The serious Mystery Light discussion...

[charleytown55il]

Maybe the blue light is a result of something going wrong in the camera itself.

 

[borgqueenx]

Maybe the blue light is a result of something going wrong in the camera itself.

Naa those and more people in the world saw mystery lights themselfs, so i doubt the camera is to blame.

Even myself together with my parents a year back saw a weird light.
It was red, like a led(no way a chinese lantern) and was flying steady in one direction over the rooftops, like as fast as about 50km/h, with no wind at all.
The only thing we thought about was a lost rc toy, but it was flying damn steady and soundless then.

 

[aryntha]

I want to believe that video, but, I have similar night vision gear. They can't produce color. They're single-phospor, they simply cannot. So the spot, as convincing and eerie as it is (and I wish it were real, trust me, I do) - I would have been more convinced if it was simply a green wandering dot. This HAS to have happened on the CCD, but what i'm seeing is an LED flashlight, occasionally covered by a human hand, reflecting off of a surface between the nightvision screen and the CCD. I don't know how it got in, or the details about sealing or them being seen in world, but a lot of "convincing" stuff on the internet with stories like "But national geographic took the camera afterwards!" is just made up. I doubt this one was on Snopes, but, i've got this nagging feeling it could be.

I -don't- want to spoil the party (and I hope you guys keep this thread going because I wanna read this stuff, love being creeped out by the unexplained...) but, this one doesn't pass muster IMO... As soon as someone has "heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend" about the conditions of shooting, i've gotta wave my hands. To me it looks like reflections of the people shooting the video using an LED flashlight (whiteish-blue) and occasionally covering it with their fingers (red, blood-shown through fingers, i'm sure you've seen this before.). The motions also appear to be constrained to the movements of the human arm. That motion is unmistakable, and why we are keyed into body language so well. And honestly it was the human-like movement that made me go "dawww, fake." when watching it.

Even if it isn't faked, I'm not too entirely sure about the interaction of an image amplifier tube with a CCD. I know they emit radiation, and if that *isn't* an LED, it does look like what IR looks like to a CCD. So I don't know, of course, but, those tubes simply cannot, *cannot* produce color. Unless the 'ghost' was between the tube and the CCD. Which I kind of doubt.

Honestly, I'm more interested in that dull glow in the valley there, in that shot. To the right of the frame, in the trees. That, I gotta wonder about. They zoom out from it to start, so they notice too; and a bunch of the commenters are wondering why that isn't investigated either. If that were me, I'd get down there and see what that is.

This one, to me, is a lot more convincing. (But the guy should really practice laser safety!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df3Utl93Rcg

And so is this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSJb3QuBlTg

But they still might both just be campfires, trains, hikers with flashlights, or cars.


But, some of this stuff -- man.

Even myself together with my parents a year back saw a weird light.
It was red, like a led(no way a chinese lantern) and was flying steady in one direction over the rooftops, like as fast as about 50km/h, with no wind at all.
The only thing we thought about was a lost rc toy, but it was flying damn steady and soundless then.

I love this stuff, and reading that right there gave me chills. But the kind of adrenaline rush with it. I want to see something like this! But, being a skeptic, I never get to!

I was a big fan of this stuff a while back. Out here in Colorado, one night, a group of friends and myself set out on a moonless night for the 2-hour long drive to Silver Cliff.

The Ghost Lights of Silver Cliff, Colorado
Ghost Lights of the Silver Cliff Cemetery
Silver_Cliff
Silver Cliff Cemetery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-- First things first, Link #3 there shows a picture of the cemetery. Now, I'm a skeptic and pretty much a realist. I know the items in that photo in Link #3, which a lot of paranormal 'enthusiasts' call "orbs", are simply dust backreflections out of focus due to the flash on a compact digicam being placed too close in proximity to the lens. They aren't ghosts, and that's not what I'm talking about.

The lights of Silver Cliff were described as such:

"The lights, which according to reports look like blue lantern lights or white spheres, float through the cemetery and bounce on the headstones."

... Dismissing the "white spheres" ('orbs', aka 'B.S.') I was more interested in the 'blue glow' that has been reported, or 'blue lantern lights'. (Funny, similar to the story above, being blue in color..)

I prepared with my DSLR with a good low light ready lens, f1.2, onto a full-frame sensor, my Canon 5D. I also brought the usual 'paranormal hunters' grab bag of first gen russian surplus night vision scope, and a modified camera without a "hot mirror" (read: IR sensitive), as well as my Sony F828 with its RGBE/(RGB+Cyan) sensor. Gitzo tripod. Ready for long exposures.

So, we arrived in Silver Cliff, and we could barely see our hands infront of our faces. Set up the equipment by keychain LED light, and, as skeptical as I am, things do spook me out: I was open to this... So we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Not a damn thing. Even with the lot (5 of us) sitting in a death-dark graveyard on a blustery fall night in one of the most reported-on 'hauntings' in Colorado, all of us ready to be spooked out, and open to seeing something, HOPING to see something - nobody even caught a "what was that" out of the corner of their eye. We didn't even hear any strange noises. We didn't even have the local sherriff pull up and shake his fist at us.

If anyone is in the area and would be up to trying it again, let me know. But it comes down to, "Why is it all the nutjobs who end up seeing ghosts, aliens and Elvis; and those who want to believe end up seeing jack sh*t?"

Not that I haven't had that sudden chill feeling in the middle of the woods before saying 'You gotta get out of here!' -- I have; (though, a friend of mine who's in med school actually explained that away, as a common reaction to sensed vulnerability; might have been the shape of the clearing triggering old human instincts to avoid wolves, or something. Interesting...) But here we were just waiting for a glow or a flash or even the sound of footsteps but. Nada. Not even any freaking "orbs" .

Anyways. Lack of proof isn't conclusive proof of a lack, so, I fully agree there are still things that can't be explained. But if anyone else has gone to the Silver Cliff cemetery, please let me know. And if you had a more interesting experience than "well, this is boring as hell" -- please let me know, too. Maybe the whole legend was just started up to drum up some transient business for the local diner, or something.

But, I will say, if you yourself have ever seen anything unexplainable, post it!! I love reading this stuff. Even though I've never seen a single bit of it myself, and am pretty much an all-science skeptic "I want to believe!"

 

[LORDJET]

@ aryntha, First off thanks for your imput! This field has always interested me. For many years I myself had never really experienced the paranormal, but it's a game changer when you do! 2007 is the year it all changed for me, but I will go into that later.

Those videos you linked above, were actually taken as well by Joshua, Brian Irish, and Dean Warsing. The same people in my link above. In fact the LEMUR team itself is well known by myself, and many around here. I know that Nat Geo was in fact THERE when it happened because Joshua announced on his radio show one week prior to the recording of this video, that they were coming to town to do a documentary on mystery lights.

I can honestly say I myself have seen almost the very same phenomenon at Brown Mtn. We were up there as a group, about 20 of us. when we saw what looked like a swirling blueish white light in the tree tops about 100 yards away from our position. And not just once, but THREE times myself and our group saw this! Each time in a different position around the mtn ( we were at the hwy 181 overlook )

Let me also say I have always been scientific, and even skeptical about such things. You HAVE to be. And I am not saying that these are ghosts, ufos, ect. But the working theory is that what we are seeing are natural earth energy's created by the tons of quartz in these mountains.

Here is a link to one of his webpages. the video you want to see is at the top of the page..www.joshuapwarren.com

 

[borgqueenx]

Its not paranormal, its ufo. Its sinply flying and you dont know what it is. It must have a explanation but we just dont know it yet. I was once in a forest in france climbing a mountain when darkness striked. We had to walk back 2km back in dark. (about 1km in TOTAL darkness.) well it was pretty damn scary but i had a green 50mw laser and a aurora p3 700 lumen flashlight. I needed to save the battery so sometimes turned it off.
It was a thrilling walk but nothing scary happened.

My other story is scarier. Alsoin in france where we explored a nazi bunker at the highest car road of europe. It said forbidden to enterbut i did anyway, the door were open. Well itwaspretty damn big with gaps in the floor.
We go there with 5 people and got out with 4, because we difnt talk alot and didnt see anything but ahead of us because my aurora.
After a while oytside we were beginning to freek out and 2 were. Going back inside. After a while the guy appeared on top of a higher level. He just did go futher on its own lol!
Those are my horror stories.

The paranormal red light was not scary. Just...weird and unexplainable.
We saw it from our house...but with window open and we didnt hear anything.

 

[Krogith]

I don't see why it's so far fetched to think the Earths Mass of elements do things on there own. I'm sure Masses of energy can be stored and channeled through Natural Masses of Quartz and other elements. I don't see why that such a far fetched theory.

 

[Cyparagon]

Its not paranormal.

...

The paranormal red light was not scary

:thinking:

Saying "I can't explain it, so it must be supernatural" is actually a contradiction. You're saying "I can't explain it, so I can explain it."

 

[borgqueenx]

:thinking:

Saying "I can't explain it, so it must be supernatural" is actually a contradiction. You're saying "I can't explain it, so I can explain it."

dont take me so literarry and watch my posts that carefully

 

[aryntha]

LORDJET:

I'd be totally for a coordinated LPF "outing" to try to see this stuff. And, researching the guys who took these videos, yeah, I do believe that they're credible. So as fo the color-in-the-monochrome-tube situation;

So at this point I just gotta say I don't know. I've seen strange 'ghosts in the machine', no doubt. Years ago, working in (I guess now it's considered early) data communications, we had a modem (sitting right next to 16 or so other modems) that wouldn't work on one shelf. Put it down a shelf, it'd work fine. Put it on the top shelf, it'd return errors. Not a bad data connection, just errors when issuing commands to its microcontroller.

Ends up, one thing leading to another, we find this area was right in the path of an old Bell System microwave path for long distance (AT&T Long Lines) - which got decommissioned in the 90s, during this time. We suspected that being mid-path of this tight microwave beam could have 'theoretically' done it, and after they decomissioned it, sure enough, modem went up on the top shelf without any trouble. But it was just by chance that we found out that information, and it would have remained "unexplained" if we hadn't.

I've had the ADF (not really used anymore) go crazy in planes I've been flying; these used to key into MW (~longwave->AM broadcast band) transmitters. You could also tune into a 'known location' AM broadcast station, in, say, Chicago, if you were lost, and at least know that the ADF pointed roughly towards Chicago, for example, and find your way back onto the charts. But sometimes these ADF instruments would start pointing in another direction, and then stop. Highly unlikely that someone would switch on an AM station temporarily and then shut it off! (It takes a LOT of antenna to broadcast at those frequencies; no way it could be some kid with a whip playing around.) However, it could have been a ham radio operator tuning up on the wrong band. But until we know, unexplained, and weird!

So this kind of technical 'weirdness' sure can happen. And there's not always an explanation for it. And the fact that it happened at Brown Mountain absolutely lends some curious creedence to the idea that the area is prone to it. And that, I can believe. To say that we know everything about the earth and physics would be ill advised; We sure know a lot more now than we did in even recent years (and have actually explained a lot away scientifically, like the 'singing sand dunes' in the Sahara -- Singing Sand Dunes: The Mystery of Desert Music | LiveScience ) but there's also plenty we haven't, and some that we may never figure out.

If only someone had a camera shooting RAWs or something at the time -- we could look at the interactions with they Bayer filter on the CCD and see whether or not this was 'pre CCD' or 'post CCD' in the camera. Unfortunately with something like MPEG/h.264/Mini-DV, that sort of information is destroyed.

In the meantime, is this area close to you? Is it something you could go out and film and report back? I know a lot of us have quite a bit scheduled this summer already like SELEM, but SELEM *IS* in NC, I gotta wonder how far it is from Brown Mountain?

Hell, if a trip to Brown Mountain at night is scheduled during SELEM, I'd find some way to be SURE to be there.

... Group outing, anyone?

 

[ElektroFreak]

Here's my "mystery light" story:

My wife and I were driving past Lambert Int'l Airport here in STL one overcast night around 10PM.. when I say overcast, I mean total cloud cover along with a bit of fog.

The sky suddenly lit up from horizon to horizon, bright as daylight, color cycling some of the most vivid colors I've ever seen.. almost like stage lighting. Green, blue, violet, magenta, pink.. it seemed like every color to me. The WHOLE sky was lit up, but since it was cloudy it was impossible to see the source of the lights.

My wife also saw this phenomenon, as did the rest of cars on the highway. People were stopping in the middle of an 8-lane expressway to watch..

When I returned home I called a good friend who works for a local news station.. there had been no reports of what I was describing whatsoever, nor has there ever been since. I still find that to be the weirdest part of the whole thing.. The entire sky above a major airport (with military base) goes psychedelic in full technicolor, bright as day in the middle of the night, for all of 2 minutes.. and no one reported anything.

 

[Trevor]

So at this point I just gotta say I don't know. I've seen strange 'ghosts in the machine', no doubt. Years ago, working in (I guess now it's considered early) data communications, we had a modem (sitting right next to 16 or so other modems) that wouldn't work on one shelf. Put it down a shelf, it'd work fine. Put it on the top shelf, it'd return errors. Not a bad data connection, just errors when issuing commands to its microcontroller.

Ends up, one thing leading to another, we find this area was right in the path of an old Bell System microwave path for long distance (AT&T Long Lines) - which got decommissioned in the 90s, during this time. We suspected that being mid-path of this tight microwave beam could have 'theoretically' done it, and after they decomissioned it, sure enough, modem went up on the top shelf without any trouble. But it was just by chance that we found out that information, and it would have remained "unexplained" if we hadn't.

Now that's damn interesting. Thanks for sharing!

-Trevor

 

[chipdouglas]

Here's my "mystery light" story:

My wife and I were driving past Lambert Int'l Airport here in STL one overcast night around 10PM.. when I say overcast, I mean total cloud cover along with a bit of fog.

The sky suddenly lit up from horizon to horizon, bright as daylight, color cycling some of the most vivid colors I've ever seen.. almost like stage lighting. Green, blue, violet, magenta, pink.. it seemed like every color to me. The WHOLE sky was lit up, but since it was cloudy it was impossible to see the source of the lights.

My wife also saw this phenomenon, as did the rest of cars on the highway. People were stopping in the middle of an 8-lane expressway to watch..

When I returned home I called a good friend who works for a local news station.. there had been no reports of what I was describing whatsoever, nor has there ever been since. I still find that to be the weirdest part of the whole thing.. The entire sky above a major airport (with military base) goes psychedelic in full technicolor, bright as day in the middle of the night, for all of 2 minutes.. and no one reported anything.

about 10 years ago, something happened similarly that i saw. we were all outside driking on an over cast night then we look up and see a mushroom cloud in the horizon that looked like a rainbow. And the colors lasted for about 3 hours. so we put on the news nothing... for a few days it was mystery. then the governenment made a release that it was a failed launch at an airforce base 240 miles from my house.

I don't know much about ir cams and goggles. but we know they turn ir to green. obviously there isn't much uv at night. so does anybody have personal experience with uv-near uv with IR equipment?

 

[Krogith]

Here's my "mystery light" story:

My wife and I were driving past Lambert Int'l Airport here in STL one overcast night around 10PM.. when I say overcast, I mean total cloud cover along with a bit of fog.

The sky suddenly lit up from horizon to horizon, bright as daylight, color cycling some of the most vivid colors I've ever seen.. almost like stage lighting. Green, blue, violet, magenta, pink.. it seemed like every color to me. The WHOLE sky was lit up, but since it was cloudy it was impossible to see the source of the lights.

My wife also saw this phenomenon, as did the rest of cars on the highway. People were stopping in the middle of an 8-lane expressway to watch..

When I returned home I called a good friend who works for a local news station.. there had been no reports of what I was describing whatsoever, nor has there ever been since. I still find that to be the weirdest part of the whole thing.. The entire sky above a major airport (with military base) goes psychedelic in full technicolor, bright as day in the middle of the night, for all of 2 minutes.. and no one reported anything.

I have heard due to Magnetic Shifts that the Aurora Borealis can pop up around the globe. Sounds almost like maybe thats what you saw?

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

I'd be pissed too if I broke my expensive IR nightvision camera... I too would send it back to be fixed.

I think someone here was on to something. It could have been a really good screenshot of a screen with someone behind the camera shining lights or something.

Once visited a haunted house, freezing cold room in the middle of summer. I got freaked out and decided I wouldn't go any further without a flashlight, so I walk to my car, get my MC-E flashlight and my q3-5a xr-e and walk back inside. The air felt just like it did outside: hot and muggy. :wtf:

 

[LORDJET]

LORDJET:

I'd be totally for a coordinated LPF "outing" to try to see this stuff. And, researching the guys who took these videos, yeah, I do believe that they're credible. So as fo the color-in-the-monochrome-tube situation;

So at this point I just gotta say I don't know. I've seen strange 'ghosts in the machine', no doubt. Years ago, working in (I guess now it's considered early) data communications, we had a modem (sitting right next to 16 or so other modems) that wouldn't work on one shelf. Put it down a shelf, it'd work fine. Put it on the top shelf, it'd return errors. Not a bad data connection, just errors when issuing commands to its microcontroller.

Ends up, one thing leading to another, we find this area was right in the path of an old Bell System microwave path for long distance (AT&T Long Lines) - which got decommissioned in the 90s, during this time. We suspected that being mid-path of this tight microwave beam could have 'theoretically' done it, and after they decomissioned it, sure enough, modem went up on the top shelf without any trouble. But it was just by chance that we found out that information, and it would have remained "unexplained" if we hadn't.

I've had the ADF (not really used anymore) go crazy in planes I've been flying; these used to key into MW (~longwave->AM broadcast band) transmitters. You could also tune into a 'known location' AM broadcast station, in, say, Chicago, if you were lost, and at least know that the ADF pointed roughly towards Chicago, for example, and find your way back onto the charts. But sometimes these ADF instruments would start pointing in another direction, and then stop. Highly unlikely that someone would switch on an AM station temporarily and then shut it off! (It takes a LOT of antenna to broadcast at those frequencies; no way it could be some kid with a whip playing around.) However, it could have been a ham radio operator tuning up on the wrong band. But until we know, unexplained, and weird!

So this kind of technical 'weirdness' sure can happen. And there's not always an explanation for it. And the fact that it happened at Brown Mountain absolutely lends some curious creedence to the idea that the area is prone to it. And that, I can believe. To say that we know everything about the earth and physics would be ill advised; We sure know a lot more now than we did in even recent years (and have actually explained a lot away scientifically, like the 'singing sand dunes' in the Sahara -- Singing Sand Dunes: The Mystery of Desert Music | LiveScience ) but there's also plenty we haven't, and some that we may never figure out.

If only someone had a camera shooting RAWs or something at the time -- we could look at the interactions with they Bayer filter on the CCD and see whether or not this was 'pre CCD' or 'post CCD' in the camera. Unfortunately with something like MPEG/h.264/Mini-DV, that sort of information is destroyed.

In the meantime, is this area close to you? Is it something you could go out and film and report back? I know a lot of us have quite a bit scheduled this summer already like SELEM, but SELEM *IS* in NC, I gotta wonder how far it is from Brown Mountain?

Hell, if a trip to Brown Mountain at night is scheduled during SELEM, I'd find some way to be SURE to be there.

... Group outing, anyone?

aryntha, Yea sure Id be up for a meet up at B.M!! I would say it's about an hour drive from Asheville. I was talking to my lady friend the other day about doing just that! It was me, her, and about 20 other people who went there last, and witnessed this phenomenon. The best location to try and see the lights is a place known as Wisemans view ( the place where the video in question was taken ). Unfortunetly, to get there you have to travel a very long and rough road. Some people around here like to call it the " hoche min trail "

The good alternative is to park at the 181 overlook. much faster and easier to get to! Anyway, I would guesstimate from Charlette NC its probably close to a two hour drive west. I had originally wanted to attend SELEM, but I just don't have any vacation time left this year! But yes I would love to try and meet up with you guys there! i suppose other than the logistics, the main fly in the ointment would be the weather. It seems the pattern of the lights showing themselves is mostly, after a recent rain, and a sizable temperature drop at night.

Your story of the modem is a very good example of being scientific, and not just jumping the gun to ghosts, or GOD!

Peace, James

 

[LORDJET]

Here's my "mystery light" story:

My wife and I were driving past Lambert Int'l Airport here in STL one overcast night around 10PM.. when I say overcast, I mean total cloud cover along with a bit of fog.

The sky suddenly lit up from horizon to horizon, bright as daylight, color cycling some of the most vivid colors I've ever seen.. almost like stage lighting. Green, blue, violet, magenta, pink.. it seemed like every color to me. The WHOLE sky was lit up, but since it was cloudy it was impossible to see the source of the lights.

My wife also saw this phenomenon, as did the rest of cars on the highway. People were stopping in the middle of an 8-lane expressway to watch..

When I returned home I called a good friend who works for a local news station.. there had been no reports of what I was describing whatsoever, nor has there ever been since. I still find that to be the weirdest part of the whole thing.. The entire sky above a major airport (with military base) goes psychedelic in full technicolor, bright as day in the middle of the night, for all of 2 minutes.. and no one reported anything.

^^^^ That's good one as well, thanks for sharing! Yes for some reason it seems the local news isn't interested in reporting these events. Kind of makes you go Hmmmmm.. :thinking: