Giant baubles hurtle through London’s Tottenham Court Road

The orbs gradually shed their mirrored coating until a core of white remained, according to videos captured by onlookers and shared on social media.

While many assumed the orbs were giant baubles that had somehow come off during Storm Claudio, which hit France and the UK this week, they were part of a temporary art installation in central London to showcase the new album by to promote a music duo.

The installation, dubbed “Four World Set” and created by American artist Tom Shannon, was set up Sunday evening and would be on display in St. Giles’s Square, near Tottenham Court Road, until Saturday.

Online, the images sparked reactions ranging from apparent joy to utter disbelief, as some do wrote songs and poems to runaway orbs.

For some, the orbs evoked memories of the 1960s British TV series ‘The Prisoner’, which featured a large white orb called Rover with the power to impede people’s movements. Others joked that the scene reminded them of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” when Harrison Ford, who plays Indiana Jones, is chased through a tunnel by a giant boulder.

“Imagine going home and telling how you almost got run over by a giant Indiana Jones-style bauble, and no one believed you until this video,” wrote one Twitter user. “Life is really weird right now,” another wrote simply.

Five lions escape their exhibit, leaving campers running in Sydney Zoo

For those behind the installation, the news hit harder. Musician Kai Campos, one half of electronic music duo Mount Kimbie, said he was “heartbroken” after the wind caused at least two of the orbs to come loose.

He said the team in charge had “prepared for bad weather and high winds, but had been really unlucky”.