I've always been curious about this sort of things but the scientist in me has to dig and puzzle it over. One major flaw in all those observers who can't identify it and who therefore feel justified in saying, "It had to be something weird," is that they are all making a judgement based on their own honesty and decency. We al tend to think other people are like us; they're not.
I need to explain. As I said, I've always been interested. So has husband. Many years ago, not long after CE3K came out ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind", for those who are too young to remember it) husband & I bought a book called "Close Encounters of an Australian Kind" - Ross Bakersfield, I think the author was. It was a very good book - it described the range of UFOs reported over the years and put them into categories. It debunked a vast majority and explained them very well. I remember being disappointed that the most spectacular sightings, such as aliens standing by the roadside, were easily explained away as those sort of hallucinations you get when you're driving late at night and you're overtired. It wasn't until I had similar hallucinations (only mine weren't aliens, they were just figures, or cars, that weren't really there) that I knew what he was talking about. basically, it's a dream state where you're trying to stay awake but not quite succeeding (so they're not really hallucinations, either - just brain pictures on the edge of dreams). This is just an example of one sort of explanation - you're so tired you're dozing off and not even aware you're dozing off - a microsleep.
Now I'm not saying that what your friend saw was in this category. It wasn't. I'll get to that.
There were a range of explanations, including our old favourite the weather balloon. But just as I was feeling depressed and jaded, at the end of the book was a listing of ALL unexplained Aussie sightings. I looked for the one I remembered from childhood, which husband also remembers seeing even though we had not met at that stage - it wasn't listed, but I remember the newspapers had reported it and given a possible explanation (which I never believed).
It's an old book, but we kept it on our shelves.
Flash forward 20+ years. I'm in the car with a friend, returning from a late-night performance of poetry and story. The driver is my neighbour, a man who makes a living telling stories. He had 'kidnapped' me for the night as a spare performer (I do performance poetry, as well as some writing). Character-wise - he's a ratbag. Only this Aussie word can describe him. VERY difficult child.
It's late, we're driving home, he's trying to stay awake at the wheel. So how does he choose to stay awake? Easy. he picks a fight with his passenger.
Only I refuse to fight. So he continues getting more outrageous in his statements. I already know that he likes to be deliberately provocative and controversial, so I ignore him. This is working; he's getting angry and staying awake.
Then the subject turns to UFOs. He's already told me how he could debate that the Earth is flat; now he tells me he used to belong to a UFO spotters organisation in Sydney in the 1970s. Turns out he belonged because it's easier to hoax people you know. Yes, he was a UFO hoaxer and prankster. Charming. But I let him talk - it was keeping him awake. He went on to describe one hoax in great detail - he had gone to a coastal area where a creek ran over a small waterfall into a lagoon beside a beach - absolutely beautiful, a classic lovers lane place. He went down below the waterfall and set up his equipment. He had some hydrogen gas he had electrolysed from water and forced into a giant
balloon with a bicycle pump. To this very large balloon he attached a small torch bulb with a battery, wired so the torch bulb was on. This made the balloon glow red (it was a red balloon). From the knotted neck of the balloon he tied some detonating fuse, a very long length of it - several yards, I gather. Along this, he carefully wrapped different, short lengths of magnesium wire at varying intervals.
Keeping all this covered under a dark blanket, he went below the waterfall into the still lagoon (you can wade in this lagoon - I know it well) uncovered the balloon (still out of sight below the waterfall), lit the end of the fuse wire and let the balloon go. He then slowly made his way back to the car park.
You can imagine the effect. He said he got a great kick out of people's reactions. There were maybe three or four couples in cars there in the car park above the waterfall overlooking the beach, who suddenly saw this glowing red orb rise soundlessly from below the falls. It would have been 100 yards away from them, at least, but in the dark they couldn't be sure how big it was or how far away it was. And the wind was nonexistent - it seemed to reach a point of balance and hung there. By now, people were out of their cars and getting excited. Suddenly the thing shone a bright light, which stopped after a second. Then after a few more seconds, a two second flash. Then another, of maybe half a second. People grabbed their torches and started trying to copy the flashes of light, to signal back to the red orb.
But it was only there for a few minutes more, before there was a loud BOOM and the thing vanished, as if it had just sped away faster than the eye could follow.
I was fascinated by the story - only an evil genius like this idiot would have dreamed up such a mean trick. I wondered if he was making it up as we were driving, just to see how I would react. The trouble some people will go to, I thought, just to mess with people's minds...
We got home very soon after and I went straight inside to check out my library.
Sure enough, in my obscure, old little book, right at the back, was a description of this particular unexplained sighting - it gave the date, and the location at the lagoon my neighbour had mentioned. The description was of a large red orb of undetermined size which appeared to be signalling, before it left suddenly accompanied by a sonic boom.
For those not of a scientific bent, I will explain. The big
balloon (you can get ones 2 yards across in joke shops) was filled with hydrogen gas. Very flammable, and lighter than helium (think - Hindenburg). So although he added stuff to it, it still floated up until it reached a point of air density balance. At night you have no frame of reference and so cannot accurately determine size or distance. Your brain is already thinking, "UFO" and therefore assumes the object to be larger, and further away. It's logical to think in human terms and ascribe human scale to it. The torch bulb run by a small battery made the balloon glow as if lit from within. The extra long fuse continued to burn and lit the small lengths of magnesium when the flame reached them. These burned with such a fierce intensity that any tiny glow from the fuse would have not been seen, thanks to the afterglow on people's retinas (think - flashbub that keeps burning for more than a split second). And when the burning fuse reached the balloon and the hydrogen - Whammo! It would have blown apart the balloon, the torch bulb - the lot. No evidence to collect. Because anything left would have sunk into the ooze of the lagoon.
People find it hard to believe that people exist who would create a hoax like that for no other purpose than to feel superior at other people's credulity.
I've seen this guy's workshop. I know what he can produce.
And I do wonder, if what your friend saw was a similar hoax. Helium is much safer and easier to get hold of, but it won't burn or explode. Such a balloon will move if there is even a slight breeze and of course it will make no sound.
I'm not saying that what your friend saw WAS such a balloon, but it would need to be ruled out before you call Project Blue Book.
If it's any consolation, I used my neighbour as the subject of a short story, detailing his exploits. I haven't published it yet, but I intend to... and he's probably forgotten he ever told me.
Marg