Strange Times for 23 Oct 2023

Natural surprises can be unsettling

Hi, everyone. Time for another collection of recent strange and bizarre news stories. Just a reminder, I’m no longer following the “weekly” weird news schedule but collecting clips until they reach a critical mass and sending them out as the “Strange Times” newsletter.

You can also follow my main website at SharonAHill.com where there is now a special page for my Mastodon feed. I have a tendency to grumpy post, especially in the evenings. So check that out for real-time posts. I will be staying on Mastodon so if you are finally pulling the plug on Twitter, please choose Mastodon as the most sustainable choice. If you need help setting up there, please drop me a message at Sharon@sharonahill.com.

On to the cool events of the week…

NC boom quake

A mystery boom rattled residents of Hillsborough, North Carolina on Thursday. Some people thought it might be sonic boom from a military jet, or maybe an explosion. But it really was a small, shallow earthquake. Mystery booms (with no obvious cause) are very common. The world is noisy place! The most common causes include small meteors that explode, ground level explosions of fireworks or tannerite, but in some places, they are seismic. The energy of a shallow earthquake can be transmitted to the air and creates sound that accompanies very localized shaking. This recent event was a magnitude 2.2 quake and resulted in an evacuation of the local Orange County courthouse. https://www.newsobserver.com/article280735410.html and https://abc11.com/earthquake-nc-boom-loud-noise-hillsborough-2-point-two-magnitude-evacuation/13940335/

For more on booming of shallow earthquakes, see this article on the legendary place of bad noises, Moodus, Connecticut.

UFO reporting summary

Is it any wonder that UFO reports are rising in number? Of course not. This stuff is constantly in the news. So people will be looking at the sky to spot weird things and they will report whatever can’t identify, which is a lot of things. The US government is receiving dozens of reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, more commonly known as UFOs, each month, according to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office at the Pentagon that now gets these reports and is tasked with investigating them. They have received 801 reports in total up until April of this year. A consolidated report for the fiscal year 2023 was released on Wednesday. That office expects thousands will eventually be logged, mostly in US airspace. Sure, the intent of the reporting project is to help identify potential spying devices or foreign craft, but are people really seeing those things? That would mean that there are a sufficient number of suspicious objects that would make this effort worthwhile. The reports will mostly be of mundane things or useless information. The FAA can report incidents to the office. For the time period, the reported objects are predominantly "unidentified lights without specific shape at widely varying estimated altitude”. How much money and effort should be spent, and how long should this continue, if only a “very small percentage” are actually interesting? https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/18/politics/us-ufo-reports-pentagon/index.html and https://www.cbsnews.com/video/pentagon-reports-270-ufo-sightings/

Emergency helicopter landing after sea gull strike

While almost none of the reported UFOs were deemed a potential threat to pilots, this identified object sure was. A seagull hit and shattered the windshield of a news helicopter in Wisconsin. The pilot was slightly injured but managed to safely land in a field. https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/skyfox-pilot-injured-after-seagull-shatters-chopper-windshield

Missed by a bullet

A driver in Memphis, Tennessee is very lucky after a bullet zipped through his car and knocked off his glasses. The shot went through the windshield, grazed him, and exited the rear as he drove through a city area at night. He was otherwise unhurt. Quite the close call! https://wreg.com/news/local/bullet-misses-driver-on-poplar-knocks-off-his-glasses/

Breathing ground

The storm named Babet tore through the UK causing extreme flooding. The erosion of a forest area coupled with high winds resulted in a strange occurrence witnessed by a man and his walker in Scotland. A plot of soil and vegetation held in place by mud and roots was lifted as the wind pushed it up - trees and all. The land looked like a breathing mossy carpet. Check out the video. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-67180162

Water grid idea considered in Arizona

The lack of water would seem to be a barrier for housing growth in the Phoenix area. But an ambitious plan for the town of Buckeye to become a major city just west of Phoenix could mean the start of a water grid system that pipes water from California, the Mississippi, or a desalination plant in the Gulf of Mexico. In general, a water grid is not a terrible idea but it’s not going to be easy and, overall, this doesn’t seem like a well-thought-out plan. The logistics are difficult, the southwest in general is low on water with none to spare or sell. The Mississippi is running historically low this year. This also doesn’t account for the incredible heat of the summer in this area, meaning the land is becoming inhospitable in several aspects. It’s astounding that giant investment is still taking place. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/19/arizona-mexico-water-pipeline-housing-boom

Mermaid globster

A greatly decomposed carcass that washed on shore in Papua New Guinea has made it to mainstream news sources because of its size and shape. The glob of white flesh appeared on Simberi Island back in September. Photos have been circulating for the past two weeks on social media and they have made it to news sources. Without fail, the posted photos are followed by ridiculous comments that it’s a mermaid or some other fictional creature. But the best bets are always the remains of a shark or a whale. In this case, it’s a whale. The original photos show a bony spine and other mammal features. The white substance is the collagen that remain when the carcass has been floating for weeks. The locals buried it. https://www.livescience.com/animals/marine-mammals/identity-of-mysterious-mermaid-globster-that-washed-up-in-papua-new-guinea-is-anyones-guess-experts-say

Frosty the orca

A real live white “whale” made an appearance in Monterey Bay, California. The orca, or killer whale, colloquially named “Frosty” because of their white coloring, showed up with their family pod for whale watchers. It’s not sure if Frosty is male or female but is about 4 years old. The whale’s white coloration instead of the distinctive black/white is a result of either leucism or Chediak-Higashi Syndrome (a gene disorder that inhibits melanin production). Frosty’s coloration doesn’t seem to impact their acceptance of the community. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/animalkind/2023/10/17/rare-white-orca-killer-whale-frsoty-video/71217684007/

I have a leucistic squirrel in my yard and I named her Frosty.

Thanks for reading!