Several years ago I began researching the phenomenon of ball lightning since it comes up so frequently in discussions of the UFO phenomenon. (Or unidentified anomalous phenomena, UAP, as the U.S. government insists we say these days.) In recent months I have gone back to investigate some of the more current research material and reports available on this topic and I’ll provide some updates on both the historical and newer information that has become available here.
It’s worth noting that “ball-shaped” UFOs (as ball lightning is typically described) are among the most common sightings reported. This is no longer just an anecdotal assumption. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) website confirms this in a recently published morphology chart. They even provide a verified and still unidentified video of one of them filmed by a drone over the Middle East. Those “orbs” are frequently described as being silver or metallic in appearance, but recently advanced theories suggest that in some cases, particularly at night, they might exhibit some sort of field around their surface, giving them the appearance of fire or even electrical “lightning.”
People have been reporting sightings of such objects for quite some time. Rather than being a recent phenomenon, something fitting the description of ball lightning was first reported in the 12th century, written by Benedictine monk Gervase of Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury in 1195. Suggesting that the phenomenon has an affinity for religious institutions (or just that churches had most of the people who were literate back then), ball lightning reportedly struck the church of St. Pancras in Widecombe-on-the-Moor, England during a severe thunderstorm in 1638. Church records indicate that the fireball came through a window, knocked the minister off of his feet, and singed his clothing. While it melted metal around him, it left the wood of the church untouched. The event was considered to be potentially miraculous.
Hellbound and Down 