Ball Lightning

[Mapantz]

I was doing my usual daily rounds on a GIFS site, and I came across this: https://i.imgur.com/2zzQ6Q6.gifv

That is exactly what i captured on my old Sony Handycam, back in 2005. It actually shoots past me, and moves in a straight line like in that GIF. Until today, I was never totally sure what I had caught on tape, but that seals it for me. 

[4wd]

It's an interesting thing to search youtube for, there are some quite convincing recordings - while others could be sky lanterns or hovering insects out of focus.

[4wd]

It has been documented many times but extremely rare even in locations where storms are almost daily events.

[hillbilly]

I saw something many years ago at night that I thought could be ball lightening but there was no storm.Have struggled to find anything on youtube etc that can explain it but I now think it was a meteorite about to hit ground,i can only describe it as being not far away moving across the sky heading down buy looked just like a ball of fire  with a flame like tail !Amazing will probably never see anything like it again .

Edited March 6, 2016 by hillbilly

[Azazel]

I'm pretty sure i've seen ball lightning before.

 

Years ago in the middle of the night one summer, there was a thunderstorm in the distance (probably a good 20-30 miles away) and i was having a cigarette out of my bedroom window. There was a very bright flash which seemed to come from very high up (the anvil i'm presuming) and then i noticed what can only be described as a ball of light about the size of a tennis ball hovering about 4 feet above the ground in my neighbours garden. It swayed from side to side slightly and appeared to be "dripping" or "flaking" smaller bits of light like diamonds. It had a very unnatural appearance and resembled CGI. It stayed for about ten seconds before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

[Schnee]

I saw an unusual lightning bolt during a storm whilst heading back to the depot during summer 2005. It was like an explosion of lightening in the central reservation of a dual carriageway. Ball lightening or just a quick CG, i'll never know.

[Butch R. Davis]

Age 6 or 7, I was on my driveway with my grandfather one summer mid-day. A blue, transparent ball of light the size of a beach ball appeared 3 feet away from me and about 6 feet from my grandfather, slowly hovering a foot or two above the ground. He saw it and yelled Run. Within 4 seconds the ball hit my bicycle and the ground with a BOOM!  The earth was scorched and the chain was blown off my bike, broken. Looking back, I'm pretty sure he had seen it before. He told me not to talk about it because it would scare people. It scared me!

Edited December 26, 2017 by Butch R. Davis

[hillbilly]

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/pensioners-horror-ultra-rare-ball-457467

[Azazel]

I remember seeing what i'm certain was ball lightning during nighttime storms in 2005.

 

I was having a cheeky cigarette out my bedroom window and watching distant lightning flashes to the North East when a bright blue ball/orb appeared hovering about 3 feet above my neighbours garden. It gently bobbed and weaved a little in the air with what appeared to be some kind of liquid dripping from it before it suddenly vanished without making a sound.