Odd Blinding blue light blinded me and 2 others - What is it

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Hi everyone my name is Jacob and something very weird happened to my friend, his grandfather and myself. I have wondered what could have caused this phenomenon and I will explain it the best I can. I am not of the opinion that this is an alien encounter or anything to that effect I am looking for the best explanation I can get. Due to the nature of the phenomenon I thought a physics forum would be my best shot for an answer.

Ok so here's the story:

My friend Garret, his Grandpaw "Pawpaw'' and myself were driving down a dirt road for around 45 minutes in that time the sun had risen (it was morning time) so it had gone to dark to morning light outside and we were in the woods if that makes a difference. So around 45 minutes down this dirt road and keep in mind we are out to hunt and fish we are 45 minutes on a dirt road in a wooded area so there are no (apparent) cell phone towers etc in the area and all of the sudden this blinding electric blue light comes down (you could see it come down it wasn't an instant event but it was very fast but perceivably fast) and I couldn't see my friend garret sitting in front of me or my own hand for that matter and then within around a second the light had gone and the vehicle continued to move down the road so at first we all three asked each other if we saw it and we confirmed for each other we all did and we immediately stopped the truck and looked in the sky and around the truck - there was nothing in the sky not even a cloud, no plane, no anything at all.

What's odd about this is we all saw it and there was no evident cause of the blue light, it moved slow I would think light appearing should be instant but you could barely see it engulf your vision from top to bottom. I thought maybe it was a gamma-ray burst or some type of cosmic radiation but I just don't know. I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this but I figured it's my best shot. Thank you.
 
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One of those experiences you will remember all your life. Savour it and tell your grandkids about it.
Two possible solutions, imo:
Military action (parachute magnesium flare or some practice weapon) or an incoming meteorite with an unusual composition (travelling directly towards you, to give the impression of slow descent).
At night, you would be dark adapted so the light would have its maximum effect on your vision.
Distances and speeds are very hard to judge at night and even time perception can be distorted in a incident like that.
I remember seeing a Sky Lantern, long before they became well known. I was convinced it was a distant fireball, traveling fast. Only later did I rationalise it and realize it was small and traveling slowly, less than a mile away. I am not comparing what you saw with a burning candle - just pointing out the possible confusion for a witness.
 
Can you provide more details?

Where did this occur? Can you give us map coords?
What day?
Was there any accompanying noise like a thunder clap?
Did you see the spot where it touched down? How far away?
Was it fully vertical?
Trees nearby?
How wide was it? How long was it? Was it a continuous pillar like lightning, or a shorter segment?
 
Did you see it between objects like trees or ground and you, did you see it behind some objects, or was it visible in the direction of the clear sky only?

Satellite flares can get as bright as a half moon, but I guess that is not bright enough to count as "blinding":
 
My best guess is you were enveloped in an area of ionized air. Generally it will vary from being perceived as light blue-white to more white. The next question would be: what caused the ionization. That it was not an instant flash might be a significant clue.
 
An additional thought: You said that it came down. Sounds like the effect that might be produced by very intense UV radiation originating from above your location.
 
DarioC said:
An additional thought: You said that it came down. Sounds like the effect that might be produced by very intense UV radiation originating from above your location.
Seems a bit of a hasty deduction, given the dearth of anecdotal details.

Is very intense UV radiation a common enough thing that you'd jump to that?
 
The light was only surrounding the truck we were traveling in I could not give you any coordinates it was in east Texas. It was a summer day and we were close to trees it was a dirt road that was very hard to traverse even in a truck, I mean with the 3 meter (if that) clearance excluded there was nothing but trees and forest. It was an odd event because I was able to see the light pierce the top of the truck through the metal roof not through the windows as you would expect and it seemed purely vertical. I mean it was nothing like a bolt but more like a column that came down over the truck and swallowed it. And guys I greatly appreciate the ideas thank you very much!
 
Also I think if it was lightning it would have had some notable impact on our surroundings or a sound following or even prior of which there were none. There was no indicators to any event out of the ordinary. Also the third video in this post is similar to the event excepting the light was absolutely blinding and it came from the top to the bottom.
 
Taaw said:
I was able to see the light pierce the top of the truck through the metal roof not through the windows as you would expect
This is a salient detail you neglected to mention in your first description. The light came inside the truck??
 
With no controlled or repeatable experimental conditions this is all just speculation. We cannot say what did happen, only point to various physical phenomena that may be consistent with the observations. That has already been done. Since all that remains is speculation, we must close this thread.