# Street Light Psykokinesis?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 10, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889 "2013-08-10T19:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Santa\_Cruz\_n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@Santa\_Cruz\_n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santa_Cruz_n)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/1 "2013-08-10T19:09:05Z")
Interesting that, as far as i can tell, no one has mentioned the group “SLIders.” As a die-hard skeptic of anything paranormal, it’s also interesting that I can’t find anything about this in the “Skeptics Dictionary.” 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/2 "2013-08-10T19:53:31Z")
Are you referring to [this column?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/966/can-some-people-extinguish-streetlamps-by-means-of-their-bodily-emanations) As far as I can tell, “Sliders” was a science fiction series on a few years back, so I don’t get the connection. Also, I believe the word is spelled “psychokinesis”. ---
**Author:** ![Santa\_Cruz\_n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@Santa\_Cruz\_n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santa_Cruz_n)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/3 "2013-08-10T20:22:12Z")
Thanks for the spelling correction, Czarcasm. My SpellCheck didn’t pick up on it. If you do a search for “Street Light Phenomenon,” you will get a menu of articles including one which refers to SLIders, people who have **S** treet\*\* L **ight** I\*\*nterference abilities. There are several paranormal groups who take this ability seriously. I’m surprised that the Committee for Scientific Investigation doesn’t seem to have any information on this. If anyone finds any serious scientific work on this I’d appreciate it if they would post it. I’ve actually had this happen as I passed under street lights and i can see why some might think it’s a paranormal event. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/4 "2013-08-10T20:52:09Z")
[Wiki on so-called "street light interference.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_light_interference_phenomenon)Let me know when anyone does this while being tested. All we’ve got now are a bunch of stories. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/5 "2013-08-10T21:16:50Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are you referring to [this column?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/966/can-some-people-extinguish-streetlamps-by-means-of-their-bodily-emanations) > As far as I can tell, “Sliders” was a science fiction series on a few years back, so I don’t get the connection. Also, I believe the word is spelled “psychokinesis”. this column is cited in that article > [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Wiki on so-called "street light interference.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_light_interference_phenomenon)Let me know when anyone does this while being tested. All we’ve got now are a bunch of stories. another case of Cecil’s encyclopedic level of knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/6 "2013-08-11T00:04:46Z")
> [@Santa\_Cruz\_n](#): > > I’ve actually had this happen as I passed under street lights and i can see why some might think it’s a paranormal event. Can we assume that you don’t believe in this being a paranormal event, even though it happened to you? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/7 "2013-08-11T02:12:12Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > another case of Cecil’s encyclopedic level of knowledge. The man’s a walking Wikipedia, I tells ya! > [@samclem](#): > > Can we assume that you don’t believe in this being a paranormal event, even though it happened to you? It’s happened to me when I was high. I took it to mean that God was messing with me because I was high, though I considered the possibility that they were on timers or electric eyes. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/8 "2013-08-11T02:58:08Z")
My dad had that ability. We would come down the hill, hit the level cross-road at the right speed, with the high beams on, and nail the sensor on the streetlight further down the hill, causing the light to go out. Then he had to get rid of the Impala, and the Dart he replaced it with had the wrong wheel base/suspension, so he lost his SLI ability. But then my brother bought a Datsun pickup with a spotlight on the roof, so he inherited much greater SLI abilities. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/9 "2013-08-11T08:45:51Z")
With LED lights becoming more popular, the days of the SLIders are numbered. At least we will still have with us those who can make a red light turn green through blinking or holding their breath. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/10 "2013-08-11T10:37:30Z")
> [@Santa\_Cruz\_n](#): > > I’ve actually had this happen as I passed under street lights and i can see why some might think it’s a paranormal event. It happens to me a lot. Sodium lamps have a limited lifespan and when they get old, they tend to cycle on and off periodically - usually on a period thats long enough that at walking pace, you will notice only one turn-off/on event when you are fairly close - this effect is further amplified by the downward-focused beam - you really only notice a street light turning off when you are in its field of illumination. Once they start doing this, they continue cycling on and off until someone replaces the lamp - so the lights that turn off/on when you’re approaching are also doing it all the rest of the time when you’re not there - but as you’re not there to notice this, you only know that it turned off when you were there. Classic confirmation bias. Like I said, it happens to me a lot - because I walk a couple of streetlit miles to and from the train station every day. I note the serial numbers on the lamp posts, report the failing lights to the council (their website has a specific fault option 'turning off and on repeatedly") and about a week or two later, the phenomenon is no more. So I actually have the power to _stop_ streetlights doing this. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/11 "2013-08-13T07:25:42Z")
Why do those lights blink when you approach? Dear Abby doesn’t dispute that [it’s your dear departed mother and father](http://news.yahoo.com/awkward-questions-sons-adoption-dont-deserve-answers-050039133.html), just letting you know that they’re still watching over you. How timely of her to publish this while we’re discussing this subject here. > [@Dear Abby](#): > > DEAR ABBY: My parents died when I was a teenager. In the years since I have noticed strange things. While I don’t find pennies, I do often see streetlights turn off right before I drive under them. I drive a lot at night and in the early morning because I work graveyard shifts, and it seems to happen almost every day when I go to work or come home. > > I guess it could be coincidental. But a friend suggested years ago that it’s my parents letting me know they’re watching over me. I want to believe, yet I feel skeptical at the same time. Have you ever heard of anything like it? – LIGHTS OUT IN FEDERAL WAY, WASH. > > DEAR LIGHTS OUT: The only time I have heard of anything like what you’re experiencing has been when I happened to change channels and come upon a television show about the paranormal. More important than what I believe is what you choose to believe. If the reassurance that your parents are watching over you brings you comfort, then I am all for it. ---
**Author:** ![waddlingeagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@waddlingeagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waddlingeagle)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/12 "2013-08-13T13:59:04Z")
I have one of these things in my driveway. Its constant cycling on and off was a real annoyance, particularly since it had a tendency to do this when I (or anyone else) approached it. Just when you needed it, it went dark. Investigation showed a combination of things: a poorly placed and overly sensitive light sensor that switched the light off whenever anyone (anything) wearing light colored clothing approached, combined with your typical bad ballast. Took months to talk the power company into coming out to fix it. Meanwhile, I had this blinking light outside my bedroom window. They say a thing like that will make you irritable, but that didn’t bother me. All of the rest of the family, perhaps, but not me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/13 "2013-08-14T14:16:35Z")
When the lights start to go bad they will do this. I have one right across the street that cycles off and on when it starts to wear out. It is right outside my bedroom window as well. I have gotten used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Consensus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@Consensus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Consensus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/14 "2013-08-19T20:06:16Z")
I’ve been having a strange experience with lit streetlights for… well, as long as I can remember. Sometimes, and this only happens when I’m walking or riding a bicycle, just when I pass a streetlight; it goes off. Just the one. You could say it’s just a coincidence, but it happened too many times and always exactly at the moment when I pass it. In some even rarer occasions one that was not lit, lit up. Anybody else have this experience and what could this be? Do I have some kind of magnetic field that interacts? I don’t always have my phone on me. Surely my own charge, if any, can’t be that powerful. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/15 "2013-08-19T20:19:15Z")
Go to [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=699089) ---
**Author:** ![Consensus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@Consensus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Consensus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/16 "2013-08-19T20:37:49Z")
Oh well, thanks… I guess Should have done a search, but for a moment I thought I was special :o ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/17 "2013-08-20T00:56:44Z")
Merged duplicate threads. ---
**Author:** ![Molotok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Molotok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotok)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/18 "2013-08-20T06:18:04Z")
I remember reading the first of these threads and the column years ago. It’s fair to say that at that time, I was psychologically fragile, heading for breaking point. I was tormented by these streetlights that kept responding to me. Was it a government spying on me? Is it simply the Cosmos trying to tip me over the edge? Well, all of this lead to me writing a song about this period of my life. I titled it Luminaire, because I remember somewhere in the article or thread, someone mentioned the word and it sort of stuck in my head. The chorus of the song was never quite right, though, so now I shall do more research and finally finish this strange song! ---
**Author:** ![shadowofneo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@shadowofneo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shadowofneo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/19 "2013-08-20T07:45:02Z")
> [@Santa\_Cruz\_n](#): > > Thanks for the spelling correction, Czarcasm. My SpellCheck didn’t pick up on it. > > If you do a search for “Street Light Phenomenon,” you will get a menu of articles including one which refers to SLIders, people who have **S** treet\*\* L **ight** I\*\*nterference abilities. > There are several paranormal groups who take this ability seriously. > I’m surprised that the Committee for Scientific Investigation doesn’t seem to have any information on this. > If anyone finds any serious scientific work on this I’d appreciate it if they would post it. > I’ve actually had this happen as I passed under street lights and i can see why some might think it’s a paranormal event. In My experience they always dim or go off when i’m around them, i always thought they were built with a cooldown timer ---
**Author:** ![shadowofneo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@shadowofneo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shadowofneo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889/20 "2013-08-20T07:51:48Z")
that reminds me i’ve watched entire rows of street lights go out, while homes were still lit, then they would relight one by one, in the opposite direction… i had totally forgotten about this. I always thought i could handle the thought of coincidence in this matter, but there is always an accompanying presence, someones watching, or messing with you from a control room. You would think supernatural entities would have gotten bored of turning lights on and off in there past lives. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-light-psykokinesis/665889.md?page=2)