Fortean Times

BOLTS FROM THE BLUE

EARLIEST BALL LIGHTNING

The rare weather phenomenon of ball lightning has, over the last few decades, inched its way from the realm of the fortean into a degree of slightly grudging scientific respectability, although little progress has been made as to understanding exactly what it is or how it comes about. It is now believed to be a plasma resulting from a lightning strike vaporising silicates in the soil, but many aspects of. This account, written by the Benedictine monk Gervase, of Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury, in the 12th century, predates the previous earliest description by almost 450 years. Gervase’s Chronicle only exists in three manuscripts, one at the British Library and two in Cambridge, and there has been no translation into English.

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