What exactly is with these people who “see” pictures of Jesus or the Virgin Mary in every day objects?

Today, it’s an ultrasound.  Last week it was a (I’m not making this up) drip pan on a George Foreman grill.  Last year it was Our Lady of the Underpass.  The year before it was the 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich, which sold for $28k on eBay.

Pardon my “lack of faith” here, but how on earth do these people even know what Jesus or his mother looked like?  With the Jewish prohibition on creating human images and a 1800-year wait for the invention of photography, we’re pretty much lacking even a hint of what they looked like (though I suspect they both looked very Jewish and not like the Nordic/Gallic images that have been passed down).

Whether it’s weeping statues or windows on buildings, it all seems pretty goofy to me.

Do these have any relevance to modern Christianity, or are they just holdover relics from the Middle Ages?

—follow-up (posted 8/24)—

Thank you to FARK - Virgin Mary’s 2006 summer concert tour still going strong, now appearing in the wood paneling at a San Diego restaurant (link).