Stranger Than Science Stories and Facts-Volume Two

By Martin Ettington

This book is my second on stranger than science stories and facts. The idea is from the book “Stranger Than Science” by Frank Edwards that I read when I was a kid. It made a great impression on me since it caused me to be curious about all of the unknown facts in the world.

In this Volume Two I’ve gone through my 120 plus books again to find interesting subjects I’ve either experienced or researched which were not discussed in the first book.

My goal is to open the eyes of the reader to facts and stories about the unknown they may not know about. Hopefully this will lead you to become more open minded and think seriously about new things which may not have been part of your life before.

Here you will read stories about the Paranormal, Spiritual Enlightenment, Legendary animals like Dragons, giant snakes, living dinosaurs, ball lightning, alien anti-gravity technology, improving longevity, and much more.

I promise you will not be bored with the materials we cover here.

After reading this book I hope you can see that our world is truly mysterious and the more we know, the more questions we have, and the more there is to know.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martin Ettington
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005168155

Martin Ettington

The owner Martin K. Ettington is an Engineer by training and has had multiple careers. These include technical sales for GE and HP. Martin also Owns his own software and consulting business.Martin’s interest in the Paranormal and Occult goes back to his childhood. He has had many paranormal experiences and has been a student of Eastern Philosophies and Meditation for 35 years.Seeking Enlightenment; he knows that we are already all Enlightened. We just have to realize this deeply.His books are expressions of his creativity to help others understand what he has internalized through study, experience, and membership in different societies.Not many technical persons or scientists spend a lot of time in parallel studying the Metaphysical and have had many spiritual or psychic experiences too.Therefore, Martin believes that he can provide a unique vantage point to integrate Western Scientific thinking with Eastern exploration of the mind and spirit.

Book preview

This book is my second on stranger than science stories and facts. The idea is from the book Stranger Than Science by Frank Edwards that I read when I was a kid. It made a great impression on me since it caused me to be curious about all of the unknown facts in the world.

In this Volume Two I’ve gone through my 120 plus books again to find interesting subjects I’ve either experienced or researched which were not discussed in the first book.

My goal is to open the eyes of the reader to facts and stories about the unknown they may not know about. Hopefully this will lead you to become more open minded and think seriously about new things which may not have been part of your life before.

Here you will read stories about the Paranormal, Spiritual Enlightenment, Legendary animals like Dragons, giant snakes, living dinosaurs, ball lightning, alien anti-gravity technology, improving longevity, and much more.

I promise you will not be bored with the materials we cover here.

I hope that now you can see that our world is truly mysterious and the more we know, the more questions we have, and the more there is to know.

2.0 Ball Lightning

Ball Lightning has been documented to have been seen up to one thousand years ago. It often occurs when electrical storms are around—but not always.

Willy Ley discussed a sighting in Paris on 5 July 1852 for which sworn statements were filed with the French Academy of Science. During a thunderstorm, a tailor living next to Church of the Val-de-Grâce saw a ball the size of a human head come out of the fireplace. It flew around the room, reentered the fireplace, and exploded in and destroyed the top of the chimney.

An early fictional reference to ball lightning appears in a children's book set in the 19th century by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The books are considered historical fiction, but the author always insisted they were descriptive of actual events in her life. In Wilder's description, three separate balls of lightning appear during a winter blizzard near a cast-iron stove in the family's kitchen. They are described as appearing near the stovepipe, then rolling across the floor, only to disappear as the mother (Caroline Ingalls) chases them with a willow-branch broom.

On 30 April 1877 a ball of lightning entered the Golden Temple at Amritsar, India, and exited through a side door. Several people observed the ball, and the incident is inscribed on the front wall of Darshani Deodhi.

On 22 November 1894 an unusually prolonged instance of natural ball-lightning occurred in Golden, Colorado, which suggests it could be artificially induced from the atmosphere.

The Golden Globe newspaper reported:

A beautiful yet strange phenomenon was seen in this city on last Monday night. The wind was high and the air seemed to be full of electricity. In front of, above and around the new Hall of Engineering of the School of Mines, balls of fire played tag for half an hour, to the wonder and amazement of all who saw the display. In this building is situated the dynamos and electrical apparatus of perhaps the finest electrical plant of its size in the state. There was probably a visiting delegation from the clouds, to the captives of the dynamos on last Monday night, and they certainly had a fine visit and a roystering game of romp.

In July 1907 ball lightning hit the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse in Western Australia. Lighthouse-keeper Patrick Baird was in the tower at the time and was knocked unconscious. His daughter Ethel recorded the event.

Ley discussed another incident in Bischofswerda, Germany.

On 29 April 1925 multiple witnesses saw a silent ball land near a mailman, move along a telephone wire to a school, knock back a teacher using a telephone, and bore perfectly round coin-sized holes through a glass pane. 210 m (700 feet) of wire was melted, several telephone poles were damaged, an underground cable was broken, and several workmen were thrown to the ground but unhurt.

Submariners in World War II gave the most frequent and consistent accounts of small ball-lightning in the confined submarine atmosphere. There are repeated accounts of inadvertent production of floating explosive balls when the battery banks were switched in or out, especially if misswitched or when the highly inductive electrical motors were misconnected or disconnected. An attempt later to duplicate those balls with a surplus submarine battery resulted in several failures and an explosion.

Pilots in World War II (1939–1945) described an unusual phenomenon for which ball lightning has been suggested as an explanation. The pilots saw small balls of light moving in strange trajectories, which came to be referred to as foo fighters.

In 2005 an incident occurred in Guernsey, where an apparent lightning-strike on an aircraft led to multiple fireball-sightings on the ground.

On 10 July 2011, during a powerful thunderstorm, a ball of light with a two-metre (6 ft 7 in) tail went through a window to the control room of local emergency services in Liberec in the Czech Republic. The ball bounced from window to ceiling, then to the floor and back, where it rolled along it for two or three meters. It then dropped to the floor and disappeared. The staff present in the control room were frightened, smelled electricity and burned cables and thought something was burning. The computers froze (not crashed) and all communications equipment was knocked out for the night until restored by technicians. Aside from damages caused by disrupting equipment, only one computer monitor was destroyed.

Characteristics

Descriptions of ball lightning vary widely. It has been described as moving up and down, sideways or in unpredictable trajectories, hovering and moving with or against the wind; attracted to, unaffected by, or repelled from buildings, people, cars and other objects. Some accounts describe it as moving through solid masses of wood or metal without effect, while others describe it as destructive and melting or burning those substances.

Its appearance has also been linked to power lines, altitudes of 300 m (1,000 feet) and higher, and during thunderstorms and calm weather. Ball lightning has been described as transparent, translucent, multicolored, evenly lit, radiating flames, filaments or sparks, with shapes that vary between spheres, ovals, tear-drops, rods, or disks.

The balls have been reported to disperse in many different ways, such as suddenly vanishing, gradually dissipating, being absorbed into an object, popping, exploding loudly, or even exploding with force, which is sometimes reported as damaging. Accounts also vary on their alleged danger to humans, from lethal to harmless.

A review of the literature identified the properties of a typical ball lightning, whilst cautioning against over-reliance on eye-witness accounts:

Some appear within buildings passing through closed doors and windows

Some have appeared within metal aircraft and have entered and left without causing damage

The disappearance of a ball is generally rapid and may be either silent or explosive

Odors resembling ozone, burning sulfur, or nitrogen oxides are often reported

They frequently appear almost simultaneously with cloud-to-ground lightning discharge

They are generally spherical or pear-shaped with fuzzy edges

Their diameters range from 1–100 cm (0.4–40 inches), most commonly 10–20 cm (4–8 inches)

Their brightness corresponds to roughly that of a domestic lamp, so they can be seen clearly in daylight

A wide range of colors has been observed, red, orange, and yellow being the most common

The lifetime of each event is from one second to over a minute with the brightness remaining fairly constant during that time

They tend to move at a few meters per second, most often in a horizontal direction, but may also move vertically, remain stationary, or wander erratically

Many are described as having rotational motion

It is rare that observers report the sensation of heat, although in some cases the disappearance of the ball is accompanied by the liberation of heat

Some display an affinity for metal objects and may move along conductors such as wires or metal fences

3.0 Druid Magic

The Druids were an ancient race of mystical priests who worshipped nature. They also had many spiritual abilities and were great healers. Many of the holidays and practices today by witches and modern druids are from this group.

Celtic legends are full of accounts of magic and spell-casting ~ magical mists that blind enemies, rains of fire, curses that maim and injure, healing wells, cauldrons that resurrect the dead, people who transform themselves or others into animals etc.

In this chapter we will aim to look at some of the attitudes towards, and philosophies behind the very concept of, magic. First of all, what do we mean by magic? There is no clear-cut answer to this, but generally it can be taken as the ability to cause change in the world by means that currently defy scientific explanation. The means by which the change is instigated usually has no obvious causal link to the change ~ there is no reason yet offered by science as to why chanting particular words should cure a disease, or why wearing an engraved piece of wood should enable the wearer to pass unnoticed.

There are innumerable books which convey the impression that wealth, romance and vibrant health can be had in exchange for prancing about a purple candle at the full moon. Clearly if it were that easy the world would be a