From fwestra@... Wed Mar 12 17:22:05 2003 Return-Path: X-Sender: fwestra@... X-Apparently-To: mysterylights@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_6_1); 13 Mar 2003 01:22:04 -0000 Received: (qmail 67756 invoked from network); 13 Mar 2003 01:22:03 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.216) by m12.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 13 Mar 2003 01:22:03 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO pandora.tiscali.nl) (195.241.76.179) by mta1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 13 Mar 2003 01:22:03 -0000 Received: from xs195-241-210-226.dial.tiscali.nl (xs195-241-210-226.dial.tiscali.nl [195.241.210.226]) by pandora.tiscali.nl (Postfix) with SMTP id B577D399CE for ; Thu, 13 Mar 2003 02:21:57 +0100 (MET) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 02:22:10 +0100 X-Mailer: Net-Tamer 1.12.0 Subject: Fwd = In the coils of the Naga Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailreader: NTReader v0.37w(P)/Beta (Registered) Message-Id: <20030313012157.B577D399CE@...> From: Frits Westra X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=196822 X-Yahoo-Profile: parodynl Forwarded by: fwestra@... (Frits Westra) URL: http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/166_naga.shtml Original Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 01:47:15 +0100 (CET) ========================== Forwarded message begins ====================== IN THE COILS OF THE NAGA From: Fortean Times FT 166 JANUARY 2003 Richard Freeman --[snipped for brevity -- FULL article at above URL]---- The next day was an important one. The naga mystery, with its complex folklore, has become entangled with many mysteries over the years; one of these is the naga fireballs. On 13 October each year, balls of red light are seen shooting out of the Mekong river. Locals believe these to be the breath of the naga, heralding the end of the rainy season. Huge crowds assemble to celebrate and view the phenomenon from the banks of the Mekong. The fortean in me recalled the balls of blue light associated with giant snakes in the Amazon (believed to be their bioluminescent eyes) and I thought, too, of the earth lights often reported over water. Perhaps two fortean phenomena were occurring here side by side. During daylight, before the appearance of the nocturnal lights, a huge parade took place, with hundreds of people in traditional dress, bands playing, and floats carrying images of the naga. It ended with a temple made entirely from bamboo leaves being floated upon the river. By nightfall, I found myself surrounded by 100,000 screaming Thais shining spotlights and laser pointers on the water and letting off fireworks. Traditional long boats illuminated with candles and lamps passed by as we waited for the phenomenon to begin. Suddenly a shout went up: a fireball had been spotted. Shortly after I saw a red light spring upwards from the opposite bank, then fade away. Soon, more followed - first in ones, then in twos, threes and fours. Swiftly, something dawned upon me; if this were a natural phenomenon, it would surely be occurring across the entire width of the river. The lights were springing up from the far bank - the Laotian side - in what appeared to be an extremely orchestrated fashion. They also seemed to be coming from areas where lamps were visible and people, presumably, were present. The fabled naga fireballs seemed to be nothing more mysterious than fireworks of the relatively noiseless kind that fade away rather than exploding, much like maritime distress flares. So, the fireball mystery bit the dust. I was satisfied that the Laotians were having a good chuckle at their friends across the river. But other riddles awited me. --[snipped for brevity -- FULL article at above URL]---- AUTHOR Richard Freeman is a cryptozoologist based at the Centre for Fortean Zoology in Exeter. He has worked in animal sanctuaries and as a zookeeper at Twycross zoo, where he became head curator of reptiles. He is currently working on a book about dragons. THE NAGA FIREBALLS The annual appearance of the mysterious naga fireballs - on the full moon of the 11th lunar month each year and coinciding with the Buddhist equivalent of Lent - has become an important part of Thailand's tourist industry. Celebrated in the Bang Fai Phaya Nark festival, the phenomenon is a huge boon to the local economy of the north-eastern border province of Nong Khai. 2002's event saw in excess of 400,000 visitors, both Thais and foreign tourists, joining the celebrations along the Mekong river, mostly in the districts of Phon Phisai, Sri Chiang Mai, Pak Khad, Rattana Wapi and Bung Kan. The mysterious balls of red, pink and orange light were supplemented by a special light and sound show over the festival's four-day run, bringing in more tourists than ever before. At the height of festivities, a total of 829 fireballs was reported - noticeably less than in some previous years, when thousands were seen. The largest concentration was in the Rattana Wapi district, where 483 of the mystery lights were seen rising from the river. 188 fireballs were reported from Phon Pisai, 86 from Bung Kan, 62 from Pak Khad, seven from Sangkhom and a rather disappointing three from Bung Khong Long. One newspaper report blamed the "unusually poor show" in some areas on the weather; a heavy downpour and strong winds also dampened the spirits of visitors, many of whom had made the trip after seeing the recent hit Thai movie Mekong Full Moon Party, a comedy centred around the fireball festival. The Thai government has apparently commissioned an investigation into the mystery orbs, whose cause remains unknown. While they are traditionally believed to emanate from the naga - some legends say they are the serpent's eggs - scientists have suggested that the fireballs are produced by flammable natural gas deposits in the river bed drawn to the surface by the moon's gravitational pull; although this hardly explains why it should happen only in the month of October or early November. A recently-aired TV documentary has further muddied the waters, suggesting that the entire fireball phenomenon is a hoax perpetrated by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to bring money to the region and that the `fireballs' were created with tracer bullets from AK-47 rifles on the Laotian side of the Mekong. Prasit Chanthathong, a Nong Khai MP, responded that since the fireballs had been seen for hundreds of years, this wasn't a very convincing debunking:"How did anyone have a gun back then to create this show?" he asked, apparently forgetting the earlier Chinese use of gunpowder and rockets. Bangkok Post 22+23 Oct; The Nation, 22 Oct; Ananova, 22 Oct; Bangkok Post, 3 Nov 2002; FT105:22. © Copyright Fortean Times. All rights reserved. ========================== Forwarded message ends ========================