‘It was a little surreal’: Meteor lights up the sky over Vancouver Island

Comox resident Mike Hall describes the meteor that roused him from bed shortly after midnight Wednesday.

Possibilities flashed through Mike Hall’s head as quickly as the light flashed outside his bedroom window.

It reminded him of the searchlights he used to use in the coast guard auxiliary. It called to mind images of a major police operation in his backyard. He even briefly wondered if it was “the second coming of the big guy.”

Once he saw the video from his wildlife camera, he thought it might be a plane crash.

“It was a little surreal,” the Comox resident told CTV News, describing the moment just after midnight Wednesday when a meteor lit up the night sky overhead.

Videos shared with CTV News show the streak from a variety of angles, captured on dashcams and home security systems around the region.

Hall was in bed, facing the bedroom window, which he described as having “very dark, thick wood blinds that were shuttered closed.”

“It doesn’t let a lot of light in,” he said. “All of a sudden, a bright light flashed and it startled me because it kind of lit the room and it was very brief.”

Some additional flashes followed, conjuring the searchlight memories and sending him rushing to check his camera.

“I’ll be honest, it was unsettling,” Hall said. “I thought there was some major activity, whether it was police or—like, I couldn’t describe it. I thought somebody was trying to light up our home in the back.”

He went to share his video with local Facebook groups and soon found that others had seen the same thing, describing it as a “bolide”—a particularly bright meteor.

CTV News has reached out to experts for more information on the phenomenon and this story will be updated if responses are received.

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