Modern Mysteries

First known sighting of ball lightning in England uncovered

By T.K. Randall
January 30, 2022 ·  5 comments

The sighting predates the former earlier known sighting by centuries. Image Credit: Pixabay / cocoparisienne Encounters with ball lighting are often as fascinating as they are terrifying - imagine a silent ball of crackling energy gliding eerily towards you - the air around you tingling with electricity.

Such sightings are incredibly rare, however they can and do happen - ball lighting is a very real phenomenon indeed and one that remains steeped in mystery even to this day.

What is perhaps the first ever recorded sighting of ball lightning in England was recently uncovered in the text of a book compiled in the 12th-Century A.D. by Gervase, a monk of Christ Church Cathedral in Canterbury.According to his writing, on June 7th, 1195, a mysterious spinning ball of flame had appeared out of a dark cloud on an otherwise clear day near to the London lodgings of the bishop of Norwich.

In his written account, Gervase stated that the "fiery globe threw itself down into the river."

It is easy to imagine that, especially given the time period during which this sighting occurred, the phenomenon would have been assigned some sort of divine significance.

Surprisingly, though, the monk's writings left the meaning behind the sighting open to interpretation.

Source: Live Science | Comments (5)

Tags: Ball Lightning