Comments for The White-out: Page 1

Hello Fergie, thanks for sharing your, what I can say, weird and exceptional experience. Every one is trying to solve the puzzle and mystery. I wish it were rational and scientific. But you said that this happened about 20 years ago. That was quite some time and even though there were technological advancements, well, they are not like present days.

Even though I try to analyse everything for rational explanation, on your experience, I would like to stick to paranormal. That is what my gut feeling says so. Perhaps you have run into something or some shape of a huge ball of smoke, a manifestation of some entity, which clouded you, your car, the sounds and the weather. I do not think any scientific or rational explanation to this experience. Explanations are there for the white stuff that stuck to your car but what about the weather and the sound. Yes, it is a pity that you did not preserve the material/stuff for examination. Still my mind says it is paranormal.

Regards and respects to you.

SDS

Oh, and I'm still thinking it only stuck to the windows because the car body was waxed.

I'm going to ask around and see if I can find someone who's actually seen what happens when an aerosol can bursts open. Preferably in cold weather. I've already found a couple of people who've blown them up (I'm surrounded by rednecks!) But that's not the same thing. 😉

Redwolf, I have to respectfully disagree. First, silly string is only string because it is extruded into a string when it goes through the nozzle. If the can burst open, the ingredients that make up the string would just form a cloud. I also don't understand why you would dismiss propellant because it was twenty years ago? Aerosol cans using propellant were invented as far back as 1790 and have been commercially available since the 1940's.
The caulk I'm thinking of is sold in the US under the name "Great Stuff". It takes about an hour to set up and prior to that is thick and gooey. And neither one would have been cold because they were on the warm car windows.

Just my opinion. 😲

Fergie
With this story being 20 some odd years ago I doubt it was any kind of
Propellent. You say it looked like a veldt fire and your husband stopped the car for a white out. After a few minutes he got out of the car and all was clear. Propellent does not go very far in cold and if it was silly string it would come off easier. I have 3 grown children and they liked experimenting when they were younger and silly string in the heat gets very gooie and flamable and is a pain to get off of things, freeze it and it is a lump of string which takes longer to burn if you put it on something in the cold it comes off easier. That spray insulation would have come off easily in chunks. The real head scratcher is why just the windows? Nothing on the roof,hood,or trunk?
Fergie I wish you had saved some to have it analyzed. Because as far as I'm concerned this is still in the? Files because nothing about this makes sense. Ectoplasm makes just as much sense as anything else.
Regards
RedWolf

elfstone: Actually, that makes perfect sense. I'd think if something like that fell from a contractors' vehicle it could create a cloud-like atmosphere as well when it hit the pavement. But (there's always a "but" 😆) I still can't figure out how/why it would only stick to the windows?!? 😆

Ooh! How about this? I don't know if you have it in SA, but here you can get expanding foam insulation that comes in an aerosol can. It's kind of like a spray caulk you can use to seal odd cracks and holes, like around where the pipes come up. Could it have been something like that?

(I hope I'm not making you crazy! I'm like a dog with a chew toy with a mystery like this!)

What Granny said. I still think a busted aerosol can is the most likely answer, though. The cold would have kept the propellant from dispersing quickly and the car's heat would have dispelled it and let the rest of the contents settle on the car.

So what else that's white and gooey comes in a spray can? Your description makes me think of marshmallow creme, actually, but I've never heard of it being in a can. Whipped cream or shaving cream would have just melted away and spray paint would have stuck to the car body and smelled like spray paint.

I said silly string because every adult I've ever seen with it was drunk and I can easily picture one drunk spraying his friends with it and another getting annoyed and pitching it out the car window.

Fergie: I'm posting a few links but it's pretty safe to say if you've never heard of it, it probably isn't sold in South Africa. It's been around for a long time.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_String

Http://rockstarwantabe.blogspot.com/2010/04/oh-its-on-silly-string-enough-said.html

Triskaideka, I agree with you. With so much evidence pointing in the scientific direction, I must conclude that this was not a paranormal experience.

I must thank each and every one that has taken part in trying to help me solve my strange experience. When I posted this narrative, I honestly thought it was too way out; that I would get no response at all... Guys, I am really grateful for the sterling responses I received.

I admit, I am no closer to solving my mystery completely, but this has been fun. 😊

Thank you all for your scientific explanations and the non-scientific ones too. I appreciate each and every one. ❤

Babygoatpuller, once again I thank you for a compliment.

I was almost hoping it would be an ET, but what are the chances? 🤔 If there were any space-craft hurtling off at astonishing speed, I never saw it *sigh*.

Thanks for your idea though babygoatpuller.

Elfstone, I like your 'off the wall' idea; a busted aerosol can of something. But silly string...? Never heard of it! But not everyone is as ignorant as I. Just because I have never heard of it, doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Thank you once again for a valiant effort at solving my mystery.

Definitely fascinating and I think all the scientific hypotheses here sound feasible. I bet it was just some sort of chemical reaction. But I'm certainly glad you're safe and it is definitely an interesting read! (Plus, I'm now going to be more cautious about what I use on my car in the winter...)

Or...It could have been an E.T. Vehicle dumping there waste much like we dispose of our waste from our RV's but more responsibly. 😁 omg! I think I've just officially joined the looney bin here. I don't have a clue what this was Fergie but as usual, albeit a puzzler, another great read from you!

Okay, here's an off the wall suggestion. Maybe someone busted an aerosol can of something. I'm thinking silly string. I looked it up and that stuff, in the can, is about 15% resins and surfactants and 85% propellant. The propellant is liquid while under pressure in the can, but would be a gas in the open air.

If the can was busted, it's reasonable to supposed that it would form a cloud of propellant vapor mixed with the resin and surfactant. When you drove into the cloud, the heat from your car evaporated the propellant. The waxed metal of the car body wouldn't permit the resin /surfactant mixture to stick, but the glass windows did.?

Hi Nephylim,

I nearly jumped for joy when I saw your comment - until I asked my hubby! Sorry, no Sunlight Liquid; he used a solution of Windowlene in the window washer tank. They did use Sunlight Liquid and hot water to wash the muck off, after scraping the window with stiff cardboard. It came off in 'strings', like when you step into old chewing-gum.

The super-cooled air is a brilliant idea, and one which is ultimately possible.

Thank you for your great theories, I really appreciate them. 😊

Triskaideka - Great theory! I wish I could prove it one way or another. It is very possible that someone could have been burning all that stuff - who knows? 😕
It was an area that we didn't visit too often, so don't know what the folks around there got up to in winter.

Thanks for reading and your comment.

Hi Fergie,

As to the white wax substance on your windows, odd question, but does or did your husband use Sunlight Liquid in his wiper blade water? I ask because I have had a similar substance form on my windscreen. I was told that is was due to a combination of the residue left behind by the Sunlight Liquid and passing through a pocket of cold air that almost instantly turned the windscreen white. I had to take the car for a valet in order to get it off.

It is also possible that you drove through a, I don't know what the technical term is, column of super cooled air rapidly descending from the upper atmosphere. Cold air would create a thicker atmospheric pressure within the column which could maybe have dampened the sounds around you as well as make the lights seem dimmer. Almost like when Brinicles are formed. Http://gizmodo.com/5862229/this-unreal-slow+motion-ice-tornado-kills-everything-it-touches just for reference.
I'm not saying the air was that cold, but maybe to a lesser degree?

Just a theory.

Here's my personal theory. There was a fire. You drove through the smoke. Just as you got to a clear area, the smoke caused a chemical reaction which resulted in the glass turning white on its exposed side, which is why it was so difficult to scrub off.

Http://www.hwam.com/instructions+and+advice/faq/how+can+i+prevent+the+glass+from+turning+whitea

Http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_removed_the_white_film_discoloration_on_plastic_eyeglass_frames

Http://www.ducati.ms/forums/216-2010-current-2nd-generation-watercooled/170994-mysterious-humming-oil-sight-glass-turns-white.html

Basically, I think that someone must've been burning cardboard, plastics, and oils, and all those smoke particles built up on your glass, then suddenly turned white due to rapid cooling. (Smoke from fire = warm; glass in winter = cold.)

elfstone - You have put forth some really interesting theories. I agree, it is a pity that we never saved some of the substance for analysis. That would have been very interesting - it may have solved our puzzle quickly. Unfortunately, we never gave that a thought.

At the point that we ran into the stuff, I never got out of the car; I was too snug inside. Ray never mentioned any odour from it, and when we arrived at my brother's house, I didn't notice any odour coming from it.

If there had been a spiderweb across the road, I presume it would have left streaky marks, not the uniform white, which it did. Also, when we have a veldt fire, it leaves little 'tendrils' of black floating in the air. This was not present. We also don't have any pollen in the middle of winter - the veldt is 'dead' at that time of year.

It could be possible that there were particles of something or other floating in the air to muffle sound and light - I never thought about that.

Heat-soluble? Hmm, an interesting thought! I don't think there was any goo on the roof of the car though. Would that count?

As for something condensing on the windows, I suppose that is possible too. I wish I had taken more note, when this occurred.

Thank you so much for the thought you have put into your reply. This has been really interesting.

What a strange and intriguing tale! And how sad you didn't think to save some of the stuff for analysis!

White, gooey, and somewhat oily. Did you notice any smell to it? I can think of two possible explanations for it coating the windows and not the car body. One: It, whatever it was, was floating at the same height as the windows, so that's what it stuck to. Two: It was heat-soluble and the heat from the car's engine melted it off the metal, but the windows weren't hot enough to do the same.

Could a spider web across the road have captured something else? Maybe ash from a veldt fire or some kind of pollen? If there were some kind of particulates lingering in the air there (maybe due to atmospheric conditions) they could have muffled sound and made the lights seem dim.

Or, again with the particulates, maybe they were suspended in the cold air and just condensed on your warm car windows?

What a fascinating puzzle!

savsavvy1023 - I like your unique idea. 😉Who knows what lies in the great untapped mysteries of our universe?

Right now, I am willing to look at any, and all possible solutions to this puzzle. Who knows, maybe this is a reasonable explanation!?

Thank you for reading, and your reply. 😊

My science fiction brain has a idea, but nothing more than that. There is no proof just what I know. Perhaps somehow you traveled through time or even planes of existence. I know spiritual portals pop up pretty much any place they want and disappear without a trace. Twilight zone sounding I know, but in my eye's I think it's possible. Maybe you and your husband just happened to be in the right place at the right time and you wandered into one of these portals and drove out of it, or it decided to leave. My curiosity would say go back and try it again.

OMG Val, you have just given me the creeps! 😨 What an awful thought! You make me happy that we didn't have the girls with us... I can just imagine what could have happened if such a thought had struck them - total chaos!

You make me feel as if we are lucky to have emerged alive.

Thanks for the lovely thought Val. I am going to sleep well tonight - Just Fine! 😉

Fegie, THAT is seriously weird. If you had driven through something, I'd think it would be on the rest of the car as well, and not just the windows. The fact that everything became 'muffled' sounds like you were inside something. Just plain weird.

LOL BJJ, Ray would have had a conniption if it was spiderweb! With web usually come spiders - his least favourite creepy crawly.

Hmm, supernatural... We can handle. 😉

Well, I'm glad it wasn't spiderwebs lol. Unexplained and probably paranormal is better than spiders any day. I think this is the strangest thing I've ever read on here. Happy to read, and happy to try lol.

Thanks BJJ, yeah, I also saw pics of the spiderweb phenomenon, unfortunately it was nothing like that, although that would have been cool too.

It was Only the windows that were covered in the goo... Go figure! But what made it even more weird was the fact that there seemed to be a muffler or filter, if you will, on the street lights and all sounds. Everything seemed muted. 😕

Thanks for reading, and the 'try' BJJ.

What the?!?
Was this stuff just on the windows or was the rest of the car covered as well? Oily, gooey white stuff...
The only thing that comes to mind, and I know it sounds nutty, but spiderwebs? Normally spiders are antisocial and don't share space, but a few years ago in a state park a bunch of spiders formed a sort of colony and spun webs over a huge section of the park. Everything was covered in white. There was seriously nothing to see but webs.
But, this happened to you in winter, I don't know how active spiders would be in the cold. The park thing happened in spring if I recall the article correctly.
Sorry, I got nothing. 😭