Editing Ball lightning (section)

== Historical accounts ==
Ball lightning is a possible source of legends that describe luminous balls, such as the mythological [[Anchimayen]] from Argentinean and Chilean [[Mapuche]] culture.

According to a statistical investigation carried out in 1960, of 1,962 Oak Ridge National Laboratory monthly role personnel, and of all 15,923 Union Carbide Nuclear Company personnel in Oak Ridge, found 5.6% and 3.1% respectively reported seeing ball lightning.<ref>{{cite conference|first= J. R.|last= McNally|title= Preliminary Report on Ball Lightning|book-title= Proceedings of the Second Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society|location= Gatlinburg|issue= 2–5|year= 1960|edition= Paper J-15|pages= 1–25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference| publisher = Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)| last = McNally| first = J. Rand| title = Preliminary Report on Ball Lightning| access-date = 2024-10-16| date = 1966-05-01| doi=10.2172/4533050| osti = 4533050| url = https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4533050}}</ref> A Scientific American article summarized the study as having found that ball lightning had been seen by 5% of the population of the Earth.<ref name="sciam-ask">{{cite magazine|last= Anon|url= http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=periodically-i-hear-stori|magazine=Scientific American|title= Ask the experts|access-date= 4 April 2007}}</ref> Another study analyzed reports of more than 2,000&nbsp;cases.<ref>{{cite journal|first= A. I.|last= Grigoriev|title= Statistical Analysis of the Ball Lightning Properties|journal= Science of Ball Lightning|editor=Y. H. Ohtsuki|year= 1988|pages= 88–134}}</ref>

=== Gervase of Canterbury ===
The chronicle of [[Gervase of Canterbury]], an English monk, contains what is possibly the earliest known reference to ball lightning, dated 7 June 1195. He states, "A marvellous sign descended near London", consisting of a dense and dark cloud, emitting a white substance that grew into a spherical shape under the cloud, from which a fiery globe fell towards the river.<ref name="gervase">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feeds/60146274|title = Is this England's earliest report of ball lightning? |newspaper= BBC Weather|date = 27 January 2022 }}</ref>

Physicist Emeritus Professor Brian Tanner and historian Giles Gasper of [[Durham University]] identified the chronicle entry as probably describing ball lightning, and noted its similarity to other accounts:
{{blockquote|Gervase's description of a white substance coming out of the dark cloud, falling as a spinning fiery sphere and then having some horizontal motion is very similar to historic and contemporary descriptions of ball lightning{{nbsp}}... It is fascinating to see how closely Gervase's 12th century description matches modern reports of ball lightning.<ref name="gervase"/>}}

=== Great Thunderstorm of Widecombe-in-the-Moor ===
[[File:Great Storm Widecombe woodcut.gif|thumb|Contemporary woodcut of the Widecombe-in-the-Moor storm]]
One early account reports on [[the Great Thunderstorm]] at a church in [[Widecombe-in-the-Moor]], Devon, in England, on 21 October 1638. Four people died and approximately 60 suffered injuries during a severe storm. Witnesses described an {{convert|8|ft|adj=on}} ball of fire striking and entering the church, nearly destroying it. Large stones from the church walls were hurled onto the ground and through large wooden beams. The ball of fire allegedly smashed the pews and many windows, and filled the church with a foul sulfurous odor and dark, thick smoke.

The ball of fire reportedly divided into two segments, one exiting through a window by smashing it open, the other disappearing somewhere inside the church. Because of the fire and sulphur smell, contemporaries explained the ball of fire as "the devil" or as the "flames of hell". Later, some blamed the entire incident on two people who had been playing cards in the pews during the sermon, thereby incurring God's wrath.<ref name="Rowe1905">
{{cite book
|title= The Two Widecombe Tracts, 1638[,] giving a Contemporary Account of the great Storm, reprinted with an Introduction
|year= 1905|publisher= James G Commin|location= Exeter|url= https://archive.org/details/devonandcornwal02unkngoog
|editor= J. B[rooking] R[owe]|access-date= 29 June 2013}}
</ref>

=== The sloop ''Catherine and Mary'' ===
In December 1726, a number of British newspapers printed an extract of a letter from John Howell of the [[sloop]] ''Catherine and Mary'':

{{blockquote|1=As we were coming thro' the [[Gulf of Florida]] on 29th of August, a large ball of fire fell from the Element and split our mast in Ten Thousand Pieces, if it were possible; split our Main Beam, also Three Planks of the Side, Under Water, and Three of the Deck; killed one man, another had his Hand carried of {{sic}}, and had it not been for the violent rains, our Sails would have been of a Blast of Fire.<ref>{{cite news|title= Foreign Affairs: Bristol 17 December|last= Anon|work= Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer|publisher= 24 December 1726}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Foreign Affairs: London 24 December|last= Anon|date= 24 December 1726|work= London Journal}}</ref>}}

=== HMS ''Montague'' ===
One particularly large example was reported "on the authority of Dr. Gregory" in 1749:

<blockquote>Admiral Chambers on board the [[HMS Montague (1660)|''Montague'']], 4 November 1749, was taking an observation just before noon...he observed a large ball of blue fire about {{convert|3|mi|km|0|spell=in|disp=sqbr}} distant from them. They immediately lowered their topsails, but it came up so fast upon them, that, before they could raise the main tack, they observed the ball rise almost perpendicularly, and not above {{convert|40|or|50|yd|m|spell=in|round=5|disp=sqbr}} from the main chains when it went off with an explosion, as great as if a hundred cannons had been discharged at the same time, leaving behind it a strong sulfurous smell. By this explosion the main top-mast was shattered into pieces and the main mast went down to the keel.

Five men were knocked down and one of them very bruised. Just before the explosion, the ball seemed to be the size of a large mill-stone.<ref name=Day1813>{{cite journal|last= Day|first= Jeremiah|title= A view of the theories which have been proposed to explain the origin of meteoric stones|journal= The General Repository and Review|date= January 1813|volume= 3|issue= 1|pages= 156–157|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RV4oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA156-IA2|access-date= 29 June 2013}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Georg Richmann ===
A 1753 report recounts lethal ball lightning when professor [[Georg Richmann]] of [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia, constructed a kite-flying apparatus similar to [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s proposal a year earlier. Richmann was attending a meeting of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences]] when he heard thunder and ran home with his engraver to capture the event for posterity. While the experiment was under way, ball lightning appeared, travelled down the string, struck Richmann's forehead and killed him. The ball had left a red spot on Richmann's forehead, his shoes were blown open, and his clothing was singed. His engraver was knocked unconscious. The door-frame of the room was split and the door was torn from its hinges.<ref>{{cite book |last= Clarke |first= Ronald W. |author-link= Ronald W. Clark |title= Benjamin Franklin, A Biography |url= https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00clar_0/page/87 |isbn=978-1-84212-272-3 |year= 1983 |publisher= Random House |page= [https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin00clar_0/page/87 87] }}</ref>

=== HMS ''Warren Hastings'' ===
An English journal reported that during an 1809 storm, three "balls of fire" appeared and "attacked" the British ship ''[[HMS Warren Hastings]]''. The crew watched one ball descend, killing a man on deck and setting the main mast on fire. A crewman went out to retrieve the fallen body and was struck by a second ball, which knocked him back and left him with mild burns. A third man was killed by contact with the third ball. Crew members reported a persistent, sickening sulphur smell afterward.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.thetimes.com/travel/advice/weather-eye-charles-darwin-the-meteorologist-h7lwjqqjpvs |work= [[The Times]] | location= London | title= Weather Eye: Charles Darwin, the meteorologist | date= 17 February 2009 | access-date= 2020-07-06 | first= Paul | last= Simons | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090223/FRONTIERS/646186738/1036 |title=Aliens? Great balls of fire |last=Matthews |first=Robert |date=23 February 2009 |work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]] |access-date=14 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801174415/http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090223/FRONTIERS/646186738/1036 |archive-date=1 August 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Ebenezer Cobham Brewer ===
[[Ebenezer Cobham Brewer]], in his 1864 US edition of ''[[A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar]]'', discusses "globular lightning". He describes it as slow-moving balls of fire or explosive gas that sometimes fall to the earth or run along the ground during a thunderstorm. He said that the balls sometimes split into smaller balls and may explode "like a [[cannon]]".<ref>{{cite book|last= Brewer|first= Ebenezer Cobham|title= A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar|url= http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;idno=ajn0728.0001.001;view=toc;frm=frameset|year= 1864|pages= 13–14|access-date= 22 January 2014}}</ref>

=== Wilfrid de Fonvielle ===
In his book ''Thunder and Lightning'',<ref>{{cite book|last= de Fonvielle|first= Wilfrid | translator1-last = Phipson | translator1-first = T. L. |title= Thunder and lightning (full text)|year= 1875|pages= 32–39|chapter= Chapter X Globular lightning|isbn= 978-1-142-61255-9 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hukDAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> translated into English in 1875, French science-writer [[Wilfrid de Fonvielle]] wrote that there had been about 150 reports of globular lightning:

<blockquote>Globular lightning seems to be particularly attracted to metals; thus it will seek the railings of balconies, or else water or gas pipes etc., It has no peculiar tint of its own but will appear of any colour as the case may be&nbsp;... at [[Coethen]] in the Duchy of Anhalt it appeared green. M. Colon, Vice-President of the Geological Society of Paris, saw a ball of lightning descend slowly from the sky along the bark of a poplar tree; as soon as it touched the earth it bounced up again, and disappeared without exploding. On 10th of September 1845 a ball of lightning entered the kitchen of a house in the village of [[Salagnac]] in the valley of [[Correze]]. This ball rolled across without doing any harm to two women and a young man who were here; but on getting into an adjoining stable it exploded and killed a pig which happened to be shut up there, and which, knowing nothing about the wonders of thunder and lightning, dared to smell it in the most rude and unbecoming manner.

The motion of such balls is far from being very rapid&nbsp;– they have even been observed occasionally to pause in their course, but they are not the less destructive for all that. A ball of lightning which entered the church of Stralsund, on exploding, projected a number of balls which exploded in their turn like shells.<ref>{{cite news |title= Globular lightning|last= Anon|date= 24 December 1867|work= The Leeds Mercury|location= Leeds, UK}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Tsar Nicholas II ===
[[Nicholas II]], the final tsar of the Russian Empire, reported witnessing a fiery ball as a child attending church in the company of his grandfather [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]].

<blockquote>Once my parents were away, and I was at the [[all-night vigil]] with my grandfather in [[Gothic Chapel (Peterhof)|the small church in Alexandria]]. During the service there was a powerful thunderstorm, streaks of lightning flashed one after the other, and it seemed as if the peals of thunder would shake even the church and the whole world to its foundations. Suddenly it became quite dark, a blast of wind from the open door blew out the flame of the candles which were lit in front of the [[iconostasis]], there was a long clap of thunder, louder than before, and I suddenly saw a fiery ball flying from the window straight towards the head of the Emperor. The ball (it was of lightning) whirled around the floor, then passed the chandelier and flew out through the door into the park. My heart froze, I glanced at my grandfather&nbsp;– his face was completely calm. He [[Sign of the Cross|crossed]] himself just as calmly as he had when the fiery ball had flown near us, and I felt that it was unseemly and not courageous to be frightened as I was. I felt that one had only to look at what was happening and believe in the mercy of God, as he, my grandfather, did. After the ball had passed through the whole church, and suddenly gone out through the door, I again looked at my grandfather. A faint smile was on his face, and he nodded his head at me. My panic disappeared, and from that time I had no more fear of storms.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.orthodox.net/russiannm/nicholas-ii-tsar-martyr-and-his-family.html |title= Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II and His Family |publisher= Orthodox.net |access-date= 13 July 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090617074756/http://www.orthodox.net/russiannm/nicholas-ii-tsar-martyr-and-his-family.html | archive-date= 17 June 2009 <!--DASHBot--> |url-status = live}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Aleister Crowley ===
British occultist [[Aleister Crowley]] reported witnessing what he referred to as "globular electricity" during a thunderstorm on [[Newfound Lake|Lake Pasquaney]]<ref>There is no present-day ''Lake Pasquaney'' in New Hampshire, United States. New Hampshire's [[Newfound Lake]] has a ''Camp Pasquaney''. However, part of the lake is known as Pasquaney Bay.</ref> in [[New Hampshire]], United States, in 1916. He was sheltered in a small cottage when he, in his own words,

<blockquote>...noticed, with what I can only describe as calm amazement, that a dazzling globe of electric fire, apparently between {{convert|6|and|12|in|cm|spell=in|disp=sqbr}} in diameter, was stationary about {{convert|6|in|cm|spell=in|disp=sqbr}} below and to the right of my right knee. As I looked at it, it exploded with a sharp report quite impossible to confuse with the continuous turmoil of the lightning, thunder and hail, or that of the lashed water and smashed wood which was creating a pandemonium outside the cottage. I felt a very slight shock in the middle of my right hand, which was closer to the globe than any other part of my body.<ref name="AleisterCrowley">{{cite book|first= Aleister|last= Crowley|title= The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autobiography|isbn= 978-0-14-019189-9|publisher= Penguin|date=1989}} Chapter 83.</ref></blockquote>

===R. C. Jennison===
Jennison, of the Electronics Laboratory at the [[University of Kent]], described his own observation of ball lightning in an article published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' in 1969:

<blockquote>I was seated near the front of the passenger cabin of an all-metal airliner (Eastern Airlines Flight EA 539) on a late night flight from New York to Washington. The aircraft encountered an electrical storm during which it was enveloped in a sudden bright and loud electrical discharge (0005 h EST, March 19, 1963). Some seconds after this a glowing sphere a little more than {{convert|20|cm|in|0|abbr=in|disp=sqbr}} in diameter emerged from the pilot's cabin and passed down the aisle of the aircraft approximately {{convert|50|cm|in|abbr=in|disp=sqbr}} from me, maintaining the same height and course for the whole distance over which it could be observed.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Jennison |first= R. C. |s2cid= 4271920 |year= 1969 | title= Ball Lightning|journal= Nature |volume= 224 |page= 895 | bibcode= 1969Natur.224..895J |doi= 10.1038/224895a0|issue= 5222 |doi-access= free }}</ref> </blockquote>

=== Other accounts ===
[[File:Ball lightning.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Ball lightning entering via the chimney (1886)]]
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* [[Willy Ley]] discussed a sighting in Paris on 5 July 1852 "for which sworn statements were filed with the [[French Academy of Sciences]]". During a thunderstorm, a tailor living next to [[Church of the Val-de-Grâce]] saw a ball the size of a human head come out of the fireplace. It flew around the room, reentered the fireplace, and exploded in and destroyed the top of the chimney.<ref name="ley196010">{{Cite magazine |last= Ley |first= Willy |date= October 1960 |title= The Moon Worm |url= https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v19n02_1960-12#page/n28/mode/1up |department= For Your Information |magazine= Galaxy Science Fiction |pages= 56–71}}</ref>
* On 30 April 1877 a ball of lightning entered the [[Harmandir Sahib|Golden Temple]] at [[Amritsar]], India, and exited through a side door. Several people observed the ball, and the incident is inscribed on the front wall of Darshani Deori.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sikhnet.com/news/miracle-saved-panth |title= Miracle saved panth |publisher= Sikhnet.com |date= 2009-12-21 |access-date= 21 January 2014}}</ref>
* On 22 November 1894 an unusually prolonged instance of natural ball lightning occurred in [[Golden, Colorado]], which suggests it could be artificially induced from the atmosphere. The ''Golden Globe'' newspaper reported:

:<blockquote>A beautiful yet strange phenomenon was seen in this city on last Monday night. The wind was high and the air seemed to be full of electricity. In front of, above and around the new Hall of Engineering of the [[Colorado School of Mines|School of Mines]], balls of fire played tag for half an hour, to the wonder and amazement of all who saw the display. In this building is situated the dynamos and electrical apparatus of perhaps the finest electrical plant of its size in the state. There was probably a visiting delegation from the clouds, to the captives of the dynamos on last Monday night, and they certainly had a fine visit and a roystering game of romp.<ref>''Golden Globe'', 24 November 1894.</ref></blockquote>

* On 22 May 1901 in the Kazakh city of [[Oral, Kazakhstan|Uralsk]] in the Russian Empire (now Oral, Kazakhstan), "a dazzlingly brilliant ball of fire" descended gradually from the sky during a thunderstorm, then entered into a house where 21 people had taken refuge, "wreaked havoc with the apartment, broke through the wall into a stove in the adjoining room, smashed the stove-pipe, and carried it off with such violence that it was dashed against the opposite wall, and went out through the broken window". The incident was reported in the ''Bulletin de la [[Société astronomique de France]]'' the following year.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Soubbotine |first1=Mlle. N. de |title=(Météorologie) |journal=Bulletin de la Société astronomique de France |date=1902 |volume=16 |pages=117–118 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112110949614&view=1up&seq=129 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>Mark Stenhoff (1999) ''Ball Lightning: An Unsolved Problem in Atmospheric Physics''. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, p70.</ref>
* In July 1907 ball lightning hit the [[Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse]] in Western Australia. Lighthouse-keeper Patrick Baird was in the tower at the time and was knocked unconscious. His daughter Ethel recorded the event.<ref>{{cite loa|WA|Cape%20Naturaliste|The Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse|access-date= 13 July 2009}}</ref>
* Ley discussed another incident in [[Bischofswerda]], Germany. On 29 April 1925 multiple witnesses saw a silent ball land near a mailman, move along a telephone wire to a school, knock back a teacher using a telephone, and bore perfectly round coin-sized holes through a glass pane. {{convert|700|ft|m|abbr=in|order=flip}} of wire was melted, several telephone poles were damaged, an underground cable was broken, and several workmen were thrown to the ground but unhurt.{{r|ley196010}} 
* An early reference to ball lightning appears in a children's book set in the 19th century by [[Laura Ingalls Wilder]].<ref>{{cite book|first= Laura Ingalls|last= Wilder|author-link= Laura Ingalls Wilder|title= On the Banks of Plum Creek|publisher= Harper Trophy|year= 1937|isbn= 978-0-06-440005-3|url= https://archive.org/details/byshoresofsilver02wild}}</ref> The books are considered historical fiction, but the author always insisted they were descriptive of actual events in her life. In Wilder's description, three separate balls of lightning appear during a winter blizzard near a cast-iron stove in the family's kitchen. They are described as appearing near the stovepipe, then rolling across the floor, only to disappear as the mother ([[Caroline Ingalls]]) chases them with a willow-branch broom.<ref name="GetlinePlaying">{{cite news|last= Getline|first= Meryl|url= https://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/getline/2005-10-17-ask-the-captain_x.htm|title= Playing with (St. Elmo's) fire|work= USA Today|date= 17 October 2005}}</ref>
* Pilots in World War II (1939–1945) described an unusual phenomenon for which ball lightning has been suggested as an explanation. The pilots saw small balls of light moving in strange trajectories, which came to be referred to as [[foo fighter]]s.{{r|ley196010}}
* Submariners in World War II gave the most frequent and consistent accounts of small ball lightning in the confined submarine atmosphere. There are repeated accounts of inadvertent production of floating explosive balls when the battery banks were switched in or out, especially if misswitched or when the highly inductive electrical motors were misconnected or disconnected. An attempt later to duplicate those balls with a surplus submarine battery resulted in several failures and an explosion.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.peter-thomson.co.uk/tornado/fusion/Ball_lightning_and_the_charge_sheath_vortex.html |title= Ball lightning – and the charge sheath vortex |publisher= Peter-thomson.co.uk |access-date= 13 July 2009 |archive-date= 8 April 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130408052051/http://www.peter-thomson.co.uk/tornado/fusion/Ball_lightning_and_the_charge_sheath_vortex.html |url-status= dead }}</ref>
* On 6 August 1994 a ball lightning is believed to have gone through a closed window in [[Uppsala]], Sweden, leaving a circular hole about {{convert|5|cm|in|0|abbr=in}} in diameter. The hole in the window was found days later, and it was thought it could have happened during the thunderstorm;  a lightning strike was witnessed by residents in the area, and was recorded by a lightning strike tracking system at the Division for Electricity and Lightning Research at [[Uppsala University]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hvi.uu.se/Lightning/blixtar/Klotblixt.html|language= sv|publisher= Uppsala University |title= Ett fenomen som gäckar vetenskapen |first= Anders |last= Larsson |date= 23 April 2002 |access-date= 19 November 2007}}</ref>
* In 2005 an incident occurred in Guernsey, where an apparent lightning-strike on an aircraft led to multiple fireball sightings on the ground.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://guernseypress.com/news/2005/03/05/lightning-strike-wrecked-my-tv/ |title=Lightning strike wrecked my TV |date=5 March 2005 |work=[[Guernsey Press]]}}</ref> 
* On 10 July 2011, during a powerful thunderstorm, a ball of light with a {{convert|2|m|adj=on|spell=in}} tail went through a window to the control room of local emergency services in [[Liberec]] in the Czech Republic. The ball bounced from window to ceiling, then to the floor and back, where it rolled along it for two or three meters. It then dropped to the floor and disappeared. The staff present in the control room were frightened, smelled electricity and burned cables and thought something was burning. The computers froze (not crashed) and all communications equipment was knocked out for the night until restored by technicians. Aside from damages caused by disrupting equipment, only one computer monitor was destroyed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://zpravy.idnes.cz/byla-to-koule-s-dvoumetrovym-ocasem-popisuje-dispecerka-kulovy-blesk-1ed-/krimi.aspx?c=A110711_163825_liberec-zpravy_alh |title= Byla to koule s dvoumetrovým ocasem, popisuje dispečerka kulový blesk |language= cs |publisher= Zpravy.idnes.cz | date= 11 July 2011|access-date= 21 January 2014}}</ref>
* On 15 December 2014, [[Loganair Flight 6780]] in Scotland experienced ball lightning in the forward cabin just before lightning struck the aircraft nose, the plane fell several thousand feet and came within 1,100 feet of the North Sea before making an emergency landing at [[Aberdeen Airport]].<ref>
{{cite web
|url= http://avherald.com/h?article=4813ed2d&opt=1024
|title= The Aviation Herald|website= avherald.com
}}</ref>
* On June 24, 2022, in a massive thunderstorm front, a retired lady at Liebenberg, Lower Austria, saw blinding cloud-to-ground lightning to the northeast and within 1 min spotted a yellowish "burning object with licking flames" that followed a wavy trajectory along the local road about 15 m over ground and was lost from sight after 2 seconds. It occurred at the end of a local thunderstorm cell. The [[European Severe Storms Laboratory]] recorded this as ball lightning.<ref name="ESWD">{{cite web |title=European Severe Weather Database |url=https://eswd.eu/cgi-bin/eswd.cgi |website=European Severe Weather Database |publisher=European Severe Storms Laboratory}}</ref>