Convincing Miracles?

[Tiberius]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I like reading about miracles, and although most of them read as rather ridiculous stories, there is one that I've always found almost convincing. I say "almost" because there are still discrepancies with it.

The miracle in question is called "The Miracle of the Sun". Here is the wikipedia description:

The Miracle of the Sun is an alleged miraculous event witnessed by as many as 100,000 people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima, Portugal. Those in attendance had assembled to observe what the Portuguese secular newspapers had been ridiculing for months as the absurd claim of three shepherd children that a miracle was going to occur at high-noon in the Cova da Iria on October 13, 1917.

According to many witness statements, after a downfall of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disk in the sky. It was said to be significantly less bright than normal, and cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern, frightening some of those present who thought it meant the end of the world. Some witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became "suddenly and completely dry."

Estimates of the number of witnesses range from 30,000-40,000 by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século, to 100,000, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra, both of whom were present that day.

The miracle was attributed by believers to Our Lady of Fátima, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherd children in 1917, as having been predicted by the three children on 13 July, 19 August, and 13 September 1917. The children reported that the Lady had promised them that she would on 13 October reveal her identity to them and provide a miracle "so that all may believe."

According to these reports, the miracle of the sun lasted approximately ten minutes. The three children also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of Saint Joseph blessing the people.

Now what is striking about this miracle is the following:

• It was by all accounts an accurate prediction. The three children predicted that "something miraculous" would happen on 13th October, and it did.
  
• Thousands of people saw it, and not just the people gathered to watch it. There were various skeptics there who saw it, as well as believers.
  

The reasons for my rejection of the miracle are:

• Not all people gathered saw the sun "dance", many simply saw various colours. Some people (including believers) saw nothing at all. - This seems to suggest that it was a visual phenomenon, possibly caused by staring at the sun for too long.
  
• Nobody outside of a 40 mile radius saw anything. - [b]This suggests that it was localized phenomenon. It also countered the prediction that the miracle would let "everyone" believe.[b]
  
• Joe Nickell, a skeptic claims that by the accounts of people there, the sun was in the wrong area of the sky and at the wrong elevation to actually be the sun. He suggests that it was a "sundog", a relatively common phenomenon (picture below).
  
  
• What's more, although 100,000 people were supposedly there, including the press, none of the photos form the day were of the miracle, but of the reacts of people as they watched it. I find it hard to believe that someone didn't take a picture, so this suggests that when developed, the photos showed nothing out of the ordinary.
  

What does everyone think? Do you have any "almost convincing" miracles that you want to share?