Australia's Mysterious Min Min Lights |
Almost every single winter during the 1950s a strange phenomenon revisted Della Lanahan's sheep and cattle farm in Queensland, Australia. It was a light that circled the yard a few feet above the gound, flaring to a diameter of almost 15 feet. It collapsed to a tiny, dull red glow when Lanahan shot at it, but soon afterwards brightened and expanded again. After around an hour the light shrank again and disappeared, then reappeared in the distance and darted out of sight. This account was among the 500 or so collected by Fred Silcock during 1993 while researching Australia's mysterious min min lights. Some people believe that the min min lights are examples of exotic, unknown natural phenomenon. Also known as feux follets, will - o' - the wisps, marsh lights, Jack o Lanterns and spooklights, there is a strong correlation to their appearance and areas prone to micro - quakes that contain a mixture of faulting, seismic history, mineral deposits or bodies of water. Michael Persinger, a professor of neuroscience at the Laurentian University, in Canada, suggests that strain fields produced in the flexing of the earth's crust can move through an area and create magnetic and electrical effects that produce these bizarre lights. Medieval Europeans recognized these lights as dragons, faeries, sprites etc... and many cultures still interpret them in that way. In parts of Africa, they are aku, or 'devil'. To many Malaysians they are considered to be pennangal, the ghostly heads of women who have died during childbirth. Around Darjeeling, India, they are thought to be the lanterns of the chota admis, or little men! In many societies they are regarded as religous manifestations. Some even claim they may be the source of the ' foo fighters ' of World War Two, however this seems highly unlikely. They may account though for many UFO sightings, particularly those that fall under the category of nocturnal lights. And while this is probably true, it should be noted that it cannot explain all sightings of this kind. Scientists have also suggested that these balls of light may be caused by the spontaneous ignition of methane (swamp lights), or some other gas. This is also highly improbable as such phenomenon would be short lived, stationary and incapable of controlled movement - quite unlike Frank Wards experience on a night in October of 1938 as he and his father visited an old mill in the back country of rural Georgia, USA. They saw a small bluish light materialize, about knee high, growing from a few inches in diameter to about a foot. They followed it for about a mile along the road, when it veered and floated over a gate and circled an abandoned log cabin. It entered the cabin by the door, flew around inside and then re-emerged, flew back to the road, and began retracing its path. When it came close to Ward it made a low humming noise like that of an electrical transformer. The light returned to precisely where it had first appeared and vanished. Some times balls of light can even appear playful or inquisitive, as police sergeant Tony Dodd found out while on night patrol in the Yorkshire moors, England, in March of 1983. He noticed strange lights out upon the moors, and turned his car beacon lights on. Almost instantly several of the strange lights raced out to his car and began circling it. And author John Keel encountered similar purple lights during research in the Ohio Valley. To his wonderment, they darted quickly to and fro to avoid the beam of his flashlight. Some scientists speculate that energy, if structured in a sufficiently complex way, could possess consciousness. And there are plans to test whether earth lights display true interactive behavior. Wheher or not these tests prove positive, this for now paranormal phenomenon poses a true challenge to the scientific community. |
