A Catholic hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts, has drawn some unusual publicity after a patient there (no, not from the psych ward) noticed what appeared to be the outline of the Virgin Mary etched in dirt in a back window.

Needless to say, once word got out, pilgrims from around the area flocked to see the apparition. One visitor even traveled from Mexico City in order to pay homage to the image. The crowds and traffic became so heavy that hospital authorities had to direct visitors to park at a nearby church parking lot.

“It’s a miracle, truly a miracle!,” gushed Elvira Franklin, a nun visiting from New Haven, Connecticut. “It is a sign of hope from the heavens.” Franklin spent nearly three hours standing in the hospital parking lot, gazing in wide-eyed wonder at the fuzzy window two stories above. Others took photographs, while television crews started rolling into the lot.

The window also drew a number of avid Star Wars fans, who claimed that the image was actually that of Jabba The Hut. Hospital authorities directed those visitors to park behind a nearby pub.

All this fun had to come to an end, when Edwin Dittmer, the hospital custodian, inadvertently cleaned the image off the window while performing his routine window-washing chores. Upon seeing this, the faithful flock mobbed the hospital, dragging poor Edwin out to the parking lot, where he was tied to a lamp post and promptly stoned to death, while onlookers chanted “Get the heathen bastard!”