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The predicted miracle took place as the apparition left the Cova da Iria. The rain that had been pouring down on the crowd suddenly stopped, and the heavy clouds parted. The sun appeared as a disk of brilliant silver, "a weird disk that turns rapidly on its own axis and casts off beams of colored lights in all directions. Shafts of red light shot out from the rim of the sun and colored the clouds, the earth, the trees, the people; then shafts of violet, of blue, of yellow and of other colors followed in succession." These colors have been described by an objective skeptic as " 1 " wat tomo 1 "monochromatic sectors," and they were definitely revolving. The reports speak of a flat disk rather than a globe. After a while it stopped spinning and "plunged downward in zig-zag fashion toward the earth and the horrified spectators." Most witnesses believed their last hour had come. Many of them, including the debunkers, knelt in the mud and began publicly confessing their sins. Finally the disk reversed its motion and disappeared into the sun, the real sun, once again fixed and dazzling in the sky. The astounded crowd suddenly realized that their clothes were dry. Such is the story of Fatima as it can be reconstructed from reports of the time and from church investigations. The final "miracle" had come at the culmination of a precise series of apparitions combined with contacts and messages that place it very clearly, in my opinion, in the perspective of UFO phenomena. Not only was a flying disk or globe consistently involved, but its motion, its falling-leaf trajectory, its light effects, the thunderclaps, the buzzing sounds, the strange fragrance, the fall of "angel hair" that dissolves upon reaching the ground, the heat wave associated with the close approach of the disk — all of these are frequent parameters of UFO sightings everywhere. And so are the paralysis, the amnesia, the conversations, and the healings. Few of the books on Fatima provide us with details of the children's background. Yet in all apparition phenomena, it is crucial to investigate this background thoroughly and to ask as precisely as possible for descriptions of the earliest incidents that set the witness on a path to extraordinary realities. In the case of Fatima the events did not begin — as most authorities indicate — on May 13, 1917. It is true that such is the date of the first apparition of the Lady, but this had been preceded by a series of sightings of an angel a couple of years before. These sightings cast serious doubts on the interpretation of the "miracle" given by the Catholic Church. In April 1915, when Lucia was eight, she was reciting the rosary near Fatima when she saw a transparent white cloud and a human form. This happened a second time in the same year, and a third time in October. Then, during 1916, Lucia was visited three times by the angel. The first occasion was in the spring. Lucia was with two of her cousins when rain started to fall. The children sought shelter in a small cave. After lunch the rain had stopped, and they were playing at the entrance of the cave when they heard the rumble of a powerful wind — another constant in wWmA1 1 re 11 wat a tat 1" 1 wa 1 UFO behavior — and a white light appeared. It was gliding through the valley above the tree tops. In the light was a youth of admirable beauty who came close to them and said, "I am the Angel of Peace." He taught the children a prayer and disappeared. The three little ones were left in a trance: they kept repeating and repeating the prayer, mechanically, until they literally fell from exhaustion. The next incident took place on a hot day in midsummer 1916. This time, the angel appeared suddenly and asked, "What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer prayers and sacrifices continually." wer ’ oc o an oa oar "Make a sacrifice of everything that you possibly can.... Above all, accept and bear with submission the suffering that the Lord shall send you." The children were left paralyzed. It was only toward the evening that they regained their senses and began to play again. In this case, as in the previous one, the witnesses did not want to discuss the matter — not even among themselves. Pelletier reports that: The Angel of Peace "How are we to offer sacrifices?" asked Lucia.