On Wed, 16 May 2012, [email protected] wrote:
Perhaps it has to do with the "fair weather" current, or in this case "field". By walking toward the lamp the top of your head brings the "ground" closer to the lamp (because your body is filled with salt water, which is a reasonable conductor), thus changing the static field. The resultant high voltage change may be enough to trigger the circuitry of the lamp, causing it to turn on.
In that case, the effect would follow certain streetlights (not reported,) and wouldn't follow certain rare people (commonly reported.) Control for very unusual height, rare types of shoe soles, etc. One of the common stories is that a person turns off *strings* of streetlights one at a time as they pass under them.
If you notice a *single* streelight turn off, it might just be Anthropic Principle. Meaning, that streetlight is slowly turning on and off constantly, but you only notice this when you're walking underneath, and then wrongly ascribe the cause as being your proximity. Human presence causes the bulb to be noticed, because without nearby human presence, the bulb isn't noticed.
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