Every heard of a person who experiences SLI (street light interference), where a person turns off (or on) street lights merely by passing by them? Does it seem like it happens to you? ITR looks into what many would consider the lamest of paranormal phenomenon (not nearly as interesting or scary as ghosts, UFOs, or haunted houses) below:
People who experience SLI first-hand are called “SLIders”. SLIders will walk or drive near lights and they will turn off or act funny. Supposedly these effects are increased when the SLIder is in a heightened emotional state, but is never under the control of the person. This is unfortunate, because it’s hard to prove something that happens sort of randomly. According to the SLI page ofwikibooks, no one has been able to cause interference during a demonstration. Hmm… well if there is a phenomenon, someone will post on Youtube to show it’s real right?
A Youtube search of “Street Light Interference” brings up a whooping 13 videos, including Cypress Hill’s “How I Could Just Kill A Man” music video. However, user DougColdwell has added 7 amateur videos showing SLI in “action”. See the playlist here (along with 3 “bonus” SLI videos). We are warning you, what you see may shock and amaze you. But likely it won’t.
Are there reasonable explanation for this unexplained phenomenon? Yes, a few possible ideas emerge. Cities sometimes turn off lights or set lights to turn off at certain times, and the connection between a person and lights could be coincidental. Lamps also fail, and as they fail they turn off and on intermittently due to the nature of the filament inside. However, the most obvious potential pitfall is “observer bias,” which just means that when something strange (like a lamp turning off as you pass it) is more noticable than the status quo. If enough lamps coincidentally turn off as you pass you might forget about the dozens of lamps that did not.
ITR’s verdict? SLI may have a little reality to ground it, but even if it’s a real phenomenon it definitely is a lame one. Imagine a superhero with this wonderous power. Oh wait, that would suck.
This this pique your interest? Does it happen to you or you just want to learn more? Here are some good links for you:
Debbie Wolf’s story on CNN
Related Entries:
4 responses so far ↓
1 ariel // Apr 4, 2009 at 7:59 pm
im a slider. It is real…
2 anom // Aug 17, 2009 at 9:24 am
spelling fail/topic fail
3 Sliderman // Feb 3, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I have turned off 2 particular outdoor lights with complete consistency. So, I am planning on filming a small demo tonight showing this.
Stay tuned…
Talk is cheap. I want to first prove that the phenomenom does really exist. After that, we can then speculate on possible reasons.
4 incompatable // Dec 18, 2010 at 4:37 pm
I too experience this “lame” phenomenon… But like was stated in other articles this “special” gift is usually accompanied by other “Psycokinetic” gifts so to speak..
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