9 replies to this topic

[Zapatoo]

This is the first time I post here, I've been lurking these forums for some time now and thought I would get you're opinion on something the happened to me a few weeks back. I'm fairly positive that it is not anything paranormal but I still can't figure out what it was. The story goes as this:

I was at a friends house playing computer games, around 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning I go out to have a smoke on his back porch. There are alot of owl's hooting around in the trees around his house and everything else is dark and quiet. All of a sudden I see this light flash on the tree about 3 meters away from me. I look at the house but I am the only one in that part of the house, it is a big old doctor's villa his parents are renting and there's only me, him and his parent's at the house, they are sleeping in the complete opposite of the house and his room is the only lit room in the house and it too is in another part of the house and the light flash could not have come from there. I look over at the only neighbouring house and it is completely dark. The flashes keep coming at random intervals always on the same spot for as long as I was standing there (about 10 minutes cause I like watching the owls ). After a while I got bored looking for the source and resumed our night of gaming. The next time I went out for a smoke both the owls and the strange flashes were gone.

I have thought about this for some weeks now and then just out of curiosity. I thought about maybe streetlights reflecting on something but there aren't any in the immediate area. There are just a few houses and a lot of trees around his yard so it i fairly secluded. also there is a road close by but I was standing in the complete opposite side of the house and there were both the house and some trees in the way for the road and I did not hear any sounds except the owls going about their business.

As I said before, I'm sure there are a logical explanation to this but it would be nice to see what the more experienced people have to say about this. If there are any details I missed just tell me so and I will post an update.

Could also note that I have been to his house many times and I have never seen these flashes before. Though the area can be a bit "creepy", it is just next to an old psychiatric hospital (hence the doctors villa) and there's a few other mental institutions in the area who are mostly all shut down.

[AliveInDeath7]

Ball  lightning? Edit to add: That's the only reasonable explanation I can think of.

Edited by NikkiAidyn, 01 July 2012 - 05:02 PM.

[Zapatoo]

I have read up some about ball lightning and it seems like it could fit. The flashes lasted only for about a second, there was no sound what so ever and there was no source what I could tell. First it looked like someone was pointing a flashlight at the tree for a second before turning it off. It was no more then 4 meters between the wall and the tree but from what I read on wikipedia ball lightning can come in a great variety. I also remember the day as hot and sunny so that might fit in aswell. Thanks for taking the time and answering.

[devilmaycare]

The owls were flashing you. HooHoo!

[Zapatoo]

haha.. the thought occured to me. But did seem less probable than the rest.

[Hilander]

Was there any electrical wires in that area you saw the flash?

[scowl]

There is sometimes static electricity in the air and it will generate an effect called St. Elmo's Fire. Charges can build up around things until they have enough strength to discharge... then zap!

This can happen when there isn't a thunderstorm although that's the only time I've seen it. I saw a charge build on a neighbor's large outdoor TV antenna. Once it built up enough charge it zapped from an antenna element to the grounded mast. This happened several times for about ten minutes. It was scary to see there was that much electricity in the air but I guess it's not dangerous if you're not made of metal.

[Zapatoo]

Sorry for not answering in a few days but I am currently visiting my gf so I don't have much time to sit by the computer.

Hilander, on 01 July 2012 - 07:46 PM, said:

Was there any electrical wires in that area you saw the flash?

Not any in the immediate area. But there are some that leads to streetlights around 10 meters away from the tree that lit up. There is also a metal railing just at the porch but I didn't see it doing anything out of the ordinary.

scowl, on 01 July 2012 - 09:45 PM, said:

There is sometimes static electricity in the air and it will generate an effect called St. Elmo's Fire. Charges can build up around things until they have enough strength to discharge... then zap!

This can happen when there isn't a thunderstorm although that's the only time I've seen it. I saw a charge build on a neighbor's large outdoor TV antenna. Once it built up enough charge it zapped from an antenna element to the grounded mast. This happened several times for about ten minutes. It was scary to see there was that much electricity in the air but I guess it's not dangerous if you're not made of metal.

I read something about that while reading up on ball lightning on wikipedia. I guess it could be anything of the two really. But the thing is that I didn't see a source at all, it was like someone was pointing a flashlight at the tree for half a second and then turning it off, though I wonder why anyone would do that in the middle of the night.
But as I said I am no expert at all in this area, could be anything I suppose. Your suggestions do fit in rather well though

[Anomy91]

Just Google earth taking some pictures

[scowl]

Emser, on 04 July 2012 - 12:06 PM, said:

Not any in the immediate area. But there are some that leads to streetlights around 10 meters away from the tree that lit up. There is also a metal railing just at the porch but I didn't see it doing anything out of the ordinary.

St. Elmo's Fire flashes happen very quickly and usually the light at the receiver of the discharge is much brighter than the transmitter which usually conducts electricity better.

Crazy flashes can happen for lots of reasons. I was walking home one night and suddenly the Eastern sky in front of me was brightly lit by a very green flash, just like a green flashbulb. For a fraction of a second it lit everything up (even the clouds!). There was no sound so it couldn't have been an explosion or lightning. Surely it was a flying saucer breaking the speed of light or something.

It took me a little investigation the next day, but I found out a standard residential transformer on a telephone pole over seven miles away had exploded. They don't make much noise when they do that and they make an intense green flash.