It’s been ten years now since a bewildered amateur photographer forked_at_fark posted a blurry photo on FARK.com, (a well-known satirical community website), and asked, “WTF did I just take a picture of? I thought it was a planet, but it looks really weird”.
What ensued was the hilarious 30 page “It’s a Streetlight” thread, in which the original submitter goes through the five stages of grief; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.
Here were some of the highlights from the thread:
forked_at_fark: WTF did I just take a picture of? I thought it was a planet, but it looks really weird.
mint-e: A streetlight?
forked_at_fark: No, it is not a street lamp. Not a plane either, because it has been about in the same spot in the sky for awhile.
PhysicsJunky: I’ve never seen a streetlight drastically change its position in relativity to me.
forked_at_fark: I took several pics and it was in all of them. I cleaned the lense well before starting. I was using 48x zoom.
HickPrincess: I still vote for streetlight. Some precipitation involved.
insane_idoru: Has anyone said …streetlight yet?
mint-e: I think you’re the first.
Staticdistance: Streetlight. /How were you expecting this thread to turn out?
forked_at_fark: I will go take a pic of the street light so you can see the difference.
MikeHoncho: I think it’s one of those lights you find near a street.
forked_at_fark: Here is a pic of the streetlight. I didn’t mess with the tripod this time, so it is a little blurry.
Silvara: That picture of the streetlight isn’t helping your case any.
heap: It’s your credibility. See how it’s burning out?
forked_at_fark: Could it have been a shuttle or the ISS, or perhaps a satellite?
ArbitraryConstant: If the ISS were a tube of mercury vapor on a pole on your street, then yes.
forked_at_fark: You people are impossible. I was hoping that someone could actually tell me what that was.
Maxc7001: People, I think we can all agree that it’s a streetlight, but don’t rule out the possibility that it’s … The Loch Ness Streetlight!!!
lorian69: I think you got your images reversed. The first one is a streetlight. The second one is a UFO. UFO pictures are always blurry. And shaped exactly like streetlights.
sullyman: That is hilarious. You argue that it is not a streetlight then proceed to provide a pic of the streetlight that is an exact blown up blurry duplicate of your original photo. Brilliant.
forked_at_fark: I did try to bring up the levels on the pic to show that the object is above houses.
Ahhh_Ennui: If you remember this thread when you wake up, take the same picture in the daylight. You might just see a streetlight.
forked_at_fark: I am glad you people are so entertained, but it is not a streetlight. There are no streetlights that high up in the sky.
Grandmaster Poopypants: Holy crap! I just sculpted that out of my mashed potatoes last night! It was a streetlight.
Yergela: Really there is *no* possibility it could be a streetlight?
forked_at_fark: None. It was definitely in the sky. I really thought it was a planet when I first got the camera out.
Bob Dole: Has anyone mentioned that it looks like a streetlight yet? ‘Cause it totally does.
BGates: Just when you think its over. BAM!!! It’s still a streetlight.
Combat Medici: Jeff Goldblum walks in the kitchen and finds Glenn Close slouched over the table, coffee cup in hand. He pours one for himself, sits at the table and says: “A streetlight?”
Ghostalker: Wow… Between the logic, pictures, and references to streetlights, I think this thread could prove in a court room that it IS a streetlight. Despite that the only witness says it wasn’t.
bingo the psych-o: It’s like one of those three-legged Martian war machines from “War of the Worlds”, only with one leg and a light bulb.
Combat Medici: Streetlights are strange, when you’re a stranger. Lighting looks ugly, when you’re alone. Wattage seems wicked, when you’re unwanted. Bulbs are uneven, when you’re down.
beve: Sorry, I’m rubbish at Magic Eye pictures. Is it a Dolphin?
HansBlix: Oh no. This is indeed troubling. What you may have stumbled upon, dear submitter, is a classified project between NASA and the US Military to develop a secret technology which lights streets at night.
kb7rky: I, for one, welcome our new streetlight overlords.
cgremlin: “Looked kinda like a streetlight to me, but I was pretty baked at the time”
FeFiFoFark: It is some sort of electronic photon emmiter placed approximately 22 feet above the ground on either a wood or steel structure, possibly used for illumination.
twoprong: I had Chloe reposition the satellite to your coordinates and run a flux capacitor filter to reduce image artifacts. It’s a streetlight.
Hornwrecker: God damn it, people, this isn’t something to joke about. This woman obviously does not understand what’s happening to her, her camera, or her streetlight.
forked_at_fark: Wow. I come back and my site is farked, a new cliché is born, and I am the laughing stock of the internet. But, it’s still not a farkin’ streetlight!
Quatsch: We are witnesses to cliché history in the making.
Dungalef: That’s no moon … /it’s a streetlight!
Laughing Ronin: I had to post. I want to be able to tell people that I was there.
blueswoman: As they say … you can’t predict a cliché … it just happens.
forked_at_fark: I think it was probably a quirk of the camera that gave it the tail.
RyoShin: The streetlight’s reflection off the lamp post is what gives you that tail.
heap: forked_at_fark, at this point, it really wouldn’t be any fun if you capitulated – keep fighting the good fight.
Round-Sparrow: Ok, I got my friend Jaxson and talked to him, and based on the detailed description I conveyed to him on the cellular phone he said it very likely that we spotted the same object at 2:40am here in austin texas usa. I will report back as soon as he confirms the picture.
forked_at_fark: It’s bedtime here. Will post a pic of the neighborhood tomorrow.
Any Pie Left: Whatever it is, the whole city of Boston has gone on maximum Red Terror Alert, thanks a lot.
Sensual Mango: This thread is a streetlight manifesto.
Bungalo: Guys, I think I’m gonna be probed tonight. I just saw a streetlight from my balcony.
Oddly63: It’s an African swallow with a coconut suspended on a bit of rope. They’re migratory, y’know.
pjbreeze: Obviously it’s a UFO camouflaged to look exactly like a streetlight, or a streetlight pretending to be a UFO. But what about the children. Has anyone thought about the children?
mishmashmusic: It’s either the big dipper, or the little dipper. Hard to tell with that streetlight in the way.
KickedOutOfHell: This thread has been the best thing since sex with sliced bread.
HansensDisease: Run you fool! Run!
joe8122: Just called NASA, all is ok. They just had a streetlight shaped weather-balloon in the area.
crinz83: My Grandpa used to talk about flying streetlamps and I laughed about it. I’m not laughing any more. I’m scared.
forked_at_fark: Good Morning, farkers. So, here is your update. This was taken from about the same spot on the balcony.
Gaboo:
wwwavenger: forked_at_fark, seeing as there’s a streetlight at exactly the right angle behind some trees in the last photo you posted, this is obviously the object. If it appeared in the sky it may have been an internal reflection inside your camera lens.
germ78: So I guess that vertically oriented pole on the left side of the picture isn’t a streetlight either.
forked_at_fark: Here is what the streetlights around here look like.
jonnoj77: Someone needs to make a “I want to Believe” T-shirt with the streetlamp.
This thread is now closed to new comments.
