The strange Chinese car crash footage and other more plausible examples of "jumping cars"

I know that the Chinese car crash footage has been posted several times already but i am only using it as starting point.I think case i shall be bringing to your attention is worthy of its own thread but if the mods think its better suited to an already existing thread i wont object ,feel free to move it if you wish.

A traffic camera has captured a strange occurrence in China.

Three vehicles appear to mysteriously jumped into the air, as if lifted by some strange paranormal ,supernatural force .

Despite it not being clear what happened , skeptics immediately ruled out the possibility of supernatural intervention and instead prefer to speculate over the likely hood of the odd event being an optical illusion caused by a wire on the road .

www.rt.com...

While i find the explanation from the skeptics plausible ,from the point of view of someone who wants to believe I also find it disheartening.

I shall attempt to explain why .

In bygone times the people of China and the rest of world for that matter , would reach for a supernatural explanation , they would suspect magic and ghosts.In modern times however, people want a scientific explanation for such things.

In bygone days, the Chinese would put these events down to magic and the supernatural.

In modern times,if people encounter things that they cannot explain they will always by default shy away from the paranormal explanation .

Anyway what other possible explanation could there be for the mysterious Chinese jumping cars .

Its not like cars can suddenly develop a mind of there own and start jumping up and down in the air.

Tell that to Ian Schietekat, owner of the Roosboom guest house ,South Africa.

Schietekat ,his wife and children ,and their guests who were visiting south Africa from Germany,were awoken by a loud crashing sound from outside the guesthouse.

Rushing out to investigate the commotion ,the group where greated by the sight of the Germans hire car , JUMPING around on its own before bursting straight through a wooden fence.

Initially it was suspected by everyone including the neighbors who were also awoken from their sleep ,that it was a botched attempt to steal the car,but this explanation fell short as the door and windows on the Renault Mégane were locked and the hand brake was still on.

The police were called lectured the group about the impossibility of a car that develops a mind of its own a suddenly stars to hop around. The investigating officers even accused the group of drinking.

That was until ,In full view of the Schietekats, the German tourists and the two police officers, the vehicle suddenly made a type of roaring sound and gave two powerful leaps to the back, before it, was stopped by a hibiscus tree .

So another case where a car appears to by magic begin to jump about.

www.news24.com...

Edit: I cant get this link to the original news report to work, the story is number five on this listverse article i will find a better source soon.Edit 2 think that source is better.

listverse.com...

The case caused quite a furor in South Africa and gained a fair amount of media coverage ,so much so that Renault were forced published the findings of a report into the phenomenon after a thorougher investigation .

Renault claimed that the Megane's starter was activated by periodic short circuits caused by a rusty starter cable.

A rusty cable that leads to the battery supply relay box caused the short circuits. Since the car was parked in reverse, it "jumped" backwards every time the cable short-circuited, igniting the starter.

www.news24.com...

A reasonable explanation you might say.

If so then why is there no other occurrences of little Renault Meganes jumping about all over the place.

If the explanation is something as mundane as a rusty starter cable then surely we would see more examples of the phenomena .

Maybe we do .

Mayhaps all the vehicles featured in the Chinese jumping car video had rusty cables .

ok....a starter motor can not make a car jump into the air,anyone that knows anything about cars knows this.....thats that explanation squashed,and they dont have a mind of their own

I like the premise of your thread. I even want to believe that there is something supernatural going on,

But the case of the mysterious jumping cars is shot down by the pedestrian who stops the truck, which makes all the cars crash to the ground. So it must have caught and pulled taught a cable. It looks pretty cool still though.

The roaming Renault story's rational explanation is also too believable unfortunately. On those old vehicles the electrics can get a mind of their own. We had a tractor who's starter motor would sometimes get locked in when we started it - same cause a dodgy relay that would stick. We'd give it a thump with a spanner and it would switch off. The roaring sound is easily explained - the starter motor was still spinning as the motor ran. The tractor also made a quite frightening roaring sound when the starter got jammed on.

originally posted by: hiddenNZ
ok....a starter motor can not make a car jump into the air,anyone that knows anything about cars knows this.....thats that explanation squashed,and they dont have a mind of their own

The car never jumped in the air - it simply lurched backward because it was obviously parked in gear.

Here is a link to the original story (it happened in 2004)

www.news24.com...

Cape Town - The mysterious way in which a car could "jump" backwards by itself is still baffling everyone who hears about it.

Nine people, including two police officers, apparently heard a Renault Megane roar before it "jumped" backwards twice - and uphill at that.

Chris Siebert, regional manager of Renault in the Western Cape, said he has never heard of anything like this.

"A car weighs nearly a ton. If the engine is shut down, it is just a heap of metal. Are you sure the people hadn't been drinking tequilas?" Siebert joked.

originally posted by: thebabyseagull
Despite it not being clear what happened ,

Actually, it is very clear what happened, watch the video again and you will see!

In modern times,if people encounter things that they cannot explain they will always by default shy away from the paranormal explanation

So they should, why immediately jump to the conclusion it was ghosts?

Anyway what other possible explanation could there be for the mysterious Chinese jumping cars .

There is nothing mysterious about it, watch the video and you will see!

listverse.com...

You really should not believe everything you read, just look at number 1 on that list, the U-65

This didn’t help, though: just a few months later, an American submarine ambushed U-65 and exploded it with torpedoes . . . or did they? The American captain later told that they never had a chance to fire. According to him, U-65 exploded all by itself.

The U-65 was actually scuttled in October 1918.

a reply to: markosity1973

cars have inhibitor switches that stop the car being able to be started without it being in park,also you have to put your foot on the brake before the key will even turn which lets voltage engage the exciter wire on the starter motor.....

id go with too many tequilas before a possessed car

a reply to: hellobruce

Yeah the list verse article is a poor source .Wayback when machine is being a bit temperamental about trying to link the original source, try again i think the new link i added might be more up your standards .

As i said i using the Chinese car crash article as a jumping point to the what i would say is a interesting and more credible story .

With that video going viral i thought it would make a topical segway into a case that i find quite interesting and seldom discussed.

originally posted by: hiddenNZ
a reply to: markosity1973

cars have inhibitor switches that stop the car being able to be started without it being in park,l

It was a manual car....

also you have to put your foot on the brake before the key will even turn

Not if a short circuit...

a reply to: hiddenNZ

>id go with too many tequilas before a possessed car

What about the cops who witnessed it .

Do you think they where on the tequila.

a reply to: thebabyseagull
yeah most likely...why not lol.

a reply to: hellobruce

>Not if a short circuit...

If the answer is so simple Then why is there not more examples of possesed Renualts.

Cars must short circuit all the time.

a reply to: hellobruce

no you are wrong,the brake NEEDS to be depressed before the car will start,it has nothing to do with voltage,its a cable mechanism that attached to the key barrel and the shifter

originally posted by: hiddenNZ
a reply to: hellobruce

no you are wrong,the brake NEEDS to be depressed before the car will start,

The car did not start....

a reply to: markosity1973

I think Thats the article i linked .

Ive got one with original witness statements from the wayback when machine but it wont work .

Heres the copy paste.

web.archive.org...://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1624535,00.html

Carin Smith

Somerset West - A locked Renault jerking backwards up an incline, without the engine running and the handbrake on, has left a Cape Town family perplexed.

Ian Schietekat, owner of the Roosboom guest house, his wife, Mabel, their children and German guests were all fast asleep when a loud crash sounded through the neighbourhood just before 06:00.

They rushed out and found that the rented Renault Mégane, with which the Germans were touring through the Cape, started jumping around on its own and burst straight through a sturdy wooden fence.

Initially everyone - including the neighbours who were also jerked from their sleep - thought it was a botched attempt to steal the car.

However, the large security gate enclosing the property was still closed, car was locked, no windows had been broken, and even the handbrake was pulled up.

The police were summoned, but they were also flummoxed.

"No vehicle can move if it is not switched on," one officer said.

But he had to eat his words shortly after that.

In full view of the Schietekats, the tourists and the two police officers, the vehicle "suddenly made a type of roaring sound and gave two powerful leaps to the back, before it, thank heaven, was stopped by a hibiscus tree," Ian Schietekat recalled. "I wish you could have seen our faces. The one police officer's eyes were as big as saucers and my daughter said the car was haunted," Mabel said.

Edited by Wilmer Muller 21/11/2004 22:12

Your link is from 2004-11-23 10:54

So i think that mine is the original article .

If anyone can fix the link then that would be great.

a reply to: hiddenNZ

So what dose that leave.

If a starter motor cant do this and its not ghosts,then what ?

a reply to: hellobruce

yep,true,youre not wrong then.

a reply to: markosity1973

We had a remote control toy tarantula that would just start walking around unprompted when its battery where low.

The wife was terrified of it.

originally posted by: thebabyseagull
If a starter motor cant do this

A starter motor can make a car lurch.... Ever had to start a manual car that had a broken clutch cable?

a reply to: thebabyseagull

A rusty cable that leads to the battery supply relay box caused the short circuits. Since the car was parked in reverse, it "jumped" backwards every time the cable short-circuited, igniting the starter.

Mayhaps all the vehicles featured in the Chinese jumping car video had rusty cables .

Hah. my man..there would be whole lot of f*** up cars lying about. You can almost simulate the "case" by turning ignition while in gear without pushing the clutch. The car will jump. Yet never enough to turn a car over on its side and crash it. The Renault explanation can not explain the chinese video.

The first source was from a street sweeper that sucked up a cable, moving 3 cars.

See the video at the top. Video from the aftermath starts at the 50 sec mark.
sg.weibo.com...