Legends and superstitions are a common phenomenon in shipping, an industry with roots lost in the centuries, but some of them are accompanied by inexplicable stories. Surely you have heard of haunted ships or ghost ships, but do you know the truth about ‘Fata Morgana’? Depending on who you ask, they will tell you that Fata Morgana is a complex form of upper mirage seen just above the horizon, and can appear on land or sea, in the polar regions or in deserts.

However, few know that Fata Morgana is not a simple optical illusion. An example of this is the Flying Dutchman or the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship whose destiny is never to anchor in port, condemned to set sail forever on the open sea. Legend has it that the ship shines with a ghostly light. The origin of the Flying Dutchman can be found in the 17th century, when the Dutch colonial empire included various overseas territories and trading posts. According to legend, the ship’s captain, Hendrick Van der Decken, offered his and the crew’s souls if they managed to escape a strong storm rounding the Cape of Good Hope. And apparently they succeeded, so he is doomed to wander the oceans for all eternity. Undoubtedly, you may think that these are simple myths and legends, but luckily now we have all kinds of tools that allow us to record any unusual phenomenon in our seas, such as the one that has recently occurred in Alaska.

mysterious phenomenon

Incredible images have emerged showing what appears to be a floating island moving over water in a bay in Alaska. The video was recorded from a boat in Glacier Bay and posted on the Glacier Bay National Park and Reserve Facebook page on August 2.

According to the description, the images show the ‘Fata Morgana’ effect distorting on Lone Island in the central bay area of the park, which spans 13 million hectares of snow-capped mountains, sheltered fjords, glaciers and rainforests.

“Have you witnessed this mirage while in #GlacierBay?” the Glacier Bay researchers write in the Facebook post. “Fata Morgana is a mirage seen within a narrow band of Earth’s horizon. Islands in Glacier Bay turn into UFOs or Flying Dutchmen with a little imagination and a dash of cool science!”

The researchers add that ‘Fata’ is Latin for ‘fairy’ and Morgana is the sorceress of King Arthur legend, with ‘Fata Morgana’ referring to the idea that witchcraft created mirages to lure sailors to their deaths. The phenomenon creates a mirage when the sun heats the atmosphere over land or sea, creating a change in temperatures. When a layer of warm air sits on top of a layer of cold air, it creates a lensing effect, flexing slightly as it passes through the gaps in the air currents.

This can make objects appear to occupy a high position, as light enters the brain from above rather than directly. We cannot detect the slight “curvature”. But even with this explanation, the Glacier Bay video caused quite a stir on Facebook, where some users said it could be a UFO, a vision of a parallel universe and even Project Blue Beam. But there was also someone who questioned the images, assuring that it was a montage or a joke, comments that the researchers from the Bay of Glaciers flatly denied.

“We do not waste time creating ‘false’ images to share of our National Park,” the researchers emphasized. “It is real, and everyone who was on the ship that day could attest to it. Enjoy a fantastic phenomenon of nature! The Fata Morgana mirages have been documented for centuries, and this mirage, in particular, is likely what inspired the story of the “Flying Dutchman”, who appeared to sailors as a flying ship just above the surface of the water.”

Regardless of whether it is a natural phenomenon, UFOs, a parallel universe or the Blue Beam Project, what is clear is that this year is being unusually active when it comes to these types of visions. Last June, people in Cyprus took photos when they saw three cruise ships apparently levitating off the coast of the city of Limassol. Similar phenomena have also occurred earlier this year in the United Kingdom, more specifically in Cornwall, Devon and Aberdeenshire.

In March, a startling snapshot showed several ocean liners appearing to be floating on the sea at Paignton, Devon. Just a few days earlier, in Banff, Aberdeenshire, a doctor and a security guard saw another boat that appeared to be floating. And, that same month, a man while walking in Gillan, Cornwall, saw a mysterious red formation apparently floating on the water, only to discover that he had witnessed the phenomenon known as Fata Morgana.

You can believe what you want, but what cannot be denied is that something strange is happening in our skies and oceans, perhaps phenomena beyond our comprehension.

What do you think about the mysterious phenomenon that occurred in Alaska? Is it of natural origin, a parallel universe or the Blue Beam Project?