in 1799); Gettysburg, Pennsylvania’s Farns worth House (constructed in 1810 and its south side pockmarked with bullet holes from the Battle of Gettysburg); and even themore recent Hotel Boulderado in Boulder, Colorado (which opened on New Year’sDay 1909 and boasts among its former guests Bat Masterson), offer the impress of history and legend. So does the Bardstown, Kentucky, Jailer's Inn, abed-and-breakfast converted from the old Nelson County Jail (built in 1819),and in Santa Fe, the historic, adobe La Fonda Inn.
The influence of setting and mood on reports of phantoms is some times acknowledged even by those who approach the subject with great credulity,although they may interpret the linkage differently. Broadcaster AndrewGreen, for example, in his treatise Haunted Inns and Taverns (1995), says of some copies of English pubs in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere: “A few have reproduced the ambiance so successfully that ghostly manifestations, such as might be associated with a genuine article, have occurred there.” Green opines that the “genial atmosphere” of such taverns attract sauthentic English ghosts. He seems not to consider the possibility that the setting merely influences the imaginations of those making the reports.
Figure 45.1. Belhurst Castle, an inn in Western New York, is the subject of hauntingtales and other legends.
