textfiles/ufo/UFOBBS/3000/3295.ufo

SUBJECT: LIGHTS IN THE SKIES & EARTHQUAKE'S                  FILE: UFO3295








by John Stepkowski

For many years people have reported seeing strange lights in the skies before,
during and after an earthquake.  Dr John S. Derr, of the U.S.
Geological Survey, recently said that the existence of earthquake lights
is now well established and that the subject should no longer be ignored.

   The lights are more pronounced in the middle of the shock.  Some
people who have viewed them say they look like searchlights; others say
they look like fireballs.

   Yutaka Yasui, of Japan, collected the only known photographs of
earthquake lights during the Matsushiro earthquake swarm in Japan,
between 1965 and 1967.  He claimed that at least 18 of the 35
sightings reported during that period could not be explained by known
lights, such as meteors or twilight.

   The strongest illumination came during the earthquake that hit China
in 1976.  One seismologist reported that the lights at the centre of the
earthquake were bright enough to turn night into day.  Even up to 320
kilometres from the epicenter of the quake, the lights were bright
enough to wake people up, thinking their room lights had been turned on.

   Experts have come up with two possible causes: violent, low-level air
oscillation and the piezoelectric effect in quartz-bearing rock.  If the
second possibility proves to be the cause, it may be possible to develop
electrical monitoring methods for earthquake predictions. [1]

   Some researchers theorize that earth lights are produced by seismic
stresses beneath the earth.  These stresses are said to generate the high
voltage that creates small masses of ionized gas, which are then released
into the air near the fault line.  Support for this theory can be found at
several locations where earth lights have been reported.  These include:
seven of eight lochs in Scotland - sites of earth lights activity - which
are on a major fault line; the remote valley of Hessdalen, near Norway's
Swedish border, which is in a fault region that has been subjected to
earth tremors; and the Brown Mountain lights of North Carolina, which
could be linked to the nearby Grandfather Mountain fault. [2]

   Several investigators, and predominantly Paul Devereux in the United
Kingdom, have made the link between tectonic, geophysical activity and
anomalous sightings, suggesting strongly that at least some UFOs are the
by-product of natural energies released from inside the Earth.  Such
analysis charts the association of reported UFOs with earthquake activity
and other periods of tectonic strain.

   Experiments conducted in the 1980s have suggested that if certain
types of rocks are brought under extreme pressure this can result in
complex patterns of light emission, though the precise mechanism is
not yet understood. [3]

   While study of earth lights is a modern phenomenon, early
societies were apparently aware of them and incorporated them
into their beliefs and practices.  For example, The native American
Snohomish of Washington State regarded them as doors to the worlds
beyond; while the Yakima, another Washington tribe, believed they
could help them to divine the future.  The Australian Aborigines claim
the spirits of the dead or evil beings manifest themselves as what
they call _min-min_ lights.

   Earth lights also have been linked to locations where sacred
shrines and monuments were erected by early societies.  They have been
seen around Viking burial sites, Himalayan temples, and other mystical or holy
places, such as at England's Glastonbury Tor, the Castlerigg
Stone Circle, and other Megalith sites.

   Not surprisingly, the earth lights phenomena have sparked debate
among those who claim they are terrestrial in origin and others who
feel they are convincing evidence of UFOs.  Researcher Paul Devereux's
theory that earth lights represent an unfamiliar, but terrestrial form
of electromagnetic energy has played a prominent role in at least one
controversial study that suggests energy given off by the lights could
spark changes in the brain that might lead some individuals to imagine
they've had an encounter with a UFO.  In laboratory experiments
electromagnetism has been shown to affect the brain's hippocampus
region, causing a subject to undergo an altered state of
consciousness.  Researchers have been able to duplicate some kinds of
visions and bodily sensations experienced by people who claim to have
come in contact with extraterrestrials. [4]

   Another proponet of the earthlights theory is Michael Persinger.
Persinger has developed what he calls the Tectonic Stress Theory (TST),
which not only suggests that some UFOs are earthlights caused by seismic
activity, but that accompanying EM fields may also be responsible for
inducing hallucinations that might include "Alien" encounters...

   Biological effects of electromagnetic radiation?

   You may be interested that Michael Persinger at Laurentian University
in Ontario has found that EM fields around 5-Hz can induce various
alterations in consciousness ... Persinger also alludes to connexions
between EM fields and transpersonal experiences.  He finds these to be
similar to the experiences reported by individuals with temporal lobe
abnormalities. A sense of the "presence" of some kind of "significant
being" is typical.  Persinger finds reason to support the hypothesis that
many anecdotal reports of UFO contact may in fact be hallucinations
induced by exposure to EM fields.  One could extend the hypothesis and
enquire further regarding culturally accepted forms of religious
experience.

   Persinger MA
Increased geomagnetic activity and the occurrence of bereavement
hallucinations: evidence for melatonin-mediated microseizuring in the
temporal lobe?
-  Neurosci Lett 1988 Jun 7;88(3):271-4
   This study was designed to test the hypothesis that common bereavement
apparitions are hallucinatory experiences evoked by transient electrical
instability within the (glucocorticoid) sensitized mesiobasal temporal
lobes. All first hand reports of 'postmortem apparition' experiences were
collected from a published data base. The days on which the experiences
occurred displayed significantly greater (mean increase = 10 gamma)
geomagnetic activity compared to the days before or afterwards. These
results suggest that bereavement apparitions are situation-specific
hallucinations evoked by microseizures within sensitized temporal lobe
structures

   Gearhart L  Persinger MA
Geophysical variables and behavior: XXXIII. Onsets of historical
and contemporary poltergeist episodes occurred with sudden
increases in geomagnetic activity.
- Percept Mot Skills 1986 Apr;62(2):463-6
  (similar correlation found here as in article above)

   Persinger MA
Geophysical variables and behavior: LV. Predicting the
details of visitor experiences and the personality of experients: the
temporal lobe factor.
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time the information is originally cli@well.sf.ca.us (Jack Sarfatti)
           Subject: Psychotronics Experiments

  [6] -    The UFO Encyclopedia, pp 130-131, Edited by John Spencer,
           London: Headline Books, 1991. ISBN 0-7472-3494-9

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