"My husband and I just laughed," she said. "I had dinner to put on and we just ignored them," Mrs. Patrick recalled.

Interviewed separately, 19-year-old Ricky Johnson said he was driving Dakota Patrick, 11; Kandie Johnson, 16; and Brandie Johnson, 13; back from the Bethel Store when they spotted a bright round ball on the horizon.

Kandie Johnson recalled the event.

"We were pulling in the drive and way up there was a bright reddish-orange ball. It was moving slowly. I think it went down and then up. We all started pointing and screaming. It was big, kind of like a basketball."

The group recalled the sun had just gone down and the object was sitting over the western horizon – glowing a bright reddish-orange, as if reflecting off the setting sun.

Brandie Johnson said she ran inside the house and tried to get others to come out, but the adults laughed and stayed in.

"The next day we went to school and told our friends," Brandie said.

Mrs. Patrick said, "Dakota stayed out in the yard most of the evening, waiting for it to come back. Eventually we went out to see what had them all excited, but it was gone."

Weather balloon?

Bruce Thoren at the National Weather Service in Norman was contacted and he said this: "Weather balloons are normally only released from stations we operate. In your area that would be Dallas, Shreveport and Fort Smith." Adding, "We don’t have a weather station at Mt. Herman or anywhere else within 100 or so miles."

The meteorologist also said the balloons the service releases start out very small, about five feet in diameter, and go straight up to about 100,000 feet – expanding until they explode. The duration of each mission is only about 75 minutes. After the balloon explodes, the equipment comes back down, tethered to a small yellow parachute.

Thoren explained further, "I really don’t think a weather balloon is what you’re dealing with. Our balloons only go straight up, explode and then come down. And we don’t release them from the Broken Bow Lake area. Sorry…."