Weird little ball of light?

Question

A couple of weeks ago, I was standing at my sliding doors watching the dogs outside. The temps were in the teens with lows in single digits at night. Anyways, from no where, a small ball of bluish white light with a trail behind flew through my yard at about 5 feet off the ground. it was probably going 60 to 80 mph(I used to calibrate speedometers for ford motor company)

Now had I alone seen this I would figure I was just seeing things. But at the same moment, my beagle watched it go by just as I was watching it. since dogs eyesight is far superior to any humans, i trust him and he does not believe in paranormal nor is he a skeptic, no axes to grind. Anyways, what do you think it was?

serious answers only. the skeptics who know me will know, I would not post a question about this if i was not very serious about this happening.

Answer 1

i heard the same story from my friend in bikol province,Philippines.it might be an unusual being are in that vicinity trying to send signals to humans residing there.it is white therefore it is on the good side.the story i heard from bikol is worse cause white and black white appeared fighting each other and this means that the calamity for that area is at hand !i know what it is-volcanic eruption!so it is better to watch your place what possible events that may happen there in the near future!

Answer 2

I dont think anyone can tell you exactly what it was,

I had sort of the same thing happen here at my home a couple of years ago..(one of the most AWESOME things i have ever seen) I was in my bedroom sitting on my bed, my bed room window was open, The biggest ball of really bright white light, flew through my window, across my bed, out my door, through the house, entering and exitting through all my door ways, through the front lounge, and out a closed window...Lucky i had a person sleeping on my couch in the front lounge where it flew through and out...he saw it to...The inside of my house looked like it lit up like a sports stadium, as it flew through...personally i believed it to be an angel, cause on the moment it happened, i was having some terrible thoughts, and it stopped me in my path.....just awesome, that will never leave my mind.....and no it wasnt ball lightning lol (my bed would of been fried along with the inside of my house) ...and thats another thing, it flew straight beside me actually touchiing the bed as it flew past, and i felt nothing, just the bright glare of it from my eyes.....all i can say is awesome.....

Answer 3

Hmm.  I saw something very similar in 1993 while I was living in Virginia.  It was while at a piano-burning party (yes, they have such things in Virginia!)  The party was well-populated with 40 or 50 people there, all witnesses. It was a dark, cold, clear night with no wind.  

What we saw was a bright blue ball of light with a tail and also with what looked like sparks from a 4th of July sparkler shooting from the rear.  It appeared to be the size of a softball and was about 4 feet off the ground, moving very slowly, in a horizontal line.  It looked to be floating.  There was no sound.  I could have caught it if it didn't freak me out so much.  It traveled for about 50 yards and then "went out". Poof!  Or disappeared.  Or whatever.

In the morning we noted that there were several reports of the same types of balls floating alongside cars on I-95.  The news reported that they were being attributed to meteorites since there was a mega meteor shower that night.  I have always wondered.  

I will never forget it.

Answer 4

Its just ball lightning

Answer 5

Ball lightning doesn't necessarily have to form during thunderstorms as I've made it several times accidentally.  Cold dry conditions are very conducive to electrical phenomena that might seem unusual.  What would seem unusual is for ball lightning to travel in a straight line.  May I ask if there are power lines or a metal fence near your property?  How about a buried sewer or cold water pipe below it's path?  

Now IF your property sits on a fault line that goes straight across your yard, you may have been seeing a so-called "earthquake light."  Of this, I know nothing but what I've seen in documentaries.

Answer 6

Satellites have recently accidentally photographed (as you accidentally witnessed your ball of light) previously unknown electrical phenomena above thunderstorms [1, 2, 3, 4].  Their occurrence above thunderstorms seems to imply that they are related to lightning (i.e. they're electrical in nature), though apparently more rare.

Another high-altitude flash was recorded by Space Shuttle Columbia over the Indian Ocean three years ago where no thunderstorm was present [5].  Electrical phenomena definitely do exist then, and no one should be spoken down to for observations of the thus-far unexplained.  Who is to say that similar electrical phenomena could not occur near Earth's surface where there exist appropriate differences in charge?

Unexplained electrical effects, in fact, are not limited to the upper atmosphere.  Two years ago, a mysterious ocean glow, long rumored by sailors, was captured by a satellite lasting a full 3 days [6]!  (Some scientists have theorized that it was produced by light-emitting bacteria feeding on a type of algae that has in fact been verified to exist in that area.)  

Satellites can more easily capture phenomena occurring in the upper atmosphere or on a very large scale on Earth's surface (but not a small ball of light in your backyard, unfortunately).  However, this in no way implies that smaller electrical disturbances such as you witnessed are not real.  In fact, the proven existence of such phenomena in the upper atmosphere and on large scales would lead us to expect similar phenomena on a smaller scale where satellites can't detect them.

One natural occurence that can create significant electrical charges on Earth is the piezoelectric effect, discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie in 1880.  It's produced by crystals such as quartz found commonly in nature upon contracting, expanding, or otherwise experiencing friction (such as experienced in the Earth by changing temperatures). [7]  An area containing a lot of quartz, salt, or other naturally occurring crystals might generate enough charge to produce such balls of light.

Of course, temperature changes rapidly after sunset -- especially in deserts.  The famous Marfa lights [8] occur both in a desert and in an area containing a high concentration of quartz, which would seem to provide the perfect setting for ball lightning such as that photographed recently above thunderstorms.  Do the ground, hills, mountains, etc. near your house have a lot of quartz, salt, or any other form of crystal?  Your occurrence was in early afternoon rather than at night, but it was a cold afternoon, and early afternoon experiences a rapid warming followed by cooling -- especially on cold days such as that.

If that fails to suffice, was there a thunderstorm miles away that you might not have heard?  Some charges have been known to shoot off in odd directions.  If there was such a storm, out of curiosity, I'd like to know how the streak was oriented relative to your local magnetic lines of force (even if there wasn't a storm, this would be interesting information to collect).

Was there any moving reflective device like a car nearby or moving light-emitting source and stationary reflective device?  Temperature gradients such as between the warm earth and cooler atmosphere might suffice to cause unrecognizable distortions such as Fata Morgana or Fata Bromosa [9].  The simplest of all explanations is some type of distorted reflection or refraction [10].

I once saw a strange hovering/refracting light.  While driving in the left lane on the inside of a highway curve, a semi quickly came around in the oncoming lane to my left.  As I looked straight ahead and incidentally into its left headlight, a smaller light appeared to come out of its headlight and hover straight toward me.  I held the steering wheel firmly and briefly turned my head and closed my eyes -- it vanished.  I wonder if my experience might be explained by the curvature of my windshield and odd angle of approach toward the truck.  It was a very strange experience, and I was tired from a long drive.  My passenger saw it too, but being from a superstitious country, she later very loosely deduced (despite not being able to describe the location where it happened) from the stories of a bus driver that it was the ghost of someone who had been run over crossing the street.  However, the fact that the smaller light (with no definite shape) originated in the truck's headlight is strong evidence that this eerie experience was nothing more than refraction.  The apparent movement to the right is consistent with the angle of approach and the curvature of the glass.  The apparent distance between the light and headlight increased as the truck increased its angle to my left (and thereby the degree of curvature between its headlight and myself).  Everything is consistent with refraction, but it felt freaking eerie at the time, and I didn't figure it out until just now!  Hopefully, we'll figure yours out too.

Answer 7

Okay Nuff, here is some explanations from my point of view.

It could be Swamp gas or Ghost lights or Earth lights.

The separate life form theory contends that orbs are a race unto themselves, feeding off emotional energy.

The building block theory states that orbs are non-intelligent blobs of energy that are utilized by spirits in order to manifest. If enough orbs are present, a spirit can use them to form an apparition.

According to the nature spirit theory , orbs are ‘elf-lights’ and are strongly connected to trees and forests.

What it comes down to is this : No one really knows exactly what an orb is.

My personal opinion is that an orb is just one way a spirit can manifest in the physical universe.

Orbs often appear as a floating ball of light. Usually they are quite fast and follow an erratic flight pattern. They can vary in brightness. some are phosphorescent and perceivable to the naked eye, while others are dim and barely visible on film. They can be transparent, semi-transparent or solid. They can be round, oval, or uneven. And they show up in a lot of photographs. The only problem is there are a lot of things that can show up as orbs in photographs that have nothing to do with the paranormal.

There are many differing opinions on this, some people say all are real and others none. In my opinion, there are a few things to look for to determine the authenticity of an orb photograph.

1. A slightly ‘out of round’ orb is more likely to be real than a perfectly round one. Lens reflection causes perfectly round or geometrically precise shapes.

2. A trail or other indicator that the orb was in motion. An orb in motion is very likely real, a small trail can indicate this.

Earth lights are a rare anomalous light phenomenon, mistaken throughout history as dragons, UFOs, and ball lightning before being recognised as a separate category. One leading theory is that they are produced by tectonic strain in minor fault lines, so that they are literally generated by the earth.

In America they've been called "spooklights" or "ghost lights" since at least the 1950s, but Persinger and Lafrenière were the first scientists to recognise the phenomenon, in the late 1970s. The lights were renamed and brought to wider public attention by Paul Devereux in 1982 with his publication "Earth Lights".

They appear in many colours, shapes, and sizes, though the basketball-sized globular orange variety seems most common. Most sightings occur at night, when some lights can be seen from miles around. They're reported to be able to move against the wind and reach extraordinary speeds. Their terrestrial nature means that though many sightings are sporadic, there are some locations where they appear relatively often. It's through studying these hotspots, such as Hessdalen in Norway and the Engligh Pennines, that their characteristics become evident.

Answer 8

Nuff, I think I agree with Eri about it possibly being ball lightning. I say possibly because ball lightning as a naturally occurring phenomenon isn't well confirmed, but it seems plausible. If it wasn't ball lightning, I don't know what it would be except an extremely large and fast firefly (just kidding).

Answer 9

Colorado is very charged.  Plasma created by friction in quarts and magnetite can take on a life of its own.  Cold thin air is the best for hot magnetic fields...like throwing water on a hot wood stove.  If by chance it cooked the natural air around it, rolling in a straight line feet off the ground is nothing to the power of nature and her strange ways of living.

Answer 10

Cool. Did you see it go through the fence? Did it hit the fence and vanish? Did you look for any traces of material (or something like a scorch mark)?

I think ball lightning or maybe some type of weather inversion (not my area) would be theories but I wonder if the speed doesn't eliminate that.

If I were investigating it I would want the opinion of a meteorologist (is there such a thing as an atmospheric physicist?).

It was flying through the air and it's unidentified congrats you have seen a UFO ;)

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Wish I could have been more helpful.

Psi

Answer 11

It could be a min min light.

In Australia,Aborigines speak about these so called min min lights.It has been said that many people have seen these lights and followed them into the forest,never to be seen again so if I were you I would not go looking for this light,just in case its a min min light.

Check the website and see for yourself.

Answer 12

Ball lightning is fact in nature, and that's my best guess as to this event. Thanks for sharing.

Answer 13

I tried to find a good explanation, all I could come up with is earth lights. I am not a de-bunker or skeptic or an investigator - I truly believe you and the dog saw something. My theory could only hold weight if you lived in an active earthquake zone.

I like the ball lightning explanation - I wonder if power lines or transformer stations can cause them too - something worth looking into.

Answer 14

Nuff said:  I think you might be talking about an orb.

I haven't taken the orb thing too seriously until a couple of years ago.  Then I got a security camera because of some problems I'd had with prowlers where I live.

It wasn't long before I noticed on the tapes there were some strange things happening in the dark outside my house during the nights, and frequently the happenings involved something similar to what you described.

All I could figure was it might be someone moving around out there with a flashlight, and that the beam explained the [sometimes] speed of movement.

The events seemed to come in clusters several nights in a row, so I waited up for them a few times, flashlight and Government .45 nearby.  Eventually I had to conclude they must be orbs because there's no light around here late at night and some of the happenings occured when the sky was heavy overcast.

My neighbor is a US Federal Security Officer at one of the government labs in Albuquerque, and one day I asked him if the security cameras there ever show anything like I described to him.

"Ah yeah, man.  We don't know what the h**l those things are."

Evidently it's a fairly common occurance.

Best I can offer.

Edit:  I found a link on ball lightning you might find helpful... posted below.

Answer 15

Ball lightening?  Although I'm not sure that's ever been substantiated - but it's the best I can come up with.