Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Just before noon, on August 15, 1950, Mary Ann von Hoof stepped out of her farmhouse in Nesita, Wisconsin.

It was the feast of the assumption, a date Catholics observe as the day Mary Jesus'

mother ascended into heaven.

Van Hoof then knelt before a statue of the Virgin Mary, but she wasn't alone.

An estimated 100,000 spectators had gathered outside of her home. According to Life magazine, these spiritually fanatical and level-headed citizens came from all

over the country via chartered buses and specially routed trains.

There were around 17,000 cars parked on the farm.

They filled that Wisconsin field to hear a message from Van Hoof,

who claimed she had been visited by visions of the Virgin Mary six times over the last few months.

And today, the saint was poised to appear again.

As Van Hoof shifted her attention, the crowd hushed.

Then she spoke into a microphone and shared the Virgin Mary's

latest revelation. She urged the people to pray, do penance, and sacrifice. She issued a warning

about Korea and said, black clouds are coming to America.

The pessimism wasn't totally unwarranted. The Cold War loomed. The Soviet Union had

detonated its first atomic bomb, and earlier that year, Senator Joseph McCarthy said communist had infiltrated the State Department.

The New York Times reported that Van Hoof left the scene in tears.

And while observers saw nothing unusual, the Associated Press reported that the faithful were satisfied and believed the Virgin Mary had been in their presence.

Van Hoof was a Philadelphia native who later moved to Wisconsin.

Religion scholars say she was baptized Catholic but not reared in the church.

Her mother, a spiritualist, believed the spirits of the dead could communicate with the living.

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