Touring - I just have to ask

This is for the people who camp while on tour. Have you ever experienced or seen anything that you couldn't explain? Something along the lines of BIGfoot, ghosts, a ufo, etc. Please, share your stories (if any).

Does a huge fireball descending from the sky in the middle of the night count?

Yes. You saw a meteorite?

No, lightening.

I had been violently ill all evening with food poisoning ... lots of dashing out to the outhouse. But things had finally settled down, and Rowan and I were sleeping peacefully in our tent. I woke up and was debating about making another dash to the outhouse. I could hear the thunderstorm rumbling in the distance, and was wondering whether it was coming or going.

Words are not adequate to describe what happened next. This is something you'd have to experience.

Suddenly, out of the darkness and relative quiet, a huge brilliantly red ball of fire seared down through the sky, landing alarmingly close to the tent.

Almost before our brains could register the ball of fire, the thunderclap deafened us and we were clinging together as everything shook around us.

My main thought was ... "what's next?" I wondered if the forest would go up in flame, or a tree would crash onto the tent, or something. It felt like something should happen next.

But the only thing that happened next was a silence ... and then a pouring rain.



This was mid-August this year in the Canadian Rockies.

Crud man - I've spent the last few summers sleeping under the stars in California's Sierra Nevada... I haven't seen a single thing that was interesting. Nice sunsets though.

Nothing that I recall, unless you count a raccoon loudly digging through a campground dumpster. I sleep pretty good, though. For all I know, I've slept through all kinds of outlandish and undignified experiments performed on me by space aliens. Hmmm, maybe THAT explains the incessant noise coming out of my backside. Wife thinks its just gas.

Bigfoot would be the coolest thing ever to see.

No, lightening.

I had been violently ill all evening with food poisoning ... lots of dashing out to the outhouse. But things had finally settled down, and Rowan and I were sleeping peacefully in our tent. I woke up and was debating about making another dash to the outhouse. I could hear the thunderstorm rumbling in the distance, and was wondering whether it was coming or going.

Words are not adequate to describe what happened next. This is something you'd have to experience.

Suddenly, out of the darkness and relative quiet, a huge brilliantly red ball of fire seared down through the sky, landing alarmingly close to the tent.

Almost before our brains could register the ball of fire, the thunderclap deafened us and we were clinging together as everything shook around us.

My main thought was ... "what's next?" I wondered if the forest would go up in flame, or a tree would crash onto the tent, or something. It felt like something should happen next.

But the only thing that happened next was a silence ... and then a pouring rain.



This was mid-August this year in the Canadian Rockies.

Wow:twitchy: that's an experience.

I and my friends once saw, and spoke to a ghost, and there was no denying it was a ghost, as it glowed white, yes, just like in the movies, irridescing with a band of light around it that stood out from the figure about 4 or 5 inches. I stood about three feet from it (well, her), as did my friends.
I'd tell you more, but it wasn't while touring or camping, so it doesn;t fit the rules...

Camping on an island just off the Maine coast (kayak trip). We were sitting around a campfire on the beach when we all saw a UFO. Weird flickering lights and it was coming right at us. Conversation came to a complete halt and we all held our breath.

"What the hell is that?!"

Speedo

Then it came a bit closer and we could see it was a plane taking off from Portland. It was flying just at the edge of the cloud cover, and that created the weird flickering light effect.

It was cool anyway.

Speedo

Once. A long time ago. The summer after graduation from high school (1977) some friends and I rode our bikes to Harriman State Park (took all day!) and camped there.

So there we were, in our no doubt illegal camp site (no permit). No fire, because we didn't want to get caught. Somewhere in the middle of the night, we saw three lights moving around in a pattern of concentric circles. We figured out that they were somewhere over New York City.

Never did discover what they were. But it was 1977. We were young and dumb. We had indulged in a fair amount of various controlled substances. So it was probably nothing.

Great stories so far. I knew people have experienced odd stuff while on tour. I myself do not have any stories to tell because I haven't toured yet. Thank you everyone for sharing. Gotte, please elaborate. :D

No, lightening.

I had been violently ill all evening with food poisoning ... lots of dashing out to the outhouse. But things had finally settled down, and Rowan and I were sleeping peacefully in our tent. I woke up and was debating about making another dash to the outhouse. I could hear the thunderstorm rumbling in the distance, and was wondering whether it was coming or going.

Words are not adequate to describe what happened next. This is something you'd have to experience.

Suddenly, out of the darkness and relative quiet, a huge brilliantly red ball of fire seared down through the sky, landing alarmingly close to the tent.

Almost before our brains could register the ball of fire, the thunderclap deafened us and we were clinging together as everything shook around us.

My main thought was ... "what's next?" I wondered if the forest would go up in flame, or a tree would crash onto the tent, or something. It felt like something should happen next.

But the only thing that happened next was a silence ... and then a pouring rain.



This was mid-August this year in the Canadian Rockies.

sounds like this was your culprit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning