Orange County's UFO.

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Linn Murphy has a pretty awesome hobby: he freaks people out by flying a fake UFO over public gatherings, causing a ruckus. The flying disc, which has a 36-inch span and lights that flash and make it look like it's spinning, looks like a gigantic spacecraft high in the air from a height of 400 feet.

The UFO inventor, Steve Zingali, is no mad scientist or evil genius. The former Mission Viejo resident is a balding semi-retired grandfather who stumbled upon the idea by accident in 2003. On the Internet.

Zingali, 58, was searching for help with his radio-controlled plane. Instead he found hand-drawn plans by a poster named Stringfly for something called a saucer.

“I was told – by engineers – it wouldn't fly,” says Zingali, a former facilities specialist. “There was no airfoil, no lift, no dihedral.”

He built one anyway. It flew, but couldn't handle the wind. So he tweaked a few things and doubled its span from 18 to 36 inches. A phenomenon was born. Soon, Orange County motorists were chasing strange lights in the sky. Orange County's Mutual UFO Network was taking calls about erratic, flying objects. And the Web site UFOinfo.com was posting reports of “glowing orbs” in south Orange County.