Why people sometimes see weird things.

[Jehanne]

If you’ve ever gone to a dark sky preserve, backpacked deep into the wilderness, or found yourself on an ocean shore far from civilization in the depths of night, you’ve likely marveled at how beautiful the night sky is without the haze of light pollution and been amazed at what it feels like to see the breathtaking glow of the Milky Way sprawling across the night sky.  If, on the other hand, you’d lived in the city your whole life and never seen more than the brightest of stars through the fog of light pollution, you might be more than a little bit surprised to see a ghostly silver cloud glowing in the sky. With that in mind, I think we can find it in our hearts to forgive the citizens of Los Angeles for what seems like a bit of a silly folly during the city-wide power outage of 1994.

During the power outage, which removed the huge amount of light pollution the city of L.A. pumps into the sky, the citizens there were treated to the first clear view of the Milky Way the city had seen in decades (if not the better part of the 20th century). Many of them, unaware of what the Milky Way looked like, placed concerned calls to emergency service lines and the local police to report what appeared to be a very foreign thing in the night sky.

When the lights came back on it was business as usual and the Milky Way (and citizen concerns over aliens, Russians, and other matters) receded into the background.

http://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/in-1994-...out-to-be/

[Exian]

They click vorlon's hide button?

[MTL]

lol....and all that had to happen to cause widespread panic and paranoia was for the lights to go out!!

Imagine how terrified uninformed people would be to encounter phenomena like,

St. Elmo's Fire (the eerie atmospheric light phenomenon...not the Brat Pack flick)

or sun-dogs,

Early mariners of course told tales of impressively-long Sea Serpents...and even drew pictures,
to the great skepticism of land-dwellers:



but now we know this beast was almost certainly the deep-sea dwelling, rarely-seen "Oarfish":



not that long ago, in the more isolated parts of Brazil,
people in small seaside towns were petrified to witness a Red Sprite phenomenon,
high in the sky over the ocean, during a storm
(and understandably so, if you don't know what it is):

[LadyForCamus]

lol....and all that had to happen to cause widespread panic and paranoia was for the lights to go out!!

Imagine how terrified uninformed people would be to encounter phenomena like,

St. Elmo's Fire (the eerie atmospheric light phenomenon...not the Brat Pack flick)

or sun-dogs,

Early mariners of course told tales of impressively-long Sea Serpents...and even drew pictures,
to the great skepticism of land-dwellers:



but now we know this beast was almost certainly the deep-sea dwelling, rarely-seen "Oarfish":



not that long ago, in the more isolated parts of Brazil,
people in small seaside towns were petrified to witness a Red Sprite phenomenon,
high in the sky over the ocean, during a storm
(and understandably so, if you don't know what it is):

Holy TITS! That is one big fucking fish!

[MTL]

Holy TITS!  That is one big fucking fish!

That was a small one.

Another pic:



They're very interesting fish;
I guess in Japan and perhaps other parts of Asia,
they are reputed to be harbingers of earthquakes,
since they have historically been observed to have a tendency of washing up on the shore
shortly before significant earthquakes are felt,
otherwise living deep underwater, near the ocean floor.

It explains why their existence was so fabled and mysterious.

Wiki article

From December 2009 to March 2010, unusual numbers of the slender oarfish
...known in Japanese folklore as the Messenger from the Sea God's Palace,
appeared in the waters and on the beaches of Japan,
the appearance of which is said to portend earthquakes.

Scientists claim that oarfish can be the cause for "Nessie Sightings",
because when they are sick or dying, they float near the surface of the water

Another article

Dozens of the deep-sea denizens were discovered by Japanese fishermen around the time a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile in March 2010.

Kiyoshi Wadatsumi, a specialist in ecological seismology, told the Japan Times, "Deep-sea fish living near the sea bottom are more sensitive to the movements of active faults than those near the surface of the sea."

On the other hand...

[downbeatplumb]

I once heard tell of an intelligent republican, but I for one, am sceptical.

[brewer]

LA, I blame a lack of sufficient quantities of hallucinogens. Those tripping more than likely would have just laid back and enjoyed the ride.

[LadyForCamus]

Holy TITS!  That is one big fucking fish!

That was a small one.

Another pic:



They're very interesting fish;
I guess in Japan and perhaps other parts of Asia,
they are reputed to be harbingers of earthquakes,
since they have historically been observed to have a tendency of washing up on the shore
shortly before significant earthquakes are felt,
otherwise living deep underwater, near the ocean floor.

It explains why their existence was so fabled and mysterious.

Wiki article

From December 2009 to March 2010, unusual numbers of the slender oarfish
...known in Japanese folklore as the Messenger from the Sea God's Palace,
appeared in the waters and on the beaches of Japan,
the appearance of which is said to portend earthquakes.

Scientists claim that oarfish can be the cause for "Nessie Sightings",
because when they are sick or dying, they float near the surface of the water

Another article

Dozens of the deep-sea denizens were discovered by Japanese fishermen around the time a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile in March 2010.

Kiyoshi Wadatsumi, a specialist in ecological seismology, told the Japan Times, "Deep-sea fish living near the sea bottom are more sensitive to the movements of active faults than those near the surface of the sea."

On the other hand...

Holy fuck!!!! That is insane. I would certainly poop myself if that thing swam up to me.