Tags & categories

Tag: Ball Lightning

2 case files, newest first.

• 

  Oct 19, 2026 Disputed

  Widecombe, 1638: The "Great Fiery Ball" in the Church

  On Sunday afternoon, October 21, 1638, a violent thunderstorm struck the parish church at Widecombe-in-the-Moor on Dartmoor during the service. Witnesses said a 'great fiery ball' came in at the window. It's often listed as one of the earliest accounts of ball lightning, and it was also one of the first big news stories in English print.

  • October Ledger
  • Ball Lightning
  • lightning
  • England
  • Devon
  • Dartmoor
  • early modern press
  • 1638
• 

  Oct 3, 2026 Open Updated

  Qinghai, 2012: The Ball Lightning That Got Caught on a Spectrograph

  One late-evening thunderstorm in July 2012, a team studying ordinary lightning on China's Qinghai Plateau recorded a glowing ball rising from a ground strike about 900 meters away. Their spectrum found silicon, iron and calcium, the stuff of soil. It's the best instrumental record of natural ball lightning, and it doesn't settle what ball lightning is.

  • Ball Lightning
  • lightning
  • China
  • Qinghai
  • spectroscopy
  • physics