Mr. Toy's Mental Notes

In the 1960s, when I was a kid, we lived along Hatton Canyon behind Carmel High School. One night when I was about 7 I went to bed, and a few minutes later I saw a blue ball of light form on the curtains. It faded after a couple of seconds, then came back several seconds later. I thought my dad was playing with a flashlight from the hall, so I said "Daddy...." The next thing I knew the room was filled with a blinding flash of blue light that scared me out of my skin, and out of bed to my parents. Meanwhile my parents were in the family room. My dad was at his desk facing the window. My mom said she saw my dad's jaw drop and he began staring out the window in silence. When she got up to see what he was looking at she saw that same blinding flash that frightened me. We learned the next day that there was a PG&E substation in the canyon partially concealed from our view. Evidently some equipment failure caused massive arcing resulting in the flashes of blue light. Now...

In my January 31st entry I discussed hearing occasional loud explosions around Seaside which leave no trace that they ever occurred. There was another one last night, also around 1:30AM. The police scanner indicated that it was somewhere in the eastern portion of Monterey in the vicinity of Casanova Street. I still suspect pranksters. If anyone else is hearing these things, please leave a comment below. With enough eyes and ears maybe we can help solve the mystery.

At about 1:30 AM on Friday night, er, Saturday Morning, I was working at my computer when BANG! I was jolted out of my seat by an explosion. It sounded like a building blew up. Scared the crap out of me! It wasn't the first time I've heard such explosions, but it was by far the loudest and closest. Now, you're thinking, this has happened before???? Things are just blowing up???? Why isn't this in the newspaper???? To answer these in order: 1. Yes. 2. Apparently not. 3. Because these explosions leave no trace that they ever occurred. I've been hearing these loud explosions in Seaside for several years now. They are few and far between, about once or twice a year, but they're as loud as artillery fire. They almost always occur late at night, and they seem to be happening all over the city. Sometimes they sound very close, as the one did last night. Other times they sound like they're on the opposite side of town. After hearing this one I turned on the p...