The fire ball described in this account, published in 1906, seems to have an almost curious nature as it investigates a room and its occupants in Paris.
A Ball of Fire
Pranks of a Thunderbolt in a House in Paris
Camille Flammarion in his book “Thunder and Lightning” describes some of the phenomena of electrical storms. Of the actions of a ball of fire in Paris he says:
“It was in the Rue St. Jacques, near the Val de Grace. The fire ball burst into the room from the chimney, knowing over the paper guard in front of the fireplace. In appearance it suggested a young cat gathered up in a ball, as it were, and moving along without using his paws. It approached the tailor’s legs as if to play with them. The tailor moved them away to avoid the contact, of which he naturally was in terror.
“After some seconds the globe of fire rose vertically to the height of the man’s face as he sat, and he to save himself leaned quickly back and fell over. The fire ball continued to rise and made its way toward a hole which had been made at the top of the chimney for the insertion of a stovepipe in the winter, but which, as the tailor put it afterward, ‘the fire ball couldn’t see,’ because it was closed up with paper.
“The ball stripped off the paper neatly, entered the chimney quite quietly and, having risen to the summit, produced a tremendous explosion, which sent the chimney pot flying and scattered it in bits all over the neighboring courtyard and surrounding roofs.”
Source: The Socorro chieftain. (Socorro, N.M.), 17 March 1906.
