Earth's Mysteries: Rods and Skyfish

My drawing of the rod I saw in Plano, Texas, yesterday.  It is hard to
capture something on paper that you feel is vibrating, vacillating, darting
at very high speeds and also not shown in my drawing it had a
translucent appearance.  It appeared to be about 4 to 5 inches across.

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, Clint and I had driven to one of our favorite Plano restaurants, the Big Easy, to get our favorite foods (take out) for our Valentine Dinner at home.  It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and we were enjoying the sunshine. It was around 4 PM, we were sitting at a traffic light at the NE corner of Park and Alma.  Still not knowing if a flicker of light got my attention or if I just happened to look to my right. On the right is a large apartment complex and I was looking under a tree.  We were only several feet away from this tree.


Who could ever imagine this would be the day that Clint and I would see a rod.  I am looking at an moving object under the tree.  It is something I had never seen before, I exclaim to Clint, "What on earth is that thing?"  My first reaction was it was a flying stick insect but this object had no appendages.  It had a translucent appearance, was a white-like light (Clint used the term 'pearlish') and was approximately 4-5" across. 

Clint's drawing of the rod we saw yesterday.  He was trying to depict
the motion in his drawing, the very high vibrations of the object.

There are several words to describe its motion ... my first impression was it was vibrating at a very high speed, hovering about 5 feet above ground.  In an erratic motion it would dart a few feet away and then come back near its original position where we first saw it.  I rolled down the car window for a better look when Clint excitedly told me to "Close the window, it might get in the car!"  The speed at which it was darting was amazing and we were able to watch it for around 30 seconds.  (Why is we never seem to have the camera when we most need it!)


This morning I started Googling and information about rods came up.  I had remembered seeing many years ago some news footage about rods.  Jose Escamilla, one of the world's experts on rods,  claims to be the first person to film a rod in March of 1994.  They come in different shapes and sizes.  They are said to be flying insects.  If rods are of a biological nature, why has no one found the body of  a dead rod?  With sightings of rods all over the world, why have no bodies of dead rods been found on the ground? Jose Escamilla also believes rods could be one of the greatest discoveries of this century.  It is believed more people are seeing and photographing rods since the increase of video use.


There are many different shapes of rods, some referred to as snake rods and cigar shapes.  Some have a stick-like shape and some are more cylinder shaped.  Estimates of their speed have ranged from 100 mph to 6,700 mph.  Below is a video that I thought was the most informative one on the subject of rods.


I think Clint and I will always remember seeing the rod yesterday.  Isn't  it funny how most times life's surprises come so expectantly.  Who would have ever thought we would have seen a rod just sitting at a red light in Plano on a sunny warm day?


P.S. I just had to share this:  This morning we were scurrying around in the house, we had a house showing in 23 minutes.  Clint comes into the kitchen and says to me, "I caught one, hold our your hand".  I had no idea what he was talking about and he dropped this fuzzy looking object in my palm.  We both started laughing, he found this fuzzy thing in one of the bedrooms, right in the path where we walk.  We didn't have time for fun and games and making faux rods, this was exactly what Clint found in the bedroom and honest to goodness, it resembled a rod!



Clint found this bit of fuzz this morning in one of our bedrooms.  We both
found some humor in the fact it resembled the real rod we had seen the day before!