What Exactly is Angel Hair? We Analyze and Discuss This Mysterious Substance

Over the years, we’ve come across some rather interesting theories and ideas. From discussion about famous film creatures perhaps being real to looking at the validity of UFO stories, we’ve read a lot. However, one theme that recently kept creeping up in our readings that we had no knowledge of was something known as “Angel Hair”.

This is an interesting topic, but one we see glimpses of in the more advanced UFO groups. It’s not something we see used regularly. If you have heard the term before, but don’t know what it is, or would like to know, then keep reading on.

We’ll be breaking down the main reasons for the potential existence of this mysterious substance. We’ll also, crucially, be taking a closer look at the various reasons given for it being here in the first place. From a biological misshapen to ectoplasm, we’ll find out what people suggest Angel Hair might be in the first place.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting terms we’ve come across recently. It used to be a pretty major deal to many people, with the idea of Angel Hair being quite common. Like anything we find that cannot be conventionally explained, people had supernatural reasons for its existence.

Is that not the easiest way to blame anything, though? “It was the aliens!”

We want to look at reasons (rational or otherwise!) to try and determine just what it may be.

So, we’ll take as close a look as we can to help you;

• Understand what it is.
• The reasons why it may exist.
• The validity of links relating it to other sources and objects.

Not the Pasta

So, what is Angel Hair?

Also known as siliceous cotton, this is a deeply sticky material that is found semi-regularly across various locations. Many people see it as a kind of jelly-like substance, and it’s apparently disgusting to touch.

However, it’s main reason for existence is, according to theorists, to do with UFO sightings. ^[1] Others claim that it comes from a part of the Balloon Spider family. ^[2] We don’t know what’s more terrifying – gelatinous spiders, or aliens leaving behind goo.

The reason for the terms existence, though, is because this mysterious substance has a kind of web-like substance to it. So, it’s easy enough to see why it may be linked to a specific form of spider. The stringy and sticky substance makes it horrid to touch. At the same time, though, from a distance, it can look like large strands of hair.

It’s actually, at times, found to be the webbing of spiders who are migrating and moving dens. *shudders*.

Apparently, it also makes a rather quick exit from physicality. When it’s here, it evaporates very quickly once it has formed. For this reason, many people are sure it might not have something to do with spiders – spider webs don’t tend to disintegrate.

However, many sightings tend to hold some kind of religious significance. For example, it’s also apparently been spotted at locations where the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ have allegedly been spotted.

What the hell does that mean? Answers on a postcard, please!

As ever with religious-based conspiracy, there’s not a huge amount we can go on.

It’s an exciting idea, anyway. Whether this is a substance left behind by aliens, religious deities, shapeshifters or migrating spiders we aren’t sure. What we do know, however, is that this stuff is real.

It’s not one of those powderpuff theories where there is no photographic proof that it exists.

Look around, and you can find plenty of footage of this stuff. This then poses some very interesting questions regarding what it is, and why it forms in the first place. Many people are unsure as to why Angel Hair exists, even still.

What is its Makeup?

Well, the most common theory tends to be that it’s the dispensed gunk from an ionized air sleeting that comes from the electromagnetic fields from the UFO. ^[3] This is naturally a pretty plausible theory, as whatever these UFOs allegedly emit must leave something behind. Basically, people are claiming that it might be the UFO equivalent of leaving behind some form of ectoplasm. A byproduct needed to get here or stay in our atmosphere.

Whatever the reasons for its existence are, we know that it exists. However, the quest for information continues as people try and the exact way to start constructing theories as to what this may actually be.

Popular Sightings

History has been “blessed” with popular sightings of this particular object in the past. Some of the most popular sightings in the past tend to have been;

• Nuremberg, 1951. This is a pretty big phenomenon within the world of UFO sightings, and is one of the most famous of the time period. However, the first reporting during the 1951 Nuremberg Event was a landmark moment for the development of this theory. It started to pick up pace quite dramatically as time went on. This substance was apparently found all over the place here.
• The Miracle of the Sun, 1917. This took place in Fatima, Portugal. Immense solar activity took place in the sky for ten minutes, and many people – including Pope Pius XII – claimed to have seen it occur. Seemingly, people spotted it floating around afterward like debris.
• Oloron, 1952. This took place in France just one year after Nuremberg, and was one of the most repeated and commonly looked into events. People claimed to have seen what was just viewed as massive flakes falling from the sky, despite it being more or less cloudless. This was a very popular event of the time and was regularly used as “proof” that Angel Hair has fallen on Earth from supernatural causes.
• Venice, 1954. The 50s was a huge time for these sightings. Gennaro Lucetti and Petro Lastrucci allegedly seen two large, shining spindles moving across the sky and leaving behind this mysterious substance.
• The 1950s seen a huge amount of these stores, although the majority turned out to be spider webs. However, the vast majority of the discounted stories are not listed above as they come from Australia and New Zealand. These nations are “famed” for having larger than life insects and arachnids. Italy, Germany and France, though, are not.
• The latest finding was in 2014, when residents of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, spotted what they believed to be Angel Hair off in the distance.

As of yet, we don’t really know what each incident found. Details are sketchy and depending on what source you listen to, the event seems to change. Just like most old-school stories, the events are poorly chronicled.

Potential Explanations

As ever, there are numerous people trying to tell us that they have sussed out what the major issue is. So, we’ve taken a look at some of the most published and possible explanations. Though, we have to admit, many of them don’t feel particularly plausible – if any.

Spider-Man?

The first and most common theory is, as we touched on above, spider migration. The terrifying thing here is that some spiders travel by air when migrating (*bolts windows shut forever*). They move in large numbers, on what is essentially a massive glider made of cobwebs. Many times, it was found to be nothing more than this moving through the skies. Many times, smaller spiders have been located within the webbing as well.

In England, the most common solution would be the Linyphiidae spider. This is the most common spider that may have gossamer thread production as a possibility. However, not all sightings in England can be attributed to this. In other parts of the world like Australia, though, this is a common sight. They play host to many (desperately horrible) forms of spider in this part of the world.

Organism Creations

In Portugal in the late 1950s, some of this “Angel Hair” was collected to be analyzed. It was found by those who looked at it that it was either made by spiders, as suggested, or by another “single-cell” organism. What that means is that it might not be arachnids but another lifeform. Now, unless these aliens are running around as tiny single-cell forms, this would cast doubt on it being from an alien source at all.

However, is that making aliens too simplistic? Why says alien creature need to be sentient? This could be the creation of a creature we don’t quite understand.

Atmospheric Electricity

The most common theory outside of ‘dem spiders, though, is to look at atmospheric electricity. Apparently, it’s potentially possible for floating dust particles to become polarized and to join together. This would then create massive specs of dust that float around together as one. Naturally, this would be a pretty fair reason for these “hairs” to exist in the first place.

It’s also fairly plausible. There’s nothing too controversial about the idea this could happen. Simply shine a torch or move your hand quickly through a ray of light. See all that dust kicking up around you, particularly indoors?

Well, that could very easily be what we are looking for here. It’s not exactly the most ambitious or exciting conclusion, but more likely than some others. If you don’t want to go down the supernatural route then it’s about as likely as spiders. With so much dust in the sky, surely some of it might form as one?

Again, facts are thin on the ground with this one.

Vegetable Products

The closest we have to any kind of substantial proof, though, comes from 1917. ^[4] A testing lab in Lisbon looked at a sample that was found, and analyzed what they had discovered. Apparently, this substance that was found was consistent with natural white flakes. It had the same make-up and style, anyway.

This makes a very interesting addition, and should be considered as one of the more likely options if you aren’t inclined to believe it’s something from a different planet. Either way, it’s in the “likely” category.

Ionized Air

Another popular suggestions tends to be that it is nothing more than ionized air. ^[5] When it supposedly comes off the UFOs flying around, the ionization process makes it all move as one. It’s a bit ambitious and relies on the belief that UFOs both exist and are flying around, but it’s not impossible. It just has no scientific backing at present – but very few UFO theories ever do.

The other option is a gravitational field created by aliens. This would cause heavy atoms in the air to react and eventually force precipitation. However, these will eventually fall to the ground and dissolve as the ionization process wears off. That does fit with the makeup of this mysterious substance. However, with no proof that it comes from UFOs, we can’t say with any definition or certainty.

Is This Alive?

The most interesting recent discussion, though, was in the Metro, a UK-based newspaper. In a 2014 article, they noted that Angel Hair was found in the sky above Portugal ^[6] (again) and that locals sent it away to get analyzed. Curiously, though, in the article an unnamed local mentions that “It reacts to UV light. It comes alive.”

That is probably the closest we have ever heard to a reaction that implies it’s something else. We’ve never heard of dust particles and the like coming alive in the past, so it certainly adds a different flavor to proceedings at least in terms of theories.

The problem is that due to the rate of evaporation, they usually don’t have time to be analyzed properly. This time, though, it was locked away in time before it could begin to evaporate. And it introduced some VERY interesting ideas about what this may actually be.

To many people, these are either a byproduct of a UFO, or a byproduct of something we do. In the same Metro article, it mentions they could have something to do with chemtrails. It’s an outside line of thought, and one we’ve yet to ever see any kind of decent proof to back up, but one worth considering in the “perhaps” column.

The rapid return of these events, though, is something that is getting a lot of people interested again. We’d never really heard of the phenomenon until recently, but we’re beginning to notice a slow but steady return into the media of this kind of discussion.

So, what if there is something to it? What if this does come alive in some kind of capacity?

Well, would it even matter?

Would we ever see it categorically proven on mainstream press, anyway?

Another Intriguing Theory

When looking into the ideas for what the origin of this substance may be, we found a rather interesting website; UFO Case Book. One of the stories, though, from 2013, was related to Angel Hair specifically.

The author claims that in the 1950s, his friend was witness to two low-flying UFOs that left samples behind. The other encounter was his own, when a book he was reading was covered in the material, which was more or less absorbed into the book over time.

The book, symbolically, was called Toys in the Attic, and revolved around not being scared of the unknown. This story comes with some pretty interesting insights into the idea of Angel Hair that we hadn’t seen elsewhere.

He also claims that the main reason for a lack of stories these days about it comes due to a changing in propulsion system. It seems a bit weird that a species that could fly to our planet would only be capable of coming up with some form of propulsion that does not leave behind some kind of substance, but you never know.

It all starts to unravel a bit, though, when the page goes on about UFOs changing tact because they preferred us in a “more innocent time”. But, the content itself is well worth a read, if you’re intrigued on a rather interesting account. It’s hard to say if the author has any genuine proof of what he’s suggesting, but it’s still quite an interesting take on what is a perplexing topic.

The most interesting account on this page, though, is about the mix between plasma EM heating and radiation, when mixed with water and dust. It makes a substance which is very similar to Angel Hair, apparently.

The article quickly states that it does ‘nearly prove’ that the aliens are from a plasma world.

Whilst we aren’t so quick to start hopping onto the “it’s true!” bandwagon just yet, it’s a very interesting piece none the less.

Star Jelly

The last thing we want to look at regarding this strange and freaky substance is a related phenomenon, that of a product known as Star Jelly. Star Jelly is a deeply gelatinous substance that apparently lands on the Earth during meteor showers. It’s quite gray in style, looking like a piece of phlegm almost. However, it evaporates very quickly after falling to the ground.

Indeed, parts of this compound were found back as far as the 14^th Century, so it’s not exactly new. We wonder if any links exists between the two objects. With so many old references to unidentifiable produce, though, you would expect they come hand-in-hand.

The finding of Angel Hair is comparatively new, and this is far older. We expect that if there is combination or a connection between the two, nobody has yet to find it.

The Verdict

So, what do we make of this? We think that it’s a very awkward topic. Fair and honest evaluations exist of what the reasons for its existence may be within the confines of our reality. However, then other people have noted that tested samples were made from different genetic material to, say, a spider web.

That then casts doubt on how it was created in the first place. We just know that, looking at the various accounts and evidence, that Angel Hair isn’t always what it seems. Hopefully one day in the future we might have something a bit more cast-iron to go on. Until then we are left with speculation about its form and existence, with nothing else but speculation and hearsay!