Something happened last night that I can't readily explain. Some of you are already familiar with the story, but here's what happened:
Right around midnight I was sitting here at the computer. All of the lights in the room except for the lamp right next to me were off. Behind me, against the wall, is an antique electric lamp that doesn't work. It used to belong to my great grandmother, and had been sitting in her attic since the 1950's. I've had it for five or six years, tried it with a new bulb and it didn't work. I put the original bulb back in and decided to use it as a show piece instead of a functional lamp. It to my knowledge has never been plugged in aside from that initial test five or six years ago. The filament in the bulb itself is separated from the rest of the bulb, to the point that if you shake the bulb you can see the filament sloshing back and forth.
As I was getting ready to log out and retire to bed, the room started to get very bright, and it was emanating from behind me. I turned around and saw this lamp putting out an intense light, so bright I had to shield my eyes. There's no shade on the lamp, so I was looking directly at the bulb itself. As mysteriously as it began, it faded away. I would say that the entire incident lasted four or five seconds.
My first thought was "power surge" until I realized that (A) the lamp didn't work, (B) the lamp wasn't plugged in, (C) the bulb was over fifty years old and had no filament in it. When I walked back to the lamp, I verified that it wasn't plugged in and I noticed that the bulb was putting off a burnt scent, just like you would expect a bulb that hadn't been used in over fifty years to smell like after it burned for a few seconds. The bulb wasn't blazing hot or anything, but it wasn't exactly as cool as room temperature, either.
I'm a rational man, and I've looked for several different explanations for what happened, and all of them are ruled out due to one or more variables present that would render them unlikely. To clarify; no, I wasn't drunk, and no, I don't use drugs. I'm not prone to hallucination nor was the lamp located in such a way that it could be the reflection of passing carlights or other readily explainable phenomena. I'm truly stumped.
What do you make of it?
Right around midnight I was sitting here at the computer. All of the lights in the room except for the lamp right next to me were off. Behind me, against the wall, is an antique electric lamp that doesn't work. It used to belong to my great grandmother, and had been sitting in her attic since the 1950's. I've had it for five or six years, tried it with a new bulb and it didn't work. I put the original bulb back in and decided to use it as a show piece instead of a functional lamp. It to my knowledge has never been plugged in aside from that initial test five or six years ago. The filament in the bulb itself is separated from the rest of the bulb, to the point that if you shake the bulb you can see the filament sloshing back and forth.
As I was getting ready to log out and retire to bed, the room started to get very bright, and it was emanating from behind me. I turned around and saw this lamp putting out an intense light, so bright I had to shield my eyes. There's no shade on the lamp, so I was looking directly at the bulb itself. As mysteriously as it began, it faded away. I would say that the entire incident lasted four or five seconds.
My first thought was "power surge" until I realized that (A) the lamp didn't work, (B) the lamp wasn't plugged in, (C) the bulb was over fifty years old and had no filament in it. When I walked back to the lamp, I verified that it wasn't plugged in and I noticed that the bulb was putting off a burnt scent, just like you would expect a bulb that hadn't been used in over fifty years to smell like after it burned for a few seconds. The bulb wasn't blazing hot or anything, but it wasn't exactly as cool as room temperature, either.
I'm a rational man, and I've looked for several different explanations for what happened, and all of them are ruled out due to one or more variables present that would render them unlikely. To clarify; no, I wasn't drunk, and no, I don't use drugs. I'm not prone to hallucination nor was the lamp located in such a way that it could be the reflection of passing carlights or other readily explainable phenomena. I'm truly stumped.
What do you make of it?
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