Dark Shadow and Ripple of Light; Ball Lightning or My own Ghost Tale?

[kach22i]

Dark Shadow and Ripple of Light; Ball Lightning or My own Ghost Tale?

Last night sitting on the couch with my wife we experienced something very strange. I'll tell you what happened, you try to explain it, no attacking the messenger please.

It was the time of the evening not quite dark out but getting dimmer (twilight), about a half hour before the actual darkness of night. We keep our shades pulled all the way down for privacy in our urban single-family house setting. We had just gotten through eating dinner in front of the TV watching SCI-Fi channel’s Enterprise on VHS tape and were just a couple minutes into the “Dresden Files” TV program.

My wife and I continued our commercial break conversation; she was telling me about her second day of work after being unemployed for over a year. She is making a little less than before, but something is better than nothing. Anyway, it was approaching 7:00 PM (twilight) and I’m looking for a pause in her talking (all the married guys know what I’m talking about) so I could grab the remote and the TV guide. Suddenly but very subtlety she pauses, kind of looking over my shoulder like she sees something. I notice out of the corner of my eye a shadow moving high on the wall across the room, which is what she later told me she also saw. Just as I’m thinking how odd it is a shadow is moving counterclockwise IN the room, the dark turns to light and becomes a flash, a ripple of light so intense be both froze and jumped at the same time and then looked at each other in disbelief.

What was that, she said? You saw it too, I said to her?

She got up and went to the door pulling up the shade on the door as she said it might have been the front porch light going out. No the light is still on, it did not go out with a flash. We checked all the other lights, none had been on (see drawing for “L” or Lamp locations), and all were working fine.

I said it may have been the TV, I rewound the tape, sure enough on the TV program there were “flashes” as Dresden was looking at some dead bodies, but the flashes as played back were nowhere as intense as we both remembered. The conditions could not be repeated.

Maybe it was a street light my wife said, no I said the lights at either end of the block are just too far away and it really was not dark enough outside at the time for us to notice them or to even been on. Besides we can’t even get the city to replace the burnt out one at the end of the bock, been calling them for two years to get it fixed.

Our cat acted like nothing happened, so I'm not looking for a supernatural explanation. The two people who have died in our 1920's house have never been "active" in the 15 years we lived here.

Dark Shadow and Ripple of Light; Ball Lightning or My own Ghost Tale?

[Flatbutt1]

perhaps it was the manifestation of the naughty thoughts you were having?

[the]

You just entered the Time-of-the-Evening-Not-Quite-Dark-But-Getting-Dimmer Zone.

[Joeaksa]

Neighbour kids playing with a Tesla coil again???

[CJFusco]

These may sound like ridiculous questions, but paranormal events usually follow certain patterns:

How long have you owned your home? Are you the first owner? Do you have any children, specifically between the ages of 10 and 16? Have there been any recent deaths in the family?

There is a phenomenon called "shadow people" (don't laugh), which paranormal experts have separated from ghosts, hauntings, and poltergeists into its own separate category. Here is some info from Wikipedia, but the best source for this is a radio show called COAST TO COAST AM. If you want, I might be able to dig up an appropriate episode from the show's archives online:

"Shadow people (also known as Shadow men, shadow folk or shadow beings) are a purported supernatural phenomenon in which observers report seeing a dark form at the edge of their field of vision that disintegrates, or moves between walls, when noticed, usually within a split second.

Reports of shadow people are similar to purported ghost sightings, but differ in that shadow people are not reported as having human features, wearing modern/period clothing, or attempting to communicate. Witnesses also do not report the same feelings of being in the presence of something that 'was once human'.

Some individuals have described being menaced, chased, or (more rarely) attacked by shadow people (Some people see them with a weapon when attacked.); there have also been reports of shadow people appearing in front of witnesses or lingering for several seconds before disappearing. Typically, encounters are accompanied by a feeling of dread, although this may be simply distress of viewing such an event.

Most accounts of shadow people describe them as black humanoid silhouettes with no discernible mouths, noses, eyes, or any expression whatsoever, though purported witnesses have also described child-sized humanoids or shapeless masses. Some reports also include glowing red eyes. Generally, they are described as lacking mass, though their specific nature varies from a two-dimensional shadow to a vaporous or distorted three-dimensional form. Alleged images of shadow people have been posted on the internet, including one of a shadow person in a cemetery.

Their movement is often described as being very quick and disjointed; they may first move slowly, as if they were passing through a heavy liquid, and then rapidly "hop" to another part of a witness' surroundings. Some witnesses describe this movement as though the shadow entities they have seen "danced" from one wall to the next."

Wiki URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people

[kach22i]

Originally posted by CJFusco
Witnesses also do not report the same feelings of being in the presence of something that 'was once human'.

There was no creapy ghostly feelings or sensation of presence.

It really was like a cloud blocked out the sun, and a bolt of lightning flashed. However, it was IN my house.

[CJFusco]

Hmmm that is bizarre. What made me initially think "shadow sighting" was that you saw it out of the corner of your eye - a common scientific explaination for "shadow people" is Pareidolia (from the Wiki):

"In most instances, witnesses report seeing shadow people in the peripheral areas of their vision. This areas of vision is linked to the areas of the brain that recognizes patterns, however it provides less detail to the brain than Macula (Center-forward) vision. This can lead to a condition know as pareidolia, in which the brain incorrectly interprets random patterns of light/shadow or texture as being familiar patterns such as faces and human forms.[2] The same condition can also be observed in Macula vision in low light conditions, or when viewing a complex but random image. A common example would be perceiving a shadow, thrown by an item of furniture in a darkened room, as being a person."

[kach22i]

Originally posted by CJFusco
Hmmm that is bizarre. What made me initially think "shadow sighting" was that you saw it out of the corner of your eye

The shadow phase was the corner of my eye, but my wife was looking right at it over my shoulder!

We both describe the light part as a "ribbon", she turned her whole head and body to see that part of it.

I turned my head just in time to see the dark to light transition. I turned my head to see the shadow, but it was gone, then the ripple of light - like light off the waves of a lake.

[masraum]

Sounds like an interesting experience.

I'm open to the possibility of ghosts or other weird stuff that's not quickly, easily, or readily explained by current science, but I'm generally skeptical. I'd actually love to see a ghost or something like that.

What I know of you from this board, I'm not quick to think "whatever, he's a nutjob." So this is pretty neat. Keep us informed.

[M.D. Holloway]

Could it have been a light bulb or smoke detector shorting out? Did you smell any o-zone?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally posted by CJFusco
These may sound like ridiculous questions, but paranormal events usually follow certain patterns:

How long have you owned your home? Are you the first owner? Do you have any children, specifically between the ages of 10 and 16? Have there been any recent deaths in the family?

There is a phenomenon called "shadow people" (don't laugh), which paranormal experts have separated from ghosts, hauntings, and poltergeists into its own separate category. Here is some info from Wikipedia, but the best source for this is a radio show called COAST TO COAST AM. If you want, I might be able to dig up an appropriate episode from the show's archives online:

"Shadow people (also known as Shadow men, shadow folk or shadow beings) are a purported supernatural phenomenon in which observers report seeing a dark form at the edge of their field of vision that disintegrates, or moves between walls, when noticed, usually within a split second.

Reports of shadow people are similar to purported ghost sightings, but differ in that shadow people are not reported as having human features, wearing modern/period clothing, or attempting to communicate. Witnesses also do not report the same feelings of being in the presence of something that 'was once human'.

Some individuals have described being menaced, chased, or (more rarely) attacked by shadow people (Some people see them with a weapon when attacked.); there have also been reports of shadow people appearing in front of witnesses or lingering for several seconds before disappearing. Typically, encounters are accompanied by a feeling of dread, although this may be simply distress of viewing such an event.

Most accounts of shadow people describe them as black humanoid silhouettes with no discernible mouths, noses, eyes, or any expression whatsoever, though purported witnesses have also described child-sized humanoids or shapeless masses. Some reports also include glowing red eyes. Generally, they are described as lacking mass, though their specific nature varies from a two-dimensional shadow to a vaporous or distorted three-dimensional form. Alleged images of shadow people have been posted on the internet, including one of a shadow person in a cemetery.

Their movement is often described as being very quick and disjointed; they may first move slowly, as if they were passing through a heavy liquid, and then rapidly "hop" to another part of a witness' surroundings. Some witnesses describe this movement as though the shadow entities they have seen "danced" from one wall to the next."

Wiki URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people

Link to a Shadow Man

http://www.stomachmonkeys.com/portfolio/video.html

[Moses]

Alien abduction. Is your rear end a little sore?

[kach22i]

I just talked to my buddy a Vietnam Vet with many near death experiences and who has practiced just about every religion out there as well having a great knowledge of history. He right away thought of shadow people. However I explained the light thing and he mentioned alternate universes, portals through time and some other cool stuff.

I analyzed the room based on my artist knowledge of light and shadow, things you need to know so you can draw and paint.

What I'm showing as a "portal" could just be the window at the top of the stair landing which I forgot to show in the first sketch. If the sun or some car headlights reflected off something and into our house, but there was an object in the way as the car turned, we just maybe I have an explanation – it’s a real stretch either way.

[M.D. Holloway]

This never would have happened if you were doing the dishes, the laundry and mopping the floor like a good house minion - sloth and leisure are your problems not apparitions!

[Nostril Cheese]

acid flashback?

[kach22i]

My mind light up when my friend asked when (time of day/night) this happened.

Twilight................I said

Him............why do you think they callled the show that? It happens then.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088634/

Trivia:
The phrase "Twilight Zone" comes from the Air Force. It was a term to describe when a plane flies into the upper atmosphere and goes from light into darkness.

http://www.answers.com/topic/twilight-zone

twilight zone
n.

An area of ambiguity between two distinct states or conditions: a twilight zone between good and evil.

Opening Monologue - Twilight Zone
http://tzone.the-croc.com/open.html

Various Twilight Zone Openings

"You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call the Twilight Zone."

"You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination - Next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone!"

* "This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality: you're on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable...Go as far as you like on this road. Its limits are only those of mind itself. Ladies and Gentlemen, you're entering the wondrous dimension of imagination. Next stop....The Twilight Zone."

*This opening was never used.

[kach22i]

From the boatdesign.net forum.

Originally Posted by Eric W. Sponberg

Well, as one who has had plenty of ghostly encounters as a ghost tour guide here in St. Augustine (one of my other lives), I would not discount the possibility of it being a ghost. What you describe are exactly the type of apparitions that we experience on ghost tours here. They are the same all over the world--this is how ghosts appear.

In fact, I attach a photo of some ghosts taken by one our our guests on the ghost tour. Note the two bright "energy ribbons" across the screen. There is a mist in between the energy ribbons, and in the mist you can also see three dark humanoid forms. To the right in the photo, you can see the back of a man wearing a black hat and a white work shirt. These are ghosts--they are visible on a camera (which is more sensitive) and not necessarily visible to the naked eye, although people who are sensitive to ghosts do experience apparations such as you have experienced without the aid of a camera. This photo was taken on a modern digital camera.

Not surprised in St. Augustine--

Eric

[motion]

What's all the hubbub... you got to change the channel, right? Probably related to the flashes on the show you were watching. You comfirmed yourself that there were flashes on the tape. Sounds like too strong of a coincidence to ignore.

[M.D. Holloway]

It would be truly comforting to have a scientifically confirmed existance of ghosts. Beyond faith there is nothing that assures us there is someting beyond the infinity of death.

For me, I hope there are such things.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by kach22i
...However I explained the light thing and he mentioned alternate universes, portals through time and some other cool stuff....

Do you have kids? If you do, the last thing you want is a time/space continuum porthole they could fall into.