Can anyone help explain this discharge?

Originally posted by Extralien
So we are back to the flash being a good inch or two away from the mesh and going in front and above of the wooden beam...

Arbitrageur had a good idea with the spiders web. I was thinking that a spider could have dropped down on a thread to the ground and the mesh sparked to the spiders web, but your new info makes this even less likely On top of that spider silk is a very good insulator normally.

The only other explanation I can think of is something like Earth Lights which I don't know much about.

Good luck with your endeavours anyway!

reply to post by LightFantastic


Remember Fraser antistatic? Well, this is what they have to say about it.. they took the time to have a look at the video which was absolutely fantastic of them.

Thank you for your enquiry and what a spooky video clip it is. I guess that you are looking for a ogical scientific answer to this phenomenon which I think I can provide you with although I have to admit it still seems very strange and something I would not expect frankly to ever see.

As a reformed smoker
of advancing years, I recall that I was once the proud owner of a rather
expensive Calibri Quartz Crystal lighter -- this was a quality heavy beast which had a quartz crystal within it that when struck by a small sprung loaded internal striking device produced a significant electrical discharge and spark able to ignite the gas source.

The electrical discharge was so powerful that if I tried to use the cigarette lighter in the rain, I often received a nasty shock rather than the ignition spark hoped for.

Granite if I am not mistaken contains quartz -- if that quartz became compressed by even small structural movement within the granite walls, I guess it could be enough to generate a discharge that would spark towards a conductor or path top earth -- in this case the galvanised steel mesh.

That is my best shot
at a logical solution to this strange spark.

I can only hope someone at a university or something like that will have the same kindness and have a look for us.. otherwise this remains unexplained. We're edging closer to calling it 100% paranormal.. But I would have to say we are at about 80 to 85% at the moment.. there's still room for something else IMO.

reply to post by Extralien


What Fraser Antistatic said is basically what I said - granite is somewhat piezoelectric but usually three magnitudes less than quartz. This is also why I asked if vehicles could travel near the walls in question.

The main problem for a simple explanation is where the spark occurred.

Amongst other things I used to deal with difficult static problems in industry so I have seen a lot but this is difficult to explain.