A farmer in southwestern Kenya demolished his kitchen after his wife's claim of seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary attracted thousands of pilgrims to their home, turning the village into an impromptu pilgrimage site.
Charles Onsombi returned to his home in Getare, Kisii county, on Saturday to find it surrounded by people. The influx began Friday after his wife, Mary, reported seeing an image resembling the Virgin Mary in soot on a mud-brick wall in their kitchen while she was cooking. She described the image as a woman in a long veil with hands in prayer.
News of the alleged vision spread rapidly through the community and went viral on social media. By Saturday, people had traveled from as far as Homa Bay near Lake Victoria and the Tanzanian border to witness the phenomenon. Pastors also arrived, bringing church congregations and preaching near the Onsombi residence, which necessitated a police presence.
Onsombi, 65, expressed skepticism about the image, suggesting that viral photos circulating online might have been generated by artificial intelligence. "When people started coming, taking photos and whatever, what I can see on the internet is not exactly what is here," he told local press.
Despite Onsombi's doubts and pleas for people to leave, the crowds continued to grow into Sunday night. Overwhelmed and frustrated, Onsombi armed himself with a farming hoe and destroyed the kitchen wall. "He said his wife had… turned his home into a market," a local sugarcane vendor, Callen Kemunto, told Kenya's Daily Nation. Onsombi warned visitors not to return to his compound.
He later reportedly brandished a machete at the remaining crowds, shouting, "If you want this demolished clay, tell me so, [then] I can put it in carrier bags for you." A local resident noted that Onsombi "has turned wild, chasing everybody on sight...He says that there is no image of the Virgin Mary in his kitchen."
Following the demolition, the number of visitors dwindled. Some villagers commented that Onsombi had "lost an opportunity" to profit from the situation.