Mystery Light In Brother's Garden

[gattino]

I can only report it as he has to me, so questions may be fruitless. Answers however are welcome.

He says sitting in his living room, next to a glass patio door looking on to his garden on Hallowe'en night (yes I know) he saw white round object move across the darkness outside. He at first took it to be next door's kid losing yet another football but its movements ruled that out. It essentially floated or rather "bobbed" across the garden until it reached the glass door and descended/landed to the bottom left corner and out of sight. Brother was unsettled by this and shone his phone torch through the window to see what it was and where it had landed. There was nothing there. Reassured he opened the door and went into the garden. Nothing.

He describes it a "light source rather than solid" and rules out the reflection of a passing light because of its slowness of movement and the fact that what's behind his house are other houses rather than the road and none of them had any lights on.

Google confirms there are no fireflies in this country.

To the suggestion that it may have been the cinder of a firework or some special silent firework he replied "if it was an ember the size and shape I saw i would imagine the house would be on fire or a plane had crashed nearby."

Will O'the Wisp comes to mind. But if such things are , as presumed, marsh gas etc it would appear somewhat off course in an urban Liverpool back garden.

You now know all that I do. Any suggestions? Size wise he suggested it appeared, as indicated, something between a balloon and a small football. There was no trace of anything within seconds of it "landing" nor the next morning.

 

[Vardoger]

Seismic light from a small earthquake?

 

[markrkingston1]

Sounds like classic ball lightning. What was the weather like?

Or, as Vardoger suggests, piezoelectric seismic related light source. (Which may have links to possible plasma phenomena perhaps behind ball lightning).


I am reminded that I must get my garden-facing security camera working again. Never know what one might catch on video.

 

[escargot]

Sounds like a party balloon to me. Maybe a helium one that's lost most of its gas?

Balloons can do funny things. Techy and I once saw one roll across car park on a windy night, through the only gap in a spiky hedge and then on its merry way and out of sight. We turned to each other and 'Doncha wanna BALLOOOOOON?'

Also, a relation had a 'Happy 60th birthday!' helium balloon from his daughter. He kept it for a while then when she visited again they let it go in the garden.

It dragged itself down the path and over the gate and when Daughter arrived home, a couple of hours later and a mile away, it was in THEIR garden.

 

[Coal]

The trial camera picked up a mysterious levitating light at the dam end of the lake one night. Spooky...until it was pointed out that it was at the right height and speed to be a phone held by a person walking along the track behind the dam...

 

[catseye]

I'm with Scargy on the 'party balloon' side. Probably one of those with a 'skull' design on because of it being Halloween. They bob and float in a most disconcerting way, and can be very misshapen when they are losing their gas. And one good gust of wind can float them so far away that it wouldn't be visible when he looked outside.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Clearly a drunk will-o'-wisp on its way home after enjoying a Halloween snifter.

 

[OneWingedBird]

Seismic light from a small earthquake?

I wonder if the recent fracking has kicked off any of these? Not too far from Blackpool.

 

[Sharon Hill]

Earthquake lights are extremely rare (some contend they don't exist at all in such a shape, at least). Injection from fracking can create new stresses on an already existing fault but small quakes would result, not the high electrical charge movement needed to create lights at the surface.

It's hard and very risky to supply ideas in cases like these when we don't have evidence or a more detailed description. I'd rather not randomly guess.

 

[XEPER_]

It's hard and very risky to supply ideas in cases like these when we don't have evidence or a more detailed description. I'd rather not randomly guess.

Alien spaceship IMO.

 

[Ulalume]

Sounds like a party balloon to me. Maybe a helium one that's lost most of its gas?

Balloons can do funny things. Techy and I once saw one roll across car park on a windy night, through the only gap in a spiky hedge and then on its merry way and out of sight. We turned to each other and 'Doncha wanna BALLOOOOOON?'

Also, a relation had a 'Happy 60th birthday!' helium balloon from his daughter. He kept it for a while then when she visited again they let it go in the garden.

It dragged itself down the path and over the gate and when Daughter arrived home, a couple of hours later and a mile away, it was in THEIR garden.

I don't have any idea about the source of the light, but agree with Scargy about the funny ways of balloons. One night a co-worker's family had a panic when they spotted a glowing orb hovering several feet off the ground in their back yard. When they worked up the nerve to confront it, it turned out to be a deflating mylar balloon shining in the moonlight.