Published: Less than 50 min ago
An asteroid? Aliens? Vecna from Stranger Things?
All guesses were wrong.
The shocking pink glow came from a cultivation that was supposed to be kept secret.
Tammy Szumovski in Mildura, South Australia thought the time of the apocalypse had arrived when the night sky suddenly lit up on Wednesday.
But she kept the mask in front of her children.
– I told them it’s nothing to be afraid of, but inside I just thought: What the hell is that? she tells the BBC.
Another Mildura resident, Nikea Champion, initially thought the glow was from a lunar eclipse. Then she realized that the light was coming from the ground.
– All possible doomsday scenarios went through my head. I got strong vibes from Stranger Things and was like: Is that you, Vecna? she tells the BBC in a clear reference to the evil character in the Netflix series.
Top secret for security reasons
The glowing pink sky phenomenon turned out to be from plant lighting at a cannabis farm.
Normally, blackout panels are raised at night, but something caused them to malfunction on Wednesday, the company that runs the farm said.
The cloud cover that lay over the area on Wednesday then acted as a large reflector screen and created a “sunset on steroids”, writes the BBC.
Medical cannabis has been legal in Australia since 2016 and since then around 260,000 doses have been prescribed.
There are only a few plantations in the country. Their location is top secret for security reasons, but as the BBC notes, this particular farm’s position will be difficult to hide in the future.
Tammy Szumovski and Nikea Champion both had a good laugh when they learned what was behind the sky phenomenon.
– When the first panic subsided, it hit me how beautiful it was. They should do it more often, says Tammy Szumovski.