|
1. First cross of light
The first cross of light appeared
in 1988. "Last weekend," the Pasadena Star News
wrote on 27 May, "residents reported seeing a cross
shining through a bathroom window of an apartment in
El Monte." Eye-witness Mona LaVine stated she saw: "A
cross of a pale golden light -- and simply beautiful."
Margaret Romero, owner of the place, had the glass
replaced by a neighbor’s window, but the cross kept
shining. Within days, 12 more crosses appeared around
the Los Angeles area.
2. White and gold light
Two years later, four foot-tall
crosses of white and gold light appeared suddenly in
the bathroom window of a 61-year-old pipefitter living
in a suburb of New Orleans.
3. No hocus-pocus
In 1991, the crosses reached the
Philippines. Reporters of Newsday Philippines
got hold of a piece of glass with such a cross of
light. News editor Julian V. Cruz wrote: "It was
mid-afternoon. With a score of neon lights on and
sunlight streaming through two windows, there could be
no occasion for hocus-pocus. The piece of glass was
set up on its box like a picture frame. It looked
exactly like any other piece of frosted glass, almost
opaque, one could not see through. A flashlight was
pointed at it and switched on and there appeared this
even-armed cross of light seemingly within a
diamond-shaped aura. Somebody placed another
switched-on flashlight beside the first and two
crosses appeared. The flashlights were switched off.
The crosses disappeared. They were switched on again,
the crosses reappeared. The usually boisterous
newsroom was silent. The phenomenon was awe-inspiring,
or, at the very least, intriguing."
4. Hand
On Easter Sunday 1991, a picture was
taken of the Philippine piece of glass containing a
cross of light. When the negative was developed, the
image of a hand showed up in the glass.
5. "It’s another life
for me"
Video producer Frances Robinson
made a documentary on the phenomenon. Her account:
"Most of the people we have
interviewed are very devout, and most of them are
quite poor. Typical was the family of Magdalena and
Paulo Robledo, who have five children and live in a
tiny two-bedroom home. There are regular weekly prayer
meetings now in the Robledo's little house at which
the participants pray for Christ to appear to them.
Those who attend say they feel the spirit strongly in
the room."
"Laura, a teenager who had tried
to commit suicide and had been a real problem to her
family, came to see the Robledo's cross. "I feel like
another person," she said later. "It’s another life
for me. I’ve changed... I used to be a real meany to
everyone... Now I want to help everyone. I believe in
myself and I have hope."
6. Three together
Simultaneously, three crosses
appeared in the bathroom window of Alejandrina Carmona
in Montecito Heights, California. Carmona said she
could sometimes also see the Virgin Mary and Jesus.
7. Radiant panorama
At the home of Leo and
Loretta Alphonso in Violet, Louisiana, a radiant
panorama of crosses appeared, elaborate foot-tall
figures tapered at the ends and appearing to set off
in the distance. Three of them were glowing in white
and one in gold. Some saw a red cross floating past
the others.
8. New Zealand
As a result of Benjamin Creme’s
visit to Auckland, New Zealand, in February 1994,
crosses of light appeared in three windows of the
house in which he stayed.
9. "Sign of the Second
Coming"
"Hundreds
of people have visited the home of Carlos and Ines
Alvarez in Bakersfield, California, since the couple
discovered a large cross of light in their bathroom
window on 7 March," the Bakersfield Californian
wrote in 1996. "A lot of people think it’s a message
God is trying to send us because we’re in the last
days," said Mrs Alvarez. According to the article, the
family said a priest told them the cross was a sign of
the Second Coming.

10. Forty feet high
"I can’t get the hair on the back of
my neck to do anything but stick straight out these
days. The crosses are indeed in the windows at the
Copper Ridge Baptist Church. That is a fact. It
doesn’t matter if you believe it or not...," wrote
columnist Bob Hurley of The Greenville (Tennessee)
Sun, reporting on the gigantic crosses of light
which had appeared in Knoxville, Tennessee in and
outside the tiny church of Reverend Joe Bullard.
It all started one evening in
early November 1995, when Joe and his wife Mildred
noticed a radiant white light seeming to surround the
entire building. A couple of days later, on 8
November, Joe Bullard was addressing his congregation.
While he stood talking, a bright white light appeared
on one side of the church. On further inspection the
light was found to be in the shape of a large cross.
Bullard's reaction, and that of the thousands of
people who later came to see the crosses, was
"unbelievable!"
Reaching a height of some 40
feet, the crosses could be seen in all the church
windows. Children and adults alike were glowing with
joy at the phenomena they experienced there.
Scores of people told Reverend
Bullard they were being healed emotionally,
spiritually and, sometimes, physically when they saw
the crosses. A deliriously happy Joan Anderson told
the Kokomo Perspective newspaper in October
1996 that she had an inoperable brain tumor, went to
Knoxville more or less by chance, knew nothing of the
supposed healings, and realized the following day that
her headache had gone -- and, the doctors soon
discovered, so had the tumor.
[Note: The church has now
changed its name and minister. Sadly, the crosses of
light are no longer available for public viewing.]
11. Slovenia
In the summer of 1996, seven
crosses of light appeared in Slovenia in Novo Mesto,
Koper, Ljubljana and Lenart.
|