When I was a teenager, I noticed that certain street lights and lamp posts would turn off or flicker whenever I walked by.
For example, there was one particular lamp post near my house that seemed to turn off whenever I was in the vicinity.
I found this intriguing. A part of me even wondered if it was some kind of electrical phenomenon.
While I was researching this subject, I came across a topic called “Street Light Interference” (SLI).
SLI is basically the belief that certain people (SLIders) have the ability to turn off street lights.
People who believe in this theory will often cite “unknown energy sources” from the human body, untapped psychokinetic abilities, and static electricity as possible causes.
To be honest, I think that this SLI theory is nonsense. This is just a case of people wanting to believe that they have some sort of unique energy source emanating from their bodies.
Because they want to believe that their body is dispersing some kind of weird and unidentified energy, they ignore the other, far more likely possibilities.
This is what we call confirmation bias.
Firstly, I think it is important to point out that “Street Light Interference” has never been proven. Despite all of these fantastical claims, nobody has been able to reproduce the phenomenon.
Secondly, you are far more likely to remember a street light that is turning itself off.
However, what about all of those times when the street light worked as intended?
Did you take a mental note of that? I somehow doubt it.
Thirdly, a lot street lamps use sodium vapor bulbs, which start to “cycle” at the end of their lifespan. At that stage, they will repeatedly turn themselves off and on again.
The most likely explanation is that the bulb overheats, turns itself off, cools down, and then restarts itself. Obviously, people will notice this “cycle”. This might explain accounts from people who say that they are able to turn off a particular street light.
I think that a lot of people are in denial about this. This is because they want to believe that they have some sort of special power.