Angel hair or siliceous cotton is a sticky, fibrous substance reported in connection with

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

sightings, or manifestations of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

. It has been described as being like a

cobweb A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web, or cobweb (from the archaic word '' coppe'', meaning "spider") is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Spi ...

or a jelly. It is named for its similarity to fine hair, or

spider web A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web, or cobweb (from the archaic word '' coppe'', meaning "spider") is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Spid ...

s, and in some cases the substance has been found to be the web threads of migrating spiders. Reports of angel hair say that it disintegrates or evaporates within a short time of forming. Angel hair is an important aspect of the UFO religion

Raëlism Raëlism, also known as Raëlianism or Raelian Movement is a UFO religion founded in 1970s France by Claude Vorilhon, now known as Raël. Scholars of religion classify Raëlism as a new religious movement. The group is formalised as the Inte ...

, and one theory among ufologists is that it is created from "ionized air sleeting off an electromagnetic field" that surrounds a UFO.

Sightings

There have been many reports of falls of angel hair around the world. Angel hair was reported at the Miracle at Fatima on 13 September and 13 October 1917.Fernandes and d'Armada, Heavenly Lights 2005 p. 83-103 The most widely reported incidence occurred in Oloron, France in 1952, when "great flakes" were reported as falling from a nearly cloudless sky. On October 27, 1954, Gennaro Lucetti and Pietro Lastrucci reported standing on the balcony of a hotel in St. Mark's Square in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and seeing two "shining spindles" flying across the sky leaving a trail of the angel hair. In New Zealand and Australia, local newspapers have reported many sightings since the 1950s, although many have been identified as spider webs after analysis. An incident was reported in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka on October 20, 2014.

Published explanations

Explanations based on known phenomena include: *Some types of spiders are known to migrate through the air, sometimes in large numbers, on cobweb gliders. Many cases of angel hair were found to be these spider threads and, in one occasion, small spiders have been found on the material.

Linyphiidae Linyphiidae, spiders commonly known as sheet weavers (from the shape of their webs), or money spiders (in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and in Portugal, from the superstition that if such a spider is seen running on you, ...

spiders frequently cause showers of gossamer threads in England and the Northern hemisphere. Australia and New Zealand have frequent cases, caused by several native species of spiders and by some introduced species of Linyphiidae. *In the Portuguese city of

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old to ...

on November 2, 1959, a substance described as angel hair was collected and analyzed under a microscope by a local school director and later by armed forces technicians and scientists of the University of Lisbon. The scientists concluded that the angel hair was produced by a small insect of an unknown species or perhaps some kind of single-celled organism. *

Atmospheric electricity Atmospheric electricity is the study of electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electr ...

may cause floating dust particles to become polarized, and attraction between these polarized dust particles may cause them to join together, to form long filaments. *On two occasions samples were sent for testing. On October 13, 1917, a sample found at Cova da Iria was sent to Lisbon and on October 17, 1957, another sample found at Cova da Iria was examined. The analysis found this to be natural, consisting of white flakes. When put under a microscope it was found to be a vegetable product not animal. Unscientific explanations based on beliefs regarding Unidentified Flying Objects include: *Ionized air may be sleeting off the electromagnetic field that surrounds a UFO. *Excess energy converted into matter. *The usage by UFOs of a G-field would cause heavy atoms in ordinary air to react among themselves and produce a kind of precipitate that falls to the ground and disappears as the ionization decreases.

Angel grass

"Angel grass" is a related phenomenon. It is when short metallic threads fall from the sky, often forming intertwined loose masses. They are a type of

chaff Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...

, a

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

counter-measure which can be in the form of fine strands, which is dropped by some military aircraft. It can also come from sounding rockets and balloons, which would have released it at high altitude for radar tracking. (part of the

Condon Report The Condon Committee was the informal name of the University of Colorado UFO Project, a group funded by the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1968 at the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Colorado to study unidentified flying o ...

)

Literature

* William R. Corliss: ''Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Precipitation, and related weather phenomena'' (The Sourcebook Project, 1983), pages 60 to 62, GWF8: ''Prodigious Falls of Web-Like Material''.

References

External links

Angel hair
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