Strange Light Show on Mt. Diablo Saturday Night
The Mother Ship concealed by snow, perhaps? View of Mt. Diablo from Antioch on the morning of February 20, 2011 - by Allen Payton, from his BlackBerry
Alien Ship Landing? Fires of a Satanic Ritual on Devil’s Mountain? Nah.
By Allen Payton, Publisher
Did you see it? The strange light show on top of a cloud-enshrouded Mt. Diablo, last night between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m.?
After being alerted to the “lights in the clouds” by my friend’s grandson and his cousins, on Saturday night, February 19, I went to look and sure enough a bright light shown through the low clouds on top of Mt. Diablo. The light was changing color from red to yellow to green to blue.
I’d never seen such a sight in all the 34 years I’ve lived in Contra Costa County, both in Walnut Creek and Antioch – with views from both sides of the mountain. I thought it might be the beacon that the Veterans group lights up every December 7 to commemorate Pearl Harbor Day. But that doesn’t stay on year-round.
The boys said, “maybe it’s a flare” to which I responded, “no, it’s staying in the same place.”
I jokingly told the kids, maybe it was an alien ship landing or a Satanic ritual. It IS called “Devil’s Mountain,” after all. But I had no idea what it was.
I quickly posted on Facebook what I had witnessed. Others too posted what they’d seen, including a Realtor friend from Brentwood, who also had no idea what it was.
“Aliens” was the most popular comment.
We decided to get in the car and drive to a better viewing spot. But, by that time, the light was gone.
Then my son called who also lives in Antioch. “Did you see it?” he asked. “It was crazy!”
I tried to get in touch with the local television stations and was able to get through to KPIX Channel 5, the CBS affiliate in San Francisco.
They ruined the fun, but solved the mystery.
The lady who answered the phone in the newsroom said, “It was a transformer fire. The fire department is on their way up the mountain, right now.”
So that’s it. No aliens. No devil worshiping. Just a transformer fire. But a spectacular one, that’s for sure!
Free Saturday night entertainment. At least free to the viewers. We’ll find out how much damage was caused if and when we get a news release from the fire department.
If anyone has any video, please let us know and we’ll share it here. Thanks!
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Mt Diablo 2-20-11
My wife and I saw it last night. Called KCBS & KPIX to say that it appeared to be a transformer fire up on North Peak.