I have seen something unusual

[trailmaster]

In Chicago we have a lot of rather unusual weather phenomena. There have been several tornadoes that struck the city in the last 100 years. There is also this unusual type of wind called a microburst. The weather people call it a mini tornado, although you can't see anything. A microburst can come on without any warning and uproot even the biggest trees, and knock down houses. Several years ago I heard on the t.v. news one evening that a microburst had struck one of Chicago's biggest parks: Washington Park on the south side of the city near the Hyde Park neighborhood. I once went through Washington Park. It has large fields of grass, a lagoon, large stands of big trees that were planted almost 80 years ago, fountains, playing fields, tot lots and many other typical big park attractions. The next day on my way to work I drove through the park. I could not believe the damage I saw. There were these huge oak, birch, and maple trees that were blown down, many completely uprooted. Some trees had been uprooted and fell into the street. One of the tot lots ( this is like a children's playground ) had all the swings and slides and jungle jims destroyed. There were hundreds of branches that had been torn off trees and were spread all over the park. I could see the Chicago Park District workers already in the park starting to clean up, and these big machines which were delivered by flat bed trucks were rolled in to remove the fallen and uprooted trees. Over the next few weeks the park was cleaned and new little trees were planted to replace the ones destroyed. It was a sad sight to see. So many big gaps where once mighty 80 year old trees had once stood.

[moreteavicar]

About 15 years ago I visited the British museum on a whim to kill some time while I was in London. As I was looking around at all the exhibits (which were all pretty amazing) I turned a corner and was presented with my first sight of the Rosetta Stone. To me this was an absolutely amazing object sending shivers down my back and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I had always been fascinated with this object since learning about it in school and understanding how important this was to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics. To actually happen upon it when I wasn't really expecting it was amazing and gave me a buzz that I will never forget.

[Nobody1]

A small miracle of craftsmanship.

A cherry stone in which 185 faces have been carved. The 'Cherry Stone with 185 Carved Faces' was manufactured around the year 1589, and belongs to a group of four cherry stones, dating from the 16th century, which also show Bible stories, portraits or the saxon crest. Superbly executed.

They were given to the Elector Christian I of Saxony in 1589, and can now be seen together in the micro-cabinet of the green vault in Dresden.

[KissArmy]

I saw lightning strike a metal sprinkler head in our backyard, about 50 feet away from me as I was inside our house. It was during a bad thunder & lightning storm; all of a sudden our living room overlooking our backyard was lit up with a white, blinding light. For a split second there was silence and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Then followed the biggest "BANG!" I have ever heard in my life.

After the storm passed I went out in our backyard and found the grass scorched around the sprinkler head. Never seen anything like this before or since.

[old alal]

The Auroa Borealis.

A small eruption of Etna, and a Lava flow about 10 metres away from us.

The Valley Of The Kings.

The Grand Canyon. (well part of it)

A Flight on Concord, but that is not seeing something fantastic, so Concord taking off and landing.

The birth of my Children.

And finally like others here a Lightning strike too close to me for comfort. I felt the shock, the heat, my skin tingled, I felt palpitations, and when I went in and explained to my Mother what had just happened she scalded me for "telling tales"

Great Thread.

[Greenman]

It is my dream to see the Aurora Borealis(Northern Lights) but I am blowed if I will go on a cruise, I'd rather fly to places like Norway to see them. I had planned to do so for my 50th this year but it took ages to get a new passport and by that time the 'season' was over - there is never a cast-iron guarantee that you will see them, you have to be very lucky.

[old alal]

Greenman I was lucky because I didn't go to see them. Many years ago we took our youngest and a friend to "Lapland" to see Santa, and we were woken up by the hotel reception when the conditions were right. Quite a few of us went into the forrest behind the hotel, where it was really dark(apart from the snow on the ground) It was spectacular, and lasted about 25 minutes.

[Greenman]

I've been lucky enough to see inside Lord's Cricket Ground(tour), Bletchley Park(where the Enigma code machine was used to break Nazi codes by Alan Turing and the other codebreakers) and the James Bond vehicle exhibition twice, once at Beaulieu, Southampton (National Motor Museum) and again in Covent Garden a few years ago. I've also seen both sets of star systems here and in Australia where light polution is a lesser evil than it is here. Both pretty fantastic.

[Jake Gittes]

Okay, as naive as this may sound, I'm an avid dog lover and whenever I am am feeling depressed I just watch puppies swim for the first time.

I'd post a link, but you know where to go to watch those kinds of videos.

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by rotobott

people I knew and liked genuinely were afraid the sun would not come back.

I remember that from an episode of Rin Tin Tin when Lt. Ripley 'Rip' Masters and Rusty pull it on a bunch of redskins.
Back in 2008 my wife and I went to Africa and our guide took us to see a column of Safari Ants on the move. It wasn't dangerous, but the sight of them still invoked primeval chills.
Also the first time I went to see Pompeii.