Street Light Interference or SLI

By Stephen Wagner, About.com Guide

Do streetlights go out when you pass beneath them? Perhaps you are a SLIder

A reader writes:

Around five years ago, I have noticed that at times while I am driving down the road at night a street light will go out as I am passing below it. It happens frequently and seems to be happening more.

It has been giving me the creeps. If it happened only once or on very rare occasions, I don’t think I would have given it a thought. However, it happens about once or twice a week. Could it be some electronic thing or could it be something less explainable?

The phenomenon is known as street lamp interference, or SLI, and it possibly is a psychic event that is just beginning to be recognized and studied. Like most phenomena of this type, the evidence is almost exclusively anecdotal. I have received several stories like the one above from readers.

Typically, a person who has this effect on streetlights – also known as a SLIder – finds that the light switches on or off when he or she walks or drives beneath it. Obviously, this could happen occasionally by chance with a faulty streetlight (you’ve probably noticed that it’s happened to you once in a while), but SLIders claim that it happens to them on a regular basis. It doesn’t happen every time with every streetlight, but it occurs often enough to make these people suspect that something unusual is going on.

Very often, SLIders also report that they tend to have an odd effect on other electronic devices. In letters I’ve received, these people claim such effects as:

• Appliances such as lamps and TVs go on and off without being touched.
• Lightbulbs constantly blow when the SLIder tries to turn them off or on.
• Volume levels change on TVs, radios, and CD players.
• Watches stop working.
• Children’s electronic toys start by themselves when the SLIder is present.
• Credit cards and other magnetically encoded cards are damaged or erased when in their possession.

WHAT’S THE CAUSE?

Keep Reading:  SLIders & the Streetlight Phenomenon – Street Light Interference or SLI.

More Illumination on SLI

Streetlights are blinking off all over the place. But what’s the cause? Some weird psychic phenomenon? Or is there a simpler explanation for this ubiquitous occurrence?

Apparently, the street lamp interference (SLI) phenomenon is quite widespread. Last week’s article on SLI elicited more responses from readers than any other article appearing at this site. People all over the country are reporting that they are affecting streetlights. Some are saying that they are also affecting their house lights, watches, TVs, and other appliances. Others, however, suggest that there’s nothing to SLI – that its apparent effects are due merely to coincidence or explainable mechanical reasons.

Many of the responses received included the following:

Keep Reading: More Illuminations on SLI.