A closer look

Proving you are actively conversing with the Virgin Mary sometimes requires a little light snacking on dirt. During the 1858 Lourdes apparitions, a teenage Bernadette Soubirous shocked onlookers by furiously digging into the ground and eating literal mud because her glowing hallucination commanded her to do so. What looked like a psychotic break unearthed a hidden spring, which is now the centerpiece of a multi-million dollar healing-pilgrimage industry.