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We've all been the only witness to something happening at one point. But most of these times are so insignificant or common, we don't even realize it. A leaf falling from that specific tree, water running down your windshield, your kitten doing a flip midair in your living room. While it's beautiful and interesting, our brain just doesn't bother to give it any significance.
On the other end of the spectrum are the things all people would recognize as next to impossible to see with your own eyes. Reddit user just__Steve asked people if they've ever seen anything they instantly realized was extremely rare. While they might not have been the only people witnessing the events, they sure were entranced by what was happening before their eyes.
From celestial events to a mama whale and her calf swimming in to say hi in the middle of the ocean, users shared truly captivating things they were lucky to be observers of. Bored Panda selected the most interesting accounts of things that most of us will probably never get to see in real life. But that's what makes them rare, and for some stories, we'd like it to stay that way.
Bored Panda also reached out to Bob King (AstroBob) to learn more about the fascinating rare things we can see in the sky, so scroll down for that interview below!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I lived on a sailboat off of Mexico. One day day this huge item floated under the water. It was longer than the 44' sailboat. Then it breathed and we could tell what it was. It was a mom and baby blue whale. They kinda hung out near us, Ithink mom was explaining what a boat was ..
#2
Jul 2011
I say to my wife the international space station is going over tonight, it's a clear sky, and we agree to pop out to the country where there is less light pollution and take the kids who were 12 and 8.
We park in a field gate and the youngest boy sees it first
We watch and it goes overhead... and then splits in two.
We watch it, I am thinking has it broken up or something?, the two parts slowly move apart.
We are puzzled, I drive home and thinking any disaster would be on the news, so I watch that.
Turns out, the final shuttle mission had just been completed and we had watched shuttle Atlantis depart the ISS for the final time.
#3
My friend and I have the same birthday. One day at work, (it was a Friday), we got on an elevator. There were three other guys on it. One says to the others “big day tomorrow”. I asked what the occasion was. The guy say, it’s our birthday tomorrow. All three of us. I said crazy man, but you know tomorrow is my birthday and my friends birthday as well. We all got our DL’s out and compared and yup, 5 semi random guys on an elevator all had the same birthday. I think the odds are (1/365)^4 or 1:17.8B if the fact that it was the next day isn’t significant.
Bob King is well known in the astronomy society, and we were curious about what first ignited his passion. "Beauty ignited my passion for astronomy," Bob told Bored Panda. "I loved the clouds and stars starting at an early age. I also love hunting for things in the sky, everything from bright planets to distant quasars. Getting to know the inhabitants of our universe is very motivating."
#4
Back in the 1980s, I was on a plane and saw the space shuttle being carried piggyback on another plane.
#5
I was swimming in the Pacific when four dolphins swam up to me, danced in circles, and swam between my legs. When they got close again I noticed one of the four looked more like a baby orca, that was a bright indigo color with a very tall dorsal fin. It barely looked real! I pet them all and they swam off to play in the waves.
It was the most magical moment of my life.
We also asked what the rarest event that he observed was, and Bob shared something we could only imagine: "the multiple impacts of a shattered comet into Jupiter's atmosphere through my telescope in July 1994. That's when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 — previously sundered to pieces by Jupiter's gravity — slammed into the planet's atmosphere one fragment after the other. The impacts created a series of dark blotches easily visible in a telescope at the time."
#6
I witnessed the effects of the coronal mass ejection in March 1989. I was driving home on the west end of Prince Edward Island Canada. There was plenty of snow on the ground still. I stopped at a stop sign on a slight rise of a hill and while stopped I noticed the snow was glittering in weird very vibrant colours. This slight rise was in an area with no trees in sight. I could see the horizon 360 degrees. From the north horizon I noticed a waterfall of colour flowing across the night sky from north to south. It flowed quickly like a fast flowing river and it encompassed the entire sky from horizon to horizon. It was absolutely astonishing. It lasted hours and I watched it for quite a few of them. Even with today's CGI I have not seen anything that compares to that night.
The astronomer shared what impact this sight had on him, explaining that "watching this happen impressed on me the very real possibility of mass extinction, like what happened 65 million years ago when an asteroid impact here on Earth led to the demise of the dinosaurs. I felt witness to the catastrophic potential of nature."
#7
remember in pirates of the Caribbean, they talk about "the green flash at dusk". yeah its a real meteorological phenomenon
saw it once while out to sea in the navy.
We also wanted to know if there was anything great that Bob didn't get to see, but wishes he could've. The astronomer shared with us that there were a couple of solar eclipses that he drove a thousand miles or more to see, but they were ruined because it was cloudy. Well, we can't really bargain with Mother Nature.
#9
Huge section of cliff falling into the Gallatin River. Easily the size of a football field came down all at once.
But Bob said he's not too disappointed about those because there's always more to come. Although there were some once-in-a-lifetime events that he'll never have a chance to see, like "the monster Leonid meteor storm in 1966 (clouds!) and getting to see the magnificent comet Ikeya-Seki that same year. I was just getting into astronomy at the time and also very young, so I didn't have good knowledge and the tools and freedom to pursue the comet."
#10
Was camping in Algonquin Park up in Canada w/my ex who had camped there 9 years in a row. We are sitting by the fire and suddenly a HUGE grey wolf comes running silently between the fire and our tent - within five feet of us. We both just froze and I looked at him and said "was that...?" and he said "yup." The wolf paid zero attention to us and by the time my ex got up to get the camera, wolfie was long gone. it was quite humbling and amazing.
I also saw the bioluminescent algae in Northern Cali; it was so cool, i could see all the fish and other sea life darting around under the water leaving trails and we ran on the wet sand, making glowing footprints. Pretty magical, wish it was with someone other than the d******d i was with lol
#11
I saw Niagara Falls mostly frozen over in Feb 2015! It was eerily quiet.
#12
My grandfather took me to the hockey game where Buffalo Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk had his carotid artery cut and his jugular vein partially sliced by an errant hockey skate. He was bleeding out on the ice in front of our eyes. The Sabres trainer, who had been a US Army combat medic in Viet Nam, knew to reach in the wound and pinch off the artery to save his life.
And, of course, we've hooked you up with an event you should be looking forward to. And it's happening very soon! The astronomer shared that on Dec. 7, something called an occultation will happen — the full moon will cover up the planet Mars. "I can't wait to see the brilliant planet right alongside the moon, watch it disappear and then return to view on the other side of the moon an hour later," shared Bob.
#13
Ball of lightning, God that s**t is bizarre. I was 14 and I just saw it going down some train tracks. After it disappeared there was this loud boom and I'm not sure if it exploded or made contact with something or someone
#14
I saw a wheel come loose off a van as it attempted a right hand turn. The wheel rolled through traffic into the open bay of a tire store across the street. One in a million odds. I was on a train and nobody else in the train car saw it happen.
#15
I saw a grizzly bear and a wolf feed on the same bison carcass at the same time in Yellowstone.
#16
Fire rainbows are pretty rare, mostly just drenching a corner of a cloud in colors. One day at an airshow, my Dad and I as well as about 50 other people witnessed the most extravagant color show I've ever seen.
Fire rainbows were in half the sky it was the most beautiful natural event I've ever seen.
#17
In 1974 I was living in Delray Beach and I was hanging out at the back door looking out talking to my sister who lived in Illinois. All the sudden there was a huge ball of Fire in the Sky and I told her I thought an airplane head just exploded over the West Palm Beach airport. Later watching the news I learned that it was a meteor that had fallen into Lake Okeechobee.
#18
1996 Maldives
I am sat in the bar, alone drinking a cocktail and enjoying the view over the flat calm lagoon.
The bar juts out into the lagoon, so it it surrounded by water apart from a little bit joining it to the island.
Suddenly a small fish jumps out of the water. Then it jumps again but higher, and then a 3rd time a little higher still.
It takes the 4th jump at about 90 degrees to the other three... and then a f**k off big fish with teeth and everything jumps out of the water and catches it in the air.
Then the lagoon went back to flat calm.
#19
Flying to Reno back in the 90's. There was this awesome comet that turned out to have a bigger display than people predicted (I forget which comet it was, winter of 96 or 97).
anyway - looked out the window. Clear sky, full moon lighting up the mountains, and this big a*s comet hanging below the moon. It was awesome.
#20
Northern lights near my house. It usually doesn't happen that far south.
#21
I saw someone take off their cap and stamp on it like they do in cartoons
#22
My older cousin was teaching me and my younger cousin how to play poker. My younger cousin had four out of five cards for a royal straight flush. My older cousin told him not to draw more cards because the chances of getting a royal straight flush was pretty much impossible and was imploring him not to do it. My younger cousin did it anyways and got a f*****g royal straight flush!
We all lost our minds and laugh about it 15 years later as adults.
#23
Actually saw a tree fall in the forest onto the trail ahead of us as we were hiking in a national park.
#25
Well, several years ago there were some solar flares hitting earth. I live in southern Maine. It was dark,and my husband drove up and told me to go outside. We lay in the grass and watched a tremendously beautiful light show in the sky. It was like being on acid, which we were not. The sky was just split into beautiful patterns in pink. I have seen the aurora borealis, and this was it on steroids. Absolutely stunning. Wish we had videoed it, but cellphones did not have good cameras. Our neighbor was outside as well.
#26
I saw a fish fall out of the sky during a particularly rainy day. Hit the ground and got swept into the gutter.
#27
Halley's comet in 1986. Lots of people saw it.. But it is still rare. 11 year old me took a tent and camped out by a local dam with friends. Clear night and got a great look at it.
#28
Saw a manta ray leap out of the water and over a family playing in the water just off the coast of South Carolina. It didn’t make a sound or as much as a splash. I was pretty young but remember it as clear as yesterday. One of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. Also quite amazing how big those things are.
#29
On vacation with my parents in 1969 we saw the water flow at the American side of Niagara Falls stopped. Bone dry.and with boulders bigger than houses.
#30
Red lightning, it's rare to see from the ground since it usually goes up from the top of the storm and even then it only makes up 1/100 bolts.
What do you think ?
Ban-One 1 year ago
Was behind a BMW once. Used its blinker (turn signal) correctly. One of the rarest occurrences to witness.
Chris Jones 1 year ago
Sorry, I think you're making that one up. Or you were on drugs or something... that's never happened.
Load More Replies...
SarahBee 1 year ago
Not me, but my mother. The night of July 18, 1969, Edward Kennedy drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, a small island attached to Martha's Vineyard. A woman named Mary Jo Kopechne was in the car, and drowned. This became huge national news. My mother had a store in Edgartown (the town across from Chappequidick). She saw Ted Kennedy walking down the street "as if he didn't have a care in the world." She also "swooned" over how handsome he was. She would have been opening the store at around 9:45am. Ted Kennedy reported the accident to police at 10am. I've always felt like she witnessed a piece of history, and was probably one of the few to do so. https://www.history.com/news/ted-kennedy-chappaquiddick-incident-what-really-happened-facts
Memere 1 year ago (edited)
I remember when that happened. And when the facts finally came out, it turned out he probably could have saved Mary Jo if he had gone to the first house he came to & called for help. There were some nasty people in that family, starting with Joe Kennedy.
Load More Replies...
The Starsong Princess 1 year ago
I saw a black and white cat run in front of my car, seemingly panicked. It was followed by a skunk kind of sauntering along. I realized it was a Looney Tunes Pepe LePew cartoon come to life.
Elin Calliel 1 year ago
Durban, South Africa a few months ago one night in October, a fierce, strong wind suddenly started blowing and the air that was blowing was hot, like standing near a furnace hot. Not warm, but really hot. And it got hotter. This lasted just under an hour and every one was freaked out and frightened. There was strange lightening as well. It was a super rare meteorological, atmospheric event known as a Heat Burst.
Rocco MZ 1 year ago
Was working a catering gig on a boat in Casco Bay off the Coast of Maine. This must have been 1999 or 2000. I was told to stick close to the VP of the company hosting the event to make sure he had food, drinks, whatever. He was super cool. He told me they spent 10K on fire works and just as they were about to go off, something malfunctioned and they all shot into the water. He turned to his colleague and said, "Well we just saved 10K because I'm canceling that check." A few minutes later we noticed something odd in the sky. Out of the blue, the Northern Lights appeared. They weren't as colorful as they are way up north, but they were a sight to be seen. It was so quiet on the bay as everyone was mesmerized. Had the fireworks show been successful we would have never seen the Northern Lights. I still here and have never seen them again.
LynzCatastrophe 1 year ago
Summer 2003, the Okanagan Park Mountain Fire. I saw the lightning strike that started it. And watched for a week across the lake at a campground as the fire grew. Even took the boat to the other side one day to see it up close.
Talitha Jansen 1 year ago
I was actually in the tunnel in Paris when Diana lost her life in the accident. We didn't know at the time, we were mostly complaining about being stuck in traffic, and even when seeing the wreck we didn't know the importance.
Andy C 1 year ago
As a teen I was at summer camp and we took a trip to hike the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan. Our first day we hiked up to the top of a gorge and a huge storm set in. We watched as a funnel cloud kept trying to touch down on the next peak over while we hurriedly tried to set up our tents in high winds. The next morning I get up early for some reason and see the wall of fog advancing down the gorge. It literally filled the entire valley right to the brim. I climbed down just a bit of the side (it was crazy steep) and just watched it come towards me until I was completely engulfed. Then I climbed back up into clear air and some of the group saw me walk out of the pool of mist. We watched the now cloud filled gorge that looked like a dry ice cauldron with tendrils reaching out and evaporating while we made breakfast and broke camp. As I was telling everybody about the wall of fog and how cool it was one counselor decided to be the d**k and said “well thanks for waking US up to see it!”.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 1 year ago
I was standing at a bus stop near the cathedral in Denver, CO a couple days after a big snow storm. Everyone standing there heard a large crack and looked up. An icicle plummeted down and barely missed an old lady by inches. The icicle stuck into the dirt where a tree used to be without breaking. It was taller than the woman it missed and looked like something out of Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Na Na 1 year ago
I saw the first tower go down in 9/11. I was standing on an elevated subway platform in Brooklyn. I remember watching it in my pajamas as once I woke up & saw the tv so I ran to the subway station behind my house as I knew there was a good view? I waved at the guy working in the glass booth & he nodded & I ducked under the turnstile. I was up there with some construction men watching it & a guy at the bottom by the stairs had his car door open with the radio news. Mostly it was really black smoke & then all of a sudden the smoke turned brown & will realized the building was gone.
Jackie Walters 1 year ago
I saw ball lightning on my grandparents farm in South Dakota. I also saw a moon bow on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful and I didn't know that could happen.
similarly 1 year ago
Many many years ago, there was a volcanic eruption in Mexico. The ash cloud drifted into the Southern US. One night, not long after, it got cloudy, and there was a lot of lightning, but no rain. Just lightning. But it was all different colors, red, blue, green, yellow. Each time the lightning flashed, it was a different color. I can only assume the lightning was igniting minerals from the ash up in the clouds.
Paweł Duda 1 year ago
I saw an actual UFO in night sky. And i do not mean plane, or some weird looking secret planes. I mean UFO flying in 90 degree angles in less than 3 seconds. It spooked me the hell that night, i didnt came out past sundown for next few days.
Michele Ottone 1 year ago
Nothing really special, but I was driving on a quiet country road, no traffic, no people around, it was just me in my old VW superbeetle and that pigeon, or crow, or whatever, that was flying as it was crossing the road 20 or 25 feet above me. Nothing really remarkable, but the fact that all of a sudden the bird just stopped flying and fell off onto my car. It must have been dead before hitting my VW in the intersection between the windshield and the A pillar. My beetle got no damage, except for a bloody stain. My pants got damaged.
Mel The Axolotl 1 year ago
I think the coolest thing I've seen is a quintuple rainbow. Yep, 5 rainbows at once. They were full semi-circle ones too
Jackie Lulu 1 year ago
Last summer I saw mammatus clouds after a storm in Minnesota. Wished I could have taken a picture.
The Starsong Princess 1 year ago
I saw lightning hit the CN Tower in Toronto. I was driving into the city and there was a tremendous bang. The weirdest thing about it was my car radio spontaneously changed channels just as it hit.
Ban-One 1 year ago
Was behind a BMW once. Used its blinker (turn signal) correctly. One of the rarest occurrences to witness.
Chris Jones 1 year ago
Sorry, I think you're making that one up. Or you were on drugs or something... that's never happened.
Load More Replies... SarahBee 1 year ago
Not me, but my mother. The night of July 18, 1969, Edward Kennedy drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, a small island attached to Martha's Vineyard. A woman named Mary Jo Kopechne was in the car, and drowned. This became huge national news. My mother had a store in Edgartown (the town across from Chappequidick). She saw Ted Kennedy walking down the street "as if he didn't have a care in the world." She also "swooned" over how handsome he was. She would have been opening the store at around 9:45am. Ted Kennedy reported the accident to police at 10am. I've always felt like she witnessed a piece of history, and was probably one of the few to do so. https://www.history.com/news/ted-kennedy-chappaquiddick-incident-what-really-happened-facts
Memere 1 year ago (edited)
I remember when that happened. And when the facts finally came out, it turned out he probably could have saved Mary Jo if he had gone to the first house he came to & called for help. There were some nasty people in that family, starting with Joe Kennedy.
Load More Replies... The Starsong Princess 1 year ago
I saw a black and white cat run in front of my car, seemingly panicked. It was followed by a skunk kind of sauntering along. I realized it was a Looney Tunes Pepe LePew cartoon come to life.
Elin Calliel 1 year ago
Durban, South Africa a few months ago one night in October, a fierce, strong wind suddenly started blowing and the air that was blowing was hot, like standing near a furnace hot. Not warm, but really hot. And it got hotter. This lasted just under an hour and every one was freaked out and frightened. There was strange lightening as well. It was a super rare meteorological, atmospheric event known as a Heat Burst.
Rocco MZ 1 year ago
Was working a catering gig on a boat in Casco Bay off the Coast of Maine. This must have been 1999 or 2000. I was told to stick close to the VP of the company hosting the event to make sure he had food, drinks, whatever. He was super cool. He told me they spent 10K on fire works and just as they were about to go off, something malfunctioned and they all shot into the water. He turned to his colleague and said, "Well we just saved 10K because I'm canceling that check." A few minutes later we noticed something odd in the sky. Out of the blue, the Northern Lights appeared. They weren't as colorful as they are way up north, but they were a sight to be seen. It was so quiet on the bay as everyone was mesmerized. Had the fireworks show been successful we would have never seen the Northern Lights. I still here and have never seen them again.
LynzCatastrophe 1 year ago
Summer 2003, the Okanagan Park Mountain Fire. I saw the lightning strike that started it. And watched for a week across the lake at a campground as the fire grew. Even took the boat to the other side one day to see it up close.
Talitha Jansen 1 year ago
I was actually in the tunnel in Paris when Diana lost her life in the accident. We didn't know at the time, we were mostly complaining about being stuck in traffic, and even when seeing the wreck we didn't know the importance.
Andy C 1 year ago
As a teen I was at summer camp and we took a trip to hike the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan. Our first day we hiked up to the top of a gorge and a huge storm set in. We watched as a funnel cloud kept trying to touch down on the next peak over while we hurriedly tried to set up our tents in high winds. The next morning I get up early for some reason and see the wall of fog advancing down the gorge. It literally filled the entire valley right to the brim. I climbed down just a bit of the side (it was crazy steep) and just watched it come towards me until I was completely engulfed. Then I climbed back up into clear air and some of the group saw me walk out of the pool of mist. We watched the now cloud filled gorge that looked like a dry ice cauldron with tendrils reaching out and evaporating while we made breakfast and broke camp. As I was telling everybody about the wall of fog and how cool it was one counselor decided to be the d**k and said “well thanks for waking US up to see it!”.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 1 year ago
I was standing at a bus stop near the cathedral in Denver, CO a couple days after a big snow storm. Everyone standing there heard a large crack and looked up. An icicle plummeted down and barely missed an old lady by inches. The icicle stuck into the dirt where a tree used to be without breaking. It was taller than the woman it missed and looked like something out of Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Na Na 1 year ago
I saw the first tower go down in 9/11. I was standing on an elevated subway platform in Brooklyn. I remember watching it in my pajamas as once I woke up & saw the tv so I ran to the subway station behind my house as I knew there was a good view? I waved at the guy working in the glass booth & he nodded & I ducked under the turnstile. I was up there with some construction men watching it & a guy at the bottom by the stairs had his car door open with the radio news. Mostly it was really black smoke & then all of a sudden the smoke turned brown & will realized the building was gone.
Jackie Walters 1 year ago
I saw ball lightning on my grandparents farm in South Dakota. I also saw a moon bow on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful and I didn't know that could happen.
similarly 1 year ago
Many many years ago, there was a volcanic eruption in Mexico. The ash cloud drifted into the Southern US. One night, not long after, it got cloudy, and there was a lot of lightning, but no rain. Just lightning. But it was all different colors, red, blue, green, yellow. Each time the lightning flashed, it was a different color. I can only assume the lightning was igniting minerals from the ash up in the clouds.
Paweł Duda 1 year ago
I saw an actual UFO in night sky. And i do not mean plane, or some weird looking secret planes. I mean UFO flying in 90 degree angles in less than 3 seconds. It spooked me the hell that night, i didnt came out past sundown for next few days.
Michele Ottone 1 year ago
Nothing really special, but I was driving on a quiet country road, no traffic, no people around, it was just me in my old VW superbeetle and that pigeon, or crow, or whatever, that was flying as it was crossing the road 20 or 25 feet above me. Nothing really remarkable, but the fact that all of a sudden the bird just stopped flying and fell off onto my car. It must have been dead before hitting my VW in the intersection between the windshield and the A pillar. My beetle got no damage, except for a bloody stain. My pants got damaged.
Mel The Axolotl 1 year ago
I think the coolest thing I've seen is a quintuple rainbow. Yep, 5 rainbows at once. They were full semi-circle ones too
Jackie Lulu 1 year ago
Last summer I saw mammatus clouds after a storm in Minnesota. Wished I could have taken a picture.
The Starsong Princess 1 year ago
I saw lightning hit the CN Tower in Toronto. I was driving into the city and there was a tremendous bang. The weirdest thing about it was my car radio spontaneously changed channels just as it hit.
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