Jon Solo Sebastian 02/22/2026:

Have you ever walked or ridden by a streetlight and see it suddenly turn off or on? Have you ever had this happen multiple times in one evening, or every time you’re out for a walk or bike ride? Some might think this is just a coincidence, but others feel there is something else behind what is called: The Street Light Interference Phenomenon (SLI).

“ Do you ever… get the feeling like you were meant to do something extraordinary?”— Peter Petrelli from the TV Series “Heroes.”

I want to start with the reason I’m sliding into this topic this week. I was listening to a podcast… I won’t say the name of the show—mostly because it could spark some sort of controversial conversation I’d rather not get involved in. But anyway, the host of the show was speaking about a person who believed he was different. So much so that tests were run on him as a child and he then reportedly attended a school for children with similar “abilities.” If you’ve seen television/streaming series like Stranger Things or Fringe, then you might have an idea of what I’m talking about.

So while the host was talking about this, it took me back to my years as a teenager. It blew me away because this very thing happened to me all the time back then. I hadn’t thought about this in a long time… I mean, I’m in my 40’s now, so teenage years feels (and sort of is) like a lifetime ago. I remember thinking about it every time it would happen, and I thought to myself, that I was special and was subconsciously tapping into like a super power. I was so certain of this, that I would try to make it happen. I’d sit outside by the streetlights and would focus on trying to turn one of them off. Whether it was coincidence or not, it happened… but not every time.

This podcast reminded me of this, and I mentioned it to one of my friends, and he told me it was called Street Light Interference. So I rabbit-holed it to see what it’s all about. I promise that I will make this a long story short, but you will hopefully find this as interesting as I do.

Witnessing a failing light bulb, or is SLI something Supernatural or Paranormal?

I never use Wikipedia in my research, but this was sent to me by a friend, and I feel like it paints a solid picture of what SLI is; especially the wishful thinking part. But is there more to it than that?

Author Massimo Polidoro writing in Skeptical Inquirer has considered claims of SLI to be examples of correlation not implying causation, or of confirmation bias: people are much more likely to notice when a nearby street light turns on or off than they are to notice a light turning on or off at a distance, or a street light in a steady state at any distance. This is compounded by a failure mode of street lights, known as “cycling”, in which street lights of the high pressure sodium type turn off and on more frequently at the end of their life cycle. A high pressure sodium engineer at General Electric, quoted by Cecil Adams, summarizes SLI as “a combination of coincidence and wishful thinking”. Polidoro notes that a “paranormal phenomenon is the least likely possibility.”

I always try my best to lean into paranormal while also staying grounded. My question to the folks in the above quote is: How can you explain it when you’re riding your bike down the street and nearly every light turns off as you pass it and then on again as you go by? If I could go back in time with my smart phone, I’d record it happening to me back then, but back in the 90’s we didn’t have those devices at our disposal.

Two things that stand out to me that push me into the direction of it not being paranormal:

“Some of us notice it when it happens to us, while others are not observant enough”

In a comment, an individual noted: “The last time I noticed it was in the early 2000s when streetlights were all still non-LED.” This remark highlights how the advances in technology may affect the recognition of such phenomena.

These comments make total sense to me because one, I’m super observant of my surroundings and have an extreme attention to detail, and two, I haven’t had this happen since the early 2000’s. So for my personal experience, I fully understand those arguments.

A few thoughts on this: Speaking for myself here— I feel like it stopped happening, or at least I think it stopped happening to me because at the time, I was a very angry person. You know, teenage angst type of stuff. A lot of personal things that drew me toward anger and in some cases, fear. In my research, I learned that it would happen either when the mind was at peace, or when there was so much electrical build up due to stress or anger. I’m not a very angry person these days, but I’m also mega distracted, so this could be why I’ve lost touch with it.

About the streetlights switching over to LED, and less people witnessing or being a part of this phenomenon… Is that the reason why, or could it have to do with our electromagnetic fields and our brain waves being bombarded with distractions? Think about it for a moment. The early 2000’s was when we all became more connected via MySpace, chat rooms, forums, and Facebook. In turn, our attention was, and still is, being pulled in so many directions that it sometimes feels impossible to focus, or for the mind to slow down. In the 90’s, we didn’t have all of that going on, which allowed for our brains to function in a different way…. I’m no scientist, I’m just an observer of human interaction and societal deterioration. While “Sliders” weren’t opening their minds to the street light interference, their minds were more attuned to less distraction and more openness. Just some food for thought.

To wrap up on SLI, I felt it would be best to share some interesting quotes from the various sources I used to learn more about the phenomenon.

From learning-mind.com:

“Electrical engineer Bill Beaty thinks that it could be possible that people who experience this phenomenon are actually similar to “walking generators“. That is, their bodies produce a significant amount of static electricity, which can affect the operation of street lights.

Many people produce static electricity by shuffling their feet on the carpet. It’s just one of many examples. Beaty said that some people are able to produce electricity, “getting” electrons from the air with each breath.

But if breathing can make us electrically charged, why don’t the electrical appliances turn off and on around us? Beaty said that maybe some people have some kind of ‘virus’, which is not discovered yet and changes the lungs of individuals so that they begin to work as a sort of internal power station.”

From liveabout.com:

“Research at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab suggested that the subconscious can indeed affect electronic devices. Subjects are able to influence the random generations of a computer far more than would occur merely by chance. This research — and research being conducted at other laboratories around the world — are beginning to reveal, in scientific terms, the reality of such psychic phenomena as ESP, telekinesis and soon, perhaps, SLI. (Note: the PEAR lab did not specifically research SLI, and the research facility has since been closed.)

Although the SLI effect is not a conscious one, some SLIders report that when it does occur, they often are in an extreme emotional state. A state of anger or stress is often cited as the “cause.” SLIder Debbie Wolf, a British barmaid, told CNN, “When it happens is when I’m stressed about something. Not really manically stressed, just when I’m really mulching something over, really chewing something over in my head, and then it happens.”

There is a chance that it’s just a coincidence, but the amount of people talking about this happening to them, I believe it’s possible that it’s not only in line with things like ESP and Telekinesis, but that it could very well be a sort of evolution for the human race. What do you think? Are you part of the SLIders crew? Have you experienced anything like this?