Posted on 03/15/2021 5:30:39 PM PDT by BenLurkin
For hundreds of years, people have looked up at the hazy peaks of California's Santa Lucia Mountains at sunset and seen tall, cloaked figures staring back. Then, within moments, the eerie silhouettes disappear.
These twilight apparitions are known as the Dark Watchers — shady, sometimes 10-foot-tall (3 meters) men bedecked in sinister hats and capes.
One famous observer who felt the presence of the Watchers was the American author John Steinbeck. In his 1938 short story "Flight," a character sees a black figure leering down at him from a nearby ridgetop, "but he looked quickly away, for it was one of the dark watchers," Steinbeck wrote. "No one knew who the watchers were, nor where they lived, but it was better to ignore them and never to show interest in them."
One theory...it's a classic case of pareidolia: a psychological phenomenon in which an observer's brain finds patterns or significance in a vague or random image.
This pattern-seeking effect could be amplified by the presence of fog or low-flying clouds, according to Dowd. Shadows cast against clouds are responsible for another infamous illusion, known as the Brocken specter.
"German locals near the Harz Mountains have, for centuries, reported seeing shadowy figures on Brocken peak," Dowd wrote. "In reality, the Brocken spectre … happens when shadows — like those of a hiker — are cast on particularly misty mountain peaks...."
The spectral figures are usually surrounded by a rainbow-colored halo, produced by sunlight refracting off of water droplets in the fog or clouds, according to the BBC. While it's common in the Harz Mountains, where fogs frequently creep in at low altitudes, you can see the effect on any misty mountainside with the sun at your back and the clouds below you.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I remember that. We were watching. :)
Gotta squint some .... :-)
Hmmm
Like reading a teleprompter...
(I can't pass up this opportunity to post this old song link.)
"Alley Oop" The Hollywood Argyles
("...He don't eat nothin' but a bear cat stew...")
Moody Blues ping
When I was 12 living in rural Wisconsin, I saw a dark figure (silhouette) standing at the crest of a hill on corn field just after harvest. Wearing a wide brim hat and cloak. I was shocked by the sight and gasped. My 11 yr old brother said to me, you see it too? He thought it was his imagination. 30 years later, listening to Art Bell he spoke about shadow people. I looked it up online and sent a pic of them to my brother. He immediately responded to the cornfield incident. Very strange. I still remember the sensation in my gut, knees, and the top of my head when I saw it. Haven’t seen it since. It was dusk and a clear sky behind the ridge from our viewpoint. Standing straight up and appeared to be looking at us (we both thought). We ran to the garage and pulled out our baseball bats.
Brocken Spectre.
Yikes.
No he’s not
.....,he’s outside looking in
Everyone knows that
Come on man
Read Mark Carlotto’s “The Cydonia Controversy”.
Carlotto is a PhD scientist who specializes in image processing.
That bird looks like a cross between the creature from the black lagoon and an owl!
Neyah ah ah! Whittishhh
PhD, by itself, means nothing to me - anybody with a hard enough ass can get one, especially in the last 20-30 years.
I can’t find anything about this Carlotto guy except claims of his experience - with no mention of institutions or Universities where he has done research or taught.
This appears to be one of his websites:
I’m as great a fan of Art Bell, Coast-to-Coast, etc., as anyone - but I take it as sheer entertainment. I need substantive information about a person’s credentials and achievements to give them any credence beyond their entertainment value.
Carlotto has a PhD in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon, serious STEM credentials. There, I did your research for you. Took me 10 seconds.
The plateau the ‘face’ resides on is highly symmetric, i.e., not fractal like natural features. The plateau is in the shape of a shield and there is a straight line that joins the the points of intersection where sides of the shield meet the arc at the top. This is not a matter of pareidolia but discernible features visible at different angles and lighting conditions.
The symmetry is strongly suggestive that this feature is artificial. Not proof of course but suggestive. While you’re at it take a look at the hexagon feature on the south pole of Saturn.
Is Sinister a brand name? :-)
He advertises the fact that he has a PhD from Carnegie Mellon all over the place - including on his Amazon page, and in the ‘about’ portion of the link that I previously furnished. And as I wrote, I don’t think that much of a mere PhD.
What research has he done in any institution, where has he taught, how many papers has he published in peer-reviewed scientific journals?
I’m sure you’ll do more research for me.
It appears to be a woman walking in the woods. What creature are you seeing?
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