Fire balls from the clouds were seen over England in 1900.
The article below goes into the different types of fire balls, including ball lightning.
Fire Balls From the Clouds
These Electric Phenomena Are Rare, But Brilliant
The storms that have raged over England displayed some extraordinary freaks of lightning.
A fire ball fell into Diddop reservoir, near Halifax, about 3 o’clock p.m., and was seen by the caretaker’s daughter. The ball of fire illuminated the countryside. There was a loud, hissing sound. A gigantic fountain was thrown into the air and half the surface of the reservoir was ruffled for fully five minutes. An appalling thunderclap followed. The smell of sulphur was so strong that the caretaker and his family could scarcely breathe.
The fire ball which wrecked the village of Stoke Doyle, near Aundle, is described as having presented a vivid spectacle. It is not possible to ascertain its true character, for there are various sorts of electrical phenomena which come under the term “fire ball.”
According to the best authorities, a fire ball is a mysterious phenomenon of spherical form which falls from a thunder cloud and frequently rebounds after striking the earth. It usually burns with a bright flash and a loud explosion and occasionally discharges flashes of lightning. By some scientists the fire ball is termed “globe lightning,” but the keenest enthusiast has never stopped sufficiently long to examine it closely on arrival.
Sometimes an ordinary bolt of lightning is described as a fire ball. The real fire ball is a very rare phenomenon, so much so that at one time it was supposed by scientific men to exist only in the popular imagination. The French electrician, Plante, when experimenting with his rheostat – a kind of condenser – several times observed balls of fire travel along the wires of the machine and then burst with a loud detonation.
This phenomenon, which has never been satisfactorily explained, presents all the characteristics of the true fire ball, which travels slowly enough for its movements to be plainly visible and then explodes.
Source: The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.), 25 Oct. 1900.
