Experience with balls of light

[Pigsinzen]

Between 2012 & 2013 my wife and I witnessed some interesting aerial phenomena near our home in Central Florida. On four occasions we witnessed what appeared to us to be a single small orange ball of light that passed over our property. They each moved at different speeds and were witnessed at a distance of between 25 & 50 yards. The sightings were usually between 7 & 10 seconds in duration. They were unlike anything I'd seen before and did not appear to be chinese lanterns, aircraft, or fireworks (though I do not rule out the possibility of a prosaic explanation). The color wasn't dull but wasn't sparkling either. There was no noise and we witnessed no smoke or flames and they did not speed up, slow down or make sharp turns. They usually passed over the house in what appeared to be close proximity headed from west to east. We lived at the bottom of a small ridge close to a lake. I contacted Mufon and spoke with a representative who suggested chinese lanterns after a brief interview.

I see satellites passing overhead regularly and even the ISS occasionally. I say this because the balls of orange light were traveling at a very low altitude usually under cloud cover. My wife and I watched a program detailing the investigation into the Hessdalen lights and though it wasn't identical to our sighting(s) it was similar. I'm interested in your feedback and any possible theories.

 

[marduk]

Ball lightning maybe?

Descriptions of ball lightning vary widely. It has been described as moving up and down, sideways or in unpredictable trajectories, hovering and moving with or against the wind; attracted to,[36] unaffected by, or repelled from buildings, people, cars and other objects. Some accounts describe it as moving through solid masses of wood or metal without effect, while others describe it as destructive and melting or burning those substances. Its appearance has also been linked to power lines[37] as well as during thunderstorms and also calm weather. Ball lightning has been described as transparent, translucent, multicolored, evenly lit, radiating flames, filaments or sparks, with shapes that vary between spheres, ovals, tear-drops, rods, or disks.[38]

Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's fire. They are separate and distinct phenomena.[39]

The balls have been reported to disperse in many different ways, such as suddenly vanishing, gradually dissipating, absorption into an object, "popping," exploding loudly, or even exploding with force, which is sometimes reported as damaging. Accounts also vary on their alleged danger to humans, from lethal to harmless.

A review of the available literature published in 1972[40] identified the properties of a “typical” ball lightning, whilst cautioning against over-reliance on eye-witness accounts:

• They frequently appear almost simultaneously with cloud-to-ground lightning discharge
• They are generally spherical or pear-shaped with fuzzy edges
• Their diameters range from 1–100 cm, most commonly 10–20 cm
• Their brightness corresponds to roughly that of a domestic lamp, so they can be seen clearly in daylight
• A wide range of colours has been observed, red, orange, and yellow being the most common.
• The lifetime of each event is from 1 second to over a minute with the brightness remaining fairly constant during that time
• They tend to move, most often in a horizontal direction at a few metres per second, but may also move vertically, remain stationary or wander erratically.
• Many are described as having rotational motion
• It is rare that observers report the sensation of heat, although in some cases the disappearance of the ball is accompanied by the liberation of heat
• Some display an affinity for metal objects and may move along conductors such as wires or metal fences
• Some appear within buildings passing through closed doors and windows
• Some have appeared within metal aircraft and have entered and left without causing damage
• The disappearance of a ball is generally rapid and may be either silent or explosive
• Odors resembling ozone, burning sulfur, or nitrogen oxides are often reported

Ball lightning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia​

 

[Stagger Lee]

The "orange glow" does sound like Chinese lanterns. I watched one float over my house last summer- and you have described it perfectly. After it passed over me, it just blinked out with a bit of a flicker. I was at first excited to have seen my first UAP(I use that term only because it was obviously not any craft) but having researched these lanterns, I am sure that was exactly what I saw. Not to mention there were some fireworks coming from that direction earlier in the evening.

 

[Randall]

Between 2012 & 2013 my wife and I witnessed some interesting aerial phenomena near our home in Central Florida. On four occasions we witnessed what appeared to us to be a single small orange ball of light that passed over our property. They each moved at different speeds and were witnessed at a distance of between 25 & 50 yards ...

The growing popularity of civilian remote controlled drones is adding yet another layer of ambiguity to contemporary UFO sightings. Recently here on Canada Day, the local RC guys who have their mini airport across the street from us put on a night display by illuminating one craft with red and blue LED lights. These small craft can operate very quietly and it is conceivable that at a distance of 50 yards, you wouldn't hear one unless you had very keen hearing and the ambient noise was very low. The spherical shape could have just been the way the drone superstructure was designed:

 

[Polterwurst]

The "orange glow" does sound like Chinese lanterns..

That used to be my my reasoning, too. But the color features also in foo fighter and other historical reports, especially if you include color descriptions like "amber", "golden" and "fiery", as I found out collecting sighting reports for my nocturnal lights thread. Some of these descriptions absolutely don't allow for sky lanterns, even though these would have been a possibility in historical times, too.

Btw., it seems that white light shining through fog or smoke becomes yellowish or even orangish too, but the orange color is also described in close-up sightings with clear weather and no smoke or fog around. I'm no physics espert, but I guess that means that the color comes from whatever gas or "fuel" is being burnt or ionized (?)

Nowadays I ask if the light seemed to be flickering like a candle flame, before concluding or excluding "sky lanterns".

This footage of orange lights seems to be genuine, IMO. If they are sky lanterns, there would have to have been some larger-scale festivity in the area. But it's not impossible, I guess. While these lanterns are outlawed in most european states now, some people might still use them. I've just heard of a sighting in Austria, exactly like the one in the video, from May of this year, with probably more than 50 individual lights, which also didn't feature unusual manoeuvers or extreme speeds, but allegedly they kept a rectangle (not perfect but quite steady) "formation".

@Pigsinzen: is this similar to what you and your wife were seeing? I guess your conclusion that it couldn't have been chinese lanterns, has to do with the lights being rather unlike (flickering) candle flames?

 

[Pigsinzen]

Thank you for the feedback. It's unfortunate that I was unable to film them. Had I been able to do so, I'm sure we'd have more to talk about.

Polterwurst, the objects in the video you provided are similar in color and shape, but move much slower.

Several of the characteristics of ball lightning listed by Marduk match up with the lights we witnessed. I recall at least two of the sightings took place on very overcast and damp evenings under thick cloud cover.

 

[Fedora Chronicles]

Every experience I've had with Balls of Light were during late-night hikes and they happened so quickly I hardly had the time to notice them. Are they real, or are they artifacts that come from my glasses and the flashlight I'm carrying? The only time I know they're real is if I'm with someone who sees them too.