The Naga Fireballs The Naga Fireballs The "Queen of the Nagas" photograph, as sold throughout Nong Khai (Photo credit: U.S. Navy) During the full moon every October along the Mekong river between Thailand and Laos, an extraordinary spectacle takes place. A great river serpent winds its way through the darkness, spitting glowing fireballs hundreds of feet into the air. The display is greeted with loud cheers from tens of thousands of spectators cramming the riverbanks. This is the Phayanak festival: The welcoming of Lord Buddha as he returns to Earth at the end of the Buddhist Lent, by the great river serpent, the Naga. According to mythology, the Naga is a gigantic hooded snake. It's prominent throughout Indian and southeastern Asian cultures. It's often believed to be an actual physical animal, but with a supernatural spirit, and many people in the region honestly believe that the animal does live in the local waters. One Naga stands out: The Phayanak, or King of the Nagas. Its role varies somewhat among the different cultures, but generally, the Nagas are benevolent servants of Buddha.

On the 15th day of the 11th Lunar month, which is a full moon that usually falls in October, the Phayanak festival is held. Its center is the Nong Khai province of Thailand, and ground zero, where the fireballs ascend from the river, is the district of Phon Phisai, a small village on the bank of the Mekong river. Evidence for the existence of the Naga is frequently put forward. There's a photograph widely sold throughout Nong Khai purporting to show a group of about 30 American soldiers holding what appears to be some sort of giant sea serpent. The photograph is titled Nang Phayanak, and the caption reads: The Queen of the Nagas seized by American Army at Mekong River, Laos Military Base on June 27, 1973, with the length of 7.30 meters. In addition, a Buddhist temple in Nong Khai city, Wat Pho Luang Phra Sai, exhibits some objects that it says are fossilized bones from a Naga, such as a tooth and an egg. But it is the fireballs themselves that have attracted all the attention, both skeptical and believing.

You can see YouTube videos of the fireballs taken during the festival. They are orange specks that streak skyward from way out over the water, rising to a height that's hard to judge but appears to be at least several hundred feet over the course of about three seconds before fading out. As each appears, the crowd reacts like crowds everywhere watching a fireworks show, with appropriate "oohs" and "aahs". There is both good news and bad news for those who wish to attend the Phayanak festival to witness the fireballs. The good news is you are absolutely guaranteed to actually see them with your own eyes. The bad news is that what you'll see are simple fireworks, shot skyward as a tourist attraction. But even though today's fireballs are a harmless festival show, there is no basis for establishing that this is the source of all such fireballs throughout history. Anecdotes persist that the fireballs are still visible at other times of the year and at other locations along the river, and many people say that reports of sightings date back centuries.

However this belief that the Naga Fireballs are ancient seems to be merely a locally held understanding; it does not appear to be reliably documented prior to the middle of the 20th century. In 2002, a television network called iTV sent a crew of investigative journalists to find the source of the fireballs during the festival. On the program titled Code Cracking, the team took a boat and snuck quietly up the Laotian side of the river, directly across from Phon Phisai, during the festival. They filmed Laotian soldiers firing tracer rounds into the air, and every time they did, the crowds on the Thailand side of the river reacted with their "oohs" and "aahs". The broadcast was widely perceived as an attack on a sacred belief. Lawsuits and boycotts were threatened against iTV. But, as the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity. In 2001, an estimated 150,000 people attended the festival. Following the iTV report, and a movie from that same year called Mekong Full Moon Party, attendance rose to 400,000 the following year.

This brought in 50 to 100 million baht, or as much as 2.5 million dollars, a huge boost for the tiny local economy. The festival has expanded from one day to four days, and the generous Nagas have thoughtfully expanded their fireball performance, now welcoming Buddha on two consecutive nights instead of just one. The wooden seating was replaced with concrete grandstands all up and down Phon Phisai's riverfront in 2003, and the local provincial authorities and the Tourism Authority of Thailand now promote the festival relentlessly. There's even a sign, in English, on the main highway: Welcome to Nong Khai Province on the Bank of the Mekong River - Home of the Naga Dancing Fire Balls. The theory that a few palms might be greased to get a few Laotian soldiers to fire off a few rounds should surprise no one. However, not many people in the west watch Thai television or movies. Virtually any article you read about the Naga Fireballs offers the same "scientific" explanation, which in fact is not very scientific at all. It's just the only one any of these authors have heard, so they go ahead and repeat it.

This explanation is familiar to UFO researchers: Swamp gas. It's usually given a scientific-sounding description, having to do with the decomposition of organic matter in the riverbed. This decomposition produces methane gas, which bubbles to the surface. It's a fact that methane can spontaneously ignite when it comes into contact with oxygen (given certain conditions), and the story goes that such bubbles appear, burst into flame, and go shooting up into the sky. However, there are two fatal flaws with this hypothesis. First, methane can only burn in an oxygen environment within a specific range of concentrations. It can only spontaneously ignite within an even narrower range, and requires the presence of phosphine combined with phosphorous tetrahydride. The needed proportions of these gases are unlikely to be found in nature. Second, in laboratory experiments designed to replicate the conditions needed for spontaneous ignition, the combination of oxgyen, methane, and phosphorus compounds burns bright bluish-green with a sudden pop, producing black smoke. Under no conditions does it burn slowly, or red, or rise up in the air as a fireball. So even if the improbable conditions did exist in the Mekong river, the resulting display would not look like the Naga Fireballs.

Nong Khai's main proponent of this natural explanation is a pediatrician, Dr. Manos Kanoksilp, who has made the study of the Naga Fireballs his passion. He believes that the precise conditions require an alignment of the sun, moon, and Earth. He also believes that this particular part of the river is especially high in oxygen (it isn't) and that it's sufficient to spontaneously combust the methane because the sun heats the water to a hot enough temperature (it doesn't). Whatever is shooting up into the air, you've got to figure that it has some solid mass. When you watch the videos you can see that the red-orange lights go up very fast, consistent with fireworks, small rockets, or even tracer rounds (very much like a 12-gauge shotgun tracer round, which is comparatively slow). How is it possible for any flaming object to move that quickly through the air without blowing out? That's not a problem for something like a firework or a tracer round, things designed for exactly such a purpose. But it's a major problem for a burning ball of gas, which has an insufficient mass to drag ratio to move that quickly through the air.

Even a pyrotechnic explosion that billows into the sky rises at a slow rate consistent with hot air rising through cold air; it does not and cannot streak like a bullet at hundreds of feet per second. For the Naga Fireballs to move as they do, they must enclose an object significantly more massive than the air they're moving through. This necessarily means they're heavier than air. And since they're rocketing skyward, this means they must have been physically propelled. So, from what we can observe, it's actually more plausible that a river dragon is spitting flaming balls of dragon-mucus skyward, than it is for the Naga Fireballs to be naturally produced burning gas bubbles. Would you hear fireworks or gunfire? I doubt it. The river there is 700 meters wide, or about a half a mile. It takes sound 2.5 seconds to travel that far, by which time all 400,000 spectators are screaming. Combined with the loud music and amplified announcers, you're not hearing anything that someone's not shouting directly into your ear. And then there's that photograph of the American soldiers holding the Naga at a secret military base.

With a little elbow grease, it's possible to track down the actual source of the photograph. As it happens, this picture was first published in a 1996 issue of Ocean Realm , by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientist at UC San Diego who was one of three called by the US Navy to come and examine a 23-foot oarfish found by a group of SEAL instructors on a beach run at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, CA. The account was later written up in the April, 1997 issue of All Hands, the magazine of the US Navy. The photograph was taken by Lt. DeeDee Van Wormer. This particular oarfish was pretty beat up, and appeared to the Scripps scientists to have met its fate at the business end of a boat propeller. While sightings of the oarfish are relatively rare, their distribution in salt water is worldwide. Fresh water, like the Mekong river in Laos? Not so much. A Google image search will turn up many such photographs of groups of people holding great long specimens.

No mystery here, and no giant sea serpent or military conspiracy needed to explain the photograph on sale in Thailand; and also, not evidence of a river serpent. The lesson to learn from the Naga Fireballs is that, while the historical folk explanation of such stories is almost certainly fictional, the popular "scientific" explanation reported in mass media is often just as wrong. We saw the same thing when we discussed the popular waterspout explanation for frogs and fish falling from the sky; and we see it again here with swamp gas offered as the cause of the Naga Fireballs. When you hear a report of a supernatural phenomenon, the reporter often offers a scientific explanation. It may be right in many cases, but whether it is or not, you should always be skeptical. Cite this article: Dunning, B. "The Naga Fireballs." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, 8 Dec 2009. Web. 19 Jan 2017. < References & Further Reading Carstens, J. "Seals Find Serpent of the Sea." All Hands: Magazine of the US Navy. 15 Apr.

1997, Volume 1, Number 960: 20-21. Cohen, Eric. "The Postmodernization of a Mythical Event: Naga Fireballs on the Mekong River." Tourism, Culture & Communication. 1 Jan. 2007, Volume 7: 169-181. Dow, J. "Mekong Full Moon Party (Movie Review)." Heroic Cinema. YesAsia.com, 18 Jan. 2003. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. < Gagliardi, Jason. "Behind the Secret of the Naga's Fire." Time.com. Time Inc., 17 Nov. 2002. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. < Gampell, J. "Personal Journey: Great Balls of Fire - A Supernatural Serpent Thrills Thailand." Asian Wall Street Journal. 9 Nov. 2002, Volume 6, Number 12: 16. Smith, William Leo. "Oarfish: A Glimpse into the World of the Abyss." Ocean Realm. 13 Nov.

1996, Volume 4, Number 2: 28-29. Copyright ©2017 Skeptoid Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rights and reuse information The Naga fireballs | 5 natural events that science can't explain | MNN - Mother Nature Network 5 natural events that science can't explain By: Jessica Knoblauch on March 15, 2010, 11:12 a.m. 3 of 7 The Naga fireballs Each year, hundreds of fireballs spontaneously explode out of Thailand’s Mekong River. Known as “bung fai paya nak” or “Naga fireballs,” they have appeared on the “late autumn night of the full moon at the end of the Buddhist Lent for as long as anyone can remember,” according to a 2002 Time magazine story about the phenomenon. Some believe the balls come from the breath of Naga, a mythical serpent that haunts the river.

(Locals use old grainy pictures and postcards of the mythical beast to prove its presence to tourists.) Others believe the fireballs are actually pockets of methane bubbling up from the river, but many locals remain convinced that the fireballs are of a supernatural origin. MORE MNN Earth Matters GALLERIES 7 Awesome Acts of Nature (That Science Can't Explain) 7 Awesome Acts of Nature (That Science Can't Explain) NFL Reviewing Touchdown Celebration Penalty Rules We may look down on all the primitive peoples who are confused by lightning and think thunder is the voice of the gods, but the truth is to this very day there are natural phenomena that our scientists still don't being to understand. We're talking about events that are witnessed by thousands, photographed, well-documented and yet are utterly baffling. Such as... Advertisement 7 Naga Fireballs What would you do if you were walking along a tropical river at night and it suddenly began burping up egg-sized balls of red light? It happens every year in October along the Mekong river (the same one featured in classic Vietnam movies like Rambo II and the flashbacks from Rambo III).

The phenomenon is known as the Naga Fireballs, and experts agree that it is "just weird as shit." What happens is this: starting under water, tens to thousands of glowing red lights are seen rising out from the bottom of the river, then lifting hundreds of feet into the sky before disappearing. It literally appears that the river is spitting out flaming M&Ms. They have never harmed anyone, and don't even seem to touch anything let alone set anything on fire. However, both of those facts were probably unavailable to dull the ferocity of the pant-crapping that took place when the event was first witnessed. The Naga Fireballs are viewed by thousands of people every year, and a healthy number of videos documenting the phenomenon are hosted on YouTube, which is the most reliable scientific journal on the Internet next to Wikipedia. So, What do the Smart People Think is Happening? The number one theory suggests that fermented sediment in the river , things such as decomposing remains and animal waste, release bubbles of self-immolating gas that rise to the surface and combust. That's right, the best explanation science has come up with for the Naga fireballs is essentially that it eats too much meat.

Suspiciously absent from this theory is a reason why the phenomenon occurs around the same time every year. Unless the Mekong eats a regimented diet of Activia yogurt, those meat eaters among us have to be somewhat suspicious of such a regular rate of expulsion. The locals are simply unwilling to accept any scientific explanation for the Naga Fireballs, preferring to preserve a sense of mysticism. Scooby-Doo could roll up in the Mystery Machine and uncover a giant underwater cannon shooting phosphorous balls into the sky and he'd probably be told to fuck off. Also, they would probably eat him . 6 Star Jelly It is no surprise that shit falls from the sky during a meteor shower (that's pretty much 90 percent of the definition). But sometimes what rockets to the Earth is not what you would expect. Rather than a big hunk of stone or metal, sometimes people find what looks like a jellyfish that splattered down from outer space. There have been reports for over a century of people finding what the Germans call sternenrotz (which literally means "star snot") in conjunction with meteors falling from the sky.

It's usually clear or yellowish, smells awful and disintegrates after being handled, much like one of our erections. Despite being described thoroughly in numerous newspaper and police accounts for over 150 years, no one has ever really been able to study it in depth because the substance falls apart too quickly to allow for a sample to be obtained. Case in point: in 1950, four Philadelphia police men found a six-foot lump of star jelly outside of town. When they tried to pick it up, it dissolved into "odorless, sticky scum." No doubt they all took a shower afterward and couldn't look each other in the eye ever again. So, What do the Smart People Think is Happening? Most scientists are more than happy to say witnesses are full of shit and leave it at that, but some at least try to explain it. The glob found by the policemen in Philadelphia was a half mile away from the Philadelphia gas works, so some assert that it was a discharge of some sort (which is simultaneously plausible and just as unlikely as space boogers). Other theories have included bird vomit, frog spawn vomited up by other animals and generally a bunch of other vomit-related ideas.

The goo could also be mundane types of algae slimes that people just happen to notice around the time of a meteor fall. By far the most ball-crushingly awesome theory claims that star jelly is the remains of atmospheric beasts , mythical creatures that some claim float around in the atmosphere. Why we're not constantly scraping such creatures from the windshields of airliners is not explained. ↓ Continue Reading Below 5 Blue Jets and Red Sprites While they may sound like two squads of a gay relay team, blue jets and red sprites are actually the names of what occurs above the clouds during a lightning storm. Only visible from space or from an airplane (or from a space airplane), these things look like the exhaust ports on a Megazord and we are totally putting them on our Christmas list. Sprites and jets are always associated with lightning storms. Sprites are red most of the time and happen as high as 50 miles off the surface of the ground, while jets shoot directly out of the tops of storm clouds, sometimes traveling as far as 30 miles up into the Ionosphere. So, What Do the Smart People Think is Happening?

Top minds are pretty sure the phenomena has something to do with whatever is causing the lightning we see in every storm, but beyond that, they don't seem to know. They know the sprites kick off as a result of a lightning strike on the ground, but the jets seem to fire whenever they goddamn please. Jets also sometimes come in the form of the imaginatively named gigantic jets, which can shoot up as high as 43 miles above the cloud cover and look like something you uppercut your opponent into after a spirited game of Mortal Kombat. For now, science is content to shrug its shoulders and see what else is on The Discovery Channel. 4 Earthquake Lights As far back as 373 BC people have claimed to see weird lights in the sky during earthquakes, and sometimes for minutes before the shaking actually starts, as seen in this video: They seem to occur in China quite often, probably because the government only permits people to see a rainbow if they are moments from cataclysmic natural destruction. The lights were also witnessed during the recent earthquakes in Peru. "Hey, check out the rainbow!" "Yea, that's cool.

The garage just fell on grandpa, by the way." So, What Do the Smart People Think is Happening? There are a number of theories surrounding earthquake lights, but unfortunately none of them are very conclusive. One suggests that the imminent earthquake releases gases that are electrically charged in the air, while another says that the tectonic stress fucks with the magnetic field of the earth and creates an aurora. Yet another claims that the ground beneath contains a lot of quartz, which sparks up like Blanka from Street Fighter 2 when shaken by a tremor. Not one of these theories has a shred of evidence to back it up, though, so really we would accept any theory as long as we can tie it to some kind of fighting game reference. ↓ Continue Reading Below For centuries, people have reported seeing animals falling from the sky in places all over the world. Frogs and toads rained off and on for an extended time in Japan , worms rocketed to the earth in Louisiana , fish fell in Singapore and Rhode Island and in California, what they were pretty sure was at one time a cow exploded into the Earth like a giant post-Fuddruckers dump from the ass of Paul Bunyan. Good milk comes from happy cows.

This is where fear milk comes from. So, What Do the Smart People Think is Happening? The prevailing theory (and the likely cause of most of these events) is that during particularly shitty weather, waterspouts and tornadoes will scoop up animals, spin them around for a while and then toss them out miles away. This seems like a reasonable explanation, but it fails to tell us why in most cases, there is only a single species represented in the rain. If a waterspout sucked up a lake, it should rain frogs, snakes and Jason Voorhees, not just fish. Also, this theory has never been successfully proven or replicated; it simply seems to have been accepted as the least retarded one. ↓ Continue Reading Below Naga Fireballs: Swamp Gas or Divine Breath? | Mysterious Universe Naga Fireballs: Swamp Gas or Divine Breath? When science and spirituality battle it out, sometimes there’s no clear winner. In the case of most Fortean or paranormal subjects, the scientific establishment simply labels their opponents with the blanket term ‘pseudo-science’, and the counter argument is usually that critics are closed minded.

It’s not always the case, but often these two pillars of popular culture mix like oil and water, or perhaps…gas and water. Sometimes the debate goes beyond polite discourse too, and in such cases believers in whatever phenomena can get outright nasty. Such was the case in 2002, following the airing of a Thailand TV show titled Code Crackers, wherein a team was sent by the Thai TV network iTV to investigate the famed Naga Fireballs. A little background first. The Naga Fireballs are much as their name suggests. They are the focal point of a phenomenon that occurs in late October every year, on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. They are little fireballs that silently rise up out of the river, burning red in colour. They shoot up from the river’s surface quickly, to about a hundred meters, where they silently burn out and disappear. They can occur in the thousands, though some years have recorded as few as 30. The fireballs are widely known in Asia and are revered in Thailand as a part of the observance of the Buddhist (Thai/Laos) Lenten season. Specifically Wan Ok Phansa, which is the final day of the celebration.

In modern day Thailand, the celebration involves huge gatherings of people on the bank of the river, all to watch the fireballs rise and disappear in the heavens. The celebration commemorates the return of Buddha in Naga form, and it is widely believed by Buddhists and others that the Naga Fireballs are actually the breath of a giant sea serpent, a Naga or Phaya Naga, that lives in the riverbed and awakes every year at this time to honour the conclusion of vassa (The three month long season of Rain Retreat or Buddhist Lent). Naga guarding Anouvong’s Wat Sisaket in Vientiane (Photo credit: Adam Carr via Wikipedia) The Naga, as history buffs and perhaps gamers will find familiar, is the name of a mythical creature, said to be a giant sea serpent or snake (or sometimes a dragon). They have some political significance, as Laotian culture considers them to be protectors of Vientaine (the capital of Laos) and by extension, Laos State, but they are revered by most in the Makong river area of Thailand as powerful magical beasts. Most in the skeptical camp believe that a species of oarfish is responsible for this myth.

This spiritual significance is what, ultimately, led to the unrest among revelers in 2002. The show, Code Crackers, offered a not so traditional view of the Naga Fireballs. Their expose suggested that the fireballs are not the breath of the great Naga, but are in fact tracer rounds being fired into the sky by Laos guards on the opposite shore of the nearly half-mile-wide river. This offended the spiritual beliefs of some several hundreds of thousands of believers, and protests and lawsuits ensued. The TV show was followed by a feature length movie titled Mekhong Full Moon Party, which portrayed the phenomenon and the celebration in a less than flattering light as well. The notion that the fireballs are not what the devout believe they are isn’t, as you may imagine, without its merits, however. Scientists, according to many who’ve blogged on this topic, readily attribute the phenomenon to that old stand-by explanation for all things weird and unexplained – Swamp Gas. Though, in this case, they may be right. To anyone unfamiliar with UFO phenomenon and its culture, the swamp gas explanation says that in marshy areas, organic material decomposes underground producing deposits of methane.

Said methane eventually finds its way to the surface, and upon coming into contact with oxygen, it spontaneously ignites providing a brief little light show for anyone who happens to be nearby. Fairly simple chemistry actually. Naga Lights (Image Credit: Tourism Authority of Thailand) According to Brian Dunning of Skeptoid, one Dr. Manos Kanoksilp, a pediatrician, theorises that the Naga Fireball phenomenon requires a precise alignment of the sun, moon and Earth, and that the Makong River provides a perfect storm of conditions, regarding methane and oxygen levels combined with ambient temperature, to bring about the fireballs every year at the same time. [1] The Thai Science Ministry apparently concurs, citing an experiment headed by the ministry’s Deputy Secretary, Saksit Tridech. Tridech and his team used equipment to measure conditions during the celebration and apparently determined that the fireballs were the result of built up phosphine gas. [2] Phosphine is manufactured for industrial purposes through a defined chemical process, and it’s not clear how it is generated in nature. Though most believe, similar to methane, it is the product of bacterial reduction of phosphate in decomposing organic material.

Brian Dunning disagrees with the swamp gas theory, however. The swamp gas process described above, based on methane gas, requires highly specific conditions. The right concentrations of methane and oxygen and certain environmental conditions are necessary for spontaneous combustion. Dunning believes it’s unlikely that those conditions can be found consistently on the same date at the same place, year after year. It may come as no surprise that he favours the Laotian guards firing into the sky theory, and suggests that they may be paid to do so by local officials. Phosphine however, is a touch more volatile than methane, and could account for the Naga Fireball phenomenon, but it too would require special circumstances to be consistent over time. Naga Fireballs (Image Credit: Tourism Authority of Thailand) So we’re left with three apparent possibilities: a giant magical serpent breathing tiny bubbles of fire, swamp gas, or a sort of unintentional hoax (or perhaps intentional). One of the problems with the above theorising, is that there isn’t a lot known about the fireball phenomenon’s history. Locals claim that it’s been going on for centuries, but there is no record of it.

There are whisperings of the Mekong Lights (as they’re sometimes called) being mentioned in sacred writings at the Wat Luang Buddhist temple in Phon Phasai, Wat Pho Luang Phra Sai, and of written accounts of the lights from British forces in the 1960’s but there’s nothing solid to cite. The festival itself is eons old, but it’s not clear if the fireballs have always been associated with it. As such it’s not certain if the Naga Fireballs really do happen every year at the same time. Today, and as a result of a huge boom in Naga Fireball related tourism in the area, the festival is overrun by fireworks, which completely negates anyone actually seeing the fireballs in person, unless one happens to erupt right in front of them. Nonetheless, there are many videos of the fireballs on YouTube, so ultimately, you can make up your own mind. [1] Brian Dunning. The Naga Fireballs: What is the source of the glowing balls that rise from the Mekong river each October? December 2009 Skeptoid.com [2] Napanisa Kaewmorakot.

Science Ministry Solves Naga Fireballs Mystery. The Nation (Nong Khai) Geology not serpent behind Naga's Fireballs: scientists - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Geology not serpent behind Naga's Fireballs: scientists Posted October 09, 2003 21:16:00 Map: Thailand A famous fireball phenomenon that occurs every year in the Mekong River in Thailand's north is probably naturally occurring and not faked, scientists say on the eve of this year's event. On the first full-moon of the 11th lunar month, which coincides with the end of Buddhist Lent, hundreds of red, pink and orange fireballs the size of eggs soar up into the sky from the Mekong, drawing huge crowds of spectators. 'Naga's Fireballs', which has been reported by locals for generations, has long mystified scientists. The Ministry of Science and Technology ordered a probe into the phenomenon earlier this year after claims by a television program that the fireballs were actually caused by tracer bullets fired by Laotian soldiers across the border, causing an uproar among locals.

Researchers led by Saksit Tridech, the deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, say that the team has studied soil and water samples from the area where the fireballs appear to originate. They have found monsoonal floods in the area triggered a complex geological process. "When the complex biogeochemical process occurs at the appropriate time, it could cause several unusual phenomena," Mr Saksit said. "The primary initial finding is that chemical and physical factors in the river's environment and in the area are likely to be the main cause of a natural incident." However, he says another year of research would be necessary to prove the theory. Legend says the flames come from a mythical Naga, or serpent, living in the Mekong river. The event has become a major tourist attraction and revenue-raiser for the region near the best viewing spot, in Phon Phisai district. Last year more than 100,000 tourists flocked to witness the event, and several hotels in the area say they are booked out for Friday's event.

-- AFP Naga Fireballs | Elixir Of Knowledge Naga Fireballs Naga Fireballs – Unexplained Phenomena The Naga fireballs also known as the Mekong lights and ` bung fai paya nak ’ by the locals is a phenomenon with an unconfirmed source stating it to be often seen in Mekong river in Thailand. They are one of the well documented though unexplained phenomena in the world where every year on the night of Wan Awk Pansa during October, many spectators assemble on the banks of the river Mekong in Thailand and Laos to witness the legendary Naga breathe forth balls of fire from the river and many have watched this scene every year during their entire life. The balls seem to be reddish in colour with diverse sizes ranging from small sparkles up to the size of basketballs which rises quickly to a couple of hundred metres before disappearing while the number of fireballs which have been reported varies between tens and thousands on each night. It is believed that the legendary Naga breathes forth balls of fire from the river which slowly and silently rises from the river before ascending high into the air where they tend to disappear in the sky.

This spectacular scene is seen at the time of the festive night which is believed to be of natural origin rather than an organized display by anyone. Naga Fireballs – Least Known/Most Spectacular Phenomena According to Manas Kanaksin, a doctor from Nong Khai, is of the opinion that fermenting sediment at the bottom of the river could cause pockets of methane gas formation and the position of the earth in relation to the sun during those days could cause them to rise, spontaneously igniting in the presence of ionized oxygen. The lights have been replicated by Italian chemist Luigi Garlaschelli and Paolo Boschetti who have added chemicals to the gases, formed by rotting compounds. Other researchers have dismissed this theory stating that the bottom of the rocky river does not have much sediment and the water’s turbulence could break up any such methane bubbles before reaching the water’s surface. The Naga fireballs of the Mekong seem to be one of the least known and the most spectacular of phenomena ever seen. Mythology – Naga a Gigantic Hooded Snake The Naga fireballs always tend to appear on the night of the full moon in October or November which indicates the end of the Buddhist rainy season retreat.

These lights have been named after the Naga with a belief that it is the mythical serpent inhabiting the waters that shoots the fireballs into the air. According to mythology , it is believed that Naga is a gigantic hooded snake which is very prominent in Indian and south-eastern Asian cultures and is said to be an actual physical animal though with a supernatural spirit. The people in that region also believe that the animal lives in the local waters but it is the fireball which has drawn the attention of the people who tend to be both sceptical and believing. However, the ancient Naga fireballs phenomena seem to be a locally held understanding and do not seem to be reliably documented before the middle of the 20th century. There are several theories regarding the origin of the light but the same has not been explained till date. Posted by Naga Fireball Festival in Nong Khai: Are they real or just a hoax? | The Trading Travelers 1 Comment After our big Honda Forza purchase , we were looking for any excuse to hit the open road. We had recently seen a flyer for the Naga Fireball Festival in Nong Khai and figured this was our opportunity for a road trip.

We loaded up our belongings into 1 backpack (we are learning to pack lightly) and fit it neatly into the storage beneath our seat. We hit the road with not much of a plan, nor a place to sleep for the weekend… The Search for a Hotel in Nong Khai Nong Khai is located along the Thai-Laos border right on the Mekong River, about 175 kilos north of Khon Kaen. We left early on Friday morning, figuring this would allow us time to find a guest house or hotel and then join in the festivities. Well, after arriving in Nong Khai and talking to some of the locals, we found out the festival actually takes place in Phon Phisai, about 45 kilos east of Nong Khai. We hit the road again and headed to Phon Phisai. We stopped at no less than twenty guest houses and continued to get the same response, “all of Phon Phisai is full”. Since the main event wasn’t taking place until Saturday, we figured we would go back to Nong Khai and try to find a room there.

We were starting to worry we might not find a room in Nong Khai either, but luck was on our side. I ran into a swanky looking hotel right on the Mekong and the English-speaking woman told me someone just cancelled 10 minutes ago and they had 1 room left for 800 THB. WE’LL TAKE IT! By this time it was almost 5 pm and we were exhausted! We decided to shower up and grab our iPads to research more about the festival. While sitting on the patio of the hotel looking out over the Mekong, we got to talking to the family that owned the hotel. Apparently the person that just cancelled their room right before we arrived happened to be the Governor of Loei’s wife. Add it to the list of random things to happen to us in Thailand… Saturday came and we were becoming more and more convinced to skip out on Phon Phisai and just hang out in Nong Khai.

We were told the same thing over and over “you’ll never even make it to Phon Phisai because of the traffic”, “it will take you 4 hours there and 5 hours back”, and “I’ve been going for 9 years and I’ve still never seen a fireball”. It was sounding more like a headache than anything but just when it was almost too late, Charlie and his determination to prove everyone wrong prevailed and we set off for Phon Phisai. Its times like these that having a motorbike really has its advantages. We whipped in and out of traffic (traffic that had turned a 1-lane highway into 3 lanes, leaving no lane for on-coming traffic) and we reached our destination within an hour. We went straight to one of the nice hotels we stopped at the previous day and paid 100 THB to leave our bike there, safe from drunken chaos in the streets. We decided it was best to find a spot along the river to watch the fireballs before it got dark and even more crowded.

Not even 10 minutes into our walk, my extroverted boyfriend made friends with a Thai guy and before we knew it, they were filling our hands with bottled waters and desserts they made (and were selling) for free and offered up their prime seats on the river along with their house if we needed to use a bathroom. And let me just say…it is not easy being a girl and having to pee in public in Thailand. I actually avoid liquids when I am out. Needless to say…we hit the jackpot! Naga Fireball Festival There were lighted floats and fireworks were going off left and right and even from across the Mekong in Laos. Of course, my favorite part was the lanterns. It’s the one thing I’ve been most excited to see in Thailand. They started releasing them as the sun was going down, and by the time it was dark, the night sky was full of tiny lights. You better believe me and the Trading Traveler released one, too! I have to say, the Thais don’t take the same precautions as we in America are required to do. They were shooting fireworks into the crowds. Lanterns were crashing into trees.

We were making bets on the amount of fires we would see before the night was over. It was quite entertaining to watch as we sat waiting to see the fireballs… About the fireballs…as legend has it, the Naga (a mythical serpent) wanted to become a monk but Buddha would not let it as only humans can become monks. Instead, he gave the name “naga” to all candidates for monkhood in honor of the serpent. To this day, the Naga lives in the Mekong and shoots up fireballs to welcome Lord Buddha back to Earth at the end of Buddhist lent. These fireballs are red balls of light that shoot out of the water, soundlessly, and disappear into the sky. There are many skeptics who believe these fireballs are the result of phosphine gas. Others believe it is a sneaky trick by Laotian soldiers shooting tracer rounds into the sky. It is not a good idea to suggest these alternative theories to the Thais though as they take this very seriously. The Mysterious Mekong River Fireballs – Are They Real? Lucky for us, not even 1 hour after the sunset, we hear an uproar from the crowds of Thais with lots of cheering and pointing.

At first we didn’t see anything, but 15 minutes later it started again and we witnessed this phenomenon with our owns eyes! And then…we saw it again! And again! We found ourselves jumping up, cheering and pointing right along with the Thais. It was actually very exciting, whether they really are what they say they are. Throughout the 3 hours we were at the festival, we saw a total of 10 fireballs. Just as everyone claimed, there was no sound emitted and, although it was dark, no sign of any boats nearby. So we have to ask ourselves…it it the Naga? Is it all a hoax? Or will it forever a remain a mystery? Watch our video and let us know what you think! 😉 SHARE IT: Naga fireballs of Mekong | Wondermondo Naga fireballs of Mekong Meteorological phenomena , Sites of legends Values: 4 Address: Asia , Thailand , Northeast, Nongkhai and Laos , Vientiane Province. Mekong river at Phon Phisai town and its vicinities.

Alternate names: Ghost fireballs, Bang Fai Phaya Nark Name in Thai: Mysterious Naga lights rise above Mekong / Image from Tourism Authority of Thailand. Weird things are happening some 70 - 100 kilometres downstream from the Vientiane - capital of Laos. In the nights from the muddy waters of Mekong river appear red glowing balls which quickly rise up in the air and disappear without noise (some, who manage to be close to the lights, report silent hiss). These mysterious sparkles are small, but sometimes they reach a size of a basketball. These are not some ghosts seen by occasional people and questioned by majority. Ghost fireballs of Mekong have been seen by thousands of people, photographed and captioned on movies and, after all, investigated by scientists looking for the explanation of this interesting phenomenon. Naga fireballs / Image from Tourism Authority of Thailand. Description Fireballs are observed in some 250 kilometres long sector of Mekong: approximately from Ban Muang upstreams from Vientiane down to Bung Kan.

Most of them rise from the 500 - 800 m wide Mekong River, but they have been observed rising from smaller ponds and rivers as well. These places might sound exotic and remote to Europeans but they are densely populated, filled with houses, roads, schools and other usual features of civilisation. Phenomenon of Naga fireballs is not too well documented in earlier times. Some say that Wat Luang temple (in Phon Phisai, Wat Pho Luang Phra Sai) contains centuries old written records mentioning them. There are mentioned also occasional written reports from British soldiers in the 1960s - although nothing concrete is cited. Numerous local people claim that they have seen the lights for all their life and their parents and grandparents did it as well. Although the appearance of fireballs is celebrated at certain days in October, in fact this event is not predictable. There have been cases when the official festivity "ends without results" and fireballs come unexpected in another night. Many people have tried hard to see them for years without success, many are lucky and see them at first visit to this site.

For example, in 2001 there were reported 3,000 fireballs, the festivity of 2004 was disappointing in this respect but in 2008 the illumination was excellent. Ghostly fireballs can be seen in different times of the year but most frequent they are in late October - early November, when the long period of rains has ended and Mekong is filled with lots of fast flowing, muddy water. Balls seem to be rising out of the water (some sceptics though say that it looks more like going up in Laotian side of river). They appear in different places, but sometimes several come out from single place. Naga fireballs / Image from Tourism Authority of Thailand. Phaya Naga - king of serpents Since ancient times numerous people have been living along Mekong. According to some reports, as recently as in the 1980s these balls of light attracted little attention of local people (3). It may be though possible that there are some ancient myths related to this event which later have been nearly forgotten by local people and then somehow revived.

Whatever the history of this myth but one is clear - since the early 1990s Mekong fireballs gradually became famous and simultaneously there were attached myths to them. One of these myths: One particular naga (a kind of snake or dragon) loved to crawl around the mountains right in the place where Mekong flows today. This outstanding naga still continues to travel her usual route - now underwater, and spits flames wherewer it goes - as all respectable dragons do. There is involved also Buddhism into this story, making it more complex - although local Buddhist monks seem to be spectators of show and not active promoters of it. This "Buddhist" myth has involved the ominous Phaya Naga - serpent-king of underworld - in making of these fireballs. Phaya Naga in this story turns out to be an ally of Buddha. Buddha and Phaya Naga in their mythical battles obtained a blessing for local people - regular periods of rain. As the rain ends, Buddha returns to Earth from heaven and Phaya Naga greets him with fireballs.

Festivity There is traditional and well proven method to facilitate tourism anywhere in world, which works especially well in southern Asia: if your locality happens to have some interesting natural phenomenon, find a religious explanation to this and organise yearly festivities to celebrate it. In a case of Phon Phisai town in Thailand (and several other towns along Mekong) naga fireballs have been perfectly well suited. Fireballs are most frequent in the end of October - thus exactly then is organised the religious Phaya Naga festival. This coincides very well with an important event in Buddhist calendar - the end of vassa: three months long period of a kind of fasting. The end of vassa - Wan Awk Pansa - is joyous festivity of the people of Isan (North-east Thailand) and Laos. This festivity in a way marks the end of long rain period. Staying out in the evening after the long rains finally is pleasant and moon over the Mekong makes this time romantic. Festivity is organized at full moon. Somehow the determination of full moon has ended up with a situation where Thailand celebrates the festivity one day earlier than Laos. Lately though the festivity is expanding and lasts for several days and nights.

According to locals, festivities have taken place here for many generations - but if there were any festivities before 1990, these were of truly local nature, not known elsewhere. But in the early 2000s the festivity at Mekong came into vogue. Thus, at the end of every October tens of thousands of people flock to Phon Phisai and other Thai and Laotian towns along Mekong. In 2002 - 2004 there were hundreds of thousands of people coming. They take the "best places" along the river. Earlier people just walked at the bank of Mekong and looked at occasional fireballs rising up. Nowadays there is organised festive program with the great Mekong in focus: in the river are floating beautiful illuminated boat processions and river receives offerings - mainly sweets. Numerous other events take place, as it is ususal in popular festivals. But the main event is the appearance of fireballs. Thousands of people look with awe at them rising up in the air as fast as sparks from the campfire. In some nights thousands of such weird sparks rise out from the waters but sometimes - none.

People cheer the lights with joy and feel happy to be together at this mystery. Scientists get involved Contrary to most other ghostly apparitions around the world, Naga fireballs have been observed by thousands of people and captured on numerous photographs and movies. Most local people believe in the mythical explanation involving nagas. In 2002 there arised a scandal when independent Thai TV channel iTV reported that they observed the following: each time when Laotian soldiers shot some tracer bullets in the air, Thai side of river was greeting this with cheerful shouts. TV reporters thus proved that sometimes "fake" naga balls are greeted. This report met with stiff resistance of local people expressing even hate towards iTV. Government of Thailand decided that scientists should be involved and explanation should be provided. A kind of "dreamteam" of Thai experts was established, at the same time rising heated debates about the intrusion of science in traditional myths. In 2003 thermal scanners and five teams of scientists were stationed in several spots along the river in Rattanawapi district (Thailand). A team was located also at the most famous observation spot - at the Naga temple in Phon Phisai town.

There were rumours about the involvement of specific submarine in research. Some scientific reports mention an upward movement of gas bubbles in Mekong water. According to them - as the gas bubbles reached the surface, the gas started to burn and rised up like a glowing orange bubble. Phosphine? Methane? Earlier some scientists considered that the most likely reason for flames is phosphine (PH3). This gas, especially in the presence of the diphosphine (P2H4), is capable of spontaneous flammability. Thus one can assume that bubbles of this substance may rise from the sediments of Mekong and, as it reaches the atmosphere, burn with yellow - orange flame. Small amount of this substance quickly is consumed in flames, and, as the burning bubble rises up in the air, it disappears. Possible source of phosphine might be a chemical reaction in the river sediments - bacterial reduction of phosphate in decaying organic matter. Often is mentioned another gas - methane, which, theoretically, if mixed with the same phosphine and some other gases at very specific conditions may experience spontaneous ignition. ...or hoax? There remained unsolved issues though: Phosphine is not a light gas, it is heavier than air.

Naga lights though rise up in the air very quickly. When phosphine burns, it produces dense, white and highly toxic cloud. None of these effects (luckily) have been observed on Mekong. Thus the hypothesis of phosphine is rejected and specialists focus more on other self-inflating gases: burning gas seems to be the most logical explanation for Mekong fireballs. But - even if scientists find another igneous gas rising from the sediments of Mekong - why don't we observe similar phenomenon elsewhere - in other tropical rivers and lakes? How can a bubble of gas rise up that quickly without being extinguished? Some consider that these igneous gases are somehow pulled out of the river sediment by full moon and some researchers even build up highly complex theories involving specific composition of gases in sediments coupled with the action of moon, ultraviolet rays, Sun etc. All of this at the end looks too laborious and unlikely. Also the imaginary organic sediments of Mekong seem not to exist - river here for most part has sandy bed with occasional rocks.

Popular Thai movie "15 Kham Duan 11" ("The 15th of the 11th Lunar Month", made in 2002) offers another explanation - here Laotian monks place clay eggs on the river bed - these rise to the surface and there light up. There are though serious drawbacks in this fine movie, which seem to make this proposed explanation flawed (if art is taken seriously): more or less safe and controlled diving in this muddy, powerful river is nearly impossible even with modern diving gear. Often it is considered that fireballs are created artificially - just like some people find fun in making crop circles or other weird things. Now it is essential to keep the big festivities running - after all this event has been turned into highly profitable show (but spread among huge local communities - what isn't bad at all). One can easily see that there might be a commercial interest to "maintain" this phenomenon artificially. In addition to this - some locals tell that in earlier times naga fireballs were much smaller and nearly white, they rised above the water just for a few metres. Now, with increased popularity they somehow have evolved, increased in size, fly high and fast and have orange color.

A bit heretical thought - may be naga serpent has changed diet? Hoax is impossible? Locals deny a possibility of hoax - naga fireballs often are observed in very secluded places where the putative "organiser" of fireballs has nearly no chances to impress anyone. It is just weird to imagine countless Thai and Laotian people keeping themselves busy by making illuminations in remote lakes and rivers. Appearance of fireballs has been reported in more than 45 kilometres long section of river in one night. River has been closely watched by numerous people for many days before. In such circumstances the possibility of fraud seems to be quite low - who would manage to organise such illumination without getting caught in the act? Naga fireballs rised from the river during the hostilities between Thailand and Laos: the border was heavily guarded then and it is little likely that somebody would risk his life to organise the fraud. Legend of modern times Wondermondo will not present a judgement about the source of naga balls. One though should be recognized - if this is a hoax, it is organised very well and there are lots of people who are happy to believe in this.

But may be naga fireballs are real, natural mysterious light effects - so called Earth lights (see another example - Chir Batti )? Riddles posed by these phenomena are not that easy to solve. Map 10 locations with unusual meteorological phenomena Similar phenomena described by Wondermondo Chir Batti in India, Gujarat are balls of light floating near the ground level around the plains of Banni grasslands. These lights were noticed here already in ancient times. There is no scientific explanation to this phenomenon. Hessdalen lights in Norway are balls of light often seen floating in Hessdalen valley. This phenomenon has been researched since 1983 but no explanation has been found thus far. Paasselkä devils in Finland are light balls of unexplained origin. They are observed over the surface of Lake Paasselkä for at least 100 years. Story Of Phaya Nak and Bang Fai Phaya Nak - Lao/Thai - YouTube Story Of Phaya Nak and Bang Fai Phaya Nak - Lao/Thai Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content.

Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Aug 15, 2013 Story Of Phaya Nak and Bang Fai Phaya Nak - Lao/Thai Naga fireballs- Bangfai Phayanaak (บั้งไฟพญานาค)-science can't explain. The Naga fireballs (Thai: บั้งไฟพญานาค; RTGS: bang fai phaya nak), also known to as Mekong lights, and "bung fai paya nak" by the locals, is an unconfirmed phenomenon often seen in Thailand's Mekong river, which is also seen in (Nong Khai province in Isan) and in Laos (Vientiane Province)—in which glowing balls are said to naturally rise from the water high into the air.[1] The balls are reddish and have diverse size from smaller sparkles up to the size of basketballs;[2] they quickly rise up to a couple of hundred metres before disappearing.

The number of fireballs reported varies between tens and thousands per night.[3] Objective observers who have witnessed this phenomenon report tracer bullets as probable cause. The fireballs are most often reported around the night of Wan Ok Phansa at the end of the Buddhist rains in late October. Naga fireballs have been reported over an approximately 250 kilometre long section of Mekong river with the center of this section approximately at Phon Phisai town in Amphoe Phon Phisai. Balls have also been reported rising from smaller rivers, lakes and ponds in this region.[2] Most local people who insist on the efficacy of the legend say that they have seen the fireballs throughout their lives and their parents and grandparents did as well, but in earlier times they did not pay much attention to this phenomenon.[4] The festival related to the observation of Naga fireballs gained popularity in the 1990s and is named Bang Fai Phaya Nark festival. Since the 2000s this festival was promoted by Thai authorities to ensure international recognition and is actively promoted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and others.

In contrast to the legend and lack of objective analysis of the Naga fireballs, a similar phenomenon in plasma physics is a free-floating plasma orb, which is created when surface electricity (e.g. from a capacitor) is discharged into a solution.[5] According to skeptic Brian Dunning who writes that whatever is sailing through the air has mass, and "must have been physically propelled". It would be impossible for anyone across the half-mile river to hear a gunshot because it would take 2.5 seconds for the sound to travel to the spectators, and by then the crowd watching has already noticed the light, drowning out the sound when it would reach them. There is no science that can explain "the Naga Fireballs to be naturally produced burning gas bubbles."[6] A programme on Thai television in 2002 demonstrated that the fireballs were produced by tracer fire from soldiers on the Lao side of the river. This provoked furious protests and demonstrations from local villagers, who believe that the balls are produced by a mythical snake, the Naga or Phaya Naga, living in the river.

The phenomenon has become more prominent since the furor over the TV programme, as well as the 2002 film by director Jira Maligool, Mekhong Full Moon Party.[7] Superstition plays a significant role in Thai society and culture, and sensitivities to challenges to purported beliefs can result in violence.[citation needed] สาธารณรัฐประชาธิปไตยประชาชนลาว, ประเทศลาว, ลาว, สปป.ลาว lao, laos, ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, ເມືອງລາວ, ປະເທດລາວ, ລາວ, ລາວ, ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, ເມືອງລາວ, ປະເທດລາວ, ສປປ ລ

າວ, ສປປ.ລາວ, Category

Question: Where would the phenomenon reported by locals as Naga Fireballs be found?
Answer: Mekong River