Watch Live: Second House Hearing on IRS Scandal

Check Out Today’s Hot Posts on TheBlaze Blog!

Science

Purple Patch of Mysterious Jelly-Like Spheres Found in Ariz. Desert

Feb. 4, 2013 11:53am Liz Klimas

A few years ago, a strange orange goo was washing up on the shores of one Alaskan town — it was eventually identified as spores. Now there’s a similar baffling event in an equally confusing location — a patch of purple spheres has been found in the middle of the desert in Vail, Ariz.

KGUN 9 reported Gerardine Vargas and her husband stumbling upon the strange substance ”glittering in the sun” while they were taking pictures of the local area.

Purple Water Filled Spheres Found in Desert of Vail, Ariz.

(Photo: Gerardine Vargas/KGUN 9)

The spheres were only present in this one patch and were described by Vargas as watery and translucent. KGUN 9 went out to the location after Vargas alerted them to it and described them as “like gooey marbles that ooze out a water substance when squished.” The station called them “out of this world.”

(Photo: Gerardine Vargas/KGUN 9)

That’s not to say they’re the spawn of aliens. Vargas told KGUN 9 she emailed photos to a zoologist friend, who couldn’t identify them. The news station contacted Darlene Buhrow, director of marketing at Tucson Botanical Gardens, whose husband, a botanist, said if it is not an artificial product, it could be slime mold or jelly fungus.

(Photo: Gerardine Vargas/KGUN 9)

Some called into the station speculating the spheres were water-filled balls for plants, like HydroBubbles (see pictures of the product here) or Eco-Waterbeads.

Watch the report:

(H/T: Daily Mail)

Benghazi, IRS, AP...What's next? Only TheBlaze TV offers the truth from Glenn Beck, Andrew Wilkow, and Real News from TheBlaze. Get instant access and a free trial here.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (137)

The_Cabrito_Goat
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:59pm
Breakfast

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- LogCabinRepublican
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:19pm
  Water Polymer balls – http://bit.ly/VFoyiM Someone obviously dumped them in the desert to see how long they would last
  
  Report this comment
- White Devil
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:33pm
  Yes, they are just a polymer. Ever heard of SoilMoist, if any of you are gardeners? Super expensive but you mix in a certain ratio with your potting soil so that your potted plants don’t dry out so quickly. This is just the exact same thing- only SoilMoist is in little crystalline chunks and these are spherical. I’m really not quite sure why this is even newsworthy, Blaze.
  
  Report this comment
- JohnnyinthePedros
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 5:40pm
  Unicorn poop.
- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 6:24pm
  Maybe someone was experimenting with planting Pot in the Desert
  
  Report this comment
- DaddyDave
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 6:27pm
  There was a program recently on that was describing, a jelly like substance that was “mysteriously” turning up in Scotland/England. Turned out it was an excretion from frogs that they release when they lay eggs or are stressed. It is very water absorbent. Probably something similar with one of the reptiles of the desert.
  
  Report this comment
- OUTRIDER WRITER
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 6:42pm
  @JOHNNY….PEDROS
  Very clever!
  
  Report this comment
- OklahomaBound
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 7:48pm
  The eco-terrorists will proclaim it an endangered substance, no one is allowed to live in AZ anymore…..except illegals, they can live and do anything they want.
  
  Report this comment
- Gold Coin & Economic News
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 8:04pm
  Where is Alex Jones when you need him?
  
  Report this comment
- TROONORTH
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 8:39pm
  DO NOT GO TO SLEEP BESIDE THEM!
  Whatever you do, do not go to sleep beside them. Oh yes, and wrap your head in tin foil to protect your brain.
  
  Report this comment
- REAL
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 9:38pm
  Al Gore threw up …
  
  Report this comment
- burnteye86
  Posted on February 5, 2013 at 4:24am
  Whit devil, I’ll tell you why it’s newsworthy. It’s because everybody isn’t a genius like you. You’d think someone as smart as you wouldn’t have to be told that.
  
  Report this comment
- jwhershey
  Posted on February 5, 2013 at 4:03pm
  Manna?
  
  Report this comment
- Mojoron
  Posted on February 5, 2013 at 5:18pm
  Bodysnatchers
  
  Report this comment
- The_Cabrito_Goat
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:56pm
  Manna is blue :P
  
  Report this comment
stang289
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:55pm
http://metabunk.org/threads/411-Debunked-Strange-Blue-Sphere-s-Fall-Over-England-2012 debunked

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- RhonLips
  Posted on February 5, 2013 at 10:04am
  This particular sighting may be what the link claims but my experience was NOT polymer. It happened last spring and summer, 3x, in my yard after a rain. I’m going with the frog explaination.
  
  Report this comment
Fubared
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:53pm
Some damn Texan field dressed another Barney out in the open instead of a dry branch.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- pragmaticpatriot
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 5:44pm
  i dont care who you are that there is funny
  
  Report this comment
- Rafterc4
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 7:38pm
  I have been trying to fill my Barney tag for years. Damn the luck!
  
  Report this comment
- Ruckus_Tom
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 8:33pm
  I love you. You love me.
  Let’s hang Barney from a tree.
  String’em up, spin’em round
  Beat him with a stick.
  Then cut off his purple Johnson.
  
  Report this comment
- AMERICA4EVER
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 9:29pm
  Soilent purple.
  
  Report this comment
justangry
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:51pm
They look like my daughter’s Orbeez.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- VanishingFreedom
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 1:06pm
  Yep, got a lamp full of them right here
  
  Report this comment
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:40pm
What is the big deal, these spheres are used to water plants…nothing unusual about them.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- neidermeyer
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 8:21pm
  Agreed , super absorbent polymer , used to retain water in potting soil or absorb pee in diapers. The purple color could be a liquid fertilizer or grape cool-aid…
  
  Report this comment
EPROM
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:33pm
Well, Okay, ….Barney the Dinosaur took a dump out in the desert! …What’s the big deal?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
HYPNOTOAD
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:32pm
Reminds me of the strange pods that the secret service found under obama’s bed.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- White Devil
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:35pm
  hehehehe :) pods? what pods? *sweeps pod under couch with foot*
  
  Report this comment
landowner
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:32pm
Low information voter brains!!!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
DoctorRon
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:23pm
It is obviously where a UFO dumped its sewage tank.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- tiki886
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 1:54pm
  Or a new method to transport meth and coke. If it is, someone’s going to die for losing a load.
  
  Report this comment
HOOT_OWL
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:21pm
Hey Marge ..! They found the GOP’S Kahonas..!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Cosmo007
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 1:44pm
  You must think that term comes from Hawaii, you dummy.
  
  Report this comment
- gryffn
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 2:28pm
  try cojones
  
  Report this comment
- chips1
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:19pm
  You’re a Hoot.
  
  Report this comment
Tri-ox
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:21pm
Annunaki Caviar.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Tri-ox
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:31pm
  (let me try that again … )
  
  Anunnaki Caviar.
  
  (that’s better)
  
  Report this comment
searching for the Truth
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:18pm
The invasion of the purple people eaters.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:15pm
Ewww! It looks like that crapp on obama’s crack pipe burned lips.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Daniel
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:15pm
OH-MY-GOD!!!! It’s GLOBAL WARMING!!!! Run for your lives!!!!! The End is NEAR!!!!

Sound a little like a liberal don’t I. LOL

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
txannie
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:15pm
You can buy these things in all colors to set your flowers in. You soak little grains in water and they grow to orbs that release the moisture slowly for the plants. Some of the coyotes have told the illegals they are guiding to fill their milk jugs with them and then water so they will last longer, then when they try to drink they find out it is now right next to impossible. I personally think someone found out the hard way that they didn’t work like the coyote said they would and poured them out and someone found them before they were completely dried out and desicated again.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- CanteenBoy
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:46pm
  Ding! We have a winner!
  
  Report this comment
- Blivit
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 1:38pm
  vail is about 40 air miles from the border, an awfully long distance to carry jugs full of undrinkable water.
  
  Report this comment
- Cosmo007
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 1:50pm
  Instead of a canteen, it looks more like a backpack or large trash bag full of them. Besides it would be hard to get the filled ones out of the canteen.
  
  Report this comment
- nonofmybiznez
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 2:22pm
  Yep, it rained pretty good last week here in AZ and they probably rehydrated. We have lots of illegals trampling through the desert don’t you know.
  
  Report this comment
- nonofmybiznez
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 2:24pm
  They can also be used in neck wraps to keep you cool. In the dry heat any moisture will keep you cool. I have neck wraps with them inside.
  
  Report this comment
- lobster
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:11pm
  Correction Vail is closer to seventy miles from the Nogales entrance. Vail is just straight East of Tucson, the Kremlin West.
  
  Report this comment
- txannie
  Posted on February 5, 2013 at 11:17am
  @blivit…they carry them a whole lot farther than that. They don’t have canteens and they don’t stop at any stations to get water out of a spigot so they won’t get caught. We’ve seen them string gallons of milk jugs on a rope and carry them over their shoulders. I think the coyotes’ know you can’t drink the water after they fill them with the polymer beads and hope they will not make it out of the desert so they can rob them of the rest of their money. It happens. Some coyotes are more dangerous than being caught by border patrol.
  
  Report this comment
Skeeterhawk
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:12pm
Whatever it is it will be regulated and restricted or banned by the end of the week. There will be a 7 slime ball limit on anyone trying to posses them. The person that found it will be on the no fly list and they will have drones flying over their home forever more. Additionally, all motor vehicle traffic will be banned for a one hundred mile radius around the slime until a multimillion dollar environmental impact study can be made to determine how many other regulations and laws can be conceived to “save the slime balls.” (not in Congress, these in the article.) Within the hour there will be 35 web sites dedicated to saving the slime balls. King Obama will say, “I use slime balls all the time. They are surround me.” And he will be right.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- gryffn
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 2:31pm
  How long before they are used to photoshop you-know-which-picture.
  
  Report this comment
- chips1
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:24pm
  Is it better than Preparation H?
  
  Report this comment
- starman70
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:40pm
  OOOOOPS! someone mixed Purple Power cleaner with gooey plastic. Being afraid that they might be mistaken for explosives, ODUMMER issued Executive Order # 125,786,371,485 to declare the site off limits and prevent the use of Purple Power cleaner to clean out the Senate and the House.
  
  Report this comment
chips1
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:11pm
They are just trying to scare you. It’s really the blue ones that are dangerous.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
AbrahamsSheepdog
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:11pm
They hold water out there? Weird. Looks like trash at campsite almost

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
CanteenBoy
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:10pm
Space Balls!!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
walnutportconservative
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:07pm
Jellyfish

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Sargon
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:07pm
Someone from CNN will say that its a by product of fracking.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- gbo
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 3:40pm
  Hard to believe, but that person from CNN would be absolutely right. They are fracking slime balls.
  
  Report this comment
- pragmaticpatriot
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 5:49pm
  u saying Cylons found the Earth? and they are Liberals??
  
  Report this comment
qpwillie
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:02pm
It could be liberal eggs. Don’t they spawn around this time of the year?

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Cavallo
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:24pm
  Late bloomers. It’s when the swearing in ceremonies are for congress critters and Marxist autocratic dictators soiling the white house.
  
  Report this comment
aproudinfidel
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:01pm
Oh good, another threat to be concerned with…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Big Media Bias
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:00pm
I would roll in them naked

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- qpwillie
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:05pm
  LOL! Please don’t feel compelled to post any pictures of that.
  
  Report this comment
huey6367
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 11:57am
They look like the little spheres in that thing I bought at the grocery store that smells good. Someone probably dumped trash there. It is next to a road.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- matt_c
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 12:10pm
  That’s what it looks like to me too. That sort of stuff they sell at Bed Bath and Beyond
  
  Report this comment
- OccamsSword
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 8:34pm
  Bathsalts and Shrooms hybrid.
  
  Report this comment

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.