What was the mysterious bright light that appeared in my dark room?

[Cybertech]

I was walking into a dark room when a REALLY bright, like laser bright fist sized point of whitish blue light streaked in an irregular pattern just below the ceiling and vanished. It stopped me dead in my tracks startling me, it was moving VERY fast and disappeared within a couple seconds. It didn't cast any light around it and I wasn't looking at the area it appeared when it happened. It did leave a brief streak behind it but didn't cast any light on the ceiling or around it.

There were no storms in the area and no light coming in through the windows, which wouldn't have mattered because of it's size, ball shape and intense brightness. I've never seen anything like it before and haven't since. Here's a quick rundown of conditions surrounding the event:

dark but not pitch dark room
appeared above me where i wasn't looking
fist sized and ball shaped
intensely bright white/blue
fast irregular pattern of movement
lasted a couple seconds before vanishing completely
didn't cast any light around it
appeared suddenly and vanished abruptly
no storms
no other light sources other than ambient lighting from the next room behind me
I have perfect 20/20 vision with no history of eye injury or vision problems.

I don't think it was caused by something happening with my eyes because of it's size and intense brightness but I'm no optometrist. And the fact that I wasn't looking directly at it when it happened. I clearly saw it and it startled me and gave me goosebumps. I do not hold much faith in the paranormal, don't believe in ghosts or anything like that (which is why I'm asking here) and believe there should be a rational explanation for it but I can't think of any given the environmental circumstances in which it appeared. I don't claim to know everything about our universe or the nature of light so I'm not ruling out any possibilities.

Maybe particles from the sun interacting somehow with things in the air? But i would think that reaction would be a tiny point of light, this thing was fist sized. I just don't know.

Any ideas?

 

[Borek]

How was it related to windows? Any possibility something shined from the outside?

 

[Cybertech]

No it was not like that at all. It was REALLY intensely bright, ball shaped, 3 dimensional and not following the surface of the ceiling but appearing to float in the air about a foot below the ceiling. I want to explain it away as something happening within my eyes but am unsure because of its size and intense brightness. Is there anything we know about light that could somehow produce little fast moving intensely bright balls of light within closed structures with no apparent light source?

I'd like to add that my house sat on a mountain ridge made up of clay, silt, sand, gravel, and calcium carbonate if that makes any difference.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I don't know what it was, but I've read stories of similar things. See if you can find a book called, "Mysteries of the Unexplained." It has a few reports of glowing balls like this appearing inside homes.

Many years ago, when I was in college I used occasionally to see a very bright "twinkle" appear suddenly in my field of vision. It was very much like the twinkle when the character of "Q" would appear or disappear on Star Trek: Next Generation. It appeared to be external to me, happening out there in the air in front of me, but it actually never lasted long enough for me to examine it closely. Later I read this was often associated with Migraines. Indeed, my sister started suffering from them, but in her case they last for as long as an hour, and she has to stop what she's doing because she can't see through them or around them. Her doctor said it was a Migraine aura. Some people experience these (a visual aura of some kind) in the complete absence of any headache, in which case they call it a "Silent Migraine."

 

[Drakkith]

didn't cast any light around it

This implies it wasn't a 'real' phenomenon, since a real light source would light up the room. It was most likely all in your head. If it happens again in the near future I'd go see a doctor.

 

[edward]

I had a similar experience many years ago. A small ball of light came towards me in my dim living room, then turned and headed straight to the metal door knob and disappeared without a sound. In retrospect I later wondered why I heard no static zap when it hit the door knob. The weather was very dry and It is very common here in AZ to get a zap when touching a metal object.

I have no idea what it was. I do appreciate the fact that I saw something no one can explain. :) Google is loaded with claims, of people seeing similar phenomenon.

 

[Choppy]

Possible explanations:

1. Astronauts commonly see flashes of bright light, even with their eyes closed. They can sometime appear as streaks or clouds. These are believed to be the result of cosmic rays interacting with the eye or optic nerve. The probability of these events happening on Earth is much lower because the cosmic rays interact without atmosphere (or magnetosphere) before they reach us, but they can't be ruled out completely.
2. Physiological/neurological. Sometimes a person can see little flashes of light during spells of light-headedness, at the onset of a seizure, if they are being choked, or experience any other conditions that might affect their optic nerves. Usually it's pretty obvious to the person that it's not coming from some kind of external source, but not always. And just because something happens once doesn't mean you have a neurological condition. Sometimes it's just something akin to your foot falling asleep.
3. You say there was no light coming in through the window, but how can you be sure of this unless there was a covering over the window? What about a kid with a laser pointer? A headlight bouncing off of some kind of reflective surface? No obvious source of light is not the same as no light.

 

[TheInfection]

You stated you weren't looking at it when it appeared. Did it disappear, or trail off, just as you turned your focus to it?

 

[Tosh5457]

There are many of these occurrences following the pattern of an erratic and fast movement, some with larger glowing balls in outdoors, others smaller. Something's out there, I don't think it's neurological :)

 

[Drakkith]

Unfortunately I'm going to have to lock this thread. Not only is there no real way to know what the OP saw, this thread is attracting some attention that PF doesn't want or need.