Apparitions from heaven???

[Doubting Thomas]

But all the thousands of people it did happen to, had it happen at the exact same time. Which just so happened to be the time scheduled by the kids. And not a single one of them was like "yeah you know, I think I saw some weird lighting and some movement but it could have just been an illusion due to my tired eyes and bright lights." No one said that. You would think that's the first thing one of the skeptics would have said. Whatever happened had to have been convincing enough that no one who saw it questioned it as merely a hallucination or optical effect.

It happened at the same time because didn't one of the children yell out to look at the sun?  They likely all stood there staring at the sun wondering what they were supposed to see when it started affecting their eyes.  And as soon as a few people started saying that the sun was dancing in the sky, other people hoping for a miracle likely would have convinced themselves that they were seeing the same thing.  Because that's how mass hysteria works.

The reason nobody who saw it questioned it as merely a hallucination or optical effect is likely due to the fact that most people there were very religious and superstitious.  If you're very religious and superstitious and in a crowd where thousands of people start claiming they are witnessing a miracle, you're likely not going to pipe up and tell them they're just hallucinating.  It's hard enough to convince gullible Christians that Jesus really didn't appear on a slice of toast and what they're seeing is pareidolia.