Lights in the yard?

I was talking to my girlfriend's mother, and she described to me an unusual incident that happened to her back in the mid 80's
They had just moved into a new home and in the backyard, she noticed dozens of red glowing 'lights' for a lack of a better word hovering in the yard. They were the size of a dollar coin and lasted for a while. Not sure how long the incident took, nor has seen them again.
I know fireflies glow a green or yellow greenish, anyone have any thoughts, or experienced the same thing?

reply to post by HomerinNC



reflection off a moth?

Fireflies also produce red lights as well:

This chemically produced light from the lower abdomen may be yellow, green, or pale-red, with wavelengths from 510 to 670 nanometers.

Wiki

Sometimes fireflies flash their lights, sometimes the lights stay on for a longer duration of time.



** Edit to add: When you see a whole yard full of them when it's very dark outside, it is quite a sight to see.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
Sometimes fireflies flash their lights, sometimes the lights stay on for a longer duration of time.

Disclaimer: I am not suggesting that this is a good thing.
I am just sharing personal experience from whence I was a wee lad.


You have a 50-50 chance while squishing them.
Squish when the light is on, and they will stay lit.
Squish when it is off, and no more light.

OMG ,



Sounds like your describing exactly the same thing i saw a few months ago on a big property .
In short it was absolutely strange .
Im in Sydney Australia and we dont have fireflies here . What i saw was like a very bright red fire that was hovering just off the ground but the thing is it would get bigger and bigger till it was about 2m by 2m and then seemed to shrink untill it became just a pinpoint of bright red light .

It was absolutely incredible , so incredible that i called my mother who lived just up the street at the time to come and see. To this day we have no explanation for it .

Could have been some sort of MinMin light phenomena but we cant be sure .
It was one of the most incredibly odd and strangest things that i have ever seen .
If its the same thing as what i saw ,it sure as hell wasnt bugs, i can tell you that .

I saw the thread title and jumped right into the thread to see if it was like what i saw , it sounds like it is .

Cant wait to hear more . Starred and Flagged , A subject very interesting to me


Omega

Originally posted by HomerinNC
I was talking to my girlfriend's mother, and she described to me an unusual incident that happened to her back in the mid 80's
They had just moved into a new home and in the backyard, she noticed dozens of red glowing 'lights' for a lack of a better word hovering in the yard. They were the size of a dollar coin and lasted for a while. Not sure how long the incident took, nor has seen them again.
I know fireflies glow a green or yellow greenish, anyone have any thoughts, or experienced the same thing?

edit on 7/23/2011 by HomerinNC because: (no reason given)

I never thought anyone would have experienced something similar to what I experienced as a child. When I was a young child in the 60s I remember my grandmother taking care of me and my sisters while my parents went to a movie. In the front yard (nighttime) I saw what appeared to be dozens of tiny white lights. They fascinated me and I tried to go outside to look but my grandmother stopped me. I just stood there watching them...Not red lights or as big, but there were just as many and hovering in the yard.