Ball Lightning

[lilacearthwitch]

Has anybody else witnessed this. Where I am now it is thundery and it reminds me of an evening back in the long, hot summer of 1976 when hell broke loose on our street.

I had just been called in from playing outdoors due to the impending storm but decided to go to my mates lower down the street instead. I had forgotten to tell my mother where I was going so I nipped back up to tell her. On leaving our house a bolt of lightning touched down just to the bottom of our block. The resultant glowing ball which followed after this strike was totally amazing. It hovered momentarily before zig zagging its way up the street, brushed past two gentlemen who were both nearly knocked off their feet and then it careered into the gable end of an house and exploded leaving no scorch marks or trace whatsoever.

The ball was like orange in colour with a darker outer edge and the two other people who had witnessed it besides myself were completely stunned. Trouble is, only me and the other two people witnessed it and there was no evidence that it had ever happened because it left not distinctive track or burn marks on impact with the wall. The only thing it left was a strange smell

Do any others on here believe this type of thing exists or could it just be arcing material caused by an imminent lightning strike? It still fascinates me to this day

[Little Claire]

I remember watching a programme which talked about his phenomena. I don't hink there's much doubt that it exists, but it's so rare that scientists have had very little opportunity to research it thoroughly.

I found this BBC article about it

The UK Royal Society's journal Philosophical Transactions A outlines the current state of knowledge of the puzzling phenomenon.

The fireballs last around 10 seconds in some cases
The lightning balls move around, sometimes downwards, sometimes upwards, sometimes indoors, sometimes through glass
The ball often disappears in an explosion, sometimes causing damage

To read the rest of the article click here

[lilacearthwitch]

Thanks for the link Littleclaire. I would say the thing I saw was about the size of a cricket ball but it did not cause any damage to the wall it hit. It just exploded in an almighty shower of sparks. I do feel honoured to witness such a thing because it was spectacular.

[Little Claire]

There's nothing as amazing as nature. I love lightening but I've never seen anything liked that. I'd love to though.

At one point they thought it might be linked to SHC, but I think the fact that nearly all the people who have been found have been smokers is more significant. That in combination with the human wick theory.

[Sharron]

That's really interesting. When my boys were younger they shared a bedroom and on this one particular day they were both in the room together. They both saw a small ball of light fly at speed across the room and disappear. At first I thought they were having me on but they were both adamant about what they had seen.

I have always wondered if it was ball lightning but didn't know whether or not ball lightning could occur indoors as well as outside.

[Deleted]

That's an incredible story - no wonder you think about it to this day...

I recall being 7-ish and cowering in the extension on our house during an electric storm - never witnessed one since. The whole world was blue and there was lightening but no rain - scared me rigid! lol

Does ball lightening have to be a certain size to be credible? you mention a cricket ball, I've heard other accounts of similar phenomena but going from the size of a ping-pong ball (my experience - went shooting past my right arm in my parents dining room) to a football (my Aunt's experience, again, in my parents house) and in-between. Fascinating subject. x

[Sharron]

The ball of light my boys witnessed was golf ball size. I wish I had seen it myself!

[mook]

;DI had a mate when i was younger who used to turn round all the mirrors in her house and open all her windows when we had a storm comming, when i asked her why she did this she said it was incase of a thunder bolt hitting her house.............?, has any of you heard of anyone else doing this.

[Deleted]

;D Oh good grief, Mook. Have a karma point from me, for reminding me of something loooong forgotten... ;D

Whenever there was a thunderstorm when I was a nipper, my folks would open two windows at opposite sides of the house "because if lightening comes in it'll be attracted out again immediately"... any truth in this? it seems a fair point now...?

[Sharron]

My Gran did the same thing - covered all the mirrors up! She also put anything metallic away in cupboards and removed jewelery so that the lightning wouldn't strike it. A bit OTT .

[lilacearthwitch]

The storm in question went on for a good two hours, it was awesome. The lightning was pure blue and the sky was as black as the hobs of hell. If anyone on here is old enough to remember the summer of 76, the weather was boiling and this in turn triggered some of the most fantastic eletrical storms that decade ever saw. You could watch the clouds building up from lunchtime onwards only for the storms to kick off late afternoon, early evening time. I remember hiding behind the couch and under the table with my fingers in my ears. Must say not seen many storms like that since but being a witch, lightning does fascinate me.

[Deleted]

Posted by Lilac Earthwitch on Today at 12:18am
The storm in question went on for a good two hours, it was awesome. The lightning was pure blue and the sky was as black as the hobs of hell. If anyone on here is old enough to remember the summer of 76, the weather was boiling and this in turn triggered some of the most fantastic eletrical storms that decade ever saw. You could watch the clouds building up from lunchtime onwards only for the storms to kick off late afternoon, early evening time. I remember hiding behind the couch and under the table with my fingers in my ears. Must say not seen many storms like that since but being a witch, lightning does fascinate me.

Lol.. You know, maybe I was a tad younger than I thought, as your description perfectly fits my recollection...

[Sharron]

Yeah I'm well old enough to remember that summer

[lilacearthwitch]

To think it was all but a mere 30 years ago

[Meercat]

lilacearthwitch said:

Has anybody else witnessed this. Where I am now it is thundery and it reminds me of an evening back in the long, hot summer of 1976 when hell broke loose on our street.

I had just been called in from playing outdoors due to the impending storm but decided to go to my mates lower down the street instead. I had forgotten to tell my mother where I was going so I nipped back up to tell her. On leaving our house a bolt of lightning touched down just to the bottom of our block. The resultant glowing ball which followed after this strike was totally amazing. It hovered momentarily before zig zagging its way up the street, brushed past two gentlemen who were both nearly knocked off their feet and then it careered into the gable end of an house and exploded leaving no scorch marks or trace whatsoever.

The ball was like orange in colour with a darker outer edge and the two other people who had witnessed it besides myself were completely stunned. Trouble is, only me and the other two people witnessed it and there was no evidence that it had ever happened because it left not distinctive track or burn marks on impact with the wall. The only thing it left was a strange smell

Do any others on here believe this type of thing exists or could it just be arcing material caused by an imminent lightning strike? It still fascinates me to this day

Only just read this thread, just wanted to say youre very lucky to have witnessed it, apparently it is a very very rare event.

[lilacearthwitch]

Yeah I was very lucky to experience that and I sometimes feel really honoured to have done so. Mind you lightning does scare me and I was just glad I was not in the car with my fella on Friday night coming back from Scotland. He was on the M6 at Shap, round about 9 ish and the lightning was lighting up the fells and turning the night back into day. You could see the actual hills come out of the darkness for a brief interlude It was right there at the side of the road. He was actually in the storm cloud itself and the entire motorway surface was whitened in seconds by hail. Needless to say, my husband got the fright of his life when a vehicle travelling in front of him spun out of control and ended up facing the central barrier. He had to take drastic action to avoid a collision. Another car had rolled on its side up an embankment and he dared not to stop on the hard shoulder in case he put himself at risk. Visibility was practical zeroed for about a good minute because of the size of the hail. The lightning was fantastic and right down to the turn off for Morecambe Bay the lightning was still going strong.

[tiger]

Being a storm chaser for 20 some years I have seen it but not
upclose, and only once in those 20 years. I have many theorys
regarding this event and not really sure if any are true to fact.
I believe that ball lightning isn't nessecarily a ball of pure energy,
but more like a lightning strike on a moisture packed mass such
has ice. I don't know the type of storm you were involved in,
but i'm betting there was some hail involved. For the most part
electricty can direct objects and when lightning strikes the ground 95% of the time it spreads outward on the ground.
Which is why you can be aways from a lightning strike and still get hit. I believe what happened was that the lighning hit a mass
of ice and directed it to the ground. The lightning then spread still pushing what was left of the ice ( which was by now pure moisture held together within the the electricity) like a ball has it spread across the ground then hitting the house. The people it passed I'm positive felt a little tingling has it passed by them.