Odd Experience

I had an odd experience the other day. I’m glad I at least managed to take photos of the phenomenon I saw, although the truly eerie nature of the encounter isn’t readily evident. It can’t be conveyed in a still shot. That’s because what made the phenomenon especially weird was the way it appeared to be a roiling, tumbling fluid of some kind contained within a circular boundary.

It didn’t ‘visit’ with me for long. And yeah, I know. I probably sound a bit goofy attributing sentient characteristics to a ball of light on my porch ceiling, but you had to be here.

I don’t know what caught my attention at first, but I am posting sequential photos in the order I took them. The first, of course, is what I saw when I first recognized it was there and ‘sensed the presence.’

The Progression

As you can see, it started out as a simple round reflection on the roof of our porch. The circumference of the circle was well defined and there was no movement whatsoever within the circle. Quite simply, it looked like a reflection from a perfectly round mirror.

I say ‘quite simply,’ but the very presence of a perfectly round reflection of light on the underbelly of our porch is strange. I looked around for what could be reflecting a perfect circle like that and could find nothing. Nary a birdbath nor a mirror (literal or otherwise) was to be found. Not a glass or bowl of water, either.

When it first appeared – Photo: L. Weikel

But then the reflection (if you can call it that) got really strange. It started swirling and looping on the inside, while consistently maintaining its circular shape. It looked familiar. Was it reminding me of a molecule? A virus?

What in the world was I seeing?

Starting to gain a textured appearance – Photo: L. Weikel

Dead End Search

I tried to find the source of this reflection. Or phenomenon. Or whatever you want to call it. I reasoned that the source would have to be at or below the level of where I was sitting, since it was reflecting onto the porch ceiling – and there is a lip or overhang on our porch. So the source would have to be from below.

Zooming in on it – Photo: L. Weikel

I found nothing.

I’d been working on a project before initially noticing the orb’s reflection. And shortly after photographing it and searching without success for its source, my attention returned to the work I was engaged in and I ‘forgot’ the substance of this experience.

Is that what happens when we encounter the unexplained? We just forget about it?

I haven’t seen it since.

I only wish I could post the ‘live action’ photos of it in this blog. The way the light and shadows were moving within that sphere was mesmerizing.