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The Ancient Stones of Wales – Chris Barber and John Godfrey Williams
Chapter 17  STRANGE LIGHTS AND OBJECTS

" Fogging on photographs has been allied to the quartz composition of many standing stones or to the current transmitted by them."  Paul Screeton

Our prehistoric stone monuments are regarded by many people as large lumps of sterile and useless stone which are merely blots on the rural landscape. There are hardly any notable paintings of these Welsh monuments before 1900 and some of the pencil or charcoal drawings of them have been found to be unreliable representations. So unfortunately there is no real basis for comparing the results of some recent photographs which show strange patches of light or unexplained objects in the sky.

The few available photographs of these monuments taken before 1900 involved long-time exposures and the printed results generally lack detail. Since 1900, photography has greatly improved and some pictures showing strange light effects have been obtained. Unfortunately these have often been discarded and destroyed by the photographers who dismissed them as dud results. It should be realised that the camera, operating at very fast speeds and having a greater range of vision than the average human being, is capable of recording something that is not visible to the naked eye.

A second look should be given to the local legends which feature movement of these prehistoric stones or odd things happening in their vicinity. Usually they are treated as humorous, but silly folklore, but it is possible that these tales may help to provide an explanation for the increasing number of photographs taken which show things that the photographer did not observe when he took the picture. On seeing the results, the immediate reaction is that there is a fault with the camera or the film.