Nancy Fowler and the Conyers Apparitions

Because we can, we’re going to further explore the story of Nancy Fowler and the Conyers Apparitions. The Conyers Apparitions were a series of very unusual events that occurred in this area in the early 1990’s. We would not normally spend a lot of time probing into this story except to say, in this case, it matters to some of the readers.

We’re also practitioners of something called “Backroad Travel”. Even though the road to Conyers is not the backroad anymore, we make it our business to explore local unusual events. So, that’s why. We’re exploring it because it’s unusual.

Oh, and another thing: Because it’s the 13th, it’s important. You might wish to head out there by Noon.

The Conyers Apparitions

We have blogged about this before, and if you want to review, check the article below:

The Mystery of the Conyers Apparitions

As of right now, this is the most viewed of the more than 200 posts on this blog, so the story is compelling in its way. It’s because you can’t make this stuff up.

Nancy Fowler and the Conyers Apparitions

So here was the story:

According to the source below, Nancy Fowler was born in the Boston area. She was deeply religious. She went to to Yugoslavia, on a religious pilgrimage in 1987. At that time, she was “visited by God and told that she was a prophet.”

She had a series of “visions” that instructed her to purchase the small farm outside Conyers. For a period of time, visions occurred. According to her these included the Virgin Mary.

She was “instructed” to erect a stone altar, and a little wooden cross. There was an ongoing series of messages conveyed to her.

On October 13, 1990, she “went public” with her visions, along with a series of “messages”. At some point she was “instructed” to buy the 30-acre farm next door. That small farm had gone into foreclosure. She had erected a monument and crowds of witnesses started to gather.

What happened after that, as they say, is local legend. On the 13th of every month, the site became a pilgrimage destination in and of itself. It grew to the point where huge crowds appeared. There were up to 100,000 people, descending on the place. There were stories of religious experiences, healings, widespread visions, and general crowd control mayhem as the authorities attempted to get control of it.

Not to put too fine a point on it, some of the pilgrims were poor Latins and others from Florida and elsewhere in the Southeast.

After the Visions

All of this went on for several years. The 13th of every month became a public safety issue. People were coming from literally all over the country. There were public sanitation problems as well as the usual array of problems associated with having that big of a crowd in an area that was in no way capable of handling it.

According to the article below, in 1992 the well on the property tested positive for E-Coli. There were runoff and environmental issues.

Nancy was receiving messages in what she called her “Divine Mercy Room” in mysterious lights on the wall. She would convey these to the followers. While this was going on, assistants and volunteers led the crowd in singing and prayer. There were sometimes visions, and “speaking in tongues” and Nancy then appeared before the crowd and gave the messages.

The Messages

Some of these messages are printed in the website below. Some of them are fairly innocuous. But, some others of them touch on what can be considered sensitive issues. We will let you judge. There is an article linked below from Catholic Planet which is a bit negative.

The Foundation and the Eventual Outcome

A foundation, the “Our Loving Mother” organization, was formed, and they are still around operating a website.

Home

Eventually the pilgrimages diminished in size, except for annually on October 13th, which always drew a huge, problematic crowd. There is a commercial element to this, per the New York Times article below, sales of beverages and food happened. These events tripled the population of the town, which was, at the time, only 3% Catholic. Did this become a bit of a racial issue also? Around here, everything is a racial issue.

The neighbors were not amused, especially the one who had to deal with 20 Porta Potties next door. 20 is not nearly enough for that size of crowd.

In 1995, an announcement was made that the visions were going to stop. There is a photography exhibit link from Virginia Tech, from which the photographs have been purged, unfortunately, that describes some of the scientific measurements that were done at the scene.

The statement was made that “the spectacle” and “the experience” were intertwined. The ironic contaminated well was at some point declared “blessed” and the pilgrims drank from it, and took water home. There is a video in our previous post. This phenomenon could, apparently, be photographed.

Here’s a quote:

Since the fifteenth century, Marian apparitions have shared a number
of general characteristics that apply also to Conyers: the visions gain a
public following and occur serially; they represent Mary as an intercessor
for her followers in some crisis; they express divine anger at particular
sins (e.g., irreverence and atheism); and they are accompanied by a
message of warning as well as miraculous signs, especially healings.13 At
Conyers, such traditional signs as spinning suns and the changing colors
of rosary beads are joined by such innovations as miraculous brain waves
and atmospheric radiation—which require more advanced technological
devices to measure and test. The use of miraculous Polaroid photographs
as further testimony first became widespread at Bayside, New York (1970-
1975), where Veronica Leuken, a housewife like Nancy Fowler, drew
thousands of followers.14
Per Va Tech article linked below

On October 11th, 1998, the “Our Loving Mother” Ukrainian Catholic Church was opened on the 30-acre farm. On October 13th 1998, before a crowd of 100,000, it was announced that this would be the last message. The local authorities were no doubt relieved.

In 1998, there was the predictable falling out between Nancy and the Foundation. There was a subsequent lawsuit blizzard, and Lawyermageddon. This was about fundraising, dispersal of funds and that kind of thing.

On March 11, 1999, Nancy formally broke away from the foundation, per the link below.

In 2012, Nancy Fowler passed away, and according to the announcement in the Miracle Hunter, she was 63.

The foundation lives on, and still continues to run the website and deliver the messages.

What we really don’t know about Nancy Fowler

Aside from the Boston background, being devoutly religious and obviously able to do some travel, it would be interesting to know some additional background information.

The Washington Post article below states that her parents died when she was 11, and “They” had two adopted children. who in 1994 were 6 and 11. She trained as a registered nurse, and married a “military man”.

Several of these articles call her a “housewife” but there is no suggestion of a Mr. Fowler, or interviews with the kids.

What kind of person is “chosen” for something like this? Or, what type of person chooses themselves? Or, how many people get messages, and refuse to “go public”. Because this sort of thing doesn’t just happen to everybody, there are questions.

Click us up if you know.

George Collins

The reference below from the ‘Mary Page” refers to a character named “George”, who was the person who went into the room to get the messages from Nancy. There was also an unnamed priest and another helper in the house at the time, who also reportedly saw visions.

Who was “George?” The second article below refers to “George Collins” an “associate”.

What we do know is that George is still around and owns the copyright on the app, per the link below. This means he can be tracked down, if one is inclined to do that. We aren’t going to, because it’s not what we do. He also, apparently is claiming the copyright on the messages themselves.

If George wants to come and visit us, and fill us in on some of the background, we will bestow on him some of the sacraments and respectfully welcome his words, because he is obviously pivotal to the story.

Investigations by the Catholics?

During the time this was all going on, there was basic resistance to the idea of an investigation by the Catholics.

I have linked a 1992 article below describing a “healing” of a 47-year old from Tampa Bay. In that, the local archdiocese at the time discouraged people from making the pilgrimage, stating that “the authenticity of the apparitions are in grave doubt.”The Second article, from 1998, described a battery of scientific and medical tests performed on Nancy during the visions. The Archbishop of Atlanta at the time forbade local priests from leading pilgrimages to the site.

According to that article, there was concern that this little church become famous and powerful enough to “wag the dog” and not fall into the normal order. The relationship between Nancy and the Bishops was cordial and respectful.

Official Pronouncement

Usually the Catholics make some sort of determination of whether something is real, and there are three categories: Approved, Unapproved, or “Undetermined.”

Here’s a quote:

“While the archdiocese, said Msgr. Dora, had been inundated with hundreds of allegedly miraculous photographs, testimonies of rosaries turned to gold, and other mystical phenomena, along with reports from doctors and other medical experts “making claims about [Fowler’s] state of mind,” the diocese decided, early on, that “there was nothing here that prompted us to feel that we should launch a formal investigation of any kind.”

The last “approved” apparition, tracked by the U of Dayton, was in 1933. There’s a link below to the list of “approved apparitions”.

Evidently, the most common category for an apparition is “undetermined” which is not especially helpful. It allows the individual believer to make his or her own determination of reality. Maybe in a few decades, in light of the miracles, there will be a further investigation without the emotion of the moment.

What to Make of All of This?

Well, there are a couple of alternate explanations, obviously.

The very famous screenwriter that was hanging around the place for awhile would have a field day with this one. A very compelling story could be told of the reality of all of this, and the lack of popular acceptance of this by the “Mainstream.”

An equally famous, and less spiritual screen writer might conceivably be able to write the “darker” version of this, which would involve some sort of scam that got out of hand. The racial element can be portrayed as well.

An equally famous comedy screenwriter could tell this story even more interestingly. The Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston version of this would be hilarious.

We can’t do it justice, because not the right amount of time has passed. Also, because you can’t discount peoples’ belief systems because it is part of their identity. We know it happened, because there are enough people still around who are there. What, exactly, happened is still a bit of a mystery.

Now, if George wants to come out to our place, and tell us the story, we might be very enlightened. We have a chair out in front for you, and you can lay this on us. Sacraments are on us.

Be there in the square.