[TopPop]

I was sitting in the living room with some of my roommates last night and we heard a huge *BANG* come from outside, and a bright flash through the windows. We thought that lighting had struck nearby, but then we noticed that there was still light flashing from somewhere outside.

So we stepped out and saw this right across the street:

72,000 volts... burned a hole right through the concrete... still don't know how it happened!

 

[fraseyboy]

O_O

 

[intoflatlines]

Very dangerous..

Related story: One night I was up late (4AM) and I noticed the lights dim in my house. I then started to hear a very deep humming sound, it kind of sounded like feedback. It was very deep and it was swelling at about 1 Hz (harmonic dissonance or whatever it's called). I looked out the window and I saw the entire sky to the north pulsing/glowing white. It wasn't incredibly bright. It wasn't really noticeable unless you were looking up at the sky. I went to the back yard to get a better view and my dad came out. He asked me if I heard the humming too, and I pointed out the glowing sky. We both stared at the pulsing sky while listening to the deep humming for a couple minutes. We had no idea what it was. I got in my car and drove in the direction that the sky was glowing (I was 16). I called 911. While I was dialing I saw five or six police cars speed down the road towards the light, and saw more police coming from different directions. I connected to 911 and told them about the humming and the lights. He asked what town I was calling from and I told him, and he informed me that there was a large power line down. As he told me I drove past the street where the line was down and saw huge sparks like the one in your picture, which was lighting up the sky. The sparks had caught a large tree on fire, too. That is the story of the night I thought that aliens had landed.

 

[TopPop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by intoflatlines /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is the story of the night that I thought that aliens had landed.

Ha! I love it!

 

[TopPop]

Oh... FYI: I was using my zoom lens last night... I wasn't gettin' anywhere near that thing!!

 

[DSlayerZX]

yeah... it happened near my house one.
it was a really really loud bang, i literally jumped out of my chair.

black out because of it, but since daily breeze is right next to my house... they fixed it in two-three hours XD

ps... not too sure if they fix the line or not... but we got power in two hours =_=

 

[krmathis]

Thats bright!

Nice fireworks, but a really deadly one...

 

[TopPop]

And this was the picture the local paper decided to use in their online article instead of one of mine:

So disappointing...

 

[dcheming]

Wow, that's some serious power. It's a good thing it wasn't raining. Could you take a close up pic of the melted concrete when you get a chance?

 

[TopPop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcheming /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, that's some serious power. It's a good thing it wasn't raining. Could you take a close up pic of the melted concrete when you get a chance?

No prob. I'll do it tomorrow.

 

[Currawong]

Back in my home town, it can get seriously windy, despite not being hurricane or tornado territory (neither of which Australia experiences anyway). One windy night, I started hearing this loud *BAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRP* sound coming from up the street, so I went outside to investigate. The power lines, which are strung in 4's between poles were being blown so hard they were arcing. Living next to bushland, myself and other neighbours, who had joined me in investigating the noise, were rather concerned, but no fires started that night.

 

[bhd812]

Should of put on some dish washing gloves then cut the other end, you could of got some free speaker cable and power cords..already burned in and cryo treated!

 

[TopPop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhd812 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Should of put on some dish washing gloves then cut the other end, you could of got some free speaker cable and power cords..

I don't know. I think that would have made my system a bit... *ahem*... [size=xx-small]bright[/size]... for my tastes.

(moans abounding)

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopPop /img/forum/go_quote.gif 72,000 volts... burned a hole right through the concrete... still don't know how it happened!

"its not the volts that gets ya, its the amps"

(famous quote from somewhere)

yikes that looks nasty.


my more toned down version. I had a 9v battery EXPLODE on my while sitting on my night table next to my bed. here's a shot of what I found:

I heard a loud BANG from the other room, ran in to see what was going on and found the nail looking thing on the floor and the battery sitting there with its top burst open. imagine if I was sleeping and that thing went off. imagine if it was lying on its side when it went off....


I think the electrons are forming a union and starting to plan their attack on humans. bwahahahah!

 

[Uncle Erik]

Those are some awesome photos! I'll second the request for photos of the concrete.

Reminds me of an electrical storm I saw about 20 years ago. There were strikes locally, so I was up in a room with a minor view of the city. Watched strikes for awhile, then one of them hit a transformer on a power pole. A blue ring of plasma went up and down the transformer, then it exploded. And the lights went out. It was worth the blackout to see the plasma ring, though.