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Re: Teslas Ball Lightning

Original poster: BunnyKiller <bunikllr@xxxxxxx>

I dont know if it was ball lightning or just a burning mass of transformer which the lightning struck.

I was 12 at the time and off from school for summer vacation, bored to death watching the storm build up in the distance.

1970 summer in New Orleans at about 3 pm ( dont remember the day ) We were getting our standard afternoon thunderstorm and I was looking out the back sliding glass door watching the storm make its way closer to the house. Very little wind at the time ( the calm before the storm??) but lightning was popping off all around the area. A bolt hit the transformer on the utility pole ( it looked like it hit it) and part of the bolt hit the tree in the back corner of the yard. The bolt had made a few sparks appear near the transformer and one "large" spark ( a bit larger than a baseball) floated along the power line for about 4 feet then floated downwards to the ground (floated as in dropped 20 feet in about 3 seconds) as the baseball sized spark dropped towards the ground it enlarged in size to about the diameter of a large cantelope. As it approched the ground, its speed seemed to slow a bit and it looked like it "bounced" a bit twice on the ground ( but not actually touching the ground the first 2 times), on the third bounce it "popped" with a muffled explosion and left the grass dead ( a dead spot in the grass showed up a few days later) and slightly "carbonized" ( black sooty stuff which was washed off during the following rain ) the travel of the "spark" was parallel to the power lines and the drainage canal behind the property. The whole senerio lasted about maybe 8+ seconds. The color of the spark when it originated was bright blue/white and dulled gradually to a sky blue as it traveled along the wire, as it dropped towards the ground the color shifted to a darker blue ( kind of like the T-Coil corona blue when I think of it). The final color shift was towards a yellow upper section while maintaining the corona blue on the bottom. When ground contact was made it went mostly to the yellow/orange hues.

At the time it occured I didnt know what "that" was it was just a weird round glowing ball that floated like a soap bubble. Dad said it wasnt real but an after image like you get when you look at a camera flash.... but what killed the grass and left the sooty stuff on the ground and why did "my after image" make a muffled boom when it dissapeared???
Never have seen ball lightning again to compare what I had seen that day...

Scot D



Tesla list wrote:

Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Rest assured that "first hand" accounts of ball lightning that members wish to share are always on topic ;-))

Cheers,

        Terry


At 11:37 PM 7/26/2005, you wrote:

Hi Dean,
         I would love to hear from you the most detailed description
of what you have seen in each instance. Things I would most
appreciate hearing about are:
- the environment each event occurred in
- the weather at the time
- whether there was a lightning strike preceding or following the
balls' appearance or if such occurred during the balls' presence
- whether you saw the balls appear and disappear
- what the appearance of the balls was at those times and whether it
changed in any way in between and if so how
- any accompanying phenomena you observed (e.g. sound)
- anything I've forgotten to ask about (yeah - tall one that). I can
ask if there is more I can think of after your report.

I beg the moderator to let this one go - firsthand eyewitness
accounts are as rare as hen's teeth.

Thanks in advance,
Malcolm

On 26 Jul 2005, at 20:25, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: d dean <deano@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> On 07/26/2005 08:06:38 PM, Tesla list wrote:
>
>
>
> > >The only reason it 'does not exist' is because it can't be
> >reproduced in the lab.
> >Not so. It "does not exist" because:
> >1) No one can agree on what "it" is.
> >2) The characteristics are not consistent from sighting to sighting.
> >3) There has never been a reputable visual recording of the
> >phenomenon. 4) It can't be reproduced in the lab.
>
> Of course for those of us who have actually experienced the phenomena-
> We are very FAITHFULL indeed. I've seen it twice.
>
> later
> deano
>
>
>
>