Rare things that have been documented much better than UFOs

[JMartJr]

I wondered if the "sun candle" might be seen more commonly from planes, since passenegrs are frequently above a cloud of ice crystals. I qucik search showed a lot of claimed examples that looked, to me, more like something that was happening due to window optice, and a few that seemed to be just the sun reflecting off a lake or ocean -- and one that looks a lot like the picture under discussion:

Mildly amusing note: When I went to get the source to link here, it turns out the picture is FROM here: https://www.metabunk.org/threads/in...non-subhorizon-halos-sub-sun-sub-sundog.3253/

It's getting all self referential up in here!

 

[Eburacum]

Additionally, as I understand, it's formed when sunlight REFLECTS off horizontal snowflakes, yet there's an orange top which looks more like refraction than reflection.

Well spotted!
It seems that these apparitions are not subsuns per se, but lower tangent arcs, which appear in approximately the same place and do display some colour.

https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/perfect-lower-tangent-arc-opod/

The bright white region at the bottom is a true subsun.

 

[Edward Current]

Okay, if y'all gonna post glorified rainbows as rare events (I think they are just cases of being in an uninhabitable place at the right time), then I raise you a fixed pole vs. a moving ice sheet.

 

[Mendel]

I raise you a fixed pole vs. a moving ice sheet

is this "happens every year in this place" rarity, or better?

 

[Edward Current]

is this "happens every year in this place" rarity, or better?

I have no idea. But in addition to being an unusual video, it's a good example of "I know what I saw!!!"

 

[JMartJr]

It does remind me of video of a "mysterious creature" swimming under a bridge, where apparently some plastic or cloth trash was stuck on a snag in the river, the current flowing by creating a nice illusion of something swimming past... unless you noticed that it never moved in relation to other non-moving objects intermittently in-frame.

 

[Ann K]

It does remind me of video of a "mysterious creature" swimming under a bridge, where apparently some plastic or cloth trash was stuck on a snag in the river, the current flowing by creating a nice illusion of something swimming past... unless you noticed that it never moved in relation to other non-moving objects intermittently in-frame.

Locally, a bike-and-hike trail was created along the river by laying down a wide black plastic sheet underneath the gravel to prevent weed growth. After a flood about twenty feet of that sheet floated loose while still tethered to the trail, and undulated in the river. I was sure there would be "Nessie" reports in Lake Erie if it ever got free!

 

[Eburacum]

But in addition to being an unusual video, it's a good example of "I know what I saw!!!"

It reminds me of one of the few successful 'UAP' identifications I have ever made. Someone wrote in to the Fortean Times forum describing a 'vertical floating cylinder' seen over the Pennines from a plane; I knew what it was, because I'd seen too (on a different occasion).

The top of the Emley Moor transmitter poking through a layer of cloud.

 

[flarkey]

Big IFO photographed from a plane with a phone camera...


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1s2db9p/tars_balloon_near_marfa_tx_at_10500_feet/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

 

[Mendel]

Source: https://imgur.com/a/gjZVLzK

 

[Hevach]

To my eternal disappointment both Dildo and Spread Eagle are on Trinity Bay, and Placenta is clear on the other side or the island on Placenta Bay. All three as well as Conception Bay are within day trip range as long as you don't want to stop and look at the weird floppy icebergs.

 

[Ann K]

@Mendel

I Can't Write A Better Title

Well, here's an improbable one currently in the news -

 

[JMartJr]

Austrian man sticks balloons up his nose for world record

March 23 (UPI) -- An Austrian man took his unusual party trick to a German TV series and broke the Guinness World Record for the most balloons passed through the nose and out the mouth in one minute.

S.C. woman buys four lottery tickets, wins four times

March 18 (UPI) --
A South Carolina woman stopped to buy four lottery tickets, and all four turned out to be winners -- including one $200,000 prize.

The Upstate woman told South Carolina Education Lottery officials she bought four $5 scratch-off tickets at the Stop-A-Minit store on West Main Street in Liberty.

Large tortoise escapes high school, travels 'a surprising distance'

Circus performer pulls 2,184-pound carriage with his nipples

March 24 (UPI) -- A Finnish man used his body piercings to break the Guinness World Record for the heaviest vehicle pulled by the nipples -- 2,184 pounds.


No as funny/odd as the previous posts, but if one wants a lengthy list of rare things documented better than UFOs, a web search for "strangest headlines ever" seems a good thing to try.

Examples found at https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/, caveat you have to wade through a lot of repetitive stuff about SNAKE FOUND IN PLACE SNAKES COULD EASILY GO BUT USUALLY DON'T or CAT COMES HOME EVENTUALLY or HIGHWAY BLOCKED BY SOMETHING SLIGHTLY UNUSUAL...

 

[Hevach]

HIGHWAY BLOCKED BY SOMETHING SLIGHTLY UNUSUAL

Like this?

https://kotaku.com/truck-carrying-gaming-dice-spills-onto-highway-rolls-a-1838218869

("Ok 22 vs. ac hits. Roll 216000d6 for damage and remember to add your strength modifier this time.")

 

[Arch Stanton]

I feel SpaceX launches are a good addition to this, they are planned and if you live in the area they might be somewhat regular (idk, I don't live in the area), but for people that don't know about the launch these are effectively rare events and essentially "UFOs"

For example Falcon 9 launched and several posts on r/UFOs came up of people that saw it (the posts have since then been deleted by moderators, but they showed videos of some stage of the launch)


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1b6sym0/saw_this_outside_no_idea_what_is_was/


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1b6tm0k/bad_language_weird_thing_saw_in_oklahoma/


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1b6t668/unidentified_object_shoots_out_ring_of_light/


This kind of thing happens often when there's a rocket launch, and it shows how a big "ufo" that is actually visible gets recorded by many people and many different angles. And these are all recordings of people that saw it and decided to film it and then ask what it is because they don't know about the launch, I imagine there's a lot more recordings of cameras that just happen to capture the launch or from people that record it and just send it around to share it as a cool thing they saw (knowing it is a rocket launch but not knowing there was a scheduled launch).

This doesn't really happen when there's a single video of a saucer with lights all around just casually flying just above some trees or stuff like that.

I can see Space X launches from the beach near Charleston, SC when it's clear. One night back on 11.11. 2021 I was watching a launch go up to the ISS with 3 astronauts on board. This launch went up the East Coast and I had an excellent view as it made it's way up into space. Right as it was making it's way northward and huge meteor passed underneath it with an amazing green tail! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me but I did make a report on The American Meteor Society website along with about 500 other people that night. Not everyone saw both but the odds are pretty slim seeing both at the same time. Some people were able to catch both on camera and video though! I was pretty excited! You can see some of them here:

https://fireball.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2021/7540