...or, the night the lights went out in..... Nebraska

This little occurance has gotten the attention of a couple local groups that enjoy and pursue the unexplained and even a couple small write ups in the local paper. They presented this info to me since we're located in the same
area and we 'know all about computers and electronics' (snicker...those poor, misguided souls!) The mystery started around 03:00 CDT Saturday morning. Within minutes a very large area of the city and county had all street lights go off. The area was approxitmately 160 blocks east to west and 40 blocks north to south. All printed and recorded reports indicate that it was only street lights, or lights operating on a photosensor (off when it's light, on when it's dark). Indoor lighting didn't appear to be affected at all. The group let me listen to recordings from a police scanner where several agencies reported street lights having gone off across the area, but lights still on in homes and businesses. It's pretty common to see a street light or two switch off at night as they overheat, power down, cool off, then come back on. But this was miles of street lights all over. Within 5-7 minutes the same police agencies reported the lights coming back on. The gentleman that shared all this with me (I've started calling him Mulder, much to his dismay) said he contacted the local power company and was told there were no glitches or brownouts over night Saturday into Sunday, and even if there had been, the area affected is on three separate circuits. For that wide of an area to be affected, it would have had to have been an anomaly on the main line and nothing out of the ordinary occurred as far as they could see. Further, they told him the most likely cause was an unusually bright flash of lighting that that fooled the sensors into thinking it was morning. Now I got curious and checked the weather conditions for that time frame. Clear and warm, nearest thunderstorms were about 250 miles to the south. Our unexplained mystery group is just sure it had to be a transmogrifier beam from a passing mother ship that
brought all this about. Not to pop anyone's bubble, but I suspect there's probably a more earthly explanation to it all, especially given our near proximity to a major Air Force base. But it is kind of nice to think that maybe it was just ET snapping a flash photo of us for his scrapbook.

Did all the toilets in the area flush themselves at the same time as well?

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IAS - Where Space Is Golden!

Did all the toilets in the area flush themselves at the same time as well?

No... here in Skunkhump, Nebraska we mostly just have 1 and 2 holers. But the people that do have them always flush twice... Kansas needs the water.

...or, the night the lights went out in..... Nebraska

This little occurance has gotten the attention of a couple local groups that enjoy and pursue the unexplained and even a couple small write ups in the local paper. They presented this info to me since we're located in the same
area and we 'know all about computers and electronics' (snicker...those poor, misguided souls!) The mystery started around 03:00 CDT Saturday morning. Within minutes a very large area of the city and county had all street lights go off. The area was approxitmately 160 blocks east to west and 40 blocks north to south. All printed and recorded reports indicate that it was only street lights, or lights operating on a photosensor (off when it's light, on when it's dark). Indoor lighting didn't appear to be affected at all. The group let me listen to recordings from a police scanner where several agencies reported street lights having gone off across the area, but lights still on in homes and businesses. It's pretty common to see a street light or two switch off at night as they overheat, power down, cool off, then come back on. But this was miles of street lights all over. Within 5-7 minutes the same police agencies reported the lights coming back on. The gentleman that shared all this with me (I've started calling him Mulder, much to his dismay) said he contacted the local power company and was told there were no glitches or brownouts over night Saturday into Sunday, and even if there had been, the area affected is on three separate circuits. For that wide of an area to be affected, it would have had to have been an anomaly on the main line and nothing out of the ordinary occurred as far as they could see. Further, they told him the most likely cause was an unusually bright flash of lighting that that fooled the sensors into thinking it was morning. Now I got curious and checked the weather conditions for that time frame. Clear and warm, nearest thunderstorms were about 250 miles to the south. Our unexplained mystery group is just sure it had to be a transmogrifier beam from a passing mother ship that
brought all this about. Not to pop anyone's bubble, but I suspect there's probably a more earthly explanation to it all, especially given our near proximity to a major Air Force base. But it is kind of nice to think that maybe it was just ET snapping a flash photo of us for his scrapbook.

It would be nice to read what the local paper published about this. Is there a link or could you let us know the name of your paper?

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THE MOTHER OF FOOLS IS ALWAYS PREGNANT

I'M TROLLING FOR FOOLS. THIS MUST BE THE PLACE!

Probably not a solar flare; activity was low on that day.

Solar Activity 8/6/2005

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This is the voice of world control. I bring you peace. It may be the peace of plenty and content or the peace of unburied dead. The choice is yours.

[It would be nice to read what the local paper published about this. Is there a link or could you let us know the name of your paper?

Omaha World (or Weird, if you prefer) Herald...omaha.com. You may have to search around a bit, and possibly even register to read some stories... it's free, but sort of a pain in the arse to just view a story, but that's their new policy.

Nebraska Auroras

I wondered about that too, but as far as I know, it was 3 or 4 months ago since we got even a little peek at the Northern Lights.

So, would our central FL thunderstorms classify as Southern Lights?

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IAS - Where Space Is Golden!

I used to live at Offutt AFB in Omaha, for roughly 4 years. I remember seeing something one night when I was out walking my dog. For some reason I looked up and saw something (I still can't descibe it well) and a second after I saw it there was a loud boom. My dog barked, I hit the ground afraid to look up again.

I don't know how long we stayed like that but eventually we got up, I looked again, but it was gone.

Being raised an Air Force brat I know aircraft by sight and sound. Most of the time I can pretty well tell what kind of plane it is in the dark. But this was something I didn't recognize.

I told my dad about it at the time, but he blew me off. I never looked to see if anyone else saw anything during that time too.

And I've seen the "Northern Lights" when I lived there too. The weather there is strange, especially during the tornado season. My mother and I would often watch the clouds turn varous shades of greens and purples before we had to run downstairs to the storm shelter.

I used to live at Offutt AFB in Omaha, for roughly 4 years.

This incident was right in the neighborood of Offutt, but near as I can determine, didn't actually affect them. Since you're familiar with the area, the lights went out in the northern half of Bellevue, southern Omaha to about "L" street, and west through Papillion, LaVista
to around 168th St.

My mother and I would often watch the clouds turn varous shades of greens and purples before we had to run downstairs to the storm shelter.

That describes tonight pretty well. Major thunderstorms, a TON of lightning strikes, Omaha is still fighting a 3-alarm fire downtown caused by a direct lightning strike.

This is kind of wierd...

I have a friend of mine from work, we ride 4-wheelers alot and work out together 2-3 times a week. We were talking about our fathers being in the military. They were both in the Air Force, but as far as we know our dad's don't know each other. We haven't asked them about it yet. His dad was stationed there a year or 2 before my dad was.

We got to talking about the base and the schools there and I happened to mention the thread started about high school pictures. I remember having my picture taken with the football team, but never got a yearbook. We moved before I could get one. But I got on here today and was scouring the internet briefly to see if I could find the school, I did, sent him some links to it and one of the other schools there and a map. The map showed 2 of the schools and also where I lived.

I could easily walk up the hill and thru the gate to school. I literally "walked to school in the snow", but it wasn't for miles, maybe a 1/2 mile at the most. One of the other things I liked was riding my ten-speed over into Council Bluffs, Iowa. I'd pack a couple of P&J sandwiches in my backpack & go....

The airshows were always cool (but I was always around & in them). There is/was a weather station at the top of the hill behind us. Everyone would spread blankets out...

We talk about Omaha/Bellevue from time to time (& probably will again when we work out in the morning). I just thought it was weird since I'd just emailed him some things about it today ... ;-)