Lightening Man was a man unto himself. A past sheriff told me that he would drive around town scoping things out. If he saw something lying around, even in someone's yard, and it didn't get moved after a short time, he would load it up and take it to the hanger. When the people would report it missing, the sheriff would go see if LM had rescued it. If so, he would have to return it. They never treated it as a criminal case, just the actions of a "different" type fellow.
His girl friend was considerably older than was he and was the mother of a prominent speed equipment manufacturer.
I have no idea when he moved out of the hanger. He rented it and had connections that allowed him to purchase surplus military equipment for very low amounts of money. That's how he was able to pursue his dream of creating Ball Lightening. Ball Lightening was considered a threat to electronic equipment and it has been know to frequent military installations where there was the possibility of causing major damage. Apparently it is a ball of energy that moved randomly around in a room. So LM decided that if he could re-create it, he may figure out the natural source and eliminate the threat.
But he turned out to be the threat.
He did get excited during his presentations. I only attended one "showing." Jack knows the entire story.
FREUD