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An odd occurrence

I would have passed it off as some kind of fluke, I am not prone to believe in wacky stuff. LIkely i would wonder what it was for the evening and then for a week or so, then end up pushing it into the abyss of my mind where everything else goes that i can't figure out.
 
Does the bulb look any different, (scorch marks or anything)? Have you tried putting a volt meter on the lamp or in the socket just for the heck of it?

Maybe it was an old carbon filament bulb and oxygen made it inside the vacuum causing oxidation which made it briefly glow? Don't know why it would, unless there was electrolysis within the bulb and its socket. Ah hell, I have no idea, I'm just shutting my eyes and throwing darts.
 
So, what are you suggesting here is that you saw some sort of ghostly behavior or something? No offense but I don't believe it. You sure you weren't just tried, sick, stressed, or something? The mind does play some strange tricks on the fatigued.

My guess is that there was a chemical reaction between the metals in the filament. I don't know what metals are in such a filament. But, that is the only thing that makes any sense to me. Why it waited so long to flare up is strange.

Unless the bulb is absolutely ancient, that filament is tungsten and believe me it is not going to spontaneously react. In its pure form tungsten has the highest melting point, lowest vapor pressure, highest tensile strength and lowest coefficient of thermal expansion of any metal. All this makes it great for lightbulb filaments, eletrodes and for strengthen steel, but absolutely lousy for just anything else. So I highly doubt it did anything.

Even if it was say an actual carbon filament bulb, which is about the only other thing it could be if its as old as you're saying Rob, there's absolutely no way its would start spontaneously giving of light. I worked with a lot carbon filaments back when I was a graduate student, as my advisor worked in the field of electrochemistry, and carbon just does not spontaneously give off light on its own.

I've lived here for five years and this is the second weird thing to happen to me. That's not too bad a track record so far. :biggrin:

Second weird thing? What was the first? :confused1
 
Two years ago a pack of cigarettes hurled itself across the room. This was witnessed by eight people, including myself, so if it was an hallucination, it was a mass hallucination.

I didn't bring this up because I don't want it to have any bearing on last night's incident.

So, what are you suggesting here is that you saw some sort of ghostly behavior or something?

Nope. Something I've never seen before and can't explain away is all.


No offense but I don't believe it. You sure you weren't just tried, sick, stressed, or something? The mind does play some strange tricks on the fatigued.

No problem. I wasn't fatigued nor really tired. It was bedtime, but I was forcing myself basically to go to sleep. As most of the night owls here can attest, I often say I'm going to sleep but then pop up to chat about an hour or two later. I'm a lifelong insomniac. But last night, I was neither tired nor stressed.

I've said before, it's possible what happened was some grand hallucination. When you get right down to it, you can explain away anything that doesn't fit into the realm of everyday occurrence as a trick of the mind. Rather than take the easy way out and blame ghosts or fatigue, I want to explore any rational explanations as to what happened. My reason for posting what I did is not to make you believe me or disbelieve me, and I could care less if you think it was all an imagined occurrence.

I don't necessarily believe in ghosts. I'm open minded, though, so take that for what it's worth. I'm an engineer; I deal in absolutes all day. Rather than argue whether or not something actually happened, I try to find a reason for what happened. This was why I enlisted the help of fellow board members who can hopefully point me in the right direction.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
did this by any chance happen when it was Twilight outside, and you were typing away, really in the Zone?
 
Makes you wonder what exactly they are putting in Clubman products these days... :lol:

When it comes to Ghosts, you could call me a believer. Carbon or tungsten filaments, swamp gas, blah. Your house is haunted. :001_smile
 
Glad to see others have chimed in with the paranormal explanation, would have felt downright silly being the only one here stating a belief in ghosts.
 
Stuff like this was bound to start happening ClubmanRob when we started fooling around with all of that Hoyt's, Florida Water, Karanga Water, etc.
 
Time to call TAPS

Not nearly as catchy as "ghostbusters"

What was the weather like that night?
Could be ball lightning, I hear tell that stuff does some crazy things.

Yeah, I've heard crazy stuff too. Nature is wierd :tongue_sm

I'm the superstitious type, and believe in spirits, ghosts, and what have you. I've been in some places that definitely felt haunted. So from that statement I think you can guess what I think caused it, or maybe there is some explanation I'm missing.

+1. I've never experienced anything, but both my parents have and I believe them.


My guess is that there was a chemical reaction between the metals in the filament. I don't know what metals are in such a filament. But, that is the only thing that makes any sense to me. Why it waited so long to flare up is strange.

This is an interesting option. From the posts above it seems unlikely, but other than the paranormal I'd say this is the most likely.

Two years ago a pack of cigarettes hurled itself across the room. This was witnessed by eight people, including myself, so if it was an hallucination, it was a mass hallucination.

That's crazy!
 
I blame the chupa cabra:tongue_sm
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I wouldn't rule out anything paranormal. There is much in this world we have yet to think about beginning to understand. Ball lightning is usually a bit more violent than that, from what I have read.
I know several people with...odd happenings in their lives. My best friend's mom had a friend who died leave a message on another friend's answering machine. It was several weeks after the fact, and they ruled out all the usual skeptic possibilities. I think she still has the tape. It messed her up for a while.
There is a house on base here where my buddy used to spend the night all the time. The chairs at the table got moved around a lot, while everyone was in the living room. Couldn't ever explain it.
 
"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."

To tell the truth I've seen things that can't be explained. Don't lose sleep over it, just accept it. Maybe it was Grandma just looking in on you!
 
Does the bulb look any different, (scorch marks or anything)? Have you tried putting a volt meter on the lamp or in the socket just for the heck of it?

Maybe it was an old carbon filament bulb and oxygen made it inside the vacuum causing oxidation which made it briefly glow? Don't know why it would, unless there was electrolysis within the bulb and its socket. Ah hell, I have no idea, I'm just shutting my eyes and throwing darts.

No, no scorch marks. It looks exactly like I remember it looking the last time I had it up close, just with more dust. I haven't put a voltmeter to it, though.


Glad to see others have chimed in with the paranormal explanation, would have felt downright silly being the only one here stating a belief in ghosts.

Roughly half of America believes in ghosts. That's nothing to feel silly about. People have been documenting cases of supernatural occurrences since the dawn of time.

Stuff like this was bound to start happening ClubmanRob when we started fooling around with all of that Hoyt's, Florida Water, Karanga Water, etc.

I thought that was supposed to keep the spirits away?

was it a day of particular significance in your great grandmother's life? anniversary of her death, wedding, birthday, something like that? just a thought.

Not that I know of. She was born in January and died in February. Her anniversary was in May. Her children had birthdays of January and February. I think if this were the case she would have picked a less ambiguous date to manifest.

I wouldn't rule out anything paranormal. There is much in this world we have yet to think about beginning to understand. Ball lightning is usually a bit more violent than that, from what I have read.
I know several people with...odd happenings in their lives. My best friend's mom had a friend who died leave a message on another friend's answering machine. It was several weeks after the fact, and they ruled out all the usual skeptic possibilities. I think she still has the tape. It messed her up for a while.
There is a house on base here where my buddy used to spend the night all the time. The chairs at the table got moved around a lot, while everyone was in the living room. Couldn't ever explain it.

I don't rule out anything paranormal, but I don't like to go there until all other possibilities have been explored. I think you can rule out about 90% of all "paranormal" events with good old science, it's the other 10% that makes you go "hmmm".

To tell the truth I've seen things that can't be explained. Don't lose sleep over it, just accept it. Maybe it was Grandma just looking in on you!

I accept that what happened to me wasn't a hallucination or a trick of the mind, but other than that your guess is as good as mind. It doesn't bother me or frighten me, it just irks me that i can't readily explain what it was.
 
Was there a source of radio frequency radiation nearby? I've lit light bulbs with RF before, we used to use them to test transmitters, but they were typically fluorescent, not incandescent, bulbs. I doubt it's the cause because the RF source would have to be strong and close, depending on the frequency, and it would have affected other bulbs as well. I lean more toward a paranormal explanation.
 
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