Weekly Weird News for 19 May 2023

Heads up!

Good day, everyone. This newsletter brings to you some interesting stories you may have missed from the main news feeds. This week, there are a number of “sky” stories. It’s important to always remember, when reading dramatic headlines, that the facts may not match. For example, this week, the Columbian president announced that 4 children had been found alive after a plane crash 17 days ago in the Amazon. He had to retract that story when it was revealed there was no confirmation of it and that other facts had been twisted and passed on as misinformation. The news feeds demand content so they often aren’t properly verified. Dramatic headlines get clicks so they are often exaggerated or wrong. Many of the stories I present in WWN are probably not accurate because I can only go by what is presented in the news. I try to look carefully at details that are missing or downplayed. If you want to have the most informed opinion about a news story, you have to dig a bit deeper and think critically. But, guess what? People love the drama more.

Unknown infrasound floating above us

Scientists using high altitude balloons to observe sound in the stratosphere have recorded infrasound from an unknown source. Unknown sounds in the atmosphere aren’t really weird or anomalous, as some headlines are suggesting. Obviously, we haven’t listened very hard for them so it’s not surprising something was found. But was is interesting about this story is that the sounds may be related to earthquakes or volcanic events. Now that's cool! https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/05/11/balloon-noise-earth-stratosphere-venus/

Danish skyquake

Nearly 70 reports of what appeared to be a minor earthquake were reported from people on the Danish island of Bornholm last Saturday between 3-4 PM. The geological survey did not detect seismic activity. Instead, the rumbling that also cause some windows to rattle was an acoustical wave from the atmosphere. Initially, the sound was suspected to originate from an explosion in Poland as the island is 60 miles off the coast of Poland in the Baltic Sea. Another source says that the Polish Geological Institute (PIG) confirmed that a seismic anomaly of about 2.3 magnitude was recorded at two seismic stations in northern Poland at around 3 p.m. on Saturday. It’s unclear if that was an earthquake; it appears more likely that military exercises were the cause of the shallow readings. There is a seismic reading available from Northern Poland that corresponds. This event, however, does not mean that the equivalent of a 2.3 earthquake occurred in Bornholm. It could be that atmospheric conditions and the shallowness of the explosion/quake in Poland caused the sounds to reach Bornholm. One article does note that weather conditions over Poland could account for the acoustic waves from the activity in Poland to have reached Bornholm. Seismologists are not well versed on effects above ground level so the reporting of conclusions has been murky.

As with all mystery booms, there are sites making this out to be something suspicious. Some of the info in the stories is almost certain wrong (such as reporting cracks in houses). The damage threshold from acoustic waves have been heavily studied, notably by the former U.S. Bureau of Mines, in order to set standards for explosives regulations. It is improbable that a distance boom caused damage. Instead, people got scared and noticed an existing crack in the house that they attributed to the boom.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/15/mystery-tremors-on-danish-baltic-island-puzzle-scientists-bornholm and https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/05/18/confusion-over-cause-of-tremors-on-danish-island-off-polands-coast/

We don't always have good answers to why skyquakes and mystery booms happen. Read more about what might cause “skyquakes” in my Spooky Geology piece. I suspect this is another example of us missing the explanation of sound traveling much farther than expected.

Heads up! Poop rain

We have another sky mystery this week.

Some cars waiting in line at a coffee shop drive through were pelted with brown liquid from the sky. The verdict? Poop. But it’s not clear where it came from - birds or a plane. Witnesses didn’t report either. They did, however, report the incident to their representative who is asking the FAA to investigate if a plane dropped the biohazardous waste. https://www.kcrg.com/2023/05/16/mystery-poop-rains-down-cars-drive-thru-family-says/ and https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/representative-angie-craig-asks-faa-to-investigate-poop-rain-in-burnsville/89-c7bbd920-3743-48b6-a81b-9d42eb5b4abb

Japanese man killed by bear while fishing

Police in Japan went looking for a missing fisherman and found only his head. The conclusion was that he was attacked by a bear. One witness reported he saw a bear near the lake with waders (waterproof waist boots) dangling from its mouth. Hunters set out and killed one brown bear. Bear encounters on Hokkaido are on the rise as the bear population grows. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bear-attack-suspected-human-head-found-lake-japan/

Not a panda

An usual bear was caught on camera in Washington. A parti-colored bear, or piebald, was filmed in the Shoalwater Bay Reservation near Tokeland. The patches of white on the otherwise dark brown/black bear are caused by a genetic condition were the skin lacks pigment. Documentation of piebald bears is rare. The animal appeared to be perfectly healthy. https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/video-piebald-black-bear/

Strange trail cam image in Wyoming

The locals found mountain lion prints and deer carcasses around the edges of Evansville, Wyoming. Police put out a game camera to see if it appeared. Nothing showed up for two weeks until a frightening humanoid figure entered the frame. It’s always a good bet to play the odds - it was a hoax. The police chief himself donned a mask and paraded before the camera to liven things up. I imagine that pranks like this (where there are known cameras) happen more frequently than people suspect. https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/05/09/wyoming-police-chief-sets-up-trail-cam-to-catch-mountain-lion-pulls-epic-prank-instead/

Fentanyl panic still a thing

More cop panic over fentanyl. This story doesn’t seem to go away even though there is widespread valid information that fentanyl poisoning as described doesn’t exist. The powered drug is not absorbed into the skin or inadvertently inhaled. However, officers collapsing after coming into contact with fentanyl is not uncommon. Similar to what happens in stressful group settings, there is a psychological response to a potential threat. They believe they’ve been poisoned. Police personnel are already in a stressful situation and their minds and bodies overreact. The reaction signals a broader problem, but not fentanyl poisoning. Unfortunately, cops are not immune to social panics. The rumor of poisoning helped spread the reaction. Hopefully, the truth that poisoning is not possible will help tamp it down. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1175726650/fentanyl-police-overdose-misinformation

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