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The fireball is an eerie phenomenon to observe and the description given could easily fit many alleged UFO sightings. According to Dr. Walter Brand, a German physicist who completed an extensive survey of ball-lightning in 1923, "a hissing, humming, or fluttering noise is usually heard when the ball is nearby. They may disappear almost silently, with a mild crack, or with a bunding explosion." Dr. Carl Benedicks, a former president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, has offered a theory which he feels may account for several sightings which have been credited to UFO's. Dr. Benedicks has stated that surface tension of the gases in the ball-lightning reflect light, which produces an illusion of a silvery metal appearance. The Swedish physicist goes on to theorize that, because a gas mass cooled by suction moves rapidly away from the direction of a cooling force, the lightning ball would appear to "fly away" from the aircraft that might attempt to "run it down." 19. The Teen-Agers Who Were Pursued by a Saucer The 1956 Ford Victoria moved easily out of the Kerasota Drive-in Theater at Mount Vernon, Illinois. Inside the car, Ronnie Austin and Phyllis Bruce, both of Fairfield, Illinois talked over the movie they had just seen, The Great Escape. It was about 11:30 P.M. of August 5, 1963. Shortly after passing the Mount Vernon airport, traveling east on Route 15, the couple noticed a round ball of light just above treetop level in the southwest. Apparently the size of a washtub on first sighting, the couple watched the strange-looking, fuzzily-outlined ball, which to their surprise, seemed to be keeping pace with them as they moved over the pavement. It was unlike an airplane of any variety, and it seemed to have no distinct outline. When Ronnie let up on the gas, the ball of light slowed, too. The fiery tail was becoming more than just a funny coincidence, it was becoming a disturbing fact, as the youth pushed the accelerator to the floor boards, calling on everything the souped-up Ford had. The car flew across the road, but the light kept pace with the rapidly moving vehicle, even at speeds up to 120 miles per hour.