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Unknown Wave

Sid

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Nov 19, 2018
Messages
3,381
This happened when I worked in an ironmongers/all sorts store.
A woman came into the shop along with her daughter, and in her hand was a done-for cooking pot. She wanted to know if the pot could be repaired as it had been left on the stove and got so hot that it blew a hole in the bottom of it about 1/2" in diameter - must have been an electric stove I imagine.
Anyway, I said I would take a look at it to see if anything could be done with it, and as I extended my hand to grasp the pot (about a foot-and-a-half away from the pot, a wide ribbon of 'plasma?' left my hand and went into the pot that the woman was holding. I couldn't believe my eyes. Upon seeing this the woman along with her daughter fled the shop - running down the street shouting "were never going back into the shop again!"
I never had an explanation for what took place, and I wondered if any Fortean knowledgeable's might be able to explain it somehow?
I've drawn the scene as best I can - given that I'm using only a mouse to depict how it happened...
Plasma.png
 
A very interesting little case ...

I'd like some more details on this incident ...

The Pot:

- Did you ever get to examine the pot?
- Did you determine what the pot's features were (e.g., thickness; metal composition; laminated or not)?
- Was it bare / polished metal, or was it colored / coated?
- Was there something special about the pot that would make it worthwhile to repair rather than simply replace?

The Scene:

- The woman / customer was holding the pot the whole time - right?
- Was the pot carried into the shop 'bare' (as is; not in a bag or container), or was it removed from some bag / container for your inspection?
- What was the weather like outside the shop?
- Were you and the woman standing where light from outside (e.g., through a window) could illuminate you?
- What sort of interior lighting (if any) was illuminating this scene?

The 'Plasma' / 'Wave'

- This visible phenomenon started from your hand and extended toward the pot - right?

- Did it start at / on your hand and progressively stretch outward toward the port?
OR
- Was it a discrete blob of light that left your hand and moved over toward the pot?
OR
- (whatever else you can say to describe how it appeared and moved between your hand and the pot)

- Did this luminous thing ever reach / touch the pot?

- Did this luminous thing seem to give off any light (glow)?
- Was this luminous thing really multi- / rainbow colored as illustrated in your sketch? If so ...
- Were the bands of color longitudinal to the thing (as illustrated) or did they cross the path between your hand and the pot?

- Why do you refer to it as 'plasma'? What characteristic(s) made you think of plasma?

You titled this thread 'Wave', and your illustration shows the luminous thing being wavy ...

- Was it simply wavy in form only (a static / steady undulating shape)?
OR
- Did it exhibit a dynamic 'wave' motion of some sort (quiver; vibrate; undulate; whatever)? If so - please describe ...

- How did this luminous display end if it ended? (For example: It disappeared when it reached the pot; it faded out when the woman jerked the pot away; It remained in the air after she retracted the pot and left; whatever ...)

- Did you feel anything while this happened (a tingle; a shock; whatever)?

- What had you been doing immediately before interacting with the woman?
 
Static discharge is instant, noisy and quite painful.

Sid, you are quite certain you are not pulling our collective legs with this one ?

INT21.
 
A very interesting little case ...

I'd like some more details on this incident ...

The Pot:

- Did you ever get to examine the pot?
- Did you determine what the pot's features were (e.g., thickness; metal composition; laminated or not)?
- Was it bare / polished metal, or was it colored / coated?
- Was there something special about the pot that would make it worthwhile to repair rather than simply replace?

The Scene:

- The woman / customer was holding the pot the whole time - right?
- Was the pot carried into the shop 'bare' (as is; not in a bag or container), or was it removed from some bag / container for your inspection?
- What was the weather like outside the shop?
- Were you and the woman standing where light from outside (e.g., through a window) could illuminate you?
- What sort of interior lighting (if any) was illuminating this scene?

The 'Plasma' / 'Wave'

- This visible phenomenon started from your hand and extended toward the pot - right?

- Did it start at / on your hand and progressively stretch outward toward the port?
OR
- Was it a discrete blob of light that left your hand and moved over toward the pot?
OR
- (whatever else you can say to describe how it appeared and moved between your hand and the pot)

- Did this luminous thing ever reach / touch the pot?

- Did this luminous thing seem to give off any light (glow)?
- Was this luminous thing really multi- / rainbow colored as illustrated in your sketch? If so ...
- Were the bands of color longitudinal to the thing (as illustrated) or did they cross the path between your hand and the pot?

- Why do you refer to it as 'plasma'? What characteristic(s) made you think of plasma?

You titled this thread 'Wave', and your illustration shows the luminous thing being wavy ...

- Was it simply wavy in form only (a static / steady undulating shape)?
OR
- Did it exhibit a dynamic 'wave' motion of some sort (quiver; vibrate; undulate; whatever)? If so - please describe ...

- How did this luminous display end if it ended? (For example: It disappeared when it reached the pot; it faded out when the woman jerked the pot away; It remained in the air after she retracted the pot and left; whatever ...)

- Did you feel anything while this happened (a tingle; a shock; whatever)?

- What had you been doing immediately before interacting with the woman?

EnolaGaia:

THE POT:
*I did hold the pot for a very short time - then she snatched it away from me.
*Some sort of alloy or steel pot (old type - well used) but just metal - no coating.
*Summer time quite a hot day as I remember this took place in Scotland quite a few years ago.
*No, this was inside the shop itself, and the pot was obviously a right off - there was a product called plastic-metal at the time but I doubt if it
would have done anything to mend that pot as the hole in the base was to large.

THE SCENE:
*The woman was indeed holding the pot until after the event when I held it for a few seconds before she ran off.
*She had the pot in her hand when she walked into the shop, no packing or anything like that - just the pot in her hand.
*We always had fluorescent shop lights lit most times of the day - nothing else.

THE WAVE/PLASMA:
*The brightly coloured - ribboned wave definitely extended out from my hand directly towards the nearest part of the pot... relatively slowly!
*It was a continual wavy ribbon which definitely extended towards the pot - not as a sudden flash or ball of light, but grew gradually outwards from the ends of my finger tips towards it.
*Yes, it extended right up to the edge of the pot that the woman was holding.
*It seemed to have a bright glow along with all the colours it was displaying as it passed into the pot - I've particularly made my sketch an exact depiction of how it happened. All the bands of colour were longitudinally aligned parallel with the wave. (As illustrated)
*Not to sure why I have termed it as possibly being of Plasma in it's make up, but I suppose my rational tells me that if it was static - or any other kind of electrical build-up, it would (I can only imagine) have flashed across the distance in a split second with some kind of a blue hued flash of light - not a steady growing ribbon as this seemed to develope.
*The wave was steady and continual - like it was in a fixed path of relatively slow forwards motion.
*It ended being totally 'absorbed' into the pot as the tail end of it ceased to flow to the pot itself.
*Did I feel anything whilst it happened - that's a tricky one to give a clear answer to, however, looking back at what happened I think it would be more accurate to say that it instantly "shocked" me, (surprised me) but not in the electrical sense of the word.
*Before the woman walked in to the shop I would have been serving other customers(with wallpaper; paint or ironmongery, as there were quite a few other customers in the shop at the time, and the owner was serving customers alongside me and another shop assistant, although when I told him why the customer had fled the shop he was a bit lost for words.
 
Static discharge is instant, noisy and quite painful.

Sid, you are quite certain you are not pulling our collective legs with this one ?

INT21.
Most definitely not INT21. No shock physically, except to say that it literally came out of the blue. This took place some time (can't remember exactly when) after that 'Blarigowrie Incident.'
 
Fair enough. I had to ask.

Pretty damn weird.

INT21.
I'm old enough now not to waste my time pulling legs INT21, all I wanted to do after many years wondering what it was, was to tell it as it was, that's all. These things I find just as perplexing as anyone reading these online forteana instances throughout my life. Cheers.
 
Thanks for the additional details ... There was something new (to me, at least ... ) in them, so I want to check the storyline as follows:

She enters shop with pot in hand.
You engage her in conversation to see how you can help her.
She indicates the problem is the pot in her hand.
You reach out to take the pot and examine it.
The luminous phenomenon appears, moving from your hand to / into the pot.
You touch / grasp the pot and take it into your hand(s) (<--- This and subsequent bits weren't clear earlier.)
Shortly thereafter, the woman snatches the pot from your hand and leaves.

Is this sequence of basic events accurate?
 
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Another thing ...

You mentioned helping customers alongside the owner and another assistant. Were you shop staff folks standing behind a counter? If so - what sort of counter top did it have? Was it a glass-topped counter?
 
I'm wondering how a half inch hole would be made in the bottom of a pot by leaving it on an electric hotplate.

Stainless steel would only discolour, cast iron wouldn't be effected, nor would copper.

That leaves aluminium, which would be more likely to melt completely.

Just trying to build a picture.
 
I agree about the pot's metal composition being relevant, and this relevance partially relates to the hole.

I also agree a hole that dramatic would almost certainly imply an aluminum or aluminum laminated pot.
 
Well, as for the composition of the pot, we're assuming it was a single type of metal. There is inferior metal known (yes, yes, I know) as "pot metal" which can be an amalgam of all sorts of things.

When it's used, it's mostly to cast cheap parts. If you've ever dropped a piece of metal onto a concrete floor and had it crack/break apart, it was likely pot metal (had some 90-degree vises I picked up on the cheap that were made of this).

So, if it was some inferior amalgam, then it would make sense that a part of the pot could get hot enough to burn through without the whole thing melting.
 
Perplexing.

It is hard to think of a scientific explanation - but then nor does this seem to belong to any existing paranormal lore that I can think of.

More questions:

Was the pot made of sparkly reflective material ?(Isuppose, like Shady. I'm vaguely thinking of some reflection/refraction prism type of effect).

What about the other shop assistants - didn't they witness anything?

Was there any further come back on this? Did the woman return to the shop? Complaints? Rumour mongering? Jokes?

Was the phenomena purely visual or accompanied by a sound?

Was this a one-off event Sid, or are you someone who odd things happen around all the time?

Also I find the behaviour of the woman a little strange. So she was shocked enough to run out of the shop - and yet she kept hold of a useless pan - which was also one of the things that had been involved in the phenomena!

Could the woman have been pranking you in some way? It seems a little odd to me to expect a broken pan to be repaired! Pans are not so expensive these days. I've ruined a few pans in my time (nodding off when something is boiling in them) and have never thought of getting them `repaired`! (And why go to a hardware shop to do that anyway?)

If I were looking for a mundane explanation it would have to be that this was simply a dream that you had - and which subsequently got mixed up with a real event. (Bit of a cop out, I know).

Looking forward to hearing more.
 
Did the woman and / or her daughter react or indicate in any way (verbally; surprised expression; etc.) that she / they definitely witnessed the luminous wave thingie?

What happened between the time you reached out and took the pot and the woman took it back and flounced out of the shop? Was it during this time that (e.g.) you told her the pot couldn't be repaired or she should just replace it?
 
Thanks for the additional details ... There was something new (to me, at least ... ) in them, so I want to check the storyline as follows:

She enters shop with pot in hand.
You engage her in conversation to see how you can help her.
She indicates the problem is the pot in her hand.
You reach out to take the pot and examine it.
The luminous phenomenon appears, moving from your hand to / into the pot.
You touch / grasp the pot and take it into your hand(s) (<--- This and subsequent bits weren't clear earlier.)
Shortly thereafter, the woman snatches the pot from your hand and leaves.

Is this sequence of basic events accurate?
*You touch / grasp the pot and take it into your hand(s) (<--- This and subsequent bits weren't clear earlier.) this was after the ribbon of 'energy' had entered the pot.
*Other statements are correct.
 
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Did the woman and / or her daughter react or indicate in any way (verbally; surprised expression; etc.) that she / they definitely witnessed the luminous wave thingie?

What happened between the time you reached out and took the pot and the woman took it back and flounced out of the shop? Was it during this time that (e.g.) you told her the pot couldn't be repaired or she should just replace it?

Both the woman, and her daughter reacted with great alarm at the time in the shop as soon as the ribbon of 'plasma' appeared in front of all three of us - I'm certain that they both believed it was something I had purposely done to give rise to this anomaly - they were physically scared (of me) after this had happened. I did take hold of the pot just long enough to see the hole in the bottom - as she had previously explained before I had actually touched the pot.
I was relaying to the woman that I doubted that the hole in the pot could be repaired not long after she started in conversation - she showed me the hole in the bottom of her pot before the event actually happened. Then she hurriedly left the shop and fled down the street. She couldn't leave the shop quick-enough actually!
 
Perplexing.

It is hard to think of a scientific explanation - but then nor does this seem to belong to any existing paranormal lore that I can think of.

More questions:

Was the pot made of sparkly reflective material ?(Isuppose, like Shady. I'm vaguely thinking of some reflection/refraction prism type of effect).

What about the other shop assistants - didn't they witness anything?

Was there any further come back on this? Did the woman return to the shop? Complaints? Rumour mongering? Jokes?

Was the phenomena purely visual or accompanied by a sound?

Was this a one-off event Sid, or are you someone who odd things happen around all the time?

Also I find the behaviour of the woman a little strange. So she was shocked enough to run out of the shop - and yet she kept hold of a useless pan - which was also one of the things that had been involved in the phenomena!

Could the woman have been pranking you in some way? It seems a little odd to me to expect a broken pan to be repaired! Pans are not so expensive these days. I've ruined a few pans in my time (nodding off when something is boiling in them) and have never thought of getting them `repaired`! (And why go to a hardware shop to do that anyway?)

If I were looking for a mundane explanation it would have to be that this was simply a dream that you had - and which subsequently got mixed up with a real event. (Bit of a cop out, I know).

Looking forward to hearing more.

Zeke Newbold: Hi; Nothing special... just an old-ish cooking pot well past it's sell-by date by the way it looked. Plain alloy type pot - but fairly thick metal. The other assistant and the shop owner were serving other customers in the shop at the time, I relayed what had happened to the owner soon after he had finished serving his customer/s.

Nothing further as far as I was aware - though,,, being a small close-knit village back then word of things of this nature would be looked upon as black-magic I imagine - though it would have been mentioned some how, at some time I imagine?
*Was this a one-off event Sid, or are you someone who odd things happen around all the time?

No, things like this event have never happened neither before or since, but I have had more than my fair share of strange events and encounters since quite young - usually when I would be going about my daily life, and usually at times and in places when I would least expect events to happen.

The woman took the useless pot with her... yes she did. Why, I imagine because she was obviously a pretty poor 'berry-picking' (was common in that area, as raspberries were the seasonal fruit-picking holiday for some people) type of elderly woman, nothing remarkable at all about her, or her daughter.

Q: *Could the woman have been pranking you in some way? It seems a little odd to me to expect a broken pan to be repaired! Pans are not so expensive these days. I've ruined a few pans in my time (nodding off when something is boiling in them) and have never thought of getting them `repaired`! (And why go to a hardware shop to do that anyway?)
Answer; Definitely not. She was simply a fairly elderly woman who walked in along with her daughter wanting to know if the pot could be mended. I would say that if you imagine yourself being dirt poor - you would also value the things that were not so easy to replace, that's how she came across to me. This was years ago, when things were very different to today's throw-away attitude ways of living.

*Was it all just a dream? - *to think of this particular event in my life as being something of a dream?

No: You see - I'd worked in that shop for some ten years, I'd served what must have been thousands of customers over the years, it was how I earned my living at that time - because it was just a small, fairly simple - close-knit - tourist based - country town where jobs were not so easily come-by.
 
... She was simply a fairly elderly woman who walked in along with her daughter wanting to know if the pot could be mended. I would say that if you imagine yourself being dirt poor - you would also value the things that were not so easy to replace, that's how she came across to me. ...

It occurred to me she may have brought the pot into the shop as a way to teach a lesson or make a point to the daughter whom she held responsible for ruining her pot or maybe stupidly suggesting it could be fixed.

In other words, the older woman expected the answer to be negative, and she wanted the daughter to see for herself that silly little mistakes have ramifications.

Another angle that occurred to me was that the seemingly ordinary pot held some significance (e.g., sentimental value) to the woman, so its ruination was a big deal no one else could appreciate.
 
Well, as for the composition of the pot, we're assuming it was a single type of metal. There is inferior metal known (yes, yes, I know) as "pot metal" which can be an amalgam of all sorts of things.

When it's used, it's mostly to cast cheap parts. If you've ever dropped a piece of metal onto a concrete floor and had it crack/break apart, it was likely pot metal (had some 90-degree vises I picked up on the cheap that were made of this).
Possibly zinc. Easy to cast and looks superficially like aluminium.
 
I don't think that it would be zinc. Zinc has a melting point of 419.5 C.

Where Alumimium malts at 660.3 C

I can melt zinc scrap on my gas stove, not a good thing for making pots.
 
Sid,

You mention it was a closely knit village back then.

Do you recall seeing this woman before the incident, or her daughter ?
 
I don't think that it would be zinc. Zinc has a melting point of 419.5 C.

Where Alumimium malts at 660.3 C

I can melt zinc scrap on my gas stove, not a good thing for making pots.
I was just talking about 'pot metal' in general, not referring to this cooking pot.
 
Sorry, you lost me there.

I assumed you were considering the possibility that the pot was made of Zinc.
 
Another angle that occurred to me was that the seemingly ordinary pot held some significance (e.g., sentimental value) to the woman, so its ruination was a big deal no one else could appreciate.

When you're very poor, you don't need sentimental reasons to hold onto a ruined pot!
(Not intended to be read with a chiding tone of voice, you understand.)

The question of how the hole formed in the pot is becoming almost as mysterious and intensly interesting to me as the bolt of "plasma". And if the hole was formed on a stove, what did the stove look like afterwards? Especially if they were very poor, a ruined stove would be a bigger problem I imagine.
 
Sid,

You mention it was a closely knit village back then.

Do you recall seeing this woman before the incident, or her daughter ?
No neither before the incident, or after the incident INT21.
 
It occurred to me she may have brought the pot into the shop as a way to teach a lesson or make a point to the daughter whom she held responsible for ruining her pot or maybe stupidly suggesting it could be fixed.

In other words, the older woman expected the answer to be negative, and she wanted the daughter to see for herself that silly little mistakes have ramifications.

Another angle that occurred to me was that the seemingly ordinary pot held some significance (e.g., sentimental value) to the woman, so its ruination was a big deal no one else could appreciate.
Correct I believe that would be an accurate thing to state.
 
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