Frustrated man demolishes his kitchen after thousands flock to see Mother Mary his wife spotted on the wall

A woman in Kenya was left stunned when she saw the image of Mother Mary in the black soot covering the walls of her kitchen. She then called the villagers, telling them how she had witnessed a miracle in her home. They arrived at her home with phones to check if what she was saying was right. The news went viral on social media, pulling in thousands of people who came to seek the blessings of the Blessed Virgin that had appeared on the kitchen wall of one woman.

Meanwhile, her husband, Charles Onsombi, was on a work trip and oblivious to what had happened at his house. When he returned on Saturday, he was shocked to see the horde of visitors thronging his house. On Sunday, pastors gathered with their congregations and started preaching around the house. The crowds were so huge that the police had to be deployed at Onsombi's home.

Virgin Mary rumour in Kenya turned the house into a market, woman's husband complained

Fed up with all the chaos and hullabaloo at his house, Onsombi picked up his farming hoe and broke down the wall on which his wife reportedly saw an image of Mother Mary. "He said his wife had… turned his home into a market," Callen Kemunto, a sugarcane vendor, told Kenya's Daily Nation. "He demolished the kitchen himself after he was overwhelmed by the crowds and warned everyone not to set foot in his compound again."

The bizarre incident happened in the village of Getare in Kisii County, southwestern Kenya. The woman said she saw the shape of a woman in a long veil holding her hands in prayer on her kitchen wall, and believed it was divine intervention. After she told her neighbours, they got intrigued and came to see for themselves the said miracle. Soon, people started travelling thousands of kilometres to Homa Bay in Lake Victoria from as far as villages near the Tanzanian border.

Not everyone saw Mother Mary

While a few people claimed they saw the Virgin Mary on the wall, a lot of them did not witness any miracle. "I saw it for myself. I saw the picture, and I believe it was her," Brian Nyanga'u, a local, told local news outlet Citizen TV.

Husband says viral photo is AI-generated

Onsombi was furious to see the crowds at his home. He told the local press, "It was my wife who saw something, but on scrutiny, you know, maybe by mistake." The 65-year-old said that the near-perfect portrait of the Virgin Mary that went viral is most likely AI-generated. "When people started coming, taking photos and whatever, what I can see on the internet is not exactly what is here," he added.

However, even after he broke down the wall, people continued to visit through Sunday night. Onsombi threatened them with a machete and shouted at them, asking if he could pack the demolished clay into carrier bags for them. A local said he had "turned wild, chasing everybody on sight," while others think he lost an opportunity to make money.