Naga fireballs.

[trubrit]

For those interested, tomorrow, 8th October is the night of the full moon when the fireballs rising from the river can normally be seen in Phon Pi Sai.

[timmy]

" can normally be seen " only after a bottle of jonnie walker or in your dreams .......

[JoeThrows]

The way things have been going lately it wouldn't surprise me to see the police blame the next tourist murder on fireballs

[Martyn]

" can normally be seen " only after a bottle of jonnie walker or in your dreams .......

That must be why Scotland has the Loch Ness monster.

Here's an interesting article about the Naga fireballs... http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/01/n ... ne-breath/

[socksy]

And heres me thinking all these years that Nessie was real.

[parrot]

My wife and I went to see the fireball show several years ago. We saw about 15 fireballs over the course of several hours. Most all 'seemed' to be coming from the center of the river. What was intriguing was the lack of any sound with the fireballs. If they were some sort of firework, you'd expect some sort of wooshing sound......instead, silence. So the evening left me wondering how the fireballs are launched. I know, I know.....the dragon is spitting them out on the appointed day when thousands of people swarm the Mekong........but how do they get the dragon to spit them out on schedule most every year??

[GT93]

And heres me thinking all these years that Nessie was real.

Socksy is a shattered man. I think he'll need to find some solace in the bottle this afternoon. I just hope he's not going to practise his 3 iron on the back lawn later after what might be quite a session. I think there would be a fair bit of whooshing on his back lawn and plenty of divots would be sprayed all over the place.

[timmy]

after a large bott of " lao kaow " i,ve not only seen " nessie " i,ve ridden on his back ....
i lived in phon phisa for 2 years and never saw any fire balls but i will say " the beleavers " coming every year was cracking for the mrs,s shop ..... Elvis was there 1 year with lord Lucan .

[socksy]

GT. Maybe I'll have a few small sherbets this afternoon in preparation for my excellent sub-par round tomorow but will avoid renovating the lawn with clubs at home today. Timmy I don't believe Elvis was there - he's on the moon and I hope to maybe catch a glimpse if the eclipse is visible later.

[GT93]

Next time I'm up that way I won't be looking for the fireballs. I did it once but half of Isan seemed to be there. Next time I'll be on the hunt for Lord Lucan.

Timmy, I hope you didn't mistake Bob Helm for Lord Lucan. They might be similar vintage but Lucan will be looking over his shoulder a lot and Bob will be like the rest of us enjoying the eye candy in all directions.

[pomps]

All over Thai channel 3 this morning,loads seen

[redwolf]

Here's a video from another article: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4183



It says they're tracer rounds... (maybe modified?) Any takers?

In 2002, a television network called iTV sent a crew of investigative journalists to find the source of the fireballs during the festival. On the program titled Code Cracking, the team took a boat and snuck quietly up the Laotian side of the river, directly across from Phon Phisai, during the festival. They filmed Laotian soldiers firing tracer rounds into the air, and every time they did, the crowds on the Thailand side of the river reacted with their "oohs" and "aahs". The broadcast was widely perceived as an attack on a sacred belief. Lawsuits and boycotts were threatened against iTV. But, as the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

In 2001, an estimated 150,000 people attended the festival. Following the iTV report, and a movie from that same year called Mekong Full Moon Party, attendance rose to 400,000 the following year. This brought in 50 to 100 million baht, or as much as 2.5 million dollars, a huge boost for the tiny local economy. The festival has expanded from one day to four days, and the generous Nagas have thoughtfully expanded their fireball performance, now welcoming Buddha on two consecutive nights instead of just one. The wooden seating was replaced with concrete grandstands all up and down Phon Phisai's riverfront in 2003, and the local provincial authorities and the Tourism Authority of Thailand now promote the festival relentlessly. There's even a sign, in English, on the main highway:

Welcome to Nong Khai Province on the Bank of the Mekong River - Home of the Naga Dancing Fire Balls.

The theory that a few palms might be greased to get a few Laotian soldiers to fire off a few rounds should surprise no one.

[FrazeeDK]

the theory is that the fireballs are merely gas bubbles that naturally fluoresce as they come up through the water. They are pulled out of the riverbeds in certain areas with gas pockets by the moons gravitational attraction which is greatest at this time of the year.. True?? Parrot's description of what he saw reflects the fluorescing bubble theory. The fast moving lights shown in the video are probably tracer rounds or some type of rocket.. What they are not is the exhalations or flatulence of some mythical dragon-like creature inhabiting the river..

[12345]

yes, a natural phenomenon, and occurs more often than just the Oct / Nov full moon cycle. Come back in 6 months, and see without the crowd.

Probably a good showing this year due to the 'SuperMoon'.......... helping the Nagas with their aim....

[parrot]

Just to be clear......what we saw that year on the Mekong was interesting....the lack of sound....seeming to come from the middle of the river vice the Laos or Thai land sides.........but as I'm a hugely skeptical person of things like the Loch Ness and UFOs, the 'show' was only interesting to me because it didn't seem fake.

On the other hand, a ceremony we held at our home yesterday to appease the jungle spirit (good ones) and to thank him for watching over things here and in the US while we were gone......I can deal with that. The lady who did the ceremony....momentarily possessed by the spirit.......no problem with that. My wife leaves a small ball of sticky rice on top of the rice basket every day for that spirit. No problem.....no different than leaving oreos for Santa.
But the Naga monster rearing its ??ugly?? head each year just as the hotels swell up with visitors? Nope, I'm not buying that.

[mak]

It's Naga time again.

[747man]

It's Naga time again.

DQey6umWAAA75dF.jpg (27.83 KiB) Viewed 5562 times

[FrazeeDK]

booze and fireworks!!!!! Tens of thousands of tourists crowding the river bank!!! Oh, what could go wrong????

[mak]

This photo used to be quite common in this neck of the woods.

[jackspratt]

Hmmm.....

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... arfish.jpg