From the Sky?

Just what are they? They only happen during electrical storms. And in most cases seem to be benevolent to people. Unlike bolts of lightning they are unaffected by electrical conductors.

On 16 June a KG97 tanker aircraft was on a routine refuelling mission, when it hit clouds at 18,000feet. The pilot saw a “yellow-white ball of light” the size of a large beach ball, silently entered through the wind screen. It passed between his and the co-pilots seats, down the cabin walkway, passing the engineer and navigator as it headed towards the back of the plane.

A few moments later they heard the voice of the boom operator, who was at the back of the aircraft. The fiery ball had travelled through the cargo compartment out onto the right wing, and then vanished into the dark clouds.

“It was about the size of a grapefruit and yellow in colour, similar in hue to sodium flame, though it did not dazzle my eyes.” This is part of a description a young Reverend, John Henry Lehn gave in 1921 after the first of two experiences of ball lightning.

Reverend Lehn was in his bathroom, during a thunder storm, when in from the meshed open window came a ball of lightning, not affecting the mesh at all. After rotating around his legs several times, it leaped up into the sink, melting the chain to the plug before vanishing down the plug-hole. Two weeks later the same exact thing occurred, even down to once again melting the chain of the by now replaced rubber plug.

There have been many accounts of ball lightning entering houses without harming the buildings inhabitants in any way. These can range considerably in size, from around 1/8inch to around football size. In fact some act with the control and finesse you would expect from some form of science book alien probe. Which prompts another confusing aspect of these cases. Was it the peoples minds playing tricks on them? Many scientists write ball lightning off as pure hallucination or some form of optical illusion. Maybe this is caused by a flash of lightning itself, leaving behind an after-image on their retina. A Canadian scientist, Edward Argyll subscribes to this theory. He states that most ball lightning cases last between 2-10 seconds, which is how long an after-image lasts for. Also this could explain the enigma of how they are able to pass through metal and glass objects without being effected. But how would this explain the Reverends chain?