Biggest Conspiracy Theory Surrounding Shreveport: The Barksdale Bubble
Does our Air Force Base really control the weather around us? It's been dubbed the Barksdale Bubble, and I think it's as real as it gets.
Last year, I made a really big deal about the Barksdale Bubble. In a way, it was a joke, but even at the time I believe it had some truth in it. Time and time again, I would see rather large storms coming straight to Shreveport, and time and time again I would watch on the radar as the storm separated once it got to Shreveport, then regroup once it passed. After I gave the Barksdale Bubble it's first real run of publicity, I feel like I kind of became an ambassador for this Bubble, or whatever it actually is. Every single day I would get tagged on Facebook from someone else who noticed the Bubble phenomenon on their own radar.
My phone continues to light up to this day from people sharing their own Barksdale Bubble pictures and theories. Some people have just recently heard about this conspiracy theory, while others had been believers for many years. Some people think that Barksdale actually possesses a weather controlling device, while others simply think it's just a geography thing.
I even had meteorologists from Barksdale anonymously call me to set the record straight. Two meteorologists to be exact, but both had completely different answers. One, who is currently stationed at Barksdale disputed the entire thing by saying nothing exists and it's simply a crazy rumor spread by guys like me. The other, who is retired now, had something much more interesting to say, and something I've believed ever since.
He told me that Barksdale does not have an actual device that can control the weather, instead, he insisted that the reason so many storms separate at Shreveport, is because Barksdale has so much concrete. He says it was a common occurrence for them to track storms coming, just to watch as they "bubble" around Shreveport then reconnect on the other side. He said that on base at that time, it was common knowledge that this was due to all of the concrete. He also said that you can find the same type of weather occurrences around towns that hold NASCAR races and even other Air Force Bases.
To date, he's the only person I've met that presented a believable theory pertaining to Shreveport's greatest conspiracy theory.
At this point, everyone knows about the Barksdale Bubble, and believe it or not, the majority of Shreveporter's believe that the Bubble exists, in one way or another. Last year, I posted a poll that received thousands of votes, asking if people believe in the Barksdale Bubble or not. Surprisingly, the poll closed with 58% of Ark-La-Tex residents voting "Yes".
Without a doubt, Barksdale Air Force Base is helping us in some way. Maybe they actually do control the weather, because that is easily the most interesting story. The boring, but very believable story is that maybe it simply comes down to all that concrete helping us out some way.
Either way, I think we're past the point of "coincidence", the Barksdale Bubble definitely exists (in some way), and we should all be thankful for it.