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'Dark Watchers' have been spooking California hikers for centuries. What are they?
livescience.com ^ | Brandon Specktor

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 β€” 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 β€” like those of a hiker β€” 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 ...


TOPICS: Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: bigfoot; brockenpeak; brockenspectre; california; cryptobiology; darkwatchers; flight; germany; johnsteinbeck; pareidolia; santalucia; sasquatch
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To: dragnet2

That’s the Hildabeast after the 2016 election. She went out marching in the woods, wrote about it, and someone conveniently took a photo of it and shared it with the news. You can see in her left hand her witch’s wand.


81 posted on 03/16/2021 8:48:42 AM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Bob434

Every time a chupacabra slaps me upside the head and tells me I’m hallucinating again, Terrence McKenna tells me to take another hit of LSD.


82 posted on 03/16/2021 8:52:03 AM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Well at least you can confirm the existence of chupacabras too


83 posted on 03/16/2021 9:04:39 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Oh and who is Terrence McKenna? Another Timothy l like charzcter?


84 posted on 03/16/2021 9:06:07 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: BenLurkin
Oh. Right. And the author's name is Spektor. Uh-huh.

Is livescience the MAD magazine of science websites?

85 posted on 03/16/2021 9:07:25 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: BenLurkin

Sounds racisty to me.


86 posted on 03/16/2021 9:08:00 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: Bob434

Not entirely....LOL


87 posted on 03/16/2021 9:10:51 AM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
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To: JBW1949

Lol, life is better without it. At least for me it is. I couldn’t drink socially, I had to drink to excess,, drink to pass out, then wake up and drink some more. Not a good scenario, and too expensive too boot. Glad I was able, to quit. Too many with drinking problems can’t seem to do so unfortunately.


88 posted on 03/16/2021 9:24:00 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Bob434

I quit when my son got his driver’s License....I knew I’d be watching a ball game and drinking when he’d call and need something...I thought it best just to give it all up...


89 posted on 03/16/2021 9:36:31 AM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
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To: Bob434

BTW...Congrats on being able to give it up....


90 posted on 03/16/2021 9:37:41 AM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
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To: JBW1949

Thanks, wasn’t easy.


91 posted on 03/16/2021 10:07:34 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: PGalt

No, he’s outside, looking in


92 posted on 03/16/2021 10:08:30 AM PDT by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston? )
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To: RummyChick

It was really strange. It must be the juvenile of some species.


93 posted on 03/16/2021 10:08:38 AM PDT by refreshed (But we preach Christ crucified... 1 Corinthians 1:23)
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To: BenLurkin
Blame Disney


94 posted on 03/16/2021 10:10:11 AM PDT by Daffynition (*Mega Dittoes and Mega Prayers* & :))
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To: Bob434

I understand...I also quit smoking about 15 years ago...THAT was also pretty hard...


95 posted on 03/16/2021 10:10:59 AM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
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To: BenLurkin

‘Squatch?


96 posted on 03/16/2021 10:28:58 AM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Militia to the border! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: JBW1949

hardest thing i ever did was quittin ciggs- took me 8 years- I stopped opioids that i was on for health issue easier than ciggs- That was about 0 years ago- to this day i still have dreams that I’m smoking, that i can still ‘have just a couple of ciggs and not get re-addicted’ etc- terrible things-


97 posted on 03/16/2021 10:48:58 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: linedrive

As a resident of The Boonies in Wisconsin, that is a very compelling account. 😬


98 posted on 03/16/2021 2:21:19 PM PDT by TheConservativeParty (MAGA FOREVER πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ)
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To: SunkenCiv

Whatever happened to GGG? Did you drop me off of your ping list?


99 posted on 03/16/2021 8:05:34 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: The Duke

LOL!


100 posted on 03/17/2021 12:05:32 PM PDT by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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