Case file · High strangeness
Smythe's 'pulsating teapots' on Everest
Climbing alone high on Everest's north face in June 1933, Frank Smythe saw two dark objects like kite balloons, one with stubby wings and one with a beak, pulsing in the sky, and felt an invisible companion beside him.
1933 CE · 28.00, 86.93 · status: account
The account
Smythe was a careful observer and wrote it all down. His teammates joked about 'Frank's pulsating teapots'. The sense of an unseen partner is now known as the 'third man factor' and is reported by many climbers in extreme conditions.
The sceptical view
Hypoxia at about 8,500 m causes hallucinations and the felt-presence effect; the objects may also have been lenticular cloud or an optical effect.