Intense Sky Strobe Costa Rica 1992

Blake

New Member
I thought I'd try here to see if anyone has any good idea for what I saw way back in April 1992 while visiting Costa Rica. Somewhere in a shoebox I have an old newspaper clipping with some details of what others saw that day, at least confirming I wasn't alone in seeing 'something'. Unfortunately, if you try Googling for information, there are a number of references to an April Fools article that the Tico Times (English language newspaper) ran parodying other newspaper reporting. (The sightings took place on April 2, and they couldn't help themselves). Also unfortunately, many others didn't get the joke and cite the Tico Times article, making digging through online archives frustrating. I'll post that article at the bottom (Yes, it's bunk).

But, despite the joke, the Tico Times was drawing on elements of what was being reported at the time, including events at and around Arenal Volcano. I was actually sitting on a boulder on the side of Arenal with two other tourists, Joanna and Matz, at 3:30 in the morning of April 2, 1992. We had hired a guy in a Jeep to drive us up there in the middle of the night because the volcano was occluded by clouds during day and locals told us if we wanted to see the lava flow, we'd need to go up at night when the skies were clear. This was a pretty dumb idea, all in all. The Jeep dropped us off and left, and we were stuck up there until dawn, on an active volcano making sounds like Thor's hammer. This was when we first noticed the strobe. We couldn't see the source, but it was seemingly 'just around the corner' and out of sight. I remember Matz said something first, along the line of 'Uh, is everyone else seeing that light flash?'. The best I can describe, it was as if a group of people just out of sight were taking pictures with a strobe attachment (over and over and over), roughly 3 flashes, then pause, then 3 flashes, then pause. This went on, completely consistently until dawn gathered and washed out the light source. And, as if we hadn't figured out yet that we were pretty foolish, after we had hiked a fair bit back down to the main road, the volcano gave a loud rumble and vented a cloud of steam and ash. I have the picture.

Now, here's where it gets odd, and what I'm hoping you all can help me understand. As it happens, some 16 hours after sitting on Arenal, I was back in San Jose, around 8:30PM walking from the Escalante neighborhood to a bar to meet a couple girls. As I was walking through the residential neighborhood, I fully expected to turn a corner and see the scene of an accident or house fire or something. The roofs of the houses were lighting up as if being illuminated by the strobes of an emergency vehicle. I'd turn a corner, see no vehicles, yet continue to see the roofs being lit up with some kind of strobing light. After walking for 10 minutes or so, I turned a corner onto a main wide avenue with a clear view into the city. And, there wasn't an accident scene, instead, there was a strobing light source, positioned behind a thin layer of clouds, roughly 5 or 10 degrees relative to my position above the hills in the background. When this thing flashed, it was throwing shadows despite the relatively bright street lamps and ambient light.

I had not yet made the connection that I'd probably seen this 16 hours before on Arenal, but at that moment, I'm thinking I'm seeing a UFO. And, I'm also thinking about the two cute girls waiting for me at the bar, and at 19-years-old, I had my priorities straight. And, in any case, what can I do about it? I sure as heck am not going to make a fool of myself and drag the girls out to see what I think is a UFO. After a few hours at the bar, I'm waking back to where I'm staying. The strobing light is still there, hasn't moved as far as I can tell, and is still throwing shadows. I think briefly about waking up my host family just past midnight to come take a look, but think better of it. My bedroom window faced an interior courtyard, and I fall asleep watching the courtyard lighting up with every strobe.

I'm not sure exactly when I put it together that I had probably seen the strobe from two locations, 16 hours apart, but certainly by breakfast the next morning with my host family, I had a tale to tell. We also had guests over that morning, and so I had a whole (very skeptical) audience with whom to regale my adventure. I told them about the strobe on the volcano, and seeing it again just walking down the street in the neighborhood the night before. At the time I'm telling my story, I had not seen any newspaper accounts of any sightings, and my 'audience' that morning hadn't either. They were happy to listen to my wild tale, and humored me, but I clearly wasn't convincing anybody I had seen a UFO.

That is, until the newspapers started running story. Unlike the over-the-top Tico Times parody, the newspapers confirmed a nation-wide power outage just past midnight, with the source of the disturbance being high-voltage transmission lines near Arenal. Further, weather experts were quoted as saying that due to unusual atmospheric activity, many people had witnessed 'halos' around celestial objects. So, something had happened, and people saw strange things in the sky.

But what could I have really seen that day? I'm older, wiser, not a true believer, and I have not a clue.

Here's the Tico Times article (Yes THIS ARTICLE IS PARODY!) but it is a parody of a sighting that I myself, and others, had.

UFO-Newsclipping-Service-1992-08-no-277.jpg
 
I wonder if it was some kind of heavy electrical equipment that was malfunctioning? Perhaps it was a periodic arcing from some kind of high voltage system? Did you hear any kind of sounds alongside it? If it was far off it may have been pretty muffled esp if their was temperature inversion.
 
the volcano was occluded by clouds during day
was it clear at night, or cloudy?
roughly 3 flashes, then pause, then 3 flashes, then pause. This went on, completely consistently until dawn gathered and washed out the light source.
my first guess is a lighthouse reflecting off clouds, but it's 100km to the sea, so that seems a bit far-fetched. On the other hand, a nation-wide power outage would remove almost all light pollution from the sky, and might make a faraway light source easier to see.

(My second guess would be something like the Hessdalen lights, caused by tectonic/volcanic activity somehow. It's even more far-fetched than the first.)
And, there wasn't an accident scene, instead, there was a strobing light source, positioned behind a thin layer of clouds, roughly 5 or 10 degrees relative to my position above the hills in the background. When this thing flashed, it was throwing shadows despite the relatively bright street lamps and ambient light.
Are you certain this was the same kind of strobe?
You described the first strobe as repeating 3 flashes and then a pause, and the second strobe compares to an "emergency vehicle", which would be more regular?
he newspapers confirmed a nation-wide power outage just past midnight, with the source of the disturbance being high-voltage transmission lines near Arenal.
You saw a strobe on the volcano on April 2nd from 3:30 in the morning to dawn. Then you saw a strobe again on April 2nd after nightfall, up until midnight? And there was no power outage for that sighting since you recall street lights? The power outage happened while you were out on the volcano, and was presumably repaired during the day?

It kinda makes sense for lights in the sky to be reported during a power outage, because then the sky is better visible, and more people look up.

My third guess is a tumbling satellite reflecting the sun.
 
So, as for timing of the power outage, my understanding from the newspaper reports was that the nation-wide outage had occurred just after midnight on April 2nd and had lasted around an hour. By the time I was on the volcano a few hours later, power had apparently been restored. Sitting on the side of the volcano, it was very dark and cloudless. We could, however, see the artificial lighting on the Lake Arenal dam below us in the distance. Note that the power generation station is not located at the dam. Elsewhere on the lake, water is diverted into a long penstock/pipe and the generation station is therefore quite far from the dam. Just now, using Google Earth, I measured the distance and we were approximately 20 miles as the crow flies from the generating station.

Electrical arcing is a possible explanation for the strobe seen on the volcano. The duration and the consistency of the strobe, if explained by arcing, would be an unusual set of circumstances. We were also quite far from the generating station, though I can't rule out there being other high-voltage equipment closer to us.

Was what I saw in San Jose the same phenomenon some 60 miles and 16 hours separated in time? Who knows? In San Jose, the point source of the bright strobing light was clearly visible from the wide avenue, was definitely in the sky, and in the opposite direction of the volcano (I was walking south, volcano is north-west-ish from San Jose). There was a skiff of clouds, and whatever the source, it was clearly behind the clouds.

In neither place was there any sound associated with the strobe. I think what struck me most, in both locations, was the shadows it was throwing. Even without seeing the source of the light on the volcano, when this thing strobed, we'd see our shadows. Same thing in San Jose, despite the ambient light.

For a little contemporary perspective, we recently moved to Williamstown Massachusetts, and nearby on top of Mt Greylock (tallest mountain in Massachusetts) is the Veterans War Memorial. It is literally built as a lighthouse, and was recently upgraded with a 1.9 million lumen LED light array. When I pick my son up at his school after dark, the tower is clearly visible on the ridge line about 4.5 miles distant. It is an obvious and very bright light. It is nowhere near as bright, not even close, to what I was witnessing in San Jose. It certainly doesn't cast shadows in the parking lot of my son's school.
 
I can't add anything super-ubstantive, other then to chime in on the "coincidence" of the major power outage. That seems the sort of situation that might set off some arcing -- or possibly some emergency flashers. I do wonder if the light seen from the volcano and the light seen back in town might be two different emergency flashers of the same design, and thus the same flash pattern? What you describe seems awfully bright for that, but it would not have to be AS bright if it were several local lights rather than one light visible from such widely separated points.
 
There was a new moon on April 2nd, 1992, according to timeanddate.com .

It's really difficult because it was so long ago, we can't check for aircraft, and even military activity might be difficult.

Some more thoughts/guesses:

a) arc welding: dot dot dot shift ... etc.

b) a bright light in the sky might be a battlefield flare, but it wouldn't strobe

c) police helicopter with search beam

I'm also wondering how you're certain that the light was behind the "wisp of cloud", and not projected onto it, perhaps you could talk about that some more?

I'm not really clear on the timeline, either. The Tico Times dates from April 3rd, so the newspapers it parodied would've come out April 2nd, before your evening in San Jose? Then which sightings would they have documented?
 
Just now, using Google Earth, I measured the distance and we were approximately 20 miles as the crow flies from the generating station.
can you give us coordinates (the link is even better) of where you were on the volcano?
 
Here's the Tico Times article (Yes THIS ARTICLE IS PARODY!) but it is a parody of a sighting that I myself, and others, had.
Article:
UFO News Article:
" 'Tamal'-Type UFO Blamed for Blackout"

3 April 1992
(The Tico Times, Costa Rica)

Sources: U.F.O. Newsclipping Service, Plumerville, Arkansas and AFU.se

The whole article (Page 13):
"An unidentified flying object (UFO) using what officials describe as a 'tractor beam' sapped electrical energy from the Arenal hydroelectric plant early Thursday morning [2 April 1992], causing a nationwide blackout that lasted half an hour, officials said.
'It was the most incredible thing I ever saw,' said Arenal plant manager Ingenuo Tomapelo. 'The thing just hovered there for several minutes shining this tractor beam down onto the main generator.'
Tomapelo said he witnessed the event from the window of the plant's control room where he watched helplessly as the gauges registered dropping energy output.
'It looked like a tamal, just like the kind my grandmother used to make, except that it glowed,' said Tomapelo. 'They drained all our power in a matter of minutes.'

NATIONAL Emergency Commission President Jorge Trejos said the commission received reports of UFO sightings from the Guanacaste provincial capital of Liberia to the small town of La Fortuna at the foot of the Arenal volcano.
From these reports the Emergency Commission approximated the route of the UFO. It was first reported spotted over Liberia around 12:15 a.m., spotted over Canas at 12:16 and made its appearance at the Arenal plant only two minutes later.
After several minutes of hovering over the plant, it sent down its tractor beam at 12:21. Three minutes later, the lights went out all over the country and the UFO immediately abandoned the Arenal plant.

AT about 12:30, Ernesto de la Verdad, manager of the El Volcan restaurant in La Fortuna, reported seeing the UFO hover briefly over Arenal Volcano before disappearing inside the crater.
'We were watching the volcano with some tourists, and all of a sudden we see this glowing object over the crater,' de la Verdad told The Tico Times. 'At first we thought it had something to do with an eruption, but then we saw we could make out its shape. It looked like a tamal, exactly like my grandmother used to make, except that it glowed.'
One alert tourist, April Fuller, from Oshkosh, Wisconsin took a picture of the alien craft.

MINISTER of Public Security Luis Fishman ordered Civil Guardsmen to the top of the volcano to investigate the strange occurrence and enlisted the assistance of tour operator Gabino Hidalgo, who offers a controversial crater tour that many believe to be dangerous (TT, March 20).
President Rafael Angel Calderon told reporters that he had no knowledge of the UFO, but welcomed any positive contributions the aliens could make to the country."

My comment: The newspaper presents April Fuller's UFO photograph (shows a self-luminous (disk shaped?) object).

http://files.afu.se/Downloads/Magaz...O Newsclipping Service - 1992 08 - no 277.pdf
 
report on volcano doesnt mention anything really on that day (google translate)
External Quote:

The seismic activity recorded at the Fortuna station continued at a moderate level, with an average of 15 events per day and peak activity on the days 4 and 28 march. The volcanic tremor record increased mainly on the days 11,13,18.

April: The westward flowing flow stopped at its northern tongue, while the southern tongue continued its slow advance toward the flat area. Strombolian explosions continued, spaced from minutes to hours apart. Exhalation activity continued in the cuspid area of craters C and D.

The seismic activity recorded at Fortuna station showed a moderate decrease compared to previous months. A maximum of 16 events was recorded on the 18th. The average number of events per day was 8. The main tremor activity was recorded on the 9th to 15th, and on the 21st, 23rd, 25th, and 27th and 28th.
https://rsn.ucr.ac.cr/images/Biblio...OSIVAM/09_10_BoletinOVA_05_diciembre_1992.pdf
 
a) arc welding: dot dot dot shift ... etc.

I think a typical welder will instantaneously dissipate about 3-4 kW, which would provide 3-4 * 10^5 lm were it a modern LED. That would be a third of the million lumen example LED array that was deemed not as bright as the light in question. So I think we're looking at something higher than the 200A x 20V domain, one way or the other (or both).
 
Ok - first, thanks for engaging everyone!

Approximate coordinates of where we were on the volcano: 10.470154, -84.718445
I think we were higher up than that, but directionally, this is pretty close. (There was also no vegetation where we were at the time) This jives with my memory of where the dam was relative to our position, and the fact that once it was light enough we hiked down to the Tabacon Free Hot Springs and it wasn't a super long hike. As for the source of the light, if we were looking up at the crater, it appeared to be coming from our right, out-of-sight around the mountain. As for lava flow, our original plan was to hike up to the flow, before realizing that was a dumb idea. It was quite far up from where the jeep had dropped us and scrambling over boulders in the dark was idiotic, so we didn't.

As far as volcanic activity that day, it wasn't anything of note, given how spectacular recent eruptions had been. The 'poof' we saw once off the mountain would be in line with the description above: "Strombolian explosions continued, spaced from minutes to hours apart". We

Time Line (approximate)
April 2, 12:15 AM Newspaper reports indicate there was a nation-wide power outage. I was unaware of this until reading it in the papers.
April 2, 3:30 AM Power has been restored. I am on the volcano seeing the strobing light - again, no source was seen.
April 2, 5:00 AM Getting bright enough that we could no longer see the strobing - and we start to hike down soon after.
April 2, 6:00 AM Volcano goes 'poof' after we're off the mountain

April 2, 8:30 PM Back in San Jose walking to a bar from barrio Escalante. Seeing reflection of strobing lights on the roofs of houses.
April 2, 8:45 PM Turn onto a main avenue with clear view to the horizon. VERY bright strobing light source in the sky above the horizon
April 2, 11:45 PM Leave bar, strobing light source still there, hasn't moved as far as I can tell.
April 3, 12:15 AM Back at my host's house in barrio Escalante, watching the courtyard outside my widow light up with every pulse.

April 3, ???? Tico Times parody and other papers report on previous day sightings and power outage.

Tico Times picture is likely a complete fabrication - April Fuller = April Fooler when pronounced with the Spanish "U" and most of the other names are a play on words. "Earnest of the Truth", etc. I included the Tico Times article so that if you go looking for information, find this, you'll know Tico Times was poking fun at the real news event.

Could the strobe light in San Jose been projected onto the cloud cover? This is an interesting idea. Possibly? I interpreted the strobing light source being behind the clouds because looking directly at it, it appeared to be a very bright point source of light, diffused by the cloud cover into something roughly (very roughly) moon-sized in diameter from my perspective. Projection hadn't occurred to me, but I'll only say that despite the diffusion of the clouds, the light still had directionality. Would a focused projected light onto a cloud cover have directionality when reflected? As I started out walking through the neighborhood, the reflections on the house roofs was clearly coming from a particular direction, thus my thinking originally that I was going to turn a corner and see emergency vehicles. I knew I was walking toward the source of the light just by the shadow play and reflections I was seeing.
 
The best I can describe, it was as if a group of people just out of sight were taking pictures with a strobe attachment (over and over and over), roughly 3 flashes, then pause, then 3 flashes, then pause. This went on, completely consistently until dawn gathered and washed out the light source

One of the first things I'll note, is that this happened ~35 years ago. Not in any way doubting you, it's just then when going over old events the one thing for certain is that human memory doesn't work nearly as well as many of us think it does. What you actually saw and what you remember seeing could be quite different.

This is completely normal. Experiences get changed and confabulated in memory, especially over time. Events get entangled and merged or what we remember becomes different. Costa Rica is tropical and thunderstorms with lighting are common. We were down in Uvita in February, the dry season, and still had a number of lightening shows a few nights. Arenol and La Fortuna are even more prone to thunderstorms up in the highlands. What you experienced, in both places, sounds a lot like lightening, except for the remembered regularity. Perhaps it was really more random than you remember it being?

12:15 AM Back at my host's house in barrio Escalante, watching the courtyard outside my widow light up with every pulse.

We, last month, literally dozed off watching the sky light up, just like you did. And in 35 years, I may remember it quite differently ;).

This was a pretty dumb idea, all in all.

Love it! Part of the adventure. A bit off topic, but we decided to drive around Lake Arenol. The drive outbound from La Fortuna on the North shore is a decent road with sodas and little towns, an Austrian themed village and what not. The return trip along the south shore, not so much. We ended up on a rough dirt road that, while it was getting us closer to town, it was getting worse and worse. 3 of our maps showed the road going ALL the way around the lake. 1 map showed it getting very close to civilization, then ending and not connecting to the rest of the road around the lake.

Getting late in the day and low on gas, we discovered the discrepancies in the maps. A 50–75-yard river fording. Yes, the road "technically" continued, but only if you drove across the Caña Negro the river, where the road picked back up. Our little Suzuki Jimny had down well so far and was a 4x4 but had tiny street tires. While fretting what to do, some local Ticos came by in Can Am X3 (a badass side by side) and said "Passe!!". The first handed us beers then insisted we follow them across the river :oops:. We made it, but as you say, "a pretty dumb idea".

And, my wife insists that upon renting said Jimny, we were told we could go off road, it is Costa Rica, but we were forbidden to "drive it in to ocean, make our own roads or ford rivers with it". Personally, I have no memory the "no fording rivers" part of the conversation :D.
 
What I saw that night in San Jose was SO completely atypical and so outside any point of reference I had then, and have now, I'm here trying to understand what it could have been. I'm a guy who spent the better part of the day googling "what are those silver cylinders hanging from the utility pole connected to the phone lines" (Not an easy search when apparently half the world doesn't know what a transformer is). The answer turned out to be cases containing load coils, placed every 6,000 feet along twisted pair phone lines to help balance the inductance and capacitance of the conductors. I'm not one to ignore what I don't know.

I'm including my time on the volcano because it follows the sequence and timeline of what was reported in the news, and it was strange enough that the three of us watched it in silence for quite awhile before Matz finally asked if we were seeing what he was seeing. Is the volcano a red herring? Possibly? I definitely didn't immediately connect what I saw in San Jose with what I had seen on the volcano, but by breakfast on April 3rd I had.

I'm still in touch with my host family, and they recall my story over breakfast and how shocked they were when they discovered what I had experienced and described was witnessed by many others and had made the national newspapers. I actually flew home within a day or so of the events, and it wasn't until a couple weeks later that I received a letter from my host family with the newspaper clippings. I remember reading "halos around celestial objects" and calling BS. NO WAY do celestial halos light up rooftops with strobing light.
 
And, my wife insists that upon renting said Jimny, we were told we could go off road, it is Costa Rica, but we were forbidden to "drive it in to ocean, make our own roads or ford rivers with it". Personally, I have no memory the "no fording rivers" part of the conversation :D.
I love it! I was invited out on a sailboat owned by Ted from Los Gatos anchored off the beach at Manuel Antonia. The price? Order a whole bunch of drinks with ice from various sodas on the beach, drink the drinks and dump the ice in his cooler. The locals wouldn't sell him ice, for whatever reason. (All those sodas gone when I went back in 2019). Years later I was calling on a customer in Los Gatos and said I happened to know that people from Los Gatos were very nice and one of them had given me a ride on his sailboat. My customer said, "Oh, was it Ted? I used to date him".
 
I love it! I was invited out on a sailboat owned by Ted from Los Gatos anchored off the beach at Manuel Antonia. The price? Order a whole bunch of drinks with ice from various sodas on the beach, drink the drinks and dump the ice in his cooler. The locals wouldn't sell him ice, for whatever reason. (All those sodas gone when I went back in 2019). Years later I was calling on a customer in Los Gatos and said I happened to know that people from Los Gatos were very nice and one of them had given me a ride on his sailboat. My customer said, "Oh, was it Ted? I used to date him".
I'm not going to let a comment implying that 5 million is a small population for a country go unglared at.
 
If I can summarize what we've got so far:
Volcano - could have been just about anything given the effect was subtle and it was very dark. May not be related to San Jose strobe.
San Jose - best idea is something ground-based, and what I saw in the sky was a reflection of some kind.

Neither is particularly satisfying as explanations go, but absent someone with expertise in atmospheric optics who can do the math, it's what we've got. Open to other ideas if you have them. Think concentrated strobing light source nearly as bright as lightning appearing in one small round place in the sky for hours on end.

I'm wondering, though, if I were to dig deeper into the archives (and yes, it would be an excuse to go back to Costa Rica!) what kind of information is useful to understanding something like this? Is collective memory worse than personal memory? Given the Tico Times article, there's obviously a lot of noise, so how does one separate the noise from information that could be helpful to solving the riddle?
 
I'm not dismissing it outright as possible, but I've seen this phenomenon in person while in Port-au-Prince standing on a rooftop of the guesthouse we were staying. I was there with a bunch of engineers and we knew immediately it was electrical arcing. What we couldn't figure out is how it could be happening all over the city. We figured it was a combination of bad infrastructure, but also we reasoned some circuits were being switched on and off purposely due to limited power available on the gird. Essentially we were seeing the switching arcs for rolling blackouts.

I have a far better grasp about how infrastructure works (when it's working and not working) than most people. I worked internationally in developing countries for several years. I've seen wild stuff. All of which, with the exception of that day in Costa Rica, I had reasonable explanations for.
 
Recently in the UK we have had a number of UAP reports that were caused by lights on a test train; video here.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUTYAFXCCSQ

This sort of technology is no doubt available internationally, although it may vary from country to country and be used for different purposes.

Since this event happened many decades ago we may never know what caused it, but we should be aware that strange lights in the sky can be associated with very mundane causes.
 
Since this event happened many decades ago we may never know what caused it, but we should be aware that strange lights in the sky can be associated with very mundane causes.
I can't disagree with you there, and that train is wicked cool! I'd LOVE to know what mundane or wicked-cool technology was behind what I saw - because learning about how the world works is fun! Whatever technology or natural phenomenon was behind what I saw, it would be cool to know more about it. I'm hoping someone has an out-there idea and I can say - Wow! Yeah! That's It!.
 
given the effect was subtle
the effect was subtle?

so how does one separate the noise from information that could be helpful to solving the riddle?
look at the microfiche of newspapers in the public library.
at the very least get written report verification there was a power outage at the power station on the 2nd in 1992.
and you can also see if there are any "ufo" reports in newspapers for that time frame.

if the Tico Times is the only report of anything (including power outage) you'll know your memories might be tainted with time.
 
If I can summarize what we've got so far:
Volcano - could have been just about anything given the effect was subtle and it was very dark. May not be related to San Jose strobe.
Fully agree. I think the darkness especially would make it hard to edtimate how bright the light was. Do you recall seeing stars in the sky while the strobe was ongoing?
San Jose - best idea is something ground-based, and what I saw in the sky was a reflection of some kind.
I don't think we have enough evidence to say yet?
Neither is particularly satisfying as explanations go, but absent someone with expertise in atmospheric optics who can do the math, it's what we've got.
It's hard to do maths without numbers.
Open to other ideas if you have them. Think concentrated strobing light source nearly as bright as lightning appearing in one small round place in the sky for hours on end.
More on this in another post.
I'm wondering, though, if I were to dig deeper into the archives (and yes, it would be an excuse to go back to Costa Rica!) what kind of information is useful to understanding something like this? Is collective memory worse than personal memory? Given the Tico Times article, there's obviously a lot of noise, so how does one separate the noise from information that could be helpful to solving the riddle?
Photos would be helpful, along with information about where, when, and in which direction. Video would be phenomenal. First-hand witness statements (again, where, when, which direction). A detailed description of the weather and the cloud cover.
 
On the volcano, the effect was subtle in that once dawn gathered it was washed out. Strange in that it was a cloudless moonless night and a strobing light of some kind was casting shadows at our location on the mountain. There was no sky flash at all, the light source seemed localized, on the mountain with us just "around the corner" and out of sight. My description above is the best I can do, seeming as if there were other people on the mountain using flash photography near-ish to us but out of sight. It is ENTIRELY possible this is exactly what it was, but this was before digital photography and they would have been burning through a LOT of film over the course of an hour and half. Some kind of automatic camera trained on the volcano? Also possible.

How bright does something have to be to throw long, distinct shadows even when the source itself can't be seen? If someone had experience with that, maybe the volcano light pulse could be explained.

The similarity, from my observation, between the volcano strobe and the San Jose strobe was its pattern and its ability to throw shadows. (I can't emphasize enough how directional the shadows were) The circle of light in the sky in San Jose was VERY bright when it strobed and not subtle at all. Opposite of subtle. However, before I actually saw what I'm presuming to be the source in the sky, as I was walking through the neighborhood, the light reflecting off the house roofs was a similar effect to what we experienced on the volcano. One side of things would suddenly light up with a pulsed light with regular pattern with no visible reason. When I turned the corner onto a main avenue and saw the light in the sky I'm like - That's one heck of a reason, holy crap!!!

I'm going to be traveling to my folks' house tomorrow and I'll dig through boxes my mom has kept for me. Hopefully I can find the legit news article clipping that my host family sent to me.

I also reached out yesterday to Michael, the son of my host family. He's now a solar physicist working for NASA. He was 9 when I was visiting Costa Rica and I asked him what he remembered about my "UFO" story. He said he didn't remember the details but remembers thinking, "This guy is weird, but in a fun kind of way". Maybe I inspired his career?
 
There was no sky flash at all, the light source seemed localized, on the mountain with us just "around the corner" and out of sight.
theres an observatory in that direction that says it was built in 1991. no idea why they would have a powerful strobe like light on the building. but if you go back to costa rica you could visit there and ask them if they remember anything.

do people use flashbulbs at night? i mean for closeup shots sure but a flashbulb to take a pic of a volcano.. doesnt the flash have to reach the object you are photographing to do anything?


edit 1987 sorry
Article:
Arenal Volcano National Park. When the national park was formed in November 1991, its boundaries encompassed our farm.
...
Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails was originally built in 1987 as a scientific research station for the world-famous Smithsonian Institution.
 
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WELL! This is interesting! The Arenal Observatory has a big ol' tower right in the right direction, and 'just around the corner' from where we were that night. That's actually something I could probably follow up on - "Did you by chance have a giant strobe light on your tower for some reason back in 1992?" If they did - night photography of birds or bats?? then that's almost certainly it. I could at least research if the tower itself was there in 1992 or if it was built later. Cool. Thanks!
Observation_Tower.jpg
 
WELL! This is interesting! The Arenal Observatory has a big ol' tower right in the right direction, and 'just around the corner' from where we were that night. That's actually something I could probably follow up on - "Did you by chance have a giant strobe light on your tower for some reason back in 1992?" If they did - night photography of birds or bats?? then that's almost certainly it. I could at least research if the tower itself was there in 1992 or if it was built later. Cool. Thanks!
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well even the main lodge seems to be in that general area. i mean some buildings (now, like hospitals) if the power goes off the emergency lights are kinda strobey. i dont know why a scientific observatory would have that or if such things happened in 1991 or in costa rica, ..maybe the scientists were sleeping as the volcano wasnt that interesting that night? and they didnt notice their emergency light was flashing? < totally just guessing here. but at least its something "sciency" in that direction.
 
The NEst seems recent and further away from you then the observation lodge
Article:
Our recent installation at Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, "The Nest" Observation Tower, is a 28 meter high tower for observing birds and other wildlife.

1742324757617.png


this pic from the observation lodge. there are trees but it looks like you would have been higher than its trees so still a possibility... ??
1742325006178.png

https://www.google.com/maps/@10.4380236,-84.7103271,3a,75y,7.83h,85.82t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPQrJoDvlTS7uJ3S4cECCRRhGOAWeIjHe_W4XEu!2e10!3e11!6shttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPQrJoDvlTS7uJ3S4cECCRRhGOAWeIjHe_W4XEu=w900-h600-k-no-pi4.17830605706331-ya343.8287863450738-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMxNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==
 
Ah, man... recent addition... It also wasn't really a Smithsonian installation per se, that looks like marketing. Family run place that hosted various scientists over the years, from what I read on their website.

For anyone who wants to entertain the idea that there was a very bright light strobe in the actual sky that didn't move for roughly 20 hours, the angles kind of line up in my two locations. This isn't analysis, mind you! But if there WAS such a phenomena, it would be consistent with my observations - with the strobing light being much dimmer, but still directional, and just out of view, on Arenal.

I've hiked on mountains by starlight alone, so it's not inconceivable to me that as bright as the strobe light was from my point of view in San Jose, that even 60 miles away it could be possible to illuminate the otherwise very dark surrounding on Arenal.

I hadn't ever 'mapped' it out like this, and I obviously know this is the least probable scenario.....

Costa Rica Map.jpg
 
It also wasn't really a Smithsonian installation per se, that looks like marketing. Family run place that hosted various scientists over the years, from what I read on their website.
the original quote was from their website too. not that it matters, it certainly sounds like a family owned the land.
 
@Blake have you considered the possibility of Volcanic Lightning? I've gone down the rabbit hole with this one ;)

Article:
Volcanic lightning is an electrical discharge caused by a volcanic eruption rather than from an ordinary thunderstorm. Volcanic lightning arises from colliding, fragmenting particles of volcanic ash (and sometimes ice) which generate static electricity within the volcanic plume

Gates, A. E., & Ritchie, D. (2007). Encyclopedia of earthquakes and volcanoes. Facts On File. Note a description of the 1883 Krakatoa eruption on p. 140:
External Quote:
the captain of the ship Sir Robert Sale, also in the vicinity of Krakatoa, witnessed spectacular displays of lightning in the eruption cloud and detected an odor of sulfur in the air. The sulfur odor became intense during the night, as bright flashes of light from the volcano lit up the surrounding area in the manner of a giant strobe light.

Source: https://youtu.be/AZRDI5wSWMQ?si=9o2My_PnsjOoVddE

I couldn't find any corroborating videos of Arenal, but there are many other examples including Volcán de Fuego as shown below.


Source: https://youtu.be/m7NVe8QC58c?si=zl8rTfLNFnc3_JOE

This phenomenon can occur without a visible eruption of lava, where only an ash cloud is observed, which may also obscure and diffuse the light source.


Source: https://youtu.be/bSrOPxaBHHc?si=eSINyfp0Eahw-aA4

The volcanic lightning can be localised to the ash plume but this can also create conditions which encourage meteorologically charged lightning. This could have been what you experienced on the Arenal mountain at night.


Source: https://x.com/ITROriginal/status/1698773492525666401


Source: https://youtu.be/C0w-KlRNs88?si=ATOliUwf50PMPYbf

Article:

How the Tonga Hunga volcano produced the most intense lightning ever seen

The volcano exploded violently in January 2022, blasting 10 cubic km (2.4 cubic miles) of rock, ash and sediment straight up into the sky, producing a plume 36 miles (58km) high. It was the biggest atmospheric explosion to be recorded by modern instruments.
A record-breaking thunderstorm
At its peak, the thunderstorm triggered by the volcanic plume above Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai produced 2,600 flashes of lightning every minute. Nearly 200,000 flashes of lightning lit up the inside of the dark ash cloud for 11 hours.

There is an intense example of strobing (Hunga Haʻapai volcano in Tonga?) at timestamp 05:20 in this PBS video:
PBS Weathered - How Volcanic Lightning Is Making the World a Safer Place

Article:

Q&A: Monitoring Volcanic Eruptions Using Lightning

How might lightning help in monitoring explosive eruptions?

Most volcanoes have limited monitoring as they are located in remote terrain or in an ocean. Lighning provides an alternative tool to ground-based geophysical sensors—the bread and butter of volcano monitoring tools—for detecting hazardous eruptions.

How so?

Lightning can start seconds to minutes after an ash plume bursts into the atmosphere. Each lightning discharge emits a broad spectrum of electromagnetic energy. Radio-wave lightning emissions, so-called sferics, are detectable from halfway around the planet. And because electromagnetic radiation propagates faster than sound waves or seismic waves, lightning can be the first sign of an eruption.

Also see: https://wwlln.net/volcanoMonitor.html (an experimental program)
 
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