The Min-Min lights

[Graybeard]

Friday Night we were camped on the mountain ... about 700 metres above sea level. As dusk approached I was busy with the campfire and cooking preparation.

Roscoe turned to me and said, 'What do you think that light is over there ?'. Both Arty and I turned and looked and off in the distance at about the same height as ourselves we could see a light, but there was no town in that direction nor any road. So I said it is probably on one of the cooling stacks at Tarong Power Station but Roscoe argued that if that were so it should be red and not white so that aircraft could avoid it. We turned to other things and forgot about it.

Later in the nite, when we were fed and resting in front of the campfire Roscoe suddenly said, 'That light is moving'. At this point we thought the light was about 10klms away, just an assumption, no hard fact.

We looked at the light and in the pitch black it was easy to trace its movements. It stayed within a defined area. If it was 10klm away then it was moving within a boundary of about 1klm radius. But its movement was very peculiar ... vaguely anti-clockwise .. but with loops and spirals and rapid straight bursts, then slow wavy movements.

This was really puzzling. If it was 10klms away then the rapid bursts must have been at 1000's of kilometres per hour, so I argued that it had to be much closer than we thought, otherwise it would outperform any jet fighter plane anywhere. I set off down the gully until the treeline blotted it out, but it seemed to be behind the trees but in front of the next ridge which was maybe 1 kilometre away.

It was fascinating, really and truly, because I only accept material events (no ghosts, UFO's etc) and here was something I couldn't explain ... and it was to get even more bizarre.

I looked away and quickly looked back. The light was in its original position and not moving ... then slowly it moved off on its crazy course again. I looked away again and once again when I looked back it was back in its original position. I got Roscoe and Arty to both do the same and upon looking back it was always in its original position. We tested this many times and it was always the same.

We had a very powerful torch, I shone the torch towards it and it stopped moving. I tried this a number of times and as soon as the torch was switched off it started to move again. It was starting to drive us crazy and we put forward all sorts of explanations. Fata Morgana, the Min-Min light, mirage in the campfire thermals, Animals eyes, etc, etc, but none were really satisfactory ... none seemed to explain its entire behaviour.

So, because it was always in its original place whenever you first glanced at it, I put forward the argument that it must be stationary and we only thought it was moving. Roscoe's argument was that, using up-down, left-right, straight-spiral, we all chant its course together. So we did .... we all chanted its heading left, now up, spiralling down, now straight and slowly to the right, etc, etc.

We all agreed, we all accepted that if it was an hallucination, then we were all seeing the exact same hallucination. All our 'maps' tallied exactly .... so it was moving.

But I was still not convinced. That it was always in the original spot when you first looked seemed to point to the fact that it was stationary, despite what we were seeing. So I got a long stick, straight stick, and sighting it like a rifle along the back of one of the chairs I aimed it directly at the light. The light did not move from the end of the site. Now I got Arty and Roscoe to chant its movements in unison ... for a short period it did not move ... and then it started moving and both my mates started chanting its course .... up down etc ...... ??

Here is the really strange part ..... Tho both had agreed on its course, the light had never shifted from the end of the gun barrel sight. As long as I looked along the stick the light never moved, only the others could see it moving.

This is true, we were not drunk, drugged or in any way other than normal.

If it is still there next time I am determined to find out what it is .... but till then ..Does anyone have any serious conjecture to put forth ?

cool bananas ... greg

[G_burnett]

yea you all got bit by a Boole Boole bug, they hang about the gooseberry bushes and they feel just like the prick of there spines so you dont know they tagged you. it causes rapid eye movement for search of new reference points to speed up so you can have depth perception and the light you saw was a halogen light ... g.

[Bogie]

Darn, that is what I was going to say, the Boole Boole bug. Take a video camera and a tripod next time. Get the thing in your sights and video it from a fixed tripod position. Then compare the video with the visual observations and see if it is really moving or just the Boole bite ... .

[labelwench]

May I suggest air temperature variation and temperature inversion events?

I was standing on my deck one night looking toward the northeast on a very clear night and the stars were very bright......and some of them were moving.......in the most unusual manner.

At first, I was only watching one, and it did many unusual things, much as you describe, and it caused a sense of alert awareness in me. I was going to wake my husband, yet wanted to be sure of my facts before disturbing his rest. It most definitely was not an airplane as the night was still and there was no sound of an engine. The distance was not easy to estimate, yet it was quite close.

As it was hove to, at one point, I glanced around and observed that a few other lights were also moving. The phenomena were several!

Were we being 'invaded'?

I am a most pragmatic creature, and accept that the senses and the brain can vary on their assessment of data. I had several minutes before I had to leave for work, which I spent in watching the sky from various angles.

I had recently read that in the far north, the sun does not appear to be rising and setting at the same point as it has in the past.

Yes. This is most unusual to observe, yet I believe it has an explanation related to air currents, temperature and the rotation of the planet.

At least as far as my mysterious lights are concerned.......

[Graybeard]

yea you all got bit by a Boole Boole bug, they hang about the gooseberry bushes and they feel just like the prick of there spines so you dont know they tagged you. it causes rapid eye movement for search of new reference points to speed up so you can have depth perception and the light you saw was a halogen light ... g.

The light was either Metal Halide or Mercury Vapour. There was no wavering, no diffusing, but a just a straight light .. it was not a reflection.

Darn, that is what I was going to say, the Boole Boole bug. Take a video camera and a tripod next time. Get the thing in your sights and video it from a fixed tripod position. Then compare the video with the visual observations and see if it is really moving or just the Boole bite ... .

Yes ... that was our solution the next morning, but we never had a tripod .... will certainly do so next time

May I suggest air temperature variation and temperature inversion events?

We tried this ... but if so there would have been some wavering, some diffusing ... there was none, the light was a steady source.

One other thing, and this was only a feeling ... as I aimed the gunbarrel towards the light ... and as I was breathing in and out the end of the 'barrel' was lifting and falling ever so slowly ... this was an impression as in the pitch black I had no reference point ... the light appeared to move up and down with the barrel ?


cool bananas ... greg

[labelwench]

Graybeard: Tryin to find out if gooseberries contain vitamins ... they are wild all over the mountain and I ate about 100 .... do you know if they are healthy ??
From the chatbox, responded to here, as such appears to be the scene involved.

Gooseberries should not have contributed either positively or adversely to your visual experience.

They are quite a healthy contribution to nutrition and a fairly concise profile of the attributes of the gooseberry can be found at the following link.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...-juices/1902/2

[Graybeard]

Wow .... thanks for that link ....... I am going to eat them without stint .... lol

This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin A, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C.

cool bananas ... greg

[labelwench]

Wow .... thanks for that link ....... I am going to eat them without stint .... lol

This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin A, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C.

cool bananas ... greg

All things in moderation, lol.....too much fruit and fiber to the unconditioned digestive system can have deleterious effect. When it comes to nutrition and the benefits and adverse effects of various foods, my mother and I devote a lot of time to research, discussion and ponders. Delighted to have put some of it it use.

[Bogie]

I envy you the gooseberries but one caution, have plenty of toilet paper with you in case you get the runs , lol.

[Graybeard]

All things in moderation, lol.....too much fruit and fiber to the unconditioned digestive system can have deleterious effect.

I envy you the gooseberries but one caution, have plenty of toilet paper with you in case you get the runs , lol.

No problem here .... I eat a huge amount of fiber foods .... not for health ... but just because I like. However, my two mates do not have the same constitution, and the peas for dinner that night had both of them running within an hour. lolol

greg