Orbs? Or ball lightning?

[Jimi H.]

Check this old newpaper article about a freaky ball lightning event in Denmark in 1947:

Translation:

"Ball lighting rained upon the citizens of Svaneke.

Fantastic afternoon: Ball lightning around their legs, in and out of houses, up and down the streets.

Yesterday afternoon a thunderstorm haunted Svaneke, a storm that will allways be remembered by those who experienced it.

Even before people became aware of the storm, it rained down lightning and flashes of fire upon the town, being the one pole of an electric experiment.

Lightning strayed down the streets, along the electric poles into peoples houses, and suddenly people discovered they were in dangerous proximity of balls of fire or flashes of fire.

At city bookkeeper Andersen's a lightning ball was suddenly seen in the air between two men who were talking. The ball of lightning exploded with a violent bang forcing both men to their knees, but none were hurt.

A woman cyclist was crossing the church yard when she was thrown off her bicycle by another lightning ball, and she felt numb for hours thereafter.

The church, which has twice previously been struck by lightning, was struck by a lightning ball, which struck the lightning cunductor on the spire. The cunductor immediately melted, and the spire was splintered."

What we see is that ball lightning seem to have electrical proporties that likely could make them seem 'intelligent'. Since the human skin has a electrical small charge, it is quite likely that ball lightning could interact with the electricity of the skin. E.g. ".. there was suddenly discovered a lightning ball in the air space between two men who were talking.."

Sound like the ball lightning found 'rest' for a sec. in the electrical field between to people talking.

 

[Jimi H.]

Another paper clipping makes the event even more interesting, in an ufological context:

"140 fuses blew at the central plant.

Many radio receivers reported destroyed by lightning strike.

The results of the powerful storm with lightning strikes Thursday afternoon are now being seen.
In the course of the day yesterday, most phones and power lines had been repaired.
The lightning was a so-called 'ball lightning', or 'cold' lightning and it spread through the grid through the city.
Both in the street and it houses. Several places, inhabitants saw a ball lightning enter a kitchen or living room, and suddenly it would explode with a bang. Several people were hit, without being significantly hurt.
..
That some of these lightning bolts were powerful is evident, in that some cows on a field nearby, fell to the ground uncounscious, where they laid for some time as if dead."

 

[Goggs Mackay]

A close family friend who was a pharmacist, had an event that is either some orb or ball lightning. Basically a floating sphere around the size of a basketball entered their home through a closed window, hovered about a bit like a bubble, stayed maybe 10 secs and then seemed to disappear into the power cable for the TV. It was see-thru and various colours, mostly a purple/blue though and it had an effect of swirling electricity going on inside the sphere.

They never attributed any intelligence to it, they called out the electricity board to investigate and ball lightning was the only explanation the guy could give although I think basically he was clueless. I've often wondered if it could actually have been something created though rather than some quirky electrical effect?

 

[Jimi H.]

That's interesting, the story sounds very similar. I'd effin' freak out if a multicolored ball came through a closed window, lol.

I must admit it sounds like an electrical phenomenon to me though, not least because of how it left the building!

New Scientist has a very interesting article on ball lightning (plasma balls):
Physicists create great balls of fire - physics-math - 07 June 2006 - New Scientist

The visual artifacts they describe seem very similar to what is described as orbs on UFO-sites, but New Scientist naturally looks at it from a scientific angle:

"Most accounts describe a hovering, glowing, ball-like object up to 40 centimetres across, ranging in colour from red to yellow to blue and lasting for several seconds or in rare cases even minutes. Many scientists believe ball lightning is a ball of plasma formed when lightning strikes the ground, but the exact mechanism is unclear despite the many theories proposed. ..."

 

[Wade]

I had only one experience with ball lightning that I witnessed when I was young and my recollection was that it stayed pretty uniform in its size and shape. that is I didn't form and reform and throw off tendrils ot leave a "contrail"...for lack of a better word...it just dissolved somewhat suddenly. I don't know if this is s.o.p. with ball lightning but it wasn't anything like the debunk this orb video goggs posted so that's why I didn't go with ball lightning on it.

 

[pixelsmith]

We had ball lightning in our house when I was a kid. Lightning struck our ungrounded tv antenna then jumped from the wire into our kitchen where it floated around and bounced off and melted part of a copper bottom fry pan, and melted part of the stove before fizzling out. It also followed the tv antenna to the tv in the basement at the foot of the bed where my uncle was sleeping. When the lightning hit the house he sat up in bed just in time to see a ball of lightning come out of the tv float right close to his face then wander around the room before fizzling out. My uncle said it almost seemed as if the ball was looking for something...Strange stuff.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

That's pretty nuts Pixel. Ball lightning is really rare. Has anyone come across any good videos?

 

[pixelsmith]

here are a few interesting images. the audio is funny.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

I feel like I'm watching a silent movie.

 

[Jimi H.]

We had ball lightning in our house when I was a kid....Strange stuff.

That sounds like a wild event Pixel.

Yea, electrical phenomena can definitly appear intelligent, the way it tends to jump from pole to pole, or reacts to the skin or whatever. Like a plasma-ball and so forth. I never had one, but I know they can make weird things happen to other electrical devices also, there are a few neat vids on youtube.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

The only artificially created ball lighting I've seen was pretty pathetic c/f the natural kind. These 'balls' must have some kind of 'skin' and surface tension? Surely if it was plasma, it would not coalesce into a sphere because as I understand plasma, it's superheated ionised gas - so what is containing it in a sphere? Wiki didn't have anything to tell me and I don't have time to trawl something more 'scientific' right now. Does anyone have any idea?

 

[Wade]

I think the forms can achieve inertia can they not ? thereby retaining their form and structure?

(To an extent)

 

[Jimi H.]

I guess there isn't really a theory that people can agree on, but that most do theorize along the lines that material is super-heated and perhaps ejected by a lightning bolt and starts floating in midair, and apparently with various electrical proporties to boot.

Goggs, yea, I think what you mention hasn't been explained, spooky suggests inertia?

Another problem, I imagine plasma won't zip through cables etc. so that would have to be a seperate electrical phenomenon attached to the plasma-ball, right?

 

[Burnt State]

Well the idea of shape really is an interesting one, that and the maneuverability of these seemingly balls of plasma. One thing that's interesting about the variance in the recorded events of Ball Lightning Phenomena is that it appears to be more than one thing as its source.

The following article is quite interesting:

Mysterious ball lightning: Illusion or reality?

The role of mental delusions is something we don't talk often enough about. There are scientists who do believe that the majority, if not all, paranormal phenomena is the result of an excited brain. Whether it's induced by the magnetic fields of nearby lightning, DMT, sleep paralysis or other brain chemistry alterations makes no never mind. A lot of 'witnessed' events could just be a delusional experience.

 

[pixelsmith]

Are you suggesting that an illusion floated around our kitchen and melted the bottom of a copper fry pan?

 

[Burnt State]

Are you suggesting that an illusion floated around our kitchen and melted the bottom of a copper fry pan?

I didn't say that all examples of this phenomena are not real electrical balls of intense power, but that among the various incongruous descriptions of BL there certainly is room for hallucinations. The article reports scientific research making a good case for that. When you consider all the conflicted reporting amongst witnesses of the same paranormal event, the mass delusion does become a better option. Certainly, when you have physical trace experiences happening there's something more tangible taking place. But the stories about "intelligent orbs" could just as easily be generated from our minds through any number of potential agents of ecstasy.

 

[Jimi H.]

I didn't say that all examples of this phenomena are not real electrical balls of intense power, but that among the various incongruous descriptions of BL there certainly is room for hallucinations. The article reports scientific research making a good case for that.

It does yes, though it hasn't been shown, as you say:"The Innsbruck physicists have now calculated that a near lightning stroke of long lasting thunderbolts may also generate these luminous visions, which are likely to appear as ball lightning."
Here's how it could be shown: A person in close proximity ('few hundred meters') to a lightning bolt in the open field experiences a ball-lightning. 500 meters away, someone else is watching the storm through a tele-lens. Do they see the same thing? I'd like for this to be shown. I think it's a very good theory, and it is nice and simple, but we do have many reports that just don't fit the purely mental hypothesis, including the reports in the OP, where a significant amount of damage occured, or Pixel's melted handle. Also, there's the detail in the reports where two gents are thrown to the ground at the same time, seeing the same thing floating between them explode, that would make the magnetic explanation too damn mystical for me!

Admittedly, it's not the first time we hear about something similar, I'm thinking of the fast specks of trailing light that people see sometimes, while in space. As we know, those are rays affecting their eyes directly, not the result of visual light, as such. And the rays show up on pictures too, having affected the emulsion directly.

When you consider all the conflicted reporting amongst witnesses of the same paranormal event, the mass delusion does become a better option.

When I consider delusion, I think of something that wouldn't happen spontaneously. These events often seem to happen quickly and without any previous expectation of seeing ball lightning, so I think that explantion doesn't fit the scenario very well.

Certainly, when you have physical trace experiences happening there's something more tangible taking place. But the stories about "intelligent orbs" could just as easily be generated from our minds through any number of potential agents of ecstasy.

Indeed, though I have seen electricity appear 'organic' enough times that I don't find that the hardest to accept.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

Well the idea of shape really is an interesting one, that and the maneuverability of these seemingly balls of plasma. One thing that's interesting about the variance in the recorded events of Ball Lightning Phenomena is that it appears to be more than one thing as its source.

The following article is quite interesting:

Mysterious ball lightning: Illusion or reality?

The role of mental delusions is something we don't talk often enough about. There are scientists who do believe that the majority, if not all, paranormal phenomena is the result of an excited brain. Whether it's induced by the magnetic fields of nearby lightning, DMT, sleep paralysis or other brain chemistry alterations makes no never mind. A lot of 'witnessed' events could just be a delusional experience.

The brain explanation would be fine for a lot of the paranormal, except when multiple witnesses are present, like when a friend and I witnessed the figure of an old lady who disappeared in a dead-end alley. We both saw that. But of course when only one person sees something the chances it's a mental aberration is far higher IMO.

 

[Burnt State]

Agree with both Goggs and Jimi H.'s statement above but would like to stress this idea of conflicting testimony amongst witnesses in proximity of strange phenomena, with and without trace evidence, relating more to events of the mind. So many UFO and paranormal occurrences yield dissimilar reports that perhaps mental excitement may play a role. I'm not saying nothing's there, but offering up a reason for the general obscurity involved in witness reports.

As far as crowd delusions or shared hallucinations: anyone who has shared a hallucinogenic trip with others knows that it's not uncommon to see similar creatures and forms with some variance. I think that considering this point may help researchers to understand that during any paranormal event that excites the brain there will be the likelihood of "high strangeness." This may explain why so many close encounters read more like acid trips, and why conflicted reports may just be par for the course.