The Madonna appears on a building and cries out to the miracle (original photo)

Clearwater - Some have called it a Christmas miracle. It was definitely a Christmas show.

On December 17, 1996, the swirls of the rainbow formed a familiar shape on the glass outside the Seminole Finance Corp. Here it is, which spanned two floors up through the building on the corner of US 19 and Drew Street:

A customer called WTSP-Ch. 10, and the mysterious aspect was described in the midday report. Within hours, dozens of people had flocked to the parking lot across Tampa Bay. At midnight, the police numbered at least 500 in the crowd.

The Virgin Mary - or at least what many believed to be a holy image of the mother of Jesus Christ.

Waves of visitors came, clogging the nearby streets and parking lots. In the following weeks, over 600.000 people would travel close and far to see it.

They brought flowers and lit candles. They prayed They cried. A couple even got married there.

"In just a few days, the people who showed up started calling her Our Lady of Clearwater," said Times photographer Scott Keeler, who covered the looks and consequences 23 years ago.

The city had to install portable toilets and sidewalks, while the police cracked down on the street for illegal vendors trying to sell goods to visitors. Later, a nearby car wash would sell shirts with a photograph of the window for $ 9,99 (which would be $ 16,38 in 2019 dollars).

"It has become this kind of slum ... almost like any other tourist attraction along the Florida road," said Wilma Norton, who told the story of the then St. Petersburg Times. "But those people who were there, especially very early that first morning, many of them were there because they really considered this a kind of Christmas miracle."

Over the years, shapes that remind people of the Virgin Mary have appeared on everything from a grilled cheese sandwich to a potato chip. In 1996, a customer from the Nashville coffee shop said that a cinnamon roll looked like Mother Teresa.

“The owner has shelled the sandwich. Thousands of people came to the bar to see it. They called him Nun Bun, "said Keeler." I remember people around Clearwater saying, "Haha, it's just like Mother Teresa on the sandwich." "

While those articles also made national headlines, there was something different about the Clearwater window, Norton said.

"People raised some of these things, but since it was this physical and permanent presence, I think it was easier for him to become the type of sanctuary and this place where people could make a pilgrimage," he said.

Dozens of TV reporters broadcast from the parking lot as news helicopters buzzed overhead. Michael Krizmanich, owner of Seminole Finance Corp., told the Times that journalists around the world have tried to contact him.

Visitors remembered having tried something special.

"I got out of my car and the presence of God almost brought me to my knees," Mary Stewart, pastor of the Campaigning for Jesus Christian Center in Tampa in 1996 told the Times. "I think he's here to convince people. living in the last days. . . to prepare to meet the incoming king. "

"I can't stop crying," Mary Sullivan told the St. Petersburg newspaper.

Not everyone believed. The Florida Department of Transportation published a photograph of the building from a 1994 property assessment that appeared to show that the image of the rainbow was already visible. Some religious organizations were more cautious than others.

"People should exercise great skepticism," spokesman for the archdiocese of St. Petersburg told Times.

Traffic on U.S. 19 was so severe that the city reassigned 30 workers to help police manage the crowd during the new year. Congestion has frightened customers of nearby companies.

The less spiritual theories of what created the image of the Madonna varied from the distortion induced by the spray water to the distortion of the glass.

"I've never been successful before or after." Frank Mudano, an architect of the company that designed the building, told Times. "It's strange. I have been designing buildings for 40 years. "

"I think there is some divine intervention," said glass installer Warren Weishaar.

The Times even brought a scientist to inspect the glass. Chemist Charles Roberts assessed the clues including broken sprinkler heads. He offered his best guess: "a combination of water deposits and atmospheric agents, a chemical reaction between the glass and the elements".

Ugly Duckling Corp., then one of the largest used car companies in the country, bought the space from Seminole Finance Corp. It was later sold to the Shepherds of Christ ministries in 2000. Apparently, the big show was bad for business. .

In May 1997, the vandals threw liquid on the face of the Madonna, distorting the image. The image returned to its former glory after a few days of thunderstorms.

In 2004, a struggling 18-year-old boy used a slingshot and ball bearings to shatter the upper window.

According to Atlas Obscura, it is still possible to see the lower panes remaining outside the building, which now houses the ministries of the shepherds of Christ.