I lived in Brazil for a while during college, and a lot of Catholics have a “Nossa Senhora da Fatima” icon in their house. It’s usually a small painting of the Virgin but her gown is this large, red triangle-shaped thing. Very strange. Sometimes people built shrines to her. I inquired about it a lot, but never heard of the “Tres Segredos” (3 secrets) until your post. Very informative.

There are other instances in which a group of people (usually a small group) share a delusion or hallucination. The first that comes to mind are the “witnesses” to Joseph Smith’s purported “plates of gold” from which he “translated” the Book of Mormon from an “ancient American” Egypto-Semitic hybrid language (a risible anachronism). Apparently there were three, and then later 8 people who “saw with their own eyes” the “engravings” for themselves. I have three theories on this: 1). Joseph made the plates himself, scribbled a bunch of gobbledy-gook on them, and passed them off to the others as authentic, 2). Collusion (”I’ll pay you guys $100 each for claiming this is real. Deal?”), and 3). He put them in a trance (or “vision” as Mormons call it) and they “spiritually” hefted said engravings. How does this relate to “Nossa Senhora da Fatima?”

1. The three kids did actually see “something” together – maybe a storm or something – and then wanted some attention (like Joseph did) and fabricated a story from it. This is known as a euhemerism (a historical person or event that is later mythologized).

2. They just plain made this shit up.

3. They were ligitimately hypnotized by something.

What amazes me is why this crap only ever happens to small groups of people. Even the “large group event” described above can’t be nailed down for accuracy – the number is all over the place. If god is so ubiquitous and omnipresent, why the fuck don’t large groups of people encounter him/her/it simultaneously and in one locale???