High strangeness - of sort

[Z...]

I just had pretty weird encounter with glowing piece of rock which is perhaps worth networking about just in case someone might know more about similar phenomena.

I was on a dog outing in my friend's field and just as we were packing up my friends noticed something glowing in the dried grass on the slope behind us - not even half a meter away. The sun just went down and the light was very low. At first I thought its a piece of glass or some foil or glitter. The light was emerald green and it was sort of pulsating , very similar to green led light on electronic equipment. On a closer look it was obvious it cannot be reflection as there was no sunlight light to reflect. Then I though it might be a firefly but it wasn't moving and as far as I know they dont glow green and there aren't any in this part of the world.

As we were focusing on it and discussing what it may be it seemed to fluctuate even more in intensity ( my personal impression - my friend only noticed that it was very lively until I poked it), first I tried to shed more light with a lighter thinking if its a reflection on a piece of glass or foil it will show but this didn't make much difference, I was reluctant to touch it as the first thought that popped into my mind was that it may be radioactive. But then curiosity got the better of me and I finally picked it up with an old pair of gardening scissors. As soon as I started poking at it the light completely died and what I picked up looked like insignificant piece of greyish crumbly rock. We left it there covered by the cup to examine it more closely in the daylight.

Perhaps there is some natural phenomena that could explain this but I wasn't able to find much on the net.
The only thing I could find was this _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboluminescence
problem is this thing was actually glowing when it was undisturbed and died out as soon as I touched it.

In any case the whole experience had a weird flavor about it and seemed worth sharing here. Don't know if its my overactive imagination but the feeling I got was that we were being observed through some sort of device. My friends were obviously spooked and it looked like they want to forget about the whole thing as soon as possible.

On a high strangeness note as soon as I got into the house and switched on the lights the light bulb blew off. I am inclined to think this is just a coincidence, but still worth mentioning for the full account.

 

[MusicMan]

Hello Z, A very interesting account.
I think you were right not to touch that rock as it may well be radioactive, and I would suggest you take a geiger-counter with you if you go out to investigate it again, who knows what falls out of the sky?
It was interesting that you 'discharged' it and it then stopped glowing.
Some rocks have piezoelectric embedded crystals.
The rock may have been covered in some kind of bacteria, some of which glow or phosphoresce.
We could surmise that the charge from the piezo may activate the phosphorescence of the bacteria.
There are beaches here in Australia where you can kick the sand in the evenings, and you will see a shower of glowing 'sparks'. It's spooky, but harmless.
Maybe you could put up a photo of it.

 

[Z...]

Unfortunately I dont have geiger counter.
Your theory makes sense the only thing is this light was too intense for phosphorescent glow OSIT. It almost looked like electronic device light fluctuating in intensity.

Didn't go back this morning and it seems my friends just threw it away without taking photo :(

 

[Ðekel]

Perhaps not triboluminescence but some sort of photoluminescent mineral in the rock ?

There are natural rocks that are photoluminescent, They store light and later can glow in the dark (release the light energy stored). Which fits with the time of day in which this occurred.

Now, the deal with it stopping to glow upon contact and the pulsation.. Perhaps the reason for it glowing was somehow electrical instead / as well ?

What was the shape of it, symmetric or just random rock-shaped ?

 

[Z...]

It was just a tiny piece of rock, squarish in shape, chalky greyish with rough surface, looked porous.

 

[Zasino]

Interesting, too bad your friends threw it away.
How tiny was it? millimeters, centimeters?
.A

 

[Ðekel]

Could possibly be a manufactured rock.
They are used as ornaments in aquariums and embedded in pavement.. Perhaps someone had a small one in their pocket and it fell out..

Was it at all similar to this:
__www.realglow.com/photoluminescent-pebble/ornamental-stones.html
?

Still the pulsating issue is a bit strange.
Perhaps the conditions of lighting and any electrical disturbances in the area could possibly cause perceptual changes of an already photoluminescent rock..

Just some possibilities that came to mind.. FWIW

 

[Z...]

Was it at all similar to this:
__www.realglow.com/photoluminescent-pebble/ornamental-stones.html
?

Not at all, it had very rough surface that looked porous

How tiny was it? millimeters, centimeters?

I'd say few centimeters in diameter

 

[davey72]

That seems really odd to me for some reason that nobody would take it somewhere or especially why they would throw it away? did you ask why and where?

 

[lainey]

That seems really odd to me for some reason that nobody would take it somewhere or especially why they would throw it away? did you ask why and where?

Maybe they aren't ready to explore any high strangeness so the best defence for their world view was to get rid of it quickly so as not to upset the status quo.

 

[Z...]

That seems really odd to me for some reason that nobody would take it somewhere or especially why they would throw it away? did you ask why and where?

Maybe they aren't ready to explore any high strangeness so the best defence for their world view was to get rid of it quickly so as not to upset the status quo.

Exactly, today when I asked they said dismissively - "Oh forget it already, just some pixy dust spilled over by fairies!"
I could see how spooked they were yesterday when we saw it so I kind of expected such reaction.

 

[davey72]

Wow. Maybe u should ask them how they got rid of it, as it could have been radioactive. Did they touch it? Im not sure why this seems to bother me so much. It is the same feeling i would get from somebody killing a rare albino moose or something.

 

[loreta]

That seems really odd to me for some reason that nobody would take it somewhere or especially why they would throw it away? did you ask why and where?

I was thinking the same thing. What is interesting is why your friends trowed this stone? Can you ask them why? did they trowed the stone because they "feel" that it was dangerous? Can it be a small portion of a meteoroid?

 

[lainey]

That seems really odd to me for some reason that nobody would take it somewhere or especially why they would throw it away? did you ask why and where?

I was thinking the same thing. What is interesting is why your friends trowed this stone? Can you ask them why? did they trowed the stone because they "feel" that it was dangerous? Can it be a small portion of a meteoroid?

I'm not so sure it would be wise or strategic to pursue the subject. Z already brought it up and was dismissed, IMO it would probably cause some sort of friction or attack. They didn't want to keep it, they didn't want to talk about it and laughed it off as silly so I don't think they would want to go into a serious discussion about their motivations. I could be wrong of course as I don't know them but that's the impression I got from their reaction.