After watching for a time, the girls realized that the halo above the organist’s head would come and go according to the music being played. Most Bach would cause it to appear quite clearly, whereas when Stainer and Sullivan pieces were played it would fade almost completely. This led to the establishment of a betting pool which allowed participants to place wagers on their favorite pieces and collect a tidy sum if the halo confirmed the heavenly status of the work they selected. Mary Elizabeth Crumperdinck took home fifty-seven bucks when she correctly predicted that a Messiaen piece would make the halo disappear for nearly a week.
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