Reader reports: Strange lights in the sky?

OK, a little spooky to get these after coming home from “Ghostbusters” (see previous post). On the other hand, it’s the full moon, so who knows. But we’ve received two notes about this already, so we’re throwing it out for discussion (and also looking around to see if there are similar reports from any other neighborhoods, or any other explanation, such as meteors, or fireworks, or …) – here’s one of the notes:

Around 9:30 this evening many neighbors between 55th and 57th Ave SW (close to the beach) noticed numerous orange glowing lights in the sky. There were at least 8 – 10 of them, all perfectly round and perfectly spaced apart and in the form of an arc. They didn’t move very much from the formation they made, but others said they saw one or two appeared to cool slightly and then fall out of the sky. We were worried about where they fell and whether they might start a fire. I walked a 4 square block radius trying to find someone shooting off flares or perhaps they were might be embers from a house fire or something similar that would explain the glowing lights. Nothing. By the time I got back to my home they had disappeared. Any ideas on what they could be? One neighbor’s theory is that they might have been some type of paper lantern with candles that were released into the sky as some type of memorial…

The second note was similar, though shorter. (By the way, speaking of lights in the sky, there’s a fireworks show scheduled on Elliott Bay next Thursday night in connection with a sailing race; we saw it on the routine Coast Guard “local notice for mariners,” and have messages out to try to find out exactly where on the bay.)

9 Replies to "Reader reports: Strange lights in the sky?"

  • MargL August 17, 2008 (12:09 am)

    We had a couple folks setting off fireworks here in Arbor Heights around the same time – southeast of 104th and 34th then some other folks with bottle rockets north of us. Not sure if there was some significance to today or just Yahoos lighting off leftovers from 4th of July. Or maybe folks are celebrating Phelp’s eighth gold medal. Sigh.

  • acemotel August 17, 2008 (2:18 am)

    We were at the beach and noticed people releasing these paper lanterns. I think they were supposed to drift out to sea, but the wind blew them inland. A couple of them caught on fire and burning embers rained down (they seems to hit a tree, but I didn’t notice any trees on fire!) It looked to be some type of memorial service…..

  • Wombat August 17, 2008 (3:56 am)

    That’s a Great Idea! Launching flaming lanterns into the sky…..not that it’s bone-dry around here or anything…the only lights I’m seeing at around 4am is the lightning moving up from the Olympia/Tacoma areas…

  • corey August 17, 2008 (7:03 am)

    From Bainbridge I’ve seen quite a lot of satellites just after sunset this past week. They move across the sky in various shades of orange and silver in a perfect arc. Once they’ve moved past their zenith they can sometimes look like they “fall” out of the sky.

  • ann August 17, 2008 (7:52 am)

    The lights were the lanterns from the beach. Really cool, but yeah, I guess it is kind of a dry day to launch them over land…

  • needleinthehay August 17, 2008 (1:05 pm)

    Yeah I had to stomp one out in a yard down the street from slices! A neighbor girl came out and was pissed off! It was from a wedding on Alki Beach.

  • Pete R August 17, 2008 (2:23 pm)

    I have seen this done before. It’s a Brazillian tradition originally, if I recall correctly. They resemble paper hot-air balloons. They can be hauntingly beautiful, but I’ve always wondered about the safety aspect. I went out and watched them with binoculars, and the ones I saw did seem to extinguish themselves high in the air.

  • cathy August 17, 2008 (3:42 pm)

    “They resemble paper hot-air balloons.”

    That must be what I found in my front yard this morning. At first I thought it was just garbage, but then I took a closer look.

    It is a very lightweight “windsock” type of thing about 3 feet long. It is held open at one end by a stiff circle of wire that is over a foot in diameter. Then there are two very light weight cross wires that form an “X” over the opening. The wires do have some kind of “soot” on them. The bag itself also appears to have a soot residue inside as well.

    The “bag” is actually kind of pretty because it is so delicate. I decided to attach it to my clothesline in the backyard and let it float in the breeze for a while until I figured out what it was.

    I live on 59th SW, just up the hill from the beach. So, I guess that explains it. Mystery solved.

    Now that I know it could have burned up our yard or our house, I’m not too happy.

    And since it is not some exotic debris from the International Space Station, I will go ahead and throw it away.

  • WSB August 17, 2008 (4:07 pm)

    Anybody with a photo of all this, before/during/after, editor@westseattleblog.com

    p.s. Cathy, we miss your Alki Beach Walks blog!

    p.p.s. Just out of curiosity, I’m going to check with the fire department tomorrow if these sorts of things are legal. If you can’t light a sparkler within city limits, I would be surprised to see “flaming lanterns” permitted, but hey, you just never know …

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