28 November 1972 1400hrs Glenelg Adelaide South Australia (34.56S 138.36E) A man saw lengths of glistening material wrapped round a signpost and upon looking up saw more was falling from the sky. A small piece of the thickest section was collected but unfortunately the thin strands dissolved in his fingers. ............. 9 June 1999 1000hrs (210-300) mins Esperance Western Australia (33.52S 121.54E) A large fall of white material fell from the sky over a period of time on a windless day. It covered trees, paddocks and power lines. Some threads were reported to have been 9-10m in length. Reports came in from the north, east and west from Gibson’s Soak, Condonup and Munglinup (33.43S 120.52E 80km West of Esperance), covering a 10,000 square kilometre area. The local paper ran a story and an Esperance resident Marilyn Burnet collected a sample. Brian Richards in Perth had some of that sample analysed spectrographically and with electron microscopy. Copper, aluminium, zinc, iron, sodium, manganese, silicon and a number of other minerals were found in it. Another witness was located 85km East of Esperance, 15km in from the coastline. Long strands of white material settled on everything, with trees, fences and pastures covered. No unusual objects were seen in the sky. There was no associated noise. The length of the strands was estimated as 6 metres. No material was picked up. The material disappeared overnight. The sky was cloudless, with temperature estimated as 17-18C. No spiders were observed.=== Lab Analysis === Here is some purported analysis of the material.
. === Explanations === One of the most popular skeptics' theories involves "cobwebs from migrating spiders." Spiders do not fly, but skeptics claim that spiders are carried aloft by winds, discharging webs in the air. ... the obvious problem with this is that to produce such a huge volume of webs, literally millions of small spiders would be needed. Nobody has ever observed giant clouds of floating spiders... .............. A vague, and therefore hard-to-counter, theory blames "some kind of atmospheric anomaly." Ash from a volcano can cover a huge amount of territory. In the hackneyed "God of the Gaps" paradigm, anything can be reasonably attributed to nature, under the heading of "Things we have not discovered the mechanism for, yet." For example, it's been suggested that tornadoes might create whirling vortices that cause certain minerals (out of the dust they generate) to coalesce -- but some angel-hair falls reportedly occur where the weather has been calm. ............ UFO buffs are delighted with the phenomenon, since they attribute UFO fuel discharge. Many of the reports of falls also carry with them reports of strange, silvery flying objects just before the fall. Personally, I (jemanji) would imagine futuristic civilizations as having better control of their pollutions and discharges than this. That isn't a refutation, of course, but the idea of "angel hair" being uncontrolled residue from UFO's doesn't feel right to me (not that UFO's feel right to me, personally, either). ............. Residue from top-secret government machines is a possibility worthy of investigation, but reports on Angel Hair date back centuries. Charles Darwin reported an angel hair fall on the Beagle in 1832. . === Ask Marilyn, Dept. === Marilyn vos Savant is the cultural icon for deciphering odd patterns. :- ) Perhaps she could shed some light on Basterfield's observation that, at least in Australia:"Conclusions" A white fibrous material and small amounts of other components were identified in the sample. Following are the identifications and some of the conclusions based on their analysis.
1- The white fibrous material is identified as a polymer containing protein amide type linkages, i.e. protein. Therefore it is suspected that a biological source is involved in its manufacture. However, as this point
the specific source remains unidentified. The data do show the fiber close to that of silk made by insects and caterpillars. Also the coating the fiber are droplets commonly noted in insect silks.
2- Other components attributed to the sample include a variety of fatty
acid amides. The following are specifically "suggested":
4-methyl-pentamide;hexadecaanamide;dodecanamie;N-tetradecanoic acid amide. It should be noted that this particular "angel hair" sample is unique in that it is the first time fatty acid amides have been detected. Trace amounts of heavier hydrocarbons such as eicosane (C20H42) and 2-methyl
hexadecane are indicated. Eicosane has been found in a previous sample. It is suspected these components are part of the purported gelatinous material (goo) noted by the witness. Perhaps they are final degradation products. Any lighter volatiles, if present were probably lost during sample transferal and the failure of ziploc bag containers to adequately confine them.
3- The fibrous material compares to that from "angel hair" falls in Los Gatos, California (October 19-20, 1977) Sacramento, California (November 11, 1999) and Burns Oregon (November 4 1999) which were also analyzed by this laboratory.
4- Research is being done to more accurately pinpoint the source of the "angel hair" and other materials. It should be noted that the suggestion that the material is from a biological origin does not rule out a possible "intelligent" influence. The "jury is still out" on the specific source of this material until further research is completed.
All winter falls occur in the morning All spring and summer falls occur in the afternoon No summer falls occurPerhaps my son's explanation is the simplest: Angel Hair falls don't actually occur. "Have you ever personally seen this stuff? Let me know when you have." .............. My own theory? Honestly don't have one. Here's another one I put in the category of "entertaining cognitive dissonance." If you pressed me to it, I'd plump for unknown geophysical or atmospheric phenomenon. But I realize how weak that is. :- ) Cheers, Jeff ..............