Saint Elmo's Fire???

[IOWA DON]

When I was about 12 years old I was outside during a grey, cloudy day, and saw what at the time I thought was a lightning ball. To me it appeared about 2 feet in diameter and 200 yards away. It went accross the sky in what appeared to be a strait line at a what I thought was a speed of about 100 miles per hour. However, it could have been twice as far, twice as large and twice as fast or some other distance with a corresponding size and speed. I was telling a friend about this a few days ago and he said that would not have been a lightning ball, but that it was a UFO. Any opinions??

[torpedoman]

my vote is for ball lighting

[Cowpox]

I have seen ball lightning twice in my 6 + decades.

     The first time was in my folks kitchen, about 40 years ago.  There was a pretty respectable thunderstorm at the time, and Dad had just gotten up from the supper table to get a jar of pickles from the fridge. There was a loud explosion, and then this amazing ball of blue light, slightly smaller than a basketball, came out of the gas range, passed in front of Dad, went about ten feet across the room to the sink, stopped, turned about 100 degrees, went about 8 feet to the refrigerator on the far wall, and went into it ?  The thing took about 3 seconds to make the trip, so while it wasn't hovering, it wasn't moving that fast either.
    Dad expressed his joy for not being at the refrigerator yet !!!  Lightning had either hit the phone service box on the outside wall, or followed the phone line to it, then jumped to the fan vent for the range hood. The fan in the hood, the stove, and the refrigerator, as well as the lights and house electrical system were unaffected, but both phones were toast, and the service box was lying about 30 feet from the house.

  The second time was about ten years ago. We were on the hi way, doing about 60 mph on a cloudy day, when we were passed by a ball of greenish light that had to be at least 15 feet in diameter. As it got by us a quarter mile or so, you could see it was kind of bouncing up and down. It was around the three cable hi line next to the road, and was really moving, because I doubt it took 8 or 10 seconds to disappear over the hill a mile and a half away.

[jgalar]

My experience was during a quick evening thunder storm in FL. It was a ball of fire bouncing around in the air. it bounced around for around a second or two then blew up without making a sound.

[deltecs]

In 1972, I was working for Alaska Dept of Fish and Game, Research on the 65' vessel Montague.  We were at anchor at night with absolutely no breeze, very humid and warm for this time of night.  All of a sudden, all the steel rigging on the boat was alive with very little blue and green lightning arcs.  They traveled up and down the rigging for about 1 1/2 minutes and was gone.  Then the ocean water surface all of a sudden turned green with small phospherous lighting it up if disturbed even a little bit, like an old watch dial luminescent paint but brighter.  The captain said this was a very rare treat as it was St Elmo's fire and the best display he'd ever seen, which was 4 after 60 years on the ocean.   The biologist said the green luminescent in the water was the phosphorus particles floating to the surface from convection of the ocean temperature.  He had seen this a few times but not as grand.  It was truly an amazing sight.  I've only seen St Elmo's fire once after that and only for a few seconds.  The phosphorus, I've seen now lots of times, especially in the late fall and winter months.  It is strange to see light coming from the sea depths on the surface without a logical explanation behind it.  The wonder of it all.

[outdoorlover]

OH HOW i WISH i COULD EXPERIENCE ONE FOR MYSELF DURING CAMPING, I ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE SUCH NATURES UNEXPLAINED THINGS, I ENVY YOU WITH THAT EXPERIENCE

[trotterlg]

I've seen it once in a small airplane at night, the winshiled glowed blue around the edges, very strange, if you didn't know what it was it would definately get your attention.  I can see why sailors were afraid when the rigging lit up.  Larry

[spikehorn]

Once when i was about twelve ball lightning hit a telephone pole in front of my friends house. we were in the side yard and watched as it bounced back and forth three or four times between the telephone poles then it just disapeared.

[charles p]

In the words of Buddy Holly - "great balls afire".

[jamesrus]

Great balls of fire.....and that would be Jerry Lee Lewis, not Buddy Holly.

Jamesrus

[Mikey]

I have seen balls of fire travel the high tension lines near the house.  They appear most often on foggy or hazy nights and I have always thout they were simply static charges brought on by the magnetic fields around the lines when they come into contact with the moisture in the air.  They are pretty neat to watch even though they make the hair on your arms and head (if ya have any there) stand right up but although they are cool to watch, when you consider the voltage coursing through those lines the notion of balls of static electricity, it could be a very shocking experience if one touches down on you.......

The really weird or interesting thing about static travelling the high tension lines is that I have always heard what sounds like laughter or talking when they pass, almost as though they pick up transmissions from the nearby telephone lines.  And I am not accustomed to hearing voices when I am out alone at night, most of the time..........although...........sometimes I have to wonder...............