A LETTER TO COLIN ANDREWS ABOUT BALLS OF LIGHT (ORBS) KNOWN BY LOCALS N WILTSHIRE ENGLAND AS “THE AVEBURY LIGHTS”

Dear Mr Andrews,

I would like to share with you some information that I have gathered over the past months regarding one of the mysteries going on in Southern England. I am not referring here to the delightful, mysterious and controversial «crop circles» but rather to a phenomenon called «balls of light» by the locals.

Described as having roughly the size of soccer ball, these spheres have been seen flying over the fields in an apparently intelligent manner, sometimes hovering from a few inches above the ground up to several feet in the air. According to the numerous documentaries that mention them, we know that some are silver, others purple, red, golden or blue.

In a book called Nikola Tesla Colorado Springs Notes 1899-1900 edited by Nolit in 1978 (probably still available through used book sellers online), there is a small section of scientific commentaries written by Alexandar Marincic who was then associate professor of Electrical Engineering at Belgrad University and scientific adviser to the Nikola Tesla Museum.

In January 3rd of 1900, Nikola Tesla, this famous electrical engineer to whom we owe the discovery of the polyphased current and many other crucial inventions, was working in his laboratory in Colorado Spring and he wrote, in his personal notes, the results he had obtained from an electrical experiment that had produced «fireballs.»

Professor Marincic makes an extremely fascinating comment regarding this experiment. These fireballs that Tesla was talking about behaved in many, if not all respects, like the balls of light seen in the fields of England.

«Fireballs are considered to be a form of electrical discharge generated during thunderstorms. (…) Fireballs are usually red, but other colors have also been observed: yellow, green, white and blue. Their dimensions vary, a mean diameter being about 25 cm.

«Unlike ordinary lightning, fireballs move slowly, almost parallel to the ground. They sometimes stop and change their direction of motion. They can last for up to 5 seconds.»

«(…) According to recent theories, fireballs consist of  a plasma zone created by electrical discharge. «The latest research and calculations by Kapitsa show that the lifetime of a fireball cannot be explained by the energy it receives at the time of the genesis, but that it must receive energy from its surroundings. Kapitsa theorizes that this external energy is produced by a naturally created electromagnetic field.»

Marincic continues:

«(…) The diameter of the plasma sphere is determined by the frequency of the external field, so that a resonance occurs. The usual dimension of fireballs would require that the electromagnetic field have a wavelength of between 35 and 100 cm. (…) It has been found that to maintain a lump of plasma in air requires a power of the electromagnetic field of about 500 W.»

Now, let us compare the previous statements by professor Marincic to the observations that were made of balls of lights in the fields of Southern England. In the book that you have written with your friend Pat Delagdo, «Circular Evidence», a whole array of events are described that lead the reader to believe that there is, put in a nutshell, electricity in the air where crop circles are found: increased levels of magnetism, strange noises coming out of nowhere (knocks, hissing, crackling sounds), compasses spinning in a counter clockwise direction, bright flashes (maybe due to electrostatic reactions, the same that occur when we remove our clothes in a dry room in the winter time?)

It seems that whatever makes the crop circles recognizable as «genuine» by the leading researchers has something in common with electricity, magnetism, electromagnetism or all of the above.

Maybe there is something in the geology of the Wessex Triangle that  creates these reactions, a hypothesis well worth exploring. But, let us return to our balls of light for the moment. It is interesting to read Marincic’s comment regarding the lifespan of usual «fireballs». Five seconds at most. There is credible footage, however, showing balls of light in the English landscape having a much, much longer duration. Does this mean that balls of light are not fireballs or plasma lumps after all? Not necessarily.

In a fascinating report on ball lightning by the Tornado and Storm Research Organization (www.torro.org) we learn that during a hurricane in the Barbados, in 1786, «a monstrous ‘ball of fire’ (…) remained visible for close to 40 minutes.»

TORRO believes that it can appear in relation to geophysical environments as well as particular atmospheric conditions. According to Marinicic’s text, fireballs must receive energy from their surroundings in order to «exist».

Is it possible that this could be the same  energy whose effects have been observed in association with (and not necessarily emanating from) the crop circles? Let us not forget that an expensive BBC camera was rendered useless during a visit inside a crop circle. This «energy» is also said to have disturbed helicopters’ and planes’ electronic systems.

Earthquake lights, which are very similar to balls of light, can occur during tectonic pressures in subsurface areas (faults). Canadian scientist Michael Persinger, who has studied the balls of light phenomena, quotes Finkelstein, Hill and Powel (1973) who noted that «the electric fields associated with such mechanical distortion of prone crystal lattices generate values of more than 100 000 Volts per meter and are capable of ionizing the local air over large areas.»

Note by Colin Andrews: I was given the video seen here and taken by Stephen Alexander shortly after he filmed the orb at Milk Hill, Wiltshire in July 1990.  It was my research that found the tractor driver seen in the film. He told me that he stopped his tractor as the ‘Ball’ floated about 35-40 feet above his head.  In the original film with the contrast turned right down, the orb can be seen silhouetted against the bright sky as it suddenly speeds vertically up into the sky.

Note by Colin Andrews:  This if the famous footage which became known as the ‘Oliver’s  Castle’ film.  It was first said to have been filmed on the night of 10-11th August 1996 by a man calling himself John Weyleigh.  He asked to meet me which I agreed to do.  A copy of the film was handed to me for analysis with a hand written note agreeing terms by which it could be shown. I sent the film to be analysed I also engaged a private detective to investigate Weyleigh and his claim.  The footage was potentially too important to accept at face value and had to be authenticated.  My detective infiltrated his family and the film studio he worked at. The footage was found to be a fraud and later the same people, including Weyleigh, whose proper name is John Wabe, made a second video showing how the first film was made.  This they tried to sell to Nippon Television in Japan, who would not show it but kindly provided me with the film for my library. It is a fairly accurate depiction of the balls of light seen in that area but none so far have been seen making crop circles.

On its website, the US Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program (http://earthquake.usgs.gov) states that «earthquake lights», which include seismic lightning and «globular incandescent masses (…) are a recognised geophysical phenomenon.» EHP says that the proposed mechanisms «include piezoelectric, frictional heating, exoelectron emissions, sonoluminescence, phosphine gaz emissions and fluid injection (electrikeinetics).

In his paper entitled «Transient Geophysical Bases for Ostensible UFO-related phenomena and Associated Verbal Behaviour» published in 1976 in the peer-reviewed publication Perceptual and Motor Skills, professor Michael Persinger from the Laurentian University in Canada writes extensively about the balls of light. They were sometimes described, he says, in very interesting ways such as «chains of spheroid glows moving in the same direction».

Persinger mentions that the luminosities and ionization «can occur in areas of tectonic stress, without gross seismicity.»

He also mentions facts regarding these luminous sphere that are also familiar to those who have been inside crop circles: «Close proximity («encounters») to the field (even below luminogenic potentials) could evoke «tingling/prickly sensations», «apprehension», piloerection. (…)»

Balls of light are not a rare phenomenon in Southern England although this area of the world is not famous for its earthquakes. So what generates them? And what energy sustains their existence long enough for witnesses to film them for minutes at the time? Should we look into other forms of energies such as scalar waves to comprehend this mystery? The debate is open.

Kind regards,

Brigitte Trahan

Quebec, Canada

Note by Colin Andrews:  During 1994 I was present  with a team of researchers overlooking East Field, Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, England when two army helicopters approached us moments before they engaged one of the ‘Balls of Light’ seen quite regularly in that area.

Copyright: Gifted to Colin Andrews – CPR International 1994.