I’ve noticed this odd little phenomenon for a while, but it’s picked up a bit lately, and it confuses me.
This is a thing that I’ve always heard referred to as the (very un-PC) “rape-me light” effect. It’s the phenomenon by which a streetlamp or other light simply… goes out… as you pass by it. (Hence the term “rape-me lights”) I seem to have this effect on a lot of lights. There’s a streetlight on campus that goes off pretty much every time I walk past it, and occasionally if it’s already off it’ll turn on. I’ve watched it, and it doesn’t seem to do this for other people. One of the lights that illuminates the front of the library building has gone off three times as I passed it, as well as two other streetlamps at various times, and one of the overhead lightbulbs in a practice-room hallway in the music building actually exploded as I walked underneath it. (Luckily was enclosed in a plastic covering.)
I don’t get it. Do I have some weird electrical field that screws with lightbulbs? Is it all a big coincidence? Has anyone else observed this? Share!
Well, I have a friend who routinely caused light bulbs to burn out while she was pregnant. Same sort of thing, only they didn’t flicker - she killed 'em dead. First thing she did when her son was born was check him out thoroughly for a trio of 6s.
This is the same friend who kills watch batteries, incidentally, even when she’s not pregnant.
My mom could never wear a battery powered watch (wind up watches lasted not much longer) but no idea why.
As for the lights, used to have a streetlight you could kick the pole and put it out, but no spontaneous outages…
Rape light…sounds like you are asking for it!
(Oh please forgive me for that!! I just couldn’t resist…)
I’ve made light bulbs explode before, but never had them go out or on solely based on my presence. The ‘explosions’ happen if I accidentally touch the bulb while turning the lamp on or off. The light burns out while throwing out a shower of sparks. The glass is intact, though there are black marks, and I have no idea what causes it. It only happens with incandescent bulbs as well, which I no longer buy.
Did you go to a magnet school?
Do you always point North?
Are people shocked by you?
Do you turn others on?