I'd say both.
The purported apparitions of Our Lady to Mary Ann Van Hoof at Necedah, Wisconsin have consistently been condemned by the Catholic Church, although the shrine continues to attract devotees and is maintained by people who insist the apparitions and revelations were true. Reading various reports and documentation on the events at Necedah certainly indicate the entire thing is a huge deception. In fact one report documents Van Hoof's earlier association with the occult - a gypsy from Transylvania no less! LOL!
"Mary Van Hoof died in 1984, but the multi-million dollar operation still goes on. Mary Ann came to America from Transylvania, Hungary. Her mother, Elizabeth Bieber practiced spiritualism and witchcraft with Gypsies in Transylvania. She held seances in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Mary Ann and her mother attended the Spiritist camps in Wonewac, and her mother became vice-president of the Kenosha Assembly of Spiritualists. It is not insignificant that her mother was always behind her during the apparitions." - Newsletter of Discernment
Coincidentally, Veronica Lueken frequently contacted Van Hoof and encouraged pilgrims to go to Necedah as well. Both 'seers' promulgated similar messages, as did Mama Rosa in San Damiano, Italy. Events at all three shrines were similar in kind; rosaries turning gold - although just a gold color, not real gold, the sun spinning, and crosses and shapes appearing in the sun, as well as bizarre Rip Taylor-esque miraculous photos that look like confetti and streamers floating through the sky. A veritable mystical circus. Much of the same stuff goes on at Medjugorje now as well, although the monthly messages lack the sensationalism of the Necedah/Bayside crap.
(Photo: I wasn't able to get a "miraculous" photo from Necedah. This photo is from Bayside, showing the Rip Taylor-esque confetti and streamers.)
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