Photo of a beam of light emanating from the sky or ground.

[Birdie]

This is from the Coast website, but I found it to be interesting:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/view/mysterious_beam_of_light/66425

The photo is super blurry, but still compelling. My husband pointed out that the beam appears to be coming from the ground, not the sky, due to the way it seems to be dissipating at the highest points. Or maybe it just looks that way because of the dark conditions and use of a cell phone camera. The guy's story sounds good, but you never know....
No mention of cattle mutilation in the area, but that was my first thought.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

This is from the Coast website, but I found it to be interesting:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/view/mysterious_beam_of_light/66425

The photo is super blurry, but still compelling. My husband pointed out that the beam appears to be coming from the ground, not the sky, due to the way it seems to be dissipating at the highest points. The guy's story sounds good, but you never know....
No mention of cattle mutilation in the area, but that was my first thought.

bright flashes do funny things with phone images.

El Castillo

http://www.livescience.com/18692-mayan-light-beam-photo.html

the sheep did it. 

[Yorkshire pud]

This is from the Coast website, but I found it to be interesting:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/view/mysterious_beam_of_light/66425

The photo is super blurry, but still compelling. My husband pointed out that the beam appears to be coming from the ground, not the sky, due to the way it seems to be dissipating at the highest points. Or maybe it just looks that way because of the dark conditions and use of a cell phone camera. The guy's story sounds good, but you never know....
No mention of cattle mutilation in the area, but that was my first thought.

Whatever it is, it isn't a beam of light. It looks as if it could be a hair or thread that is stuck near the lens and is illuminated by the flash. The illuminated foreground (the animals) from the camera flash is bang in the middle of where the 'beam' is. It's worth remembering (Technical bit) that the lens on phones is wide angle, so things not so far away, look far away. Consequently although a thread would be out of focus close to the lens, if the bottom of the thread is stuck to just below the lens, the top is about an inch or so away thus causing the dissipation of light.

That's my theory anyway.