For approximately one minute a series of bright flashes were visible across the South West Florida communities of Cape Coral, Sanibel, and Ft Myers. Witnesses reported electrical anomalies in their homes and some were even unable to start their car. Following the event, 5,000 homes on Sanibel Island were without power. Currently there is no official explanation for the flashes, though some speculate that the lights may have been caused by failing substations. However this theory would not explain the inability to start cars or the strange sensations felt by witnesses. Watch the flashes for yourself and let me know what you think they are in the comments:

Mysterious lights in the sky over Southwest Cape 21st Nov 2009 [via IQXS]
Bright flashes of light in the sky

©2001 David Barkasy & Loren Coleman

Sometimes referred to as the Bigfoot of the South, the Skunk or Swamp Ape is a hominid that is said to inhabit the South Eastern United Sates. The skunk ape gets its name from the horrible odor that seems to accompany most sightings of the creature. They are described by witnesses as having brown to blackish fur and stand on average about 6 feet tall, though some witnesses have reported specimen as tall as 10 feet. The skunk ape most walks upright on its hind legs, but some reports indicate that swamp apes will sometimes drop to all fours to run. While there have been skunk ape sightings throughout the swamps of the South East, a large majority of sightings occur in the Florida Everglades.

Skunk ape sightings in the state of Florida date back as far as 1818 when residents spotted the creature in Apalachicola. Sightings continue to this day with the most recent Florida sighting being reported in the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization database occurring in March of this year. The incredible consistency in the descriptions that accompany sightings in Florida have led researchers to believe that if an unknown primate species exists, it most likely does so in the swamps of Florida. Taking up most of the southern tip of Florida, the Everglades provide almost 4 million acres of sparsely populated swamp for the skunk ape to call home without ever having to see a single human. Adding to the mystery, the local Seminole and Miccosukee Indian tribes that have lived in the Everglades for centuries are very reluctant to speak to outsiders about the creature.

Skunk Ape @ Wikipedia

I recently came across an interesting report about the recent power outage that affected many South Floridians (you may have heard about it on CNN). Florida Power and Light, the local power company, has blamed the outage on human error, but this post tells a slightly different tale. Apparently callers to an unnamed internet radio show reported numerous UFOs over the general area of the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant and across the East coast of Florida. Both cylindrical and triangle shaped UFOs were reported. Power outages and fluctuations have often been linked to UFO sightings including the famous incident at Malmstrom Air Force Base in 1967. During that incident, a number of nuclear missiles mysteriously malfunctioned while a UFO hovered overhead. To this day, there is no explanation of why or how the weapons became disabled. Is the incident at Turkey Point, which left over half a million Floridians without power a repeat of what happened at Malmstrom Air Force Base 40 years ago? Only time will tell.

UFOs Possibly Related to South Florida Power Outage