132 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 114: Nov-Dec 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mekong Mystery The following question was posed in the September 6 issue of New Scientist. "My wife and I saw a puzzling sight in October 1994, in the Mekong River near Nongkhai, Thailand, during a full moon, in the evening. Lights appeared under the water for a few hundred metres along the Mekong River. They rose from the bottom of the river and floated to the surface, then shot like missiles into the sky and out of sight. They were the size of beach balls, and many flew out of the water every few minutes, surfacing about 10 metres apart. I am told that this happens every year at the same time. Locals say it is caused by a serpent releasing her eggs. Does anyone know of this phenomenon?" A. Pentecost answered. He noted first the similarity of the Mekong phenomenon to the will-o '- the-wisp or ignis fatuus. The usual explanation of ignis fatuus blames the spontaneous combustion of marsh gas. However, the Mekong lights are initially seen under the water where there would not be enough oxygen to support combustion. Pentecost suggested instead phosphorescent bacteria or the "cold flame" of phosphorus vapor which might form through diphosphane decomposition. (Pentecost, Allan, et al; "Mekong Mystery," New Scientist, p. 96, September 6, 1997.) References. The Mekong phenomenon may be allied with the many examples of luminous ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 144: Nov-Dec 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A dirty story from Amazonia From door to door to what or -- perhaps -- to whom? Astronomy Mercury: Magnetic and sinistral Tunguskas forever Biology Animal antics Processionary sperm The Changeux paradox A statement we never thought we'd see Geology Something went 'splat' in Bolivia Death in the pits Geophysics Complex ball-lightning events Revisiting the Spanish hydro-meteors of January 2000 Psychology So out-of-body experiences originate in the brain? False recovered memories Unclassified Three reasons why ETs have not contacted us ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 141: May-Jun 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology An Ice-Age North Atlantic voyage? Somehow bananas slipped into West Africa 2,500 years ago Ancient messages on the Shroud of Turin Astronomy Europa's anomalous infrared spectrum Are the cosmic carriers of life comets or meteorites? Biology 'Modern' feathers on a non-avian dinosaur The intelligence of plants Unexplained weight-gain transient at the moment of death Geology Flank collapses: Generators of giant tsunamis Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel Geophysics Ball lightning gets some scientific respect Unknown species puts on spectacular light show Psychology Why music? Physics Falling in a quantized way Unclassified Where are those aliens? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 142: Jul-Aug 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The impossible stones How bad was that nuclear catastrophe of 12,500 BP? Black-balling very earlier Americans Astronomy Our Big Bang lost in the cosmic cacophany The spookiness of it all Biology Passenger pigeons in New York Life is sweet Are human tears irreducibly complex? Geology Weird vibes from the Antarctic A shrinking dipole and migrating flux patches Wrong-way flood? Geophysics Bailey's prairie light The Kokomo hum Psychology The pressures of music Physics Inside some 'fundamental' particles What really lies beneath it all? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 150: Nov - Dec 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Australians First in the New World? Origin of Clovis Culture Disputed A "Magic Number" Encoded in Three of the World's Major Pyramids Astronomy Mapping and Analyzing Dark Matter Biology Frog Poison Factory Puffin Tongue Trick? Human-chimp DNA Dissimilarities Four-Dimensional Biology A Squid's Eyes that Look Up and Down Tuberculosis and the Extinction of the Megaforna Dark Matter in our Genome Unknown Source of Animal Diversity Communication among Bacteria Geology When the Earth Gets Cracking Subduction Doesn't Check Out Chicxulub Didn't Do It! Geophysics Squishy Ball Lightning Far-Floating Fowl Psychology Natural-Born Readers Physics Mixed Anomalies ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 152: Mar - Apr 2004 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Amazon's Jungles were Tamed Long Ago, but by Whom? World's most Mysterious Manuscript may be a Hoax (Voynich manuscript) Vast Network of Ancient Road Astronomy Centauro Events Curious Structures on the Surface of Mars The Dodecahedron and the 'True Earth' Biology Nanofabrication and Light Control in a Squid Beyond Water Condensation Animal Miscellany, some of which are rather Amusing Toriodal Bubbles Telling tales (FRTs) Magnetically orientated Tunnels Cells are naturally cancerous? Geology Witchers Hole and the Bermuda Triangle Intimate Encouters of Sand Dunes Geophysics Multiple Ball-Lightning event? A Burning Bush Sprouts a Lighning Leader Falsetto Thunder and Tabular Hail Psychology The Sleepwalking Bandsman Sleep and Scientific Insight Mathematics Quadamagicology (the science of magic squares) ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: May-Jun 2001 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Most Mysterious Manuscript A Nuclear Catastrophe in Paleoindian Times? Astronomy Asteroid Ponds, Beaches and Boulders 0.999999999999999999999999c Sourceless Magnetic Fields? Biology Host Tapeworms for Health! Fall Babies Live Longer Longevity and Sardina Where is the Maestro? Geology Oil Deposits and Rotary Phenomena Does the Earth Breath? Geophysics Kisses from Heaven Don't Stomp on Ball Lightning! Whence Whitings? Psychology Modelling Exceptional Human Experience (EHEs) Unclassified Let There Be Dark! ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Giant Ball Lightning June 8, 1977, Fishguard, Dyfed, West Wales. A brilliant, yellow green, trans-parent ball, the size of a bus with a fuzzy outline, floated down a hillside. Slowly rotating, it seemed to bounce off projections on the ground. It flickered out after 3 seconds. (Jones, Ian; "Giant Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology U.K ., 2:271, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... numbers of small, fired-clay objects found in the Middle East. Denise Schmandt-Besserat, University of Texas at Austin, believes that these small geometrical shapes (cones, spheres, disks, etc.) were actually symbols used in commerce to indicate numbers and types of commodities (sheep, oil, etc.). Generally less than an inch in size, the clay objects were apparently sealed in hollow clay spheres to make bills of lading as early as 8,500 B.C . This is 5,000 years before two-dimensional clay tablets were introduced for writing. (Anonymous; "From Reckoning to Writing," Scientific American, p. 58, August 1977.) Comment. These clay symbols might be related to the painted pebbles and small carved stone balls found in Europe. From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 22: Jul-Aug 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning With Internal Structure September 1981. Berkhamsted, England. "I was resting on my settee listening to music on the Third Programme when there was some interference of a crackling kind. Suddenly, a ball of bright light appeared in front of my radio. It was about the size of a large orange. It was dazzlingly white and gave the appearance of dozens of stick crystals 5.0 mm in length jigging about with a crackling sound. By the time I reached the switch it had disappeared, but a loud burst of thunder broke overhead." (Cook, M.L .; "Ball Lightning Incident in Berkhamsted, 13 September 1981." Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 7:18, 1982.) Reference. For other examples of ball lightning with internal structure, see category GLB13 in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras. For more information about this book, go to: here . From Science Frontiers #22, JUL-AUG 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 15: Spring 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Those Darn Quarks There's no escaping it, those fractionally charged niobium balls just can't be swept under the rug. In fact, more recent experiments have served only to accentuate the anomaly. Researchers at Stanford University have been magnetically suspending superconducting niobium spheres in a modern version of Millikan's oil-drop experiment. With the niobium spheres thus suspended, their net electrical charges can be measured. The trouble is that several of the spheres have fractional electrical charges -- + 1/3 or -1 /3 electronic charges. For decades the charge on the electron was supposed to be the basic, indivisible natural unit of electrical charge. In 1964, however, theorists began muddying the waters with talk of new fundamental constituents of matter called quarks, which could possess 1/3 or 2/3 electron charges. No one really expected that quarks, if they existed at all, would be floating around free. But the niobium balls tell us that not only are quarks free but that we could have detected them with relatively simple experiments decades ago if we had not been so blinded by the idea of integral electronic charges. (Robinson, Arthur L.; "Evidence for Free Quarks Won't Go Away," Science, 211:1028, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 15: Spring 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Massive Ice Lump Falls On England December 10, 1980. Birmingham. An ice lump weighing 1 pound, 6 ounces (626 grams) fell into a garden at Kings Norton. The lump was almost spherical and had a circumference of 12 inches. (Anonymous; "Ice-Ball Falls into a Birmingham Garden," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 6:16, 1981.) Reference. Large, fallen ice chunks are often called "hydrometeors." These are cataloged at GWF1 in Tornados, Dark Days. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... reach out and connect with the companion. Surely, these dynamically connected galaxies should be equidistant from earth. Such distances are measured by the object's redshift, which is supposedly proportional to its recessional velocity. Thus, each member of a pair should have the same redshift. This does not occur with these three pairs. In one pair, the recessional velocity appears to be 4,600 km/sec for one galaxy and 37,300 km/sec for the other. Arp's conclusion is that at least some of the redshift must be intrinsic; that is, not due to recessional velocity alone. If this is true, the basic cosmological distance scale is suspect. (Anonymous; "X -ray Quasars Fit Theories .. .But Some Galaxies Refuse to Play Ball," New Scientist, 88:22, 1980.) Reference. For more on discordant redshifts, see AWB7 and AWO4 in our Catalog: Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos, which is described here . From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 11: Summer 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ignis Fatuus Ignorance A.A . Mills, a British scientist, has had the courage to research will-o '- wisps, those greatly neglected luminous phenomena frequenting marshy places. His literature search confirms the reality of these cold flames, though they seem to be reported only rarely in modern times. Actually, today's science tends to laugh off will-o '- the-wisps as old wive's tales or as misidentifications of St. Elmo's Fire or Ball Lightning. At the best, will-o '- the-wisps are considered simply the spontaneous ignition of marsh gas -- a trivial phenomenon not worth wasting time on. Mills' study, however, shows this condescending attitude to be far off the mark. He has experimented with marsh gases, even constructing his own controlled "swamp," and has been unable to duplicate the established characteristics of will-o '- the-wisps; ie., spontaneous ignition, cold blue flames, no significant odor, etc. The marsh gas theory does not seem to hold water, despite many chemical variations. (Mills, A.A .; "Will-O 'the-Wisp," Chemistry in Britain, 16:69, February 1980.) Reference. All manner of eerie lowlevel noctural lights are cataloged at GLN1 in Lightning, Auroras. Ordering information and description here . From Science Frontiers #11, Summer ...
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... Sourcebook Subjects The Senegambian Megalithic Monument Complex When one thinks of megaliths, one's thoughts usually turn to Britain and Brittany, forgetting that North Africa is covered with them. M.H . Hill sketches out in this paper the full extent of the great tract of megalithic remains on the Atlantic coast of Africa near Cape Verde, which he calls the Senegambian Monument Complex because it sits astride both Senegal and Gambia. An archeological inventory of the region discloses 212 pillar-circle sites and 251 "tombelles," which are stone cairns or heaps often surrounded by ring-like stone walls. Hundreds of sites with tumuli also dot the area. One of the pillar-circle sites boasts all of 50 individual pillar circles. Some of the pillars are topped with cupules, raised discs, or balls. The fanciest pillars are V- or Y-shaped with crossbars. Archeological exploration of these impressive sites is incomplete. Preliminary dating makes the Senegambian Complex over 1,000 years old. The functions of this vast array of megalithic sites is unknown, although it is not obviously astronomical. (Hill, Matthew H.; "The Senegambian Monument Complex: Current Status and Prospects for Research," in Megaliths to Medicine Wheels: Boulder Structures in Archaeology, Michael Wilson, et al, eds., Calgary, 1981, p. 419.) Reference. Much more information about these North African sites may be found in our Handbook: Ancient Man. This volume is described here . Lyre-shaped megalithic monument in Senegal From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 34: Jul-Aug 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Aggressive Ball Lightning August 17, 1978. Caucasian Mountains, Russia. Victor Kavunenko and four other mountaineers were camped for the night at an altitude of 3900 meters. He reported as follows: "I woke up with the strange feeling that a stranger had made his way into our tent. Thrusting my head out of the sleeping bag, I froze. A bright yellow blob was floating about one metre from the floor. It disappeared into Korovin's sleeping bag. The man screamed in pain. The ball jumped out and proceeded to circle over the other bags now hiding in one, now in another. When it burned a hole in mine I felt an unbearable pain, as if I were being burned by a welding machine, and blacked out. Regaining consciousness after a while, I saw the same yellow ball which, methodically observing a pattern that was known to it alone, kept diving into the bags, evoking desperate, heart-rendering (sic) howls from the victims. This indescribable horror repeated itself several times. When I came back to my senses for the fifth or sixth time, the ball was gone. I could not move my arms or legs and my body was burning as if it had turned into a ball of fire itself. In the hospital, where we were flown by helicopter, seven wounds were discovered on my body. They were worse than burns. Pieces of muscle were found ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wormy Ball Lightning 1920. Parkside, Australia. A loud noise was heard several hundred yards away. "It wasn't long till we heard a hissing noise and, looking up to the western sky, saw an object about 12 inches in diameter slowly moving through the air down toward us -- about 12 feet away. It was travelling eastward and came down over Mrs. Harris's wooden fence landing on the cement porch floor about 3 feet behind us. It gracefully bounced along the cement floor in a straight path covering the 30 foot length of the verandah at a walking pace. It bounced three or four times rising to a height of 18 inches on each occasion. Each time the spherical ball touched the cement it was flattened at the point of contact, and deformed, but it quickly resumed its globular shape when it left the ground. It was not transparent but, rather, like a ball of smoke with glowing 'comma-shaped' electrical 'worms' wriggling about -- sizzling, hissing and flickering. It flattened by 1/4 into the egg shape on each bounce. On reaching the far western end of our verandah it accelerated rapidly and rose at a steep angle of about 45 degrees clearing the apricot tree, wires, and the house next door. At this stage my mother rushed in the back door of the house where we huddled for about 30 seconds before hearing a resounding ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 28: Jul-Aug 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning With Bizarre Structure An older case of ball lightning with special features has just surfaced. "It happened in the afternoon in 1924. There came a large ball of fire -- or so it looked -- but the thing was that it had chains all the way round. It lasted about five minutes, then all the chains clashed together with a terrific bang; then we had a terrible thunderstorm which lasted quite a long time.' In a second let ter Mrs. Revell drew the ball lightning as a red globe with 16 rays, composed of links like a chain, issuing from it; the rays were rather longer than the diameter of the ball. She said, 'You asked the size. From the ground it looked about four to five yards across, which would be larger than that in the sky. The chains opened from the top to the bottom with a terrific bang." (Rowe, Michael W.; "Unusual Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 8:125, 1983.) Reference. Additional examples of ball lightning with internal structure are available in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. This volume is described here . From Science Frontiers #28, JUL-AUG 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Balls Of Fire Enter Room Through Metal Screens "Thunderstorms are frequent in the Entebbe Peninsula, Lake Victoria (Uganda). During one of these storms, which usually come at night time, there was a simultaneous flash of lightning and its associated clattering crash of thunder. A second or less later, several balls of brilliant blue light, about 4-6 cm diameter, entered the room through a window on the south side and 'floated' across the room to leave by a window on the east side. My wife and I were already awake (it would have been difficult not to be) and independently exclaimed aloud on what we had just seen." Both windows were open but had metal screens. The same phenomenon occurred again during the same rainy season. (Gillett, J.D .; "Balls of Fire," Nature, 299:294, 1982.) Comment. Ball lightning is fairly rare; repeat performances are virtually unheard of. For the many other varieties of ball lightning, see Section GLB in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. More information on this volume is located here . From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 37: Jan-Feb 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects "CRYSTAL" BALL LIGHTNING June 1, 1984. Nottingham, England. Testimony of Mrs. Elsie Haigh. ". .. at approximately 5.45 p.m ., I was in my kitchen. The window and door were both closed. I was standing with my back to the window when I heard a 'boiling noise' and a noise which sounded like glass splintering -- a crash sound. I was very scared and turned around to face the window and saw a large glass-looking ball, approximately 10 inches in diameter (25 cm), slightly oblong (oblate), with a white filament in the middle. This was floating on a bowl of water which was in the sink. I ran to the bathroom, and seconds later I heard an explosion and splintering glass. When it was quiet -- I think a few seconds elapsed -- I returned to the kitchen. The ball had gone and there was no damage. I can only describe it as a miracle." (Meaden, G.T .; "' Crystal' Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 9:218, 1984.) Comment. Other ball lightning observations on file include sounds like "breaking glass." See our Catalog Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. For a description of this Catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #37, JAN ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 27: May-Jun 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Great Balls Of Snakes Most garter snakes in the northern states spend the winter in communal dens below the frost line. Some dens host as many as 10,000 to 15,000 redlined garter snakes, which emerge en masse in the spring. Although garter snakes cannot survive freezing temperatures, they apparently do not congregate in such enormous numbers to keep warm, for sexually immature garter snakes commonly hibernate alone. Big concentrations of sexually mature garter snakes seem to be part of the reproduction strategy of the species. In the big aggregations, males usually outnumber females by 50-1 . As each female emerges in the spring, she is immediately mobbed by dozens of males. So-called "mating balls" of up to 100 males and a single female are formed. Naturalists commonly explain the wintering concentrations and mating balls as clever schemes evolved to maximize reproduction with minimum expenditure of energy. This article accepts this theme uncritically. (Lynch, Wayne; "Great Balls of Snakes," Natural History, 92:65, April 1983.) Comment. Evolutionists tend to "explain" facts in a circular fashion; that is, only the most efficient reproducers (or "fittest") survive, therefore those that survive must be the best reproducers. While the garter snake strategy has some advantages in terms of getting male and female together, things may have gone too far. For example, one communal den was flooded, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning And Blue Flashes May 31, 1982. Wakefield, England. Kitchen: Blue flashes from a white cellar "We live to the south of Wakefield on the ground floor of a large Victorian house with high ceilings, attics and cellars. Our kitchen and living room face roughly S.S .W . In the late afternoon, a very heavy thunderstorm erupted with torrential rain, and thunderclaps and forked lightning occurring not quite, but almost, simultaneously. Towards the end of the storm, about 5.30 P.M ., I was in the kitchen and my mother in the living room, both facing the windows. There was a very loud peal of thunder and a loud crack, rather like the little explosion of a Christmas cracker greatly magnified. I was at the sink, close to the window, on the ledge of which stands an electric Corvette water heater, plugged in but not switched on. Beside me, about four feet from the ground and two feet to the left of me, at the moment of the crack, there appeared for a second or so, electric blue flashes, six to eighteen inches in length coming from a white centre. I felt nothing, but was startled. There was no damage to the water heater or anything else. Just as I exclaimed at the blue flashes, I heard my mother cry out and ran to her in the living room. She ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Splits And Recombines Inside Soviet Airliner An Ilyushin-18 took off from Sochi, on the Black Sea, in fair weather. Soon after takeoff thunderclouds were noted about 60 miles away. "Suddenly, at the height of 1,200 yards, a fireball about four inches in diameter appeared on the fuselage in front of the crew's cockpit. It disappeared with a deafening noise, but reemerged several seconds later in the passenger's lounge, after piercing in an uncanny way through the air-tight metal wall. The fireball slowly flew about the heads of the stunned passengers. In the tail section of the airliner it divided into two glowing crescents which then joined together again and left the plane almost noiselessly." Upon landing back at Sochi, holes were discovered in the fuselage fore and aft. (Anonymous; "Tass Says Lightning Ball Entered Soviet Airliner," Associated Press Dispatch, Moscow, January 13, 1984. Cr. M.A . Lohr) Comment. Several examples of ball lightning dividing are on record in the Catalog of Anomalies, but recombination is an extremely rare event. See Chapter GLB in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spiked Ball Lightning December 3, 1979. Fleetwood, England. "On the evening in question there was an intermittent thunderstorm with rain in heavy showers. My son Michael had just come in from the college and had gone into the room and was standing watching the T.V . The time would be a little before 6.00 p.m . I said something to the effect that his meal would be ready and he'd better wash his hands, so he turned the television off, although it remained plugged in... At this point a spherical object about six inches (15 cm) in diameter floated down the (sealed) chimney and into the room. It appeared to be rather like a soap bubble but was dull purple in colour covered or rather made up of a furry/spiky emission all over. The coating seemed to be about one inch (2 .5 cm) thick with spikes of two inches here and there but changing all the time. It was quite dim and appeared to be semi-transparent, in so much as I could see through to the inside of the opposite side, which appeared quite smooth -- all the spikes pointing outwards from the surface. It appeared to me to be insubstantial and made no sound. It drifted between the two of us towards the television screen at about 30 inches (75 cm) from the floor, covering the six feet ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Three Anomalies In One Storm "During the passage of a cold frontal trough between 1030 and 1100 GMT on Monday 21 March 1983, squally thunderstorms affected south Cheshire and north Staffordshire. Two incidents of ball lightning, a fall of seashells and three occurrences of probable tornado damage were reported, mostly within a 10 km radius of Stoke-on-Kent." At Camillus Road, Knutton. Ball lightning about 40 cm in diameter with a luminous tail 4 m long. One observer saw it descend at an angle of 45 and hit the roadway. At Kingsley: "A large white luminous ball, probably over a metre in diameter, blasted its way into a factory workshop by shearing an irregular hole through a steel-mesh-reinforced window. There was no evidence of any fusion of the glass. The ball, accompanied by a deafening roar, passed very quickly in a straight line through the processing shop and left by blasting a 2 by 3 metre hole in a wall of 6 mm corrugated asbestos, fragments of which were later found 20 to 30 metres away outside the factory." At Dilhorne. Sea shells fell with heavy hail: "They extended for an area of about 50 by 20 metres and occurred in thousands on lawns, flower beds, paths and even the road. Roy was kind enough to give me half-a -dozen specimens for identification. They turned out to be small gastropods, almost ...
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... 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unidentified Phenomena September 17, 1982. South Atlantic Ocean. 2103 GMT on a clear dark night. "The first thing noticed was the formation of a bright patch of white light in the general area between Rasalhague and Alphecca. Gradually a dark eye formed in the centre of the patch in which shortly afterwards a very bright object appeared like a star of magnitude -2 . After one or two seconds this object appeared to undergo a tremendous explosion and became a large bright orange gaseous fireball, which appeared to be hurled earthwards directly down the observer's line of sight, growing constantly larger and larger. One witness described the fireball as resembling rolling orange smoke. The ball then ceased to increase in size, giving the impression that it had stopped. Its orange colour rapidly gave way to rainbow colours which gradually gave way to white and faded in brilliance until all that remained were several patches of luminous white light, although these were impressive in their own right." A similar phenomenon was noted the following night, although the ship was 7 farther south. September 18, 1982. South Atlantic Ocean. From a different ship in the same area as the one above. "The altitude of the first sighting was approximately 24 , level with the planet Jupiter and offset to its right. The six subsequent bursts were above the first, and slightly to the right, leaving a fantail of purple/white lenticular clouds which leaned to the right as shown in ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Burning mass falls in b.c .March 11, 1984. Duncan, BC. David Thompson was returning home at 8:30 PM, when he spotted a soccer-ball-size burning mass high over the trees. It landed in the road about 200 feet away, sounding like a light bulb popping. For about 3 seconds, it flamed. When approached, it was still sizzling, probably because the road was wet. The fallen substance quickly hardened, but samples were scraped off the asphalt. It turned out to be an odorless, rock-like substance. Left outside overnight, it had become soft by the next day and seemed to be melting. Samples were sent to Victoria for analysis. (Hausch, Karen; Cowichan Leader, March 15, 1984. Cr. L. Farish) Reference. All manner of anomalous falling materials are covered in Chapter GWF in our Catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. For a description of this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... article touches on several of the precocious and puzzling features of the Hohokam Period, circa 0-1 ,400 AD. (1 ) The Hohokam apparently employed acid-etching to produce designs on shells. Acetic acid from fermented cactus juice was use to eat away portions of the shell not protected by tar. (2 ) Four-story Casa Grande, which seems to have been an astronomical observatory, required at least 600 big wooden beams, all of which had to be transported over 50 miles from sources in the mountains. (3 ) The Hohokam built an elaborate, well-engineered system of irrigation canals. (4 ) Unexplained are many flat-bottomed oval pits up to 182 feet long, 55 feet wide, and 13-18 feet deep. Some surmise they were ball courts. (5 ) Also puzzling are rectangular earthen mounds, 75 x 95 feet at the base and 12 feet high, with flat adobe-covered tops. (Adams, Daniel B.; "Last Ditch Archeology," Science 83, 4:28, December 1983.) Reference. The Hohokam canals and those built by other ancient peoples are presented in our Handbook Ancient Man. For details on this book, visit: here . Section through two Hohokum canals, showing original canal profile (bottom) and final profile after long use. Sedimentation eventually raised the canal bottoms above the original ground level. (Illustration from Ancient Man) From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball lightning strikes twice!Summer 1977. Haymarket, Virginia. A severe storm was threatening. Mrs. Patricia Townsend was standing in front of her kitchen counter talking on the telephone. "Several things happened at the same time and the whole incident probably lasted no more than a few seconds at the most. While I was on the phone, I heard a tremendous crack, something like the report of a high-powered rifle or the sound of a bat hitting a baseball. At the same time the outside of my house, meaning the outdoors, lit up brilliantly. A split second later or perhaps at the same time, I heard a loud swooshing or hissing noise and the phone seemed to come alive in my hand. Then my whole kitchen lit up like a floodlight. Lightning or electricity or whatever it was seemed to flow rapidly from the open kitchen door across the expanse of the far end of my kitchen at ceiling level as shown by the jagged line in my drawing. I'm not sure where the red ball came from but I have depicted it as coming from the jagged lightning on my ceiling. Anyhow, almost at the same time as the lightning zoomed across my kitchen and the phone started vibrating in my hand, a large red ball (with yellow and white somewhere) appeared in front of me and hit me on the chest with the force of a large man hitting me with his ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hardball For Keeps "Archeologists call them "balls" for want of a better word; but, after several centuries of intensive collection, scrutiny and study, nobody really knows what they are. "Imagine, if you will, a spherical piece of carved rock a little smaller than a baseball. The shape bespeaks artifice. Something -- somebody -- made it. "More than 500 of these objects have been found in Great Britain and Ireland, most of them in Scotland, near prehistoric dwelling places, passage graves and the mysterious rings of standing stones whose specific purpose also eludes the experts." Archeologists believe the balls are more than 4,000 years old. All are different; all are symmetrical with projecting knobs, six in most cases. So much for the basic data. Now let us progress (? ) to theory. D.B . Wilson suggests that the balls were really hand-thrown missiles used in bloody games played at standing-stone sites during astronomically decreed rites. (Remember the Maya had their grisly ballgames, too!) The stone balls are indeed perfectly weighted, shaped and textured for throwing at the heads of opposing players. Perhaps, says Wilson, the games had rules such that you were safe when touching a standing stone, but to score you had to run to another standing stone while fair game for the first IPMs (Interpersonal Missiles). And so on and ...
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... in Lawn Road (luckily the residents of the house were away on a holiday). The tornado proceeded to rip tiles off several roofs, demolished completely several greenhouses, and next scorched a 4-metre section of gable on the south side of a house in Forest Street (number 9). The gable section was scorched so badly that the gable had already been repainted when I called, although the evidence could still be seen." (Matthews, Peter; "Lightning inside a Tornado?" Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 10:375, 1985.) July 1, 1952. Nottingham, England. Unusual features of a spectacular thunderstorm. Some recently reviewed records of a great thunderstorm mention two interesting anomalies: Hailstones 2 inches long shaped like cigarettes Three successive balls of lightning corkscrewing down from the sky. (Meaden, George T.; "Cigarette-Shaped Hailstones and Spiral Descent of Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 10:332, 1985.) Reference. The foregoing anomalies are discussed in our Catalog of Anomalies. See GWT2 in Tornados, Dark Days for tornado burning and dehydration and GWP for oddly shaped hailstones in the same volume. Ball lightning is cataloged in GLB in Lightning, Auroras. Both books are described more fully here . The funnel of the 1955 tornado at Blackwell, Oklahoma, was lit up like a neon tube. Cloud-to-earth electrical currents could be the cuase of the scorching reported above. From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Another Luminous Aerial Bubble September 1943. On a ship in the South Atlantic enroute from South Africa to Brazil. "During the voyage, a multicolored object about the size of a basketball appeared and the ship changed course to parallel the course of the object. The object was in view for about 20 minutes, moved slowly across the water at a height of 5 feet, and finally disappeared. It looked like a glass ball and appeared to have a membrane enclosing it. Its motion was from the NW to SE and it was seen sometime between 3:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon sometime in September 1943. The color was at times orange and yellow, sometimes green, blue, and red. The sky was overcast and the object was on the starboard side of the ship as it moved towards the NW. The ship's crew, consisting of about 20 men, saw the event and concluded that it might be a 'fireball.'" Original observation by Charles L. Reifenhler. (Seal, James; personal communication, June 25, 1986.) Comment. For more accounts of Lumi-nouw Aerial Bubbles, see category GLD7 in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. This catalog is described here . August 17, 1876. Numerous, luminous, multicolored, bubble-like spheres observed at Ringstead Bay, England. Thousands of the iridescent spheres engulfed observers. This account (Catlog # ...
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... cm) thick with spikes of two inches here and there but changing all the time. It was quite dim and appeared to be semi-transparent, in so much as I could see through to the inside of the opposite side, which appeared quite smooth -- all the spikes pointing outwards from the surface. It appeared to me to be insubstantial and made no sound. It drifted between the two of us towards the television screen at about 30 inches (75 cm) from the floor, covering the six feet (2 m) in about four seconds. When about eight inches from the screen it disappeared (imploded?) with a fairly loud crack /pop sound leaving behind a smell as of an electrical discharge." (Rowe, Michael W.; "Another Unusual Ball Lightning Incident," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 9:135, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #48, NOV-DEC 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... classical cases where science has ultimately admitted its errors and embraced the formerly rejected data: 1. The fall of stones from the sky; 2. The existence of thousands of parent-battered children; and 3. The reality of the coelacanth. In connection with meteorite falls, he provides a wonderful quote from James Pringle, of the Royal Society: "I venture to affirm that, after perusing all the accounts I could find of these phenomena, I have met with no well-vouched instance of such an event; nor is it to be imagined, but that, if these meteors had really fallen, there must have been long ago so strong evidence of the fact as to leave no room to doubt of it at present." Next, Westrum tackles spontaneous human combustion and ball lightning, neither of which have been assimilated by science. He closes with a very complimentary paragraph on the Sourcebook Project and our Catalog of Anomalies, for which we thank him. (Westrum, Ron; "Blinded by the Night," The Sciences, 25:48, May-June 1985.) From Science Frontiers #41, SEP-OCT 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 43: Jan-Feb 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Waiting for saturn's rings to collapse The more we learn about Saturn's rings, the stranger they seem. One of the latest theoretical models of the rings has them composed of balls of hard ice, which interact through mutual collision and are herded by the gravitational caresses of small moons. The successes of this model have been tempered by the fact that it also implies that Saturn's rings are very young. "Theorists would have no problem with a broad, featureless disk surviving the 4.5 billion years since the early days of the solar system, but features such as spiral density waves are clear evidence that satellites, including the profusion of small ones found near the rings, are draining angular momentum from the rings. The satellites should be spiraling outward into ever larger orbits as they gain angular momentum, and the A-ring should collapse inward into the B-ring in just 100 million years as its particles lose angular momentum." (Kerr, Richard A.; "Making Better Planetary Rings," Science, 229:1376, 1985.) Reference. For other indications of youth in Saturn's rings, see ARL16 in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets. For information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #43, JAN-FEB 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball lightning or mirage of venus?In SF#56, S. Campbell explained a potential UFO sighting in terms of a mirage of a jet landing at Edinburgh. Now he interprets a Russian ball lightning report as a mirage of Venus on the horizon. See what you think: "Dr. Aleksandr Mitrofanov of the Institute of Physical Problems (sic) of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S .S .R . and two friends were camping on the left bank of the River Oka near Ryazan (at a point where the river makes a sharp bend to the east) on the 23rd July 1974. It had been a clear day, very hot in the afternoon. Together with Muscovites from another encampment they sat up talking and drinking tea (sic) until late in the evening (in fact until early the next morning). At 2:10 a.m . they all saw a light which at first they thought was a torch. It appeared to be 70 metres away in the undergrowth along the bank. As they all stood up the 'ball lightning' (which iswhat Mitrofanov thought it was) seemed to 'float up' from behind the bushes and move straight towards them, increasing in size. But it did not reach them; it slowly 'swam' horizontally before disappearing after 4 minutes. When it seemed to be at its nearest a ring detached itself, like the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning In Bavaria August 2, 1921, Hohenschaftlern, Ba varia. 9:00 AM. "The witness who reported the event was nine years of age at the time of the observation, and was indoors with her uncle on the first floor of a building during a severe morning thunderstorm with heavy rainfall. There was a lull in the storm and the ball lightning appeared on the left side of the window sill about 4-5 m from the observers. The window had been left open because there was a balcony above it which prevented the rain from entering the room. "The ball fell to the floor where it jumped up and down once or twice. It then started to roll slowly towards the observers across the floor, at about the speed of a dropped ball of wool. Its diameter was about 20 cm, it was translucent, and the rapidly changing colours showed spots of light green, crimson, light blue and pale yellow. It was bright enough to be clearly visible in daylight, and it was uniformly bright over its entire surface. It had protrusions 'like the Andromeda nebula.' "When it came near the table, where my uncle and I were sitting, I tried to get up to have a closer look. My uncle (fortunately) held me back. It then rolled towards the tiled stove on the right side of the room, crept up the iron parts of the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning In Yorkshire May 14, 1985. Yorkshire, England. "At Garton-on-the-Wolds, two miles west-north-west of Driffield and 60 metres AMSL, the electricity went off at 6.l5 pm. Half an hour later Mr and Mrs Foster, who were in their paddock tending to the horses during the thunderstorm, heard a 'terrific bang.' On arriving back in their house they found that the television aerial had been blown out of its socket and there were scorch marks on the window sill and curtain lining. The television plug's negative and positive pins had been blown out of the socket but the earth pin was still intact. A hole some 8 cm by 10 cm across and 4 cm deep was found in the wall by the side of the socket. Several components of the television were damaged and fuses in the main fuse box were blown. Also, at 6.45 pm, Mr and Mrs Foster's daughters, Rachel and Rosemary, were with a friend in the kitchen at the other side of the house. Rachel was standing with her hand on the cooker when, without warning she felt 'a sort of thump' in her back. The other two girls saw an orange, spherical object - about the size of a table tennis ball - moving very quickly. It had no smell, made no noise and seemed to be rotating ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 61: Jan-Feb 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Expanding ball of light (ebl) phenomenon X8. June 22, 1976. North Atlantic. "At 2113 GMT a pale orange glow was seen to be coming from behind a bank of towering cumulus to the west. At 2115 a ghostly white disc (see sketches) was observed at an approximate altitude of 10-degrees and bearing 290-degrees. The glow from behind the cloud persisted." The glowing region developed as indicated in the figure. Stars could be seen throught the disc at all times. By 2140 the disc had disappeared. In the latest number of the Journal of Scientific Exploration, R.F . Haines presents a summary table of 15 cases of a luminous phenomenon he has dubbed the Expanding Ball of Light or EBL. EBLs are very large, sometimes occupying much of the sky. They seem to occur everywhere, though rarely. Haines elaborates: "According to several pilot witnesses, the center of the EBL is at relatively high altitude while it is forming. Its color is evenly whitish or yellowish and becomes increasingly transparent to background stars as it expands. As it enlarges it appears to maintain a sharply defined edge. At some point it fades completely from sight. The rate of boundary interface expansion is impossible to determine without knowing its distance from the observer. It is also of interest to note that most EBL events have taken place after dark. If EBL phenomena are associated with an advanced ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Burns A Rayed Circle On A Shed Wall B. Evans sent the following account to the Editor of the Journal of Meteorology: "Your report of 26th August (1986) about the mysterious five circles which appeared in cornfields near Devil's Punchbowl, near Winchester -- the largest being 42 feet across -- reminded me of an incident during the night shift in 1980 at Shotton steelworks. "A high wind was followed by a bright light which lit up the whole area. When we looked down on the yard from our vantage point we could see that a great ball of lightning had struck. As it bounced from spot to spot, we had to duck to get out of its way, but as soon as it has passed we ran out and saw it strike the side of a scrap shed. When the sun came up, it picked out the shape of a dartboard on the scrap shed. The pattern was clear, with all the segments in place, and it was about 37 feet across." (Meaden, G.T .; "Rayed Circle Made by Ball Lightning on the Wall of a Shed," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 11:27l, 1986. Journal address: 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LD, UNITED KINGDOM.) Reference. Other examples of ball lightning with rays are cataloged in GLB3 in ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Presumed Ball Lightning November 24, 1987. Tulsa, Oklahoma. "Circa 3:20 P.M . CST. Location: 2800 Southwest Blvd. in said city. Parents of Keith L. Partain saw a lightning strike near an oil refinery storage tank. Immediately after the strike they saw a bluish sphere with red and yellow highlights, not more than 9 feet in diameter, some 100 yards away, near the tank. The sphere lasted in that form some five seconds before fragmenting in a loud detonation. During the act of detonation the sphere became an irregular spheroid before fragmentation. Mr. Partain reported that he could feel the heat from the detonation. Both individuals, seated in a truck, were quite astounded by the apparition. The weather was quite stormy and violent in its gales, rain and lightning." (Partain, Keith; personal communication, November 24, 1987.) Comment. K. Partain checked the Catalog Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights and classified the phenomenon as GLB1 or Ordinary Ball Lightning. The above book is described here . The ball lightning figured left was seen near an Albany, NY, factory in 1975. The event closely resembles that reported by the Partains. From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... "' Suddenly a bright light came toward them rapidly, seemingly from a great distance. "It came straight at us til it got to the hood of the plane....It was engulfing us, larger than the plane.' It seemed as though they were inside the light. 'We couldn't see to fly. It scared us.' According to Halsell, as they tried to turn away from it, it moved in front of them. 'Always it moved around us, like it was observing us....We made right turns and left turns and it stayed right with us, like it was playing a game.' The light was very bright, but 'It was kind of fuzzy, like a halo or aura, a ball of light without an obvious center.' The light was white in color, was constant rather than pulsating or flickering. There was no unusual sound." (Brueske, Judith; "Encountering 'The Lights,'" The Desert Candle, 2:1 , July/August 1988.) Reference. The Marfa lights are classified as "nocturnal lights" at GLN1 in the catalog volume: Lightning, Auroras Ordering details here . From Science Frontiers #60, NOV-DEC 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Photograph Of The Marfa Light The century-old fame of the Marfa, Texas, nocturnal light was greatly enhanced some months ago, when it was written up in the Wall Street Journal, of all places! We now have at hand a time-exposure photograph showing the typical erratic motion and flickering nature of this "spook" light. The photo was taken by James Crocker in September 1986. The location was 10 miles deep in Mitchell Flats, southbound from Highway 90. A single-lens reflex camera mounted on a tripod was used. Exposure was less than 3 minutes, at f/1 .8 , 50 mm lens, EL 400 color film. Three additional observers were present. It is interesting that the light's motion resembles that of some observations and photos of ball lightning. The lights in the upper right, just above the right loop of the Marfa light, are thought to be car lights on Route 67, about 10 miles distant. Unfortnately, the photo is too difficult to reproduce here. See our book: Science Frontiers: Some Anomalies and Curiosities of Nature for a good reproduction. Ordering information here . Time-exposure photograph of the famed Marfa Light in Texas. See text for details (c ) James Crocker. From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightning Triggered From The Magnetosphere Whistlers are, as their name implies, curious whistling noises heard on radio receivers. They are caused naturally by lightning, which sends radio noise travelling through natural "ducts" in the earth's magnetosphere. It has recently been discovered that some of the whistlers are synchronized in a way that strongly suggests that some event high up in the magnetosphere triggers some lightning discharges far below near the surface. In other words, lightning is not always a product of activity in the lower atmosphere. (Armstrong, W.C .; "Lightning Triggered from the Earth's Magnetosphere as the Source of Synchronized Whistlers," Nature, 327:405, 1987.) Comment. Ball lightning has been correlated with solar activity and other extraterrestrial influences. See GLB17 in our Catalog Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Moodus Sounds Geologists from New Jersy are preparing to bore a 6-inch hole almost a mile into the Earth's crust on farmland off Sillimanville Road near Moodus (Connecticut). "Once and for all, they hope to determine the exact cause of the 'Moodus Noises' -- sounds that have been likened to the crack of a ball on candlepins in a distant bowling alley. "Indians thought the sounds were the grumblings of an evil spirit, and they named the area 'Machimoodus' or place of noises. "Geologists today say the sounds stem from earthquakes close to the surface. The quakes are so small that most can be measured only with special seismic instruments. But the reasons for the quakes are still the subject of hypothesis." (Barnes, Patricia G.; "Geologists Will Get to the Bottom of Moodus Noises," New Haven Register , April 30, 1987. Cr. J. Singer) From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Toads Fall To Squashy Fate On Route 66, near Gallup, New Mexico, June 1949. "Temperature 104 . Absolute blue sunny skies. No clouds anywhere to be seen, from one horizon to the other for 360 . "Out of nowhere, without warning, it poured extremely hard rain, hail, and toads. The hail balls were maybe the size of grapes to the size of peas. The toads were a medium brown in color and approximately the size of an adult's thumbnail. This whole incident lasted for less than 5 minutes, if my memory is correct. .. .. . "The highway and the desert sands seemed to be one and the same, and the whole area seemed to be alive and moving. By now, we were down to a very slow speed, and under closer observation we noticed that the area was littered with millions of hailstones and those toads hopping all over. "The storm stopped as fast as it started, and the toads disappeared just as fast. I'll never forget how slippery the road was as we drove over those toads, and the popping of their bodies under the tires of my automobile." (Schuler, Richard A.; personal communication, July 23, 1987.) Comment. The sudden onset of the violent storm and the huge numbers of toads are both difficult-to-account for. If a whirlwind picked up ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Studies The April 1990 issue of the Journal of Meteorology, some 63 pages of it, presents us with a wonderful compendium of ball lightning observations. It is un-fortunate that we have room for only a few of the many fascinating descriptions. Giant ball lightning. "The following display of ball lightning was observed by an officer at the coastguard station at Fishguard, Dyfed, West Wales, on 8 June 1977. The occurrence was at 0227 GMT, grid reference SM(12)895389. "The ball lightning phenomenon was very large and estimated to be about the size of a bus. It was described as a brilliant, yellow green, transparent ball with a fuzzy outline which descended from the base of a towering cumulus over Garn Fawr Mountains and appeared to 'float' down the hillside. Intense light was emitted for about three seconds before flickering out. Severe static was heard on the radio. The object slowly rotated around a horizontal axis, and seemed to 'bounce' off projections on the ground. It was noticed that cattle and seabirds in the immediate vicinity became disturbed." (Jones, Ian; "Giant Ball Lightning or Plasma Vortex," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 15:178, 1990.) Reference. Eighteen varieties of ball lightning are cataloged in section GLB in Lightning, Auroras. For more infor mation on this book, visit: here . From ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spinning Ball Of Light Inscribes Crop Circles In the January 1990 issue of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., two reports appeared describing eyewitness observations of crop circles-in-the-making. Both involved a self-luminous spinning ball of light. We reproduce here the second of these accounts. June 28, 1989, north-central Wiltshire, near Silbury Hill. "Soon after midnight the occupier of the roadside cottage by the path which leads to West Kennett Long Barrow noticed a large ball of light 400 metres distant in a wheatfield to the west. At the time of the observation he was walking from house to garage, and had a clear view to the illuminated part of the field through a gap in a hedge which borders his garden. He described the ball as orange in colour, adding that it was brighter around the periphery, and he guessed the diameter as 30-40 feet (say, 10-13 metres). When first seen, the ball was already low over the field and still descending. The witness watched the base of the ball 'go flat' as it made contact with the crop and/or the ground. The ball then gave 'a little bounce' and after a further 'seven or eight seconds' disappeared in. "Next morning on leaving the house the witness could see via the gap in the hedge a large circle at the place which corresponded ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hovering Ball Of Fire June 12, 1991. Braintree, Massachusetts. "One of Earth's rarest and most mysterious weather phenomena occurred in front of Olga Perrow's Braintree home yesterday afternoon. "Ball lightning, an orange-reddish glow of luminosity that Perrow said "looked like a bowling ball," greeted Perrow and her two grandchildren as they drove into the driveway at 665 Commercial St. during the height of yesterday's thunderstorm. "' I was stunned,' Perrow said. "It was so smooth-looking. It was like a big ball of fire.' "Perrow said the ball moved alongside the car up to the front wheel and 'exploded' when the car went into the garage. "' It sounded like a bomb,' she said. "We expected to see a hole in the ground, but there was none.' "Chase Trowbridge, Perrow's grandson, said the ball was hovering about five or six inches off the ground. 'It moved very slowly; we were watching it for about 10 seconds,' he said. 'It was weird.'" (Macrae, Scott; "Powerful Storm Hurls Rare Ball Lightning," Quincy Patriot Ledger , June 13, 1991. Cr. B. Green wood) From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 73: Jan-Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spontaneous human combustion and ball lightning?Mainstream science scarcely acknowledges ball lightning; spontaneous human combustion it ridicules. Recently, G. Egely of the Central Institute of Physics, in Budapest, investigated a case where both phenomena may have been involved. G.T . Meaden, editor of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., summarized Egely's report as follows: "The date was 25 May 1989, and the place a field by the roadside near Kerecsend, a village 109 kilometers from Budapest. The victim was a 27year old engineer within whose body, it is conjectured, ball lightning formed. The man had stopped his car and walked to the edge of a field about ten metres distant to urinate. Suddenly his wife who had remained behind in the car saw that the young man was surrounded by a blue light. He opened his arms wide and fell to the ground. His wife ran to him noticing that one of his tennis shoes had been torn off. Although it looked hopeless she tried to help him, but soon after she was able to stop a passing bus. Amazingly, the bus was filled with medical doctors returning from a meeting; unhappily they immediately pronounced that the man was dead. "At the autopsy a hole was found in the man's heel where the shoe had been. The lungs were torn and damaged, and the stomach and belly were carbonized! This is ...
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