Lightning Ball?

Question

I have heard of something called a lightning ball and looked it up on www.howstuffworks.com, but they didn't say if there are possible things called "lightning balls." I'm just asking, are they real? I know all about them, so no need to explain(:

Answer 1

I too have seen ball lightning, it's pretty amazing. Sometimes it doesn't even move though. The one I saw just sat there for a second and then vanished

Answer 2

Yes, they are very real.  I actually saw one myself...scared the c**p out of me.  This happened 12 years ago and I'm still skiddish around lightning/thunder.

My mother's cousin got hit by ball lightning too.  It came down the chimney of his house, bounced around the walls for a second and then hit him and he flew right out the door.  Powerful stuff!

Answer 3

Ball lightning is a rare, but real, phenomenon.  It appears as a red ball floating along the ground shortly before the strike.  I'd explain the process, but you said not too.

Answer 4

I haven't seen it myself like Yoi_55 but my mother saw it when she was a young girl. Exactly the same way, it came in the room through the chimney.

Since those are so seldom seen, it is difficult to know how it comes and why but the answer is certainly similar to other high static electricity and ionization phenomenon like St Elm's fire.

Another still not explained phenomenon is the one of the radio amateurs who, after nearly a minute they stop talking, they can hear their own voice again from the radio. The wildest explanation is that the signal went far in space at the speed of light then bounced back to earth. A more plausible explanation is that the signal is caught between the ionisation layers around the earth and circle it for many times before 'falling' back on earth.