Flat Earth theory lost me after I saw a sunset over Lake Michigan

Honestly, I used to buy into the whole flat earth thing for like 6 months back in 2021. What finally convinced me to drop it was driving up to Grand Haven with my buddy last summer. We watched the sun set over the lake, and I swear I could see the bottom of the sun disappear first, then the top. I pulled out my phone with this cheap telescope attachment and filmed it, and you could literally see the curve of the horizon take it out from the bottom up. Tried the same thing with a laser pointer and a friend in a boat a quarter mile out, and the light vanished before he said it should have. Anyone else here ever test the horizon thing for real and come away doubting the flat model?

2 comments

2 Comments

valgibson24d ago

Oh man, that Grand Haven spot is gorgeous. I took a similar video once and then spent a whole afternoon convincing myself it was just a weird atmospheric trick with light bending over the water.

lee_ward5424d ago

I did the same thing off a lake up in Minnesota, specifically Lake Mille Lacs, back in fall 2022. Drove out to a public access point with a buddy and a cheap laser we borrowed from his work. We had him take his dad's pontoon out maybe a half mile, and I shined the laser at him from shore. He said he saw the beam just cut off around chest height, even though the laser was pointed straight at him. I tried it again with a different laser I bought off Amazon for 20 bucks a week later, and same thing happened. That was the final nail for me with the flat earth stuff. The geometry just doesn't hold up when you can see the actual curve taking the light away.