Miracle tourists flock to “glowing” statue

A small statue of the Virgin Mary is drawing thousands of people to the sleepy town of Jalhay in southern Belgium. Retired bricklayer Daniel Le Floch discovered that the old plaster statuette of the Virgin Mary, which has stood rather inconspicuously in his kitchen for the past 15 years, suddenly starting “giving off light” in January. This resulted in a steadily increasing stream of tourists to the house of Le Floch and his wife Nadia, who have since moved the statuette into their garage. Today the statue makes a bigger move, to the University of Liege, where scientists will investigate its purported incandescence and healing power. Afterwards the Virgin will head to the pilgrimage town of Banneux, about 20 km away. But Le Floch is confident the statue will be returned to its original home in Jalhay. “This cannot be explained,” he said. “You’ll see. It only lights up here. The Virgin wants it that way."