What was once an ordinary 3-bedroom home in the suburbs of western Sydney has now gained a reputation as a “miracle house”. Ash and oil leak from its walls in such a way that is reportedly “beyond science”. The homeowners, George and Lina Tannous, believe that the allegedly unexplainable phenomena are a sign from God and that they have also granted the house miraculous healing properties. According to the pair, their house has the amazing ability to help other couples become pregnant, even in cases where they have received medical confirmation that pregnancy would be impossible. There is even one instance of the house reportedly curing a woman’s cancer.

Photo: Mike Tannous Page/Facebook

The mysterious oil first appeared in 2008, after George and Lina’s 17-year-old son, Mike, was killed in a car accident. They believe that the oil is a manifestation of their son’s spirit, and claim that over the years it has written his birth date on the walls using the oil, as well as a variety of Christian religious symbols. “My son’s spirit is in this house. He loved God and Jesus. He has come to this house and the oil is his spirit,” the Tannous said. “’He was always religious. He carried Rosary beads and he had a cross tattooed on his back. He wanted to help people in life and this is his way of doing that in death.”

Although extensive testing of the oil has been done over the years, no explanation of its origin has ever been given. All that has been discovered is that it seems to contain water, gold and a safe level of uranium. One of the first “miracles” attributed to the house was a woman who became pregnant with her third child after praying there, despite her doctors insisting that pregnancy was highly unlikely.

 

Over a decade after the oil first appeared, people from all around the world are still coming to visit the house. Ít even has its own Facebook page, where many users are sharing remarkable stories about their visits to the house, such as: “’My friend came to the house five years ago for my son who was sick with Neuroblastoma – cancer at age 2.5 years. He is now 8.5 years and has survived from this horrible disease.” Despite the homeowners’ claims that there are no rational explanations for what is happening, the house has its fair share of detractors. Tim Mendham, executive officer and editor of Australian Skeptics, said: “If I can be so cynical, the early photos show the oil at shoulder height, which was the right height for someone throwing it on the wall. Only now is it higher and on the roof,” he said.  

 

People’s skepticism is not without precedent. Many such “miracles” have been disproven in the past. For example, in Sicily, a “weeping Madonna” statue allegedly shed tears with seemingly no rational explanation, and it was even recognized by the Catholic church as a legitimate miracle. However, it was later revealed to be a fake when a chemistry researcher was able to provide a rational explanation for the phenomenon. However, Sydney’s Miracle House has been around for a decade, and so far no one has been able to explain why its walls keep oozing the mysterious oil. People from all over the world visit it every day, and some rub the oil on their skin, pryaing that it will miraculously heal their health problems.

 

“We collect the oil on cotton wool and allow people to rub it on their skin. It has helped cure people and has answered their prayers,” Lina Tannous said. “We don’t charge, there are no donations. We have open times from 11am five days a week.” The fact that the Tannous don’t use their miracle house for profit or attention, even refusing to give interviews over the years, has only strengthened Christians’ belief that this is a true miracle, so they keep coming to it.