Manaus, Brasil - Pilgrims are flocking to worship a tiny baby because of an astonishing claim that his mother gave birth to him six months after she died.

Faithful followers say the newborn infant was delivered by the ghost of his mother, Lùcia Umariz, who returned from the grave to give her beloved husband the son he longed for.

Church leaders in Manaus - a city along the Amazon near the baby’s birthplace - are investigating reports of the infant, who has become the center of a new religious cult.

They admit they are astounded about the child’s unexplained origins.

The child was born 12 miles outside of Manaus in an isolated district,” said Catholic priest Joâo Cremacâo, member of a church committee charged with evaluating the miracle baby.

“His father, Hernando Umariz, swears that Lùcia - who had been three months pregnant when she suffered a fatal brain hemmorrhage - came back from the dead to deliver their baby, then disappeared.

“The child does look remarkably like his mother, he has her unusual green eyes. He is the proper age, having been born when the dead woman would have given birth. Right now we have no rational explanation for his appearance,” said Cremacâo.

According to reports from the village of Vivande Verde, where the baby lives, 36-year-old Lùcia Umariz and her husband longed for children. But it was more than 10 years after their marriage before the woman finally learned she was expecting.

Neighbors say the mom-to-be was overjoyed and the couple had begun elaborate preparations for the baby’s birth.

Then Lùcia died. A grieving Umariz buried her in a simple ceremony and became a recluse.

“We were worried about him,” said neighbor Marina da Silva. “He was torn apart by grief. As the day his dead child would have been born grew closer and closer, his behavior became even more worrisome.”

But Umariz’ anguish came to an end earlier this month when litttle Domingo Umariz arrived.

No one can explain where the newborn infant came from, but the story his father relates is a spine-tingling tale.

“He told us he was sitting alone in his darkened cottage when he saw a brilliant figure in the next room,” Mrs. da Silva said.

“He went toward the spectre and recognized Lùcia, very heavy with child.

“She told him, ‘I have come back to give you our child - I don’t want you to be alone.’ He says she stayed with him long enough to give birth, then bid him goodbye and vanished.”

Authorities say they have examined the baby and interviewed its father at length.

The child is a normal 10-month-old infant, and Umariz appears rational and fully capable of caring for his son.

Trinity Duzentos for Our Strange World