• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

The Mystery Of The Vibrating Pole

E

Elidorius

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
53
It’s never done it before, and it hasn’t done it since. A disused aerial pole on a neighbour’s house was observed to be vibrating in an unusual fashion on Tuesday 4th November 2008. What could have caused it?

This is a blog post of mine from 10th November 2008, illustrated with videos and photographs. I'd be interested in your opinions.

Click here to read "The Mystery Of The Vibrating Pole" at 'Somerset' Bob's Place

Thanks for your time.
 
A bird on top, bouncing up and down...?

Burglars in the house using a hammer-drill to get at a wall safe...?

I don't know! :?


More close ups of the pole might yield further info. What is on top of it?

If you stand beneath it, can you see right up through it?
 
This is a typical example of an Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon (UAP)...
 
rynner said:
A bird on top, bouncing up and down...? Burglars in the house using a hammer-drill to get at a wall safe...? I don't know! :? More close ups of the pole might yield further info. What is on top of it? If you stand beneath it, can you see right up through it?
Click to expand...

No, no birds, Rynner - in fact, in the past couple of years we've noticed an almost complete lack of birds in our garden and surrounding area, where before we used to see quite a few.

No burglars at work with hammer drills - at least, none that I'm aware of!

There's a small bracket at the top of the pole which used to hold the aerial. The old aerial wire still runs down the outside of the pole, presumably into the house.

I've not looked up through the pole - I've assumed it's hollow, rather like a bit of scaffolding pole. If I get a chance, I'll nip round and have a peek.

;)
 
eburacum said:
This is a typical example of an Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon (UAP)...
Click to expand...

Indeed, Eburacum. I've never seen a UFO, though I keep an open mind. What intrigues me is that seeing this pole oscillating is the first time I've seen with my own eyes something that my brain cannot rationally explain. It must surely be evidence of some kind of force acting upon it. In the absence of physical effects such as wind, or sound pressure waves travelling through the air or the ground, what else is left other than an electro-magnetic field?

It's been a stormy night, and the wind was still quite gusty by daylight this morning. The pole is unaffected by it.

Someone on another bulletin board suggested HAARP might be responsible. I don't know much about the HAARP project, but I gather it fires powerful electro-magnetic waves into the ionosphere, which disturbs that layer of the atmosphere, effectively heating it up for a while. Whether those experiments have a 'fall-out' effect into the lower atmosphere thousands of miles from their source, I've no idea.

Does anyone here know for sure whether this is likely?
 
Maybe your neighbour's washing machine was on spin cycle inside the house?
 
gncxx said:
Maybe your neighbour's washing machine was on spin cycle inside the house?
Click to expand...
Ah, so I'm not the only one who thought that.
 
I notice the pole is attached to the apex of the house rather than a chimney: is there a water tank in the roof space anywhere near there? Main water tanks can resonate as they refill, or there may be a very small airlock which creates a water hammer effect - central heating header tanks are often attached to pumps which can create the same effect - barely noticeable unless you're close to it, but a metal rod effectively connected to it would possibly resonate in a more pronounced manner.

I'd check the attic, at any rate.

By the way, strange lights over Dundry are nothing new. There's a long tradition of aerial phenomena there and over Stanton Drew (a couple of miles further south, with a nice little stone circle.) I've seen odd floating lights over that area myself, years ago, as when I was a child our house had a great view of Dundry from about three miles away: however, it is close to one of the Bristol Airport flightpaths, only a few miles from the airport itself, and the radio masts (there are more than one up there) have lights on them so there's plenty of room for misinterpretation (I know they checked out ATC and the Police in the cited case, though.)

Edited for a typo and to actually make some sort of sense...
 
gncxx and Ronson8 - the neighbour is away at the moment, so I very much doubt the washing machine is in use (unless it has a really long spin cycle - of, say, a week!).

stuneville - with the neighbour away, I can't check the house internals, but when he comes back I'll have a chat with him.

Two updates to bring you - first, yesterday: quite windy, and the pole didn't so much as tremble.

Well, OK — it did move back and forth just a little, but I had to be standing right underneath it to see it. I went round and took some pictures, which I posted in a comment at my blog -

http://www.bobkingsley.co.uk/blog/?p=209#comment-54814

- they show that the pole is hollow, and that the wire running down it doesn't go into the house but just dangles down.

Today: as I opened the conservatory blinds at 08:45 onto a cloudless sky with a low sun fully ablaze and only light breezes blowing, the pole was oscillating, much like last Tuesday.

I watched for a couple of minutes, looked away while I put the kettle on in the kitchen, and when I looked again a crow was sitting on top of the now-stationary pole. It took off, and the pole's reaction to the action was to oscillate a little.

The oscillations, rather than dying down soon after as the energy dissipated, continued for a while longer and grew a little in intensity. I went to make my first cup of tea, and by the time I came back to the window at about 09:00, it had stopped.

I wasn't in a position to rush round to the house for a close-up observation on this occasion, but if it does it again during the day I'll try to do so.

Applying Occam's Razor, my rational side is becoming more convinced now that it's probably something to do with the movement of the surrounding air after all - although I'm having trouble reconciling the observation that today's light breezes appear to have induced more oscillatory movement than yesterday's stronger winds could manage. It seems topsy-turvy to me. Logic - and, indeed, unless I'm mistaken, the laws of physics - dictate that more energy input is required to produce more energetic output.

What does the panel think?
 
Resonance can build up quite large effects if the input, even a small one, has the right frequency.

So if it is wind related, this suggests a gustiness is necessary. This gustiness could be caused by turbulence, such as would be caused by the wind blowing past a corner of the house. So a crucial factor might be the wind direction, as well as its speed.

So if you have a handy weathervane nearby, it might be worth noting the wind direction when the pole vibrates. (Since the pole seems to be mounted symettrically with regard to the end of the building, you might find that two quite different wind directions will coincide with the phenomenon!)
 
Elidorius said:
It’s never done it before, and it hasn’t done it since. A disused aerial pole on a neighbour’s house was observed to be vibrating in an unusual fashion on Tuesday 4th November 2008. What could have caused it?

This is a blog post of mine from 10th November 2008, illustrated with videos and photographs. I'd be interested in your opinions.

Click here to read "The Mystery Of The Vibrating Pole" at 'Somerset' Bob's Place

Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...

???? Interesting?? :nonplus: I'm not sure!? :nonplus: Anything to do with UFOlogy?! :confused: NO! :no-no:


So why is this here?! Actual threads on UFO's recieve little interest, yet a vibrating Pole grabs your attention?! SHeeeesh!

You guys are fickle! ;)
 
Waylander28 said:
Elidorius said:
It’s never done it before, and it hasn’t done it since. ...
Click to expand...


???? Interesting?? :nonplus: I'm not sure!? :nonplus: Anything to do with UFOlogy?! :confused: NO! :no-no:
Click to expand...

Have you read the blog entry over to which Elidorius linked?
So why is this here?! Actual threads on UFO's recieve little interest, yet a vibrating Pole grabs your attention?! SHeeeesh!

You guys are fickle! ;)
Click to expand...
Granted, General Forteana may have been better (and indeed, as it brings in disparate elements - including UFO sightings - I've now moved it.) However, it's up to the individual what they find interesting and/or intriguing. And speaking for myself, I found this interesting.

So tough ;).
 
misterwibble - thanks for that link. I'd never heard of vortex shedding before, but I have to say it does seem a likely candidate.

A pity really - I rather liked the idea of it being something to with passing UFOs!

Still, one or two mysteries remain, such as why, in five years, neither I nor my wife have ever noticed it doing it before (and I do gaze out the conservatory windows quite frequently), and why it doesn't do it more often on the days when, like today and last Tuesday, the strength of the light breezes apparently responsible for the effect have been seemingly consistent in nature right through the day.

Then again, I'm aware that eye-witness testimony is notoriously unreliable, and I daresay my observations are no more reliable than anyone else's. And, having just poked my head out the conservatory door, I can see a slight oscillation taking place right now, which kind of gives the lie to my assumption about the regularity with which the pole has actually been performing its oscillating dance through the previous days, weeks, months and years.

My next-door neighbour has a weather vane in his garden. It's about ten feet off the ground and currently indicating the wind is coming from an easterly direction (that is to say, blowing from behind the pole from my perspective and coming towards me). While I have no way of measuring the strength or direction of the wind at roof height, I will make a note of the indicated direction for future observations.

For the moment, though, it looks like it's QED to misterwibble! ;)
 
stuneville said:
Have you read the blog entry over to which Elidorius linked?
Click to expand...

Yes....

stuneville said:
I've now moved it.) However, it's up to the individual what they find interesting and/or intriguing. And speaking for myself, I found this interesting.

So tough ;).
Click to expand...

Stuned by the Stuneville! ;) Fine but it can be interesting somewhere else! :lol:

stuneville said:
... including UFO sightings ...
Click to expand...

What? the plastic bag?! A site of intrigue indeed!
;)
 
Waylander28 said:
stuneville said:
Have you read the blog entry over to which Elidorius linked?
Click to expand...

Yes....

stuneville said:
I've now moved it.) However, it's up to the individual what they find interesting and/or intriguing. And speaking for myself, I found this interesting.

So tough ;).
Click to expand...

Stuned by the Stuneville! ;) Fine but it can be interesting somewhere else! :lol:
Click to expand...
Not just stuned (sic) - I have settings all the way up to kill. Count yourself fortunate :). And it has been somewhere else for a few hours.
Waylander28 said:
stuneville said:
... including UFO sightings ...
Click to expand...

What? the plastic bag?! A site of intrigue indeed!
;)
Click to expand...
Nope - the sightings over Dundry. The Filton sighting is a full ten miles north of there, and of which I offer no opinion.
 
In the above photo, it can be seen that the pole is, indeed, hollow.
Click to expand...
"So you see, Watson, that this is merely a one-pipe problem."

:D
 
This Vibrating Pole - can I have his phone number? :D
 
Do bear in mind that's just a working hypothesis. I'd much prefer it to be a UFO.
 
misterwibble said:
Do bear in mind that's just a working hypothesis. I'd much prefer it to be a UFO.
Click to expand...

So would I, misterwibble. But it seems so obvious, now I know about vortex shedding, that to discard Occam's Razor at this point in favour of pursuing a far more fanciful explanation would be doing more harm than good to the pursuit of knowledge. ;)
 
Judging by the last few entries, I recon this should go into CHAT. I find this one of the most interesting posts in a long time and would like to follow this thread. If it contained related posts that is... :roll:
 
Elidorius said:
It’s never done it before, and it hasn’t done it since.
Click to expand...


Are you sure about that?

I'd put money that you will get just exactly that effect when the wind blows in the right direction at the right strength and that resonance will have a lot to do with it.

Have you tired looking at other aerials etc?

(Edit after reading the bit about vortex shedding)

- Sounds like you agree. Ahother one of those interesting cases where something had been happening all along, but you only noticed it recently and suddenly it seems strange. (See also pitted windshields, Venus, etc)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top