Fire in the SkyS


Bulb

Update: Mystery flashes and booms in Maryland Solved

Mystery solved. Police say they've made an arrest in the case of the loud bang and bright flash of light disturbing a neighborhood in Pikesville.

Derek Valcourt explains he never thought he'd be reporting that the mystery is solved a day after it first aired on Eyewitness News.

Police say the cause of the disturbance was a frustrated neighbor. But even more surprising is what police found inside his home.

The man behind this mystery is now behind bars. Police blame 59-year-old Fred Mackler for the flashes of bright light and loud bangs that bothered neighbors in Pikesville for years.

Question

Mystery flashes and booms in Maryland

Officers Vickie Warehime and J. Posluszny Jr. have solved a lot of mysteries, but this one is over their heads--literally.

In fact, it may be about 30 to 40 feet in the air.

Comment: Click here to watch the footage featured in a local news broadcast.


Question

Cyprus: The mystery of the sonic boom

The British Bases yesterday maintained that none of their aircraft had caused buildings to shake in Paphos on Wednesday.

According to the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, "aircraft taking part in a British military exercise went supersonic, upsetting local residents, who feared for their safety."

Question

Tennessee: Did a meteorite make mincemeat of North Side abodes? Theories abound

A natural gas explosion? That's disappointing to all of us who had been pulling for the meteor.

We still don't know with certainty what set off the explosion at a North Side home last week. At a news conference yesterday, Detective Michael Burns of the city's arson unit said an illegal drug lab has been ruled out, which leaves investigators to believe natural gas was the cause.

Telescope

Kokomo - Jets put boom speculation to rest, states National Guard

Jets put boom speculation to rest

The loud boom heard throughout Howard and Tipton counties late Wednesday was caused by F-16 fighter jets conducting training in the area, the Indiana National Guard reported Thursday.

Telescope

Argentina: Another meteor sighted near Parana

The Asociación Entrerriana de Astronomía (AEA) [Entre Ríos Astronomy Society, Argentina] has announced that on Wednesday 16th April 2008, at approximately 19:30 hours, was observed a highly luminous object that had all the characteristics of a bolide. This object was sighted from Paraná, Oro Verde and San Benito. According to witnesses, the bolide was intensely bright, with colours fluctuating between green, yellow and red.

Phoenix

SOTT Focus: Impact Hazards on a Populated Earth?

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Somehow, I think it is highly probable that we have a new event to add to our list of Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls Have a look at the excerpts from the following two news items from this past week and see if something doesn't seem off about the glib and facile "explanations" for a series of extremely bizarre events. Every element of the stories is explainable in the terms presented by Clube and Napier, Mike Baillie and John S. Lewis and which have been the topic of the present series of articles on Comet hazards. At the same time, the explanations given by the "official sources" simply do not sound plausible.

Read and judge for yourself.

Recycle

Damage Control: Mysterious booms, lights over Indiana were just F-16s

INDIANAPOLIS - The commander of an Indiana Air National Guard unit is investigating why F-16s involved in training exercises created sonic booms two consecutive nights over north-central Indiana, shocking residents who also saw dazzling flares used in the missions.

Comment: Jet fighters don't break the sound barrier by mistake. Is it just a coincidence, then, that Illinois had a 5.4 magnitude "earthquake" just a day later during which residents heard a roaring sound?


Star

Officials search for 'explosion' or 'fireball' near Kokomo

KOKOMO, Ind. - Kokomo Emergency responders from Howard and Tipton counties were mobilized late Wednesday after receiving many calls about a large explosion.

Dozens of residents reported hearing, feeling or seeing some kind of explosion near Kokomo about 10:30 p.m., but about midnight, a Tipton County Sheriff's Department dispatch official said police and fire crews still were searching for debris or other evidence of a blast.

Telescope

Indiana: Meteorites blamed for Kokomo rumble

A chunky visitor from beyond our planet left a sparkly impression over the skies of north-central Indiana.