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Sky turns pink in Australia town, locals think of aliens. What actually happened
Locals, fascinated by the phenomenon, considered outworldly possibilities. But they were fairly disappointed when it was found to be emerging from a cannabis plant.
When the sky turned pink in Australia's northern Victorian town Mildura, residents were expectedly left spellbound, considering various eerie possibilities – from alien invasion to a portal to spacetime continuum. Photos and videos were widely circulated on social media platforms as locals witnessed a pink glow emerging into the sky.
“All these end of the world scenarios were going through my head,” said Nikea Champion, a local, speaking to BBC. “I was having a big Stranger Things moment - I'm like, Vecna? Is that you?” she said, referring to the villain from the popular Netflix series.
“I was on the phone to my mum, and my dad was saying the world was ending,” Tammy Szumowski, another local, told British news daily The Guardian.
Here's what the Internet said about the phenomenon:
In a rather anti-climactic reality, it was later found out that the source of the blaze on Wednesday - that filled the sky with a pink glow - had emerged from a local medicinal cannabis facility where the blackout blinds had been left open, The Guardian reported.
“Cannabis plants require different spectrums of light in order to encourage their growth. A red spectrum light is often used. Normally the facility would have blackout blinds that come down at night, and will in the future block that glow,” explained Rhys Cohen, senior communications manager at Cann Group Ltd, speaking to The Guardian.
The incident almost revealed the secret location of the cannabis plant.
According to reports, the Mildura facility recently received its GMP license to cultivate and supply a wide range of medicinal cannabis products in-house but its location was not disclosed due to the nature of the business. The exact location of the plant still remains a secret.
Medicinal cannabis was legalised in Australia in 2016, but the recreational use of the drug continues to be banned.
