CitY iN the sKY
In October 2015, several websites reported that the image of a floating city had appeared over Jiangxi and Foshan in China’s Guandong province at an unspecified but recent time. The mysterious apparition lasted only a few minutes; many allegedly believed it to be supernatural. The grainy video footage, first posted on YouTube on 9 October, appears to show towering skyscrapers poking out of the clouds and looming over the ground below. Explanations for the event ranged from a glitch in the matrix, alternate universes opening up, and NASA attempting to establish a new world order headed up by the Antichrist by simulating – by means of holograms – either an alien invasion of Earth or Christ’s Second Coming, through something called the “Blue Beam Project”.
Meteorologists attributed the event to a rare type of
4 mirage called Fata Morgana – an optical illusion caused by specific weather conditions refracting light rays. It occurs when the Sun heats up a layer of the atmosphere while the layer below remains cool, generating temperature and density gradients, resulting in the apparent elevation and/or distortion of distant landscape features. Some believe the phenomenon is behind the legend of the Flying Dutchman. Fata Morgana is the Italian for the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay. These mirages, often seen in the Strait of Messina, were believed to be fairy castles in the air or false land created by her witchcraft to lure sailors to their death. Fata Morganas can be seen on land or at sea, in polar regions or in deserts. They can involve almost any kind of distant object, including boats, buildings, islands and the coastline.
Failing all that, China’s floating city could just be another of the Internet’s many hoaxes. Despite being shown on Chinese television, this video is the only piece of evidence to suggest that the phenomenon occurred. The initial reports claimed it was witnessed by ‘hundreds’ (later morphing into ‘thousands’) of people – but no eyewitnesses were identified or quoted across the web, ands no one posted any different images of the mirage on services such as Weibo. Independent, 18 Oct; iflscience.com, snopes.com, 19 Oct; [AP] telegraph. co.uk, 20 Oct 2015. exactly like the air raid sirens used to warn of the approach of German bombers during the Blitz. The Luftwaffe bombarded Swansea between 19 and 21 February 1941, targeting vital coal shipments. 230 people were killed and 400 injured. Flames from bombed oil refineries were visible 75 miles (120km) away.
Noise abatement officials from Swansea council launched an investigation but have so far been unable to identify the noise. One resident, Debbie Leyshon, said: “Everyone around here has heard it around dawn and into the early morning. It sounds just like a siren you hear in the war films. It always sounds like it is away in the distance but loud enough to wake you up if you are a light sleeper.”
Residents have been exchanging experiences on Facebook. Stella Elphick said: “Been going on for at least the last two summers and through the winter. Day and night.” Pete Rose said: “It drives my mother insane and I often hear it when visiting her.” Damian Holt said: “Every morning around 4.30/5am till 6am or 7am most mornings.” Debbie St Peter said that it was so annoying that she couldn’t sleep. Sian Richards added: “That noise has been tormenting me since the beginning of the year.”
Theories about the source of the noise include factory sirens, train horns and even a council department.
One man posted on a local website: “I live in Cockett and often hear this siren which keeps my whole family awake during the night. It’s especially disturbing for my 92-year-old grandfather, who insists on wearing his tin helmet and ARP warden’s badge and evacuating the whole family to the garden shed at 3am.” Western Mail, Times, 24 Sept 2015.