There are mysteries aplenty, both natural and supernatural.
Take sun candles.
It is a phenomenon few ever witness with their own eyes, yet those who do describe an encounter that borders on the supernormal.
Known in meteorology as a “subsun,” pilots and travelers who look down from high altitudes across icy cloud decks have long reported seeing what looks like a solitary, blinding flame hanging directly beneath the sun—a spectacle given that term “sun candle.” L:ike the sword of Michael!
Scientifically, experts in optics explain that the phenomenon occurs when millions of flat, hexagonal ice crystals drift horizontally through sub-zero air like microscopic, falling mirrors.
As sunlight strikes these aligned plates, the reflection bounces back upward toward the observer, stretching into a flickering vertical shaft of light that resembles a candle flame piercing through the clouds and in some cases isolated, like an apparition—or portal.
Yet for centuries, long before atmospheric physics measured the precise tilt of falling ice crystals, observers saw in such celestial anomalies something far more profound: a signpost, or perhaps a gentle reminder of the hidden tapestry operating just beyond ordinary sight. God is quite creative, wouldn’t you agree?
Like sundogs or solar halos, the sun candle reminds us how easily the veil between the ordinary world and the extraordinary can drop. A quiet convergence of ice, geometry, and light turns the cold atmosphere into an altar of sorts, offering a brief, luminous flame suspended in the blue expanse.
When it comes to luminous phenomena that take the opposite approach—what seems supernatural but which some explain as simple lens flare—there are orbs.
Many are the product of condensation or raindrops on a cell phone or camera.
Others, often inside “haunted” homes,’ come with no such ready explanation.
In both the world of spirits and the world of “UFOs,” orbs are the talk of social-media chatter.
It seems they can be good, evil, or neutral. In France, at La Salette in 1846, the Virgin Mary arrived in a large oval of light, and small luminosities are known to flash into view before Mary appears in apparition at Medjgorje.
Evil?
They are also seen at graveyards.
Or around less than savory characters—lie the thieves below who were stealing a statue of Mary (irony of ironies).
Were the orbs angels astir, or demons egging the men on?
We report. You try and figure it out.