Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Listening Point - General Discussion :: weird lights in the B.W.C.A.
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trapper55 |
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TomT |
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Canoearoo |
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LindenTree |
"Wondering if anyone has ever experienced anything like what we experienced on the way side rest before Split Rock Lighthouse or anywhere on the north shore drive.. This happened in the summer of 2020. My then boyfriend and I wanted to get away for the weekend spur of the moment (silly I know making no plans in advance as summer time is always crazy up there) but it was during Covid so we weren’t as worried about the crowds and just wanted to be out in nature and find a place to camp for one night with my pooch. Well we weren’t able to get a camping spot because they had every other one closed due to Covid. It was very dark at that point and due to poor planning we both realized we would have to find a secluded enough spot to sleep in our car. This wayside rest was perfect, though probably not what we were supposed to do, we both needed sleep and only one other car came by the whole night. Anyway, now the interesting part happened. I woke up around 2am, looked to my boyfriend sitting in the passenger seat who was surprisingly looking out the window towards the lake. I ask him what the heck he is looking at because it freaked me out ?? he asks if I see the lights.. I look out the window and let my eyes focus and sure enough… almost like fireflies but bigger.. lights dancing in the trees before the cliff that leads to the lake. There was white, red, blue, and green lights that were so graceful.. their light much more consistent than that of a firefly. Some would dance together twirling in sync, some would stay relatively motionless. Some would move up and down and some would flow around however they pleased.. it was magical. I couldn’t believe my eyes. We watched them in awe for almost an hour, never feeling in danger but told each other there was no way we were going to get out of the car to investigate ???? that’s how people die in horror movies lol. My dog didn’t take any mind to them either, he slept right through so that made us feel better too. We cracked the windows at one point to see if we could hear anything but all was quiet.. I know some people are very skeptical about situations like these (as am I usually), there was no drugs, alcohol, or medications involved. We were both wide awake when we were watching them and were for an hour before I finally laid my head back down to get more rest before day break. I heard stories as a kid of people seeing lights in the woods and the explanation that they were souls trapped on earth.. I can’t help but think those could have been spirits of people who have lost their lives in the lake, possibly before the lighthouse was there to warn people to stay away from the cliff.. I don’t know, but it will forever remain a memory I am fascinated with and we talk about often. It gives me goosebumps to think about it. Does anyone have stories like this or similar that have happened up the north shore? Picture is of our boy the morning after our incredible experience. Thanks for taking the time to read! ??" |
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IBFLY |
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mjmkjun |
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vickieh69 |
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Kevlar |
Wallee, I have never seen anything like you describe. |
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MrBreeze |
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jcavenagh |
quote MrBreeze: "We came to the end of the portage from Wind Bay on Basswood to Wind Lake and found a young woman sitting at the end of the portage. There was no canoe and no one else on the portage trail. Thought that was strange. When we talked with her, she had to go back down the trail to Basswood to get a lost item and when she came back her group was gone. Not even on Wind Lake. We made room for her and half way down the portage from Wind to Moose, we ran into her group. They totally left her behind. Always wondered what they were smoking that day to leave a crew member behind in the woods. WTF?!?!? |
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Canoearoo |
quote ArrowheadPaddler: "Sounds kind of like ball lightning Walllee."yes ball lightning I agree. I have see ball lighting 3 different times, it's amazing |
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Speckled |
I'll relate two stories the I find funny or interesting though. On an early season (mid april) brook trout fishing excursion, myself and two folks from the MSP area find ourselves camped along a remote stretch of river well into the Superior National Forest. We met at my place in Two Harbors and drove and hiked in. The first night, sipping whisky and sitting around the fire - the least experianced fella in the group's eyes get REALLY big and he freezes and states and very stern and drawn out language - "Holy s%^&, what the f^&* is that?" I can seee in his face and eyes, he's clearly scared and freaking out. Which scares me, I spin around and look in the direction he's looking and see some of the most amzing northern lights I've ever seen. I let out a sigh of relief and state, "Sweet dude - northern lights" He was sure we were about to have "Fire in the sky" experiance for those who've seen the movie. We still give him grief about the time the northern lights scared him. The second is a story that was related to me, I didn't experiance personally. The individual it happened to doesn't tell the story willingly, will only share parts of it and you really need to prode him to get any details. He and another individual, whom I've also met and corobrates the story similiarly. I'll add this tidbit to the story up front. This fella I know best has spent the batter part of his life in the woods, living in it, hunting, fishing ,trapping, camping, etc..I've know him for the better part of my life and know him to not tell stories at all - it's not him, he doesn't make stuff up doesn't joke around. IMO, if he says it, it happened. They were on their way up to a particular stream...kind of near the BW border to do some brookie fishing - early morning traveling down a old worn gravel road, they saw something running into the woods. The individual will only say, "He saw something." He doesn't know what it was, "It was just something." If asked if it was a bear, the answer is no, it wasn't a bear. If asked if it was a moose, the answer is, no it wasn't a moose. Did you a get a pretty good look at it, ya, he got a pretty good look at it. You ask him what he thinks it was - he will not state anything of substance, other than "I don't know what it was" You ask him if it was on two feet, the answer is, "well...it did look like it" Was it bigfoot? He kind of just shrugs and says "I don't know what it was" They didn't fish that river that day if you ask that. They drove to another river about 20 - 30 minutes away. |
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Mustangt125 |
Im going in July, I dont think the auroras happen then, though. Anybody been lucky enough to see them in July? |
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inspector13 |
quote Mustangt125: "How late do they show up when youve seen them? You would have to wait until twilight has passed. So that time of year anytime after 11pm until around 4am. |
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MidwestMan |
Wally13: "TomT, |
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JJ396 |
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walllee |
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Mustangt125 |
We're going July 8th for a week. Just hoping for clear nights and aurora activity. |
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Basspro69 |
quote jcavenagh: "+1quote MrBreeze: "We came to the end of the portage from Wind Bay on Basswood to Wind Lake and found a young woman sitting at the end of the portage. There was no canoe and no one else on the portage trail. Thought that was strange. When we talked with her, she had to go back down the trail to Basswood to get a lost item and when she came back her group was gone. Not even on Wind Lake. We made room for her and half way down the portage from Wind to Moose, we ran into her group. They totally left her behind. Always wondered what they were smoking that day to leave a crew member behind in the woods. |
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Kendra |
I've seen a few "Flying Moose"... |
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inspector13 |
quote Mustangt125: "Im going in July, I dont think the auroras happen then, though. Anybody been lucky enough to see them in July?" Yes. In years with high sunspot activity you can see them many times in the summer, if you stay up late enough. At times they just look like a faint glow to the north, like a far away city or forest fire. |
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ozarkpaddler |
quote Speckled: "Over 20 trips to the BW and have never had any unexplained experiances up there. I had a similar experience after a BWCAW trip. We had finished a May trip and were spending a couple nights at Pike Lake walleye fishing. We were fishing with lighted bobbers off the dock, me facing in one direction and he the opposite. All at once Steve says, "What the Hell is going on?" I turn around and laughed. That night was the most brilliant Aurora I've ever seen; there were reds and purples to go along with the whites and greens. Oh, and we also caught a few big walleyes that night! |
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TomT |
UFO Sighting/Video |
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MidwestMan |
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inspector13 |
In Sept 2010 around 10pm, just outside the Superior National Forest in Lake County, I was burning up some of the cords of firewood accumulated from storm damage to my property. I first saw a triangle of lights head northward above the tree line to the east of me. The lights circled back after several minutes and were joined by others. The lights then appeared to begin to chase each other. These lights made no sound whatsoever. But yes, there was beer involved. : ) Once the almost full moon was high enough in the sky, I saw the contrails they left. This went on until around 11pm. I found out later from reading the Sheriff’s report that it was the 148th Fighter Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard doing night maneuvers. They were spotted from the Lake County line on Highway 61 to the BWCAW. After seeing a thread on this website about strange lights seen that night by someone on a canoe trip, I registered and made my first post saying what was in the Sheriff’s report. |
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sunnybear09 |
quote inspector13: " Sounds like a cover-up. |
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JJ396 |
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firemedic5586 |
MrBreeze: "We came to the end of the portage from Wind Bay on Basswood to Wind Lake and found a young woman sitting at the end of the portage. There was no canoe and no one else on the portage trail. Thought that was strange. When we talked with her, she had to go back down the trail to Basswood to get a lost item and when she came back her group was gone. Not even on Wind Lake. We made room for her and half way down the portage from Wind to Moose, we ran into her group. They totally left her behind. Always wondered what they were smoking that day to leave a crew member behind in the woods. Finders Keepers? |
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Stumpy |
About ten years ago...might have even been 2011. Mid Summer, on my dock (Shagawa Lake), late at night, talking to my buddy on cell phone. Suddenly I said to him, "I'm looking at UFOs" He laughed. I was sober. Looking down the lake to the West and beyond, there were three glowing disk shapes hovering. I can only speculate, but I'd say about two miles away, and a few hundred feet in the air. I just said to him..."I don't know what I'm seeing" No camera phone then. They hovered for about 20 seconds, then disappeared, initiated with fast movement. I wasn't at all scared, but just kind of laughed it off. Logical explanation ?.....I'm guessing there is... pranksters with lit up drones ?...I don't know what technology was out there then. I don't believe in Aliens, until I'm proven they exist. But they were Unidentified Lights to me. I've probably only brought it up 6 or 8 times since, including this post. By the way..."It Came From Outer Space", is on the Svenghoolie Movie tomorrow night. |
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Stumpy |
Crazy stuff... it’s late...another day |
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bussmonkey |
quote Savage Voyageur: "Wally, tell me how in the heck you went to sleep that night? If I saw something like that there is no way I would be sleeping for days. " Im afraid to go to sleep tonight now! |
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gutmon |
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inspector13 |
quote gutmon: "Wally- is one of your brother's name Moses?" That was the first thing I thought of too. : ) |
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Savage Voyageur |
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bruceye |
I can't say I'm a believer, nor can I say I'm an unbeliever. I trend to the thoughts of Albert Einstein who said, "what we know of the universe,is miniscule in comparison to what we don't know." |
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walllee |
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ArrowheadPaddler |
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Wally13 |
Yes, I did visit with you in Chicago about my strange encounter up in Kawnipi back in 1992. It was weird and I rarely tell the story since most folks will think I am crazy. A group of 8 of us that included my 3 brothers, and my Dad were on our way to McKenzie bay off Kawnipi to basecamp for a week. We were coming in via Agnes Lake. On day 2 we were travelling into Bird Lake in early afternoon when we saw a bright burning light about the size of a football in the air about 6 ft. in the air down the portage trail approximately 100 feet away. It was burning like a sparkler you waved around as a kid on 4th of July. Everyone saw it. We put on our packs and canoes and proceeded on portage to Anubis Lake. Well, the burning light ball went right down the path with us but would never let us get within more than 100 to 150 feet of it. It was the nuts. We all thought that what we were seeing was an optical illusion of some sort. When we reached the end of the portage, the light just stayed out on the lake. We all turned around and proceeded to get the rest of our gear as we double portage. The burning light followed us right back to where we landed. And it stayed in front of us again all the way to where we left our canoes at the end of the portage. We all couldn't believe it. We paddled into Bird and proceeded on to McVicar and on to McKenzie Bay. This damn light just followed us the whole way. We couldn't believe that this light was following us. heck it was with us right out in the middle of Kawnipi Lake. When we were getting set up on an island site at McKenzie Bay we all just pretended that the light wasn't there. We finished supper and darn if the light was gone. Never saw it disappear. It was just gone. Hallaleuia... After a few cocktails around a campfire we hit the sack . We were all relieved that this light had decided to leave us alone. We all fell a sleep as we were all dead tired . My youngest brother gets up in the middle of the night to relieve himself. Well, wouldn't you believe it ...the burning light is showing itself down by the shoreline where we had tied up our canoes. He woke us all up to point out that the light was back. We all got up and sure enough it was back. We decided it best to all go back to sleep as we were all exhausted. When we woke up the light was gone. Never saw it again. When we got back to Prairie Portage I went up to the Canadian ranger station and told old Quetico Mike about our strange encounter and asked if he had heard any stories from other paddlers in the Q that saw a burning light like the one we saw. He said yes, that over the years he has heard several stories like mine about seeing a burning light about the size of a football. In fact, he has heard stories about other strange lights in the woods. My 3 brothers and Dad from Connecticut never made another trip into Quetico. But on family get togethers, the burning light story comes up from time to time. I have gone to the Q eighteen times since then and have never seen that burning light. |
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walllee |
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gutmon |
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bojibob |
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JackpineJim |
quote Miami1: "I once saw a naked man sitting on a rock on Bud lake, weird huh!!! Anthony" I saw two stark naked women sitting on a rock on Kawishiwi Lake. They never moved or uttered a sound as we went past. I was too polite to stare so kept my head pointed forward and pretended not to look... Don't go anywhere without mirrored sunglasses, you just never know when you need them. <|:7) |
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schweady |
quote inspector13: "...it was the 148th Fighter Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard doing night maneuvers..." We watched these guys carry out air-to-air combat exercises one night in Aug 2005 from our site on Gabbro. Could see a stream of lights "firing," then a particular pattern of lights would flash on the "hit" aircraft when a "kill" was recorded. Really eerily silent. Would be a lull in the action, then start up with a vengeance. Went on for quite some time that night. |
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walllee |
Our group never talks about the incidents with other people or rarely bring it up among ourselves. Do you guys have any stories to share that were just unexplainable or just weird? Let's hear them. |
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starwatcher |
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BananaHammock |
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Miami1 |
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BananaHammock |
quote Miami1: "I once saw a naked man sitting on a rock on Bud lake, weird huh!!! Anthony" And let me guess, by the time you got the camera out he was gone, right? |
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bapabear |
quote walllee: "I have seen some pretty weird unexplainable things in my years of canoe tripping. A couple incidents that really stand out had to do with some weird lights that were not only seen by myself but people that were with me.Our group never talks about the incidents with other people, or rarely bring it up among ourselves. Do you guys have any stories to share that was just unexplainable, or just weird. Let's hear them." Unexplained lights would spook me. One time while fishing a quiet cove of Ima Lake my son and I were startled by a tremendous noise not 50 yards behind us. There was a huge disturbance in the water leaving large ripples radiating outward. First we thought was a beaver but the noise, while loud, was not like a beaver tail slapping the surface. Our thoughts turned to a huge fish taking something that put up a brief but intense fight or a very large fish leaving the water so it could belly flop?? Were the friends with you named Jim Beam, Dr. Mcgillicuddy, and Jack Daniels? |
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Savage Voyageur |
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WhiteWolf |
TomT: "Not in the BW but a very credible sighting and video of it. It's an interview on the Joe Rogan podcast video with a retired Navy pilot who along with 3 others had a close encounter. Good Stuff. I have worked graveyard shifts watching the weather for 20+ years at major Airports. Seen a few funky things. I know my astronomy , I know my meteorology and know aviation as far as what jets etc. look like -- I know what I see at night and I know what I saw was not of this world in how it moved so quickly and was gone in a flash. When I called ATC about the matter(s)- they were in confusion about what had just happened and really didn't want to talk about it- They also had seen the object(s) on radar and in person and was gone in flash. ( I learned this later) There is "stuff" out there we know nothing about. Maybe that's why it gets covered up so much. |
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plexmidwest |
Midwestman posted reference to this above. When I first noticed the two lights were far away from each other but they were getting closer, and looked like they were going to collide. Saganagons Strange Lights |
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MikeinMpls |
MrBreeze: "We came to the end of the portage from Wind Bay on Basswood to Wind Lake and found a young woman sitting at the end of the portage. There was no canoe and no one else on the portage trail. Thought that was strange. When we talked with her, she had to go back down the trail to Basswood to get a lost item and when she came back her group was gone. Not even on Wind Lake. We made room for her and half way down the portage from Wind to Moose, we ran into her group. They totally left her behind. Always wondered what they were smoking that day to leave a crew member behind in the woods. Totally WTF. There's gotta be more to that story than you and I know about. I've been a psychologist for 25 years and people baffle me now as much as they ever did. Mike |
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prettypaddle |
bruceye: "Nothing too bizarre in comparison to what some of you had posted. But interestingly enough. While winter camping and tip up fishing on Bower Trout in the late 80's, three of us were out on the ice watching what we thought was a satellite just about straight over head. It was during one of those arctic high pressure systems when the night sky is dead still and clear as a bell. We watched this thing travel fast in a straight line like satellites do and thought nothing of it. That demeanor was about to change when this thing came to a sudden stop and for a few seconds, it blended in with the larger stars in the galaxy. Then it took off, fast, and at a right angle! No sound, no contrail or flash, just this thing that went so totally against the laws of "known" physics. And disappeared. Our jaws dropped as we just looked at each other with that blank Barney Fife expression. Wow, I had basically the same experience! When was about 13, my family went camping in the middle of nowhere Utah. My mom and I were watching the stars before going to sleep. One of us pointed out a satellite and we both watched as it moved across the sky. Then it took a 90 degree turn and zoomed off, disappearing after about two inches (if you held your fingers two inches apart at arm's length). My mom and I both looked at each other and were like, "did that just happen?!" We were totally weirded out and literally miles from anybody so we didn't really want to talk about it and tried to just laugh it off and pretend everything was normal. |
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jmchev |
Thanks, -J |
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jillpine |
Basspro69: "quote jcavenagh: "+1"quote MrBreeze: "We came to the end of the portage from Wind Bay on Basswood to Wind Lake and found a young woman sitting at the end of the portage. There was no canoe and no one else on the portage trail. Thought that was strange. When we talked with her, she had to go back down the trail to Basswood to get a lost item and when she came back her group was gone. Not even on Wind Lake. We made room for her and half way down the portage from Wind to Moose, we ran into her group. They totally left her behind. Always wondered what they were smoking that day to leave a crew member behind in the woods. +2 Sounds like a story from a James Fenimore Cooper novel. |
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lindylair |
Never gave it a thought until reading this thread tonight... on the last night we were sitting in camp around the fire and all of a sudden my buddy gets up and says what the hell was that? Unfortunately I don't hear very well at all so didn't catch it. But he was obviously freaked out by it. When I asked him about it he said that it wasn't a bear, or another animal, but wasn't human either. Hmmm...He said it was close, maybe 100 yards out of camp. I got the bear spray out and we tidied up the camp but the noise did not come back and we ended up sitting around the campfire for another hour or so. Like I said, never gave it another thought until tonight... BTW I had not shared what I had read about Bigfoot encounters around Astrid with him prior to the trip. |
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Portage99 |
plexmidwest: " Here's a brief video we shot on Saganagons after watching these lights dance for quite some time before I started recording. This video comes the closest I’ve seen to describing the lights I saw. It was early 1990s in Washington state. It was not nighttime. The sky was pretty light out so these lights were oddly bright. And I saw three lights in a triangle that looked exactly like this light and about the same height. I watched them trying to identify what they could possibly be. I couldn’t quite tell if they were staying stationary or moving towards me. Then, in an instant they darted up and right and disappeared. It was weird. It looked just like these lights. |