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Garabandal)
San Sebastian de Garabandal is a rural village in the Pena Sagra mountain range of of Northern Spain. Located in the province of Cantabria, about 600 meters above sea level, Garabandal is about 35 miles (55 km) from the provincial capital at Santander, and roughly 250 miles (400 km) from the national capital, Madrid. It has a population of about 300.
Commonly referred to simply as Garabandal, this town received a huge amount of publicity in the early 1960s. From 1961 to 1965, four young schoolgirls allegedly received visitations from St. Michael the Archangel and the Blessed Virgin Mary (see Marian apparitions). The visitations numbered in the thousands, drew huge crowds, and featured apparent paranormal phenomena, much of it filmed or photographed, with hundreds if not thousands of witnesses.
Today, the town is a place of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics and members of other faiths, although the official Church position remains undecided as to whether the events are worthy of belief. Because of the town's remote location and lack of easy accessibility, it has remained largely the same as it was in 1961, and has not suffered the tourist-trap overhaul that has befallen other visitation sites such as Lourdes.
