{
  "id": "fatima-1917",
  "title": "Fátima: the crowd, the photographs and the solar reports",
  "country": "Portugal",
  "category": "apparition",
  "date": "1917-10-13",
  "date_label": "13 October 1917; earlier apparition reports belong to separate dates",
  "location": "Cova da Iria, Fátima",
  "lat": 39.631,
  "lng": -8.674,
  "summary": "A documented gathering and subsequent accounts describe unusual solar appearances. This dossier separates the historical event, religious testimony and evidence about the sky.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "F1",
      "title": "Fátima Sanctuary — chronology",
      "url": "https://www.fatima.pt/fr/pages/chronologie",
      "language": "fr",
      "note": "Institutional chronology and quoted historical records; an interested religious custodian.",
      "kind": "Source record · see provenance note"
    },
    {
      "id": "F2",
      "title": "Fátima Sanctuary — photographs of 13 October 1917",
      "url": "https://www.fatima.pt/pt/pages/topdf/as-fotografias-de-13-de-outubro-de-1917",
      "language": "pt",
      "note": "Photographic exhibition context; photographs of attendees are not solar measurements.",
      "kind": "Source record · see provenance note"
    }
  ],
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/fatima-1917",
  "source_url": "https://www.fatima.pt/fr/pages/chronologie",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=39.631&mlon=-8.674#map=8/39.631/-8.674",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named place or institution; not a surveyed observation point, protected excavation coordinate or recommended access route.",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "The historical gathering is well documented. The physical identity of the reported visual effects is not established by the linked historical material. Optical, atmospheric and perceptual explanations would require separate evidence, and the dossier does not choose one by assertion.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Documented account",
      "text": "The Fátima Sanctuary preserves a chronology of the 1917 apparition reports and the October gathering. Its documentation refers to contemporary newspaper reporting, including Avelino de Almeida, and photographs associated with Judah Bento Ruah. The photographs document people and the setting; their survival does not independently measure a movement of the Sun. The Sanctuary is a custodian of the religious tradition and an interested interpreter of it, rather than a neutral astronomical instrument.",
      "refs": [
        "F1",
        "F2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence and its limits",
      "text": "Different witnesses, times and descriptions must remain distinct. A religious recognition concerns the Church’s assessment; it is not a calibrated observation of an astronomical body. Do not silently turn a photograph of a crowd into an image of the claimed phenomenon.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "The historical gathering is well documented. The physical identity of the reported visual effects is not established by the linked historical material. Optical, atmospheric and perceptual explanations would require separate evidence, and the dossier does not choose one by assertion.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "A reproducible next investigation",
      "text": "Build a concordance between newspaper issue, witness account and photograph. Record whether each observer looked directly at the Sun, the time stated, and whether the account was contemporary or recalled later. Keep any proposed optical explanation separate from a reported observation.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "May–October 1917",
      "text": "Apparition reports precede the October gathering.",
      "refs": [
        "F1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "13 October 1917",
      "text": "The gathering and solar accounts enter the historical narrative.",
      "refs": [
        "F1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "15 October 1917",
      "text": "The chronology cites Almeida’s newspaper report.",
      "refs": [
        "F1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis prepares this source-linked documentary synthesis. This is editorial review, not historical fieldwork.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "A documented gathering and subsequent accounts describe unusual solar appearances. This dossier separates the historical event, religious testimony and evidence about the sky.",
      "status": "Documented subject; interpretations qualified in the dossier",
      "refs": [
        "F1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The historical gathering is well documented. The physical identity of the reported visual effects is not established by the linked historical material. Optical, atmospheric and perceptual explanations would require separate evidence, and the dossier does not choose one by assertion.",
      "status": "Assessment with explicit limits",
      "refs": [
        "F1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The map point represents the exact location of every reported event.",
      "status": "Incorrect; orientation only",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "Optical or perceptual effects",
      "status": "Candidate explanation",
      "support": "Descriptions concern apparent visual changes.",
      "limits": "No calibrated viewing record is supplied.",
      "test": "Compare independent contemporary descriptions and stated observing conditions."
    },
    {
      "title": "Religious interpretation",
      "status": "Documented belief",
      "support": "The Sanctuary preserves this interpretation.",
      "limits": "Belief and institutional recognition do not determine a physical mechanism.",
      "test": "Distinguish recognition documents from direct measurements."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Audit the source record",
      "body": "Retrieve the named records for Fátima: the crowd, the photographs and the solar reports. Record author, edition, page or section and access date. Treat a catalogue, mirror or translation of one document as the same evidence, not independent corroboration."
    },
    {
      "title": "Build the dated evidence ledger",
      "body": "Build a concordance between newspaper issue, witness account and photograph. Record whether each observer looked directly at the Sun, the time stated, and whether the account was contemporary or recalled later. Keep any proposed optical explanation separate from a reported observation."
    },
    {
      "title": "Test the interpretation",
      "body": "Compare independent contemporary descriptions and stated observing conditions. Distinguish recognition documents from direct measurements. Record what would favour or weaken each explanation; leave unperformed work marked as proposed."
    }
  ]
}