Original poster: "resonance" <resonance@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
This may be one explanation of ball lightning, however, I have
witnessed it firsthand, and suspect it was an electrostatic effect.
It formed under the guy wires of a large radio tower in the Baraboo,
Wisconsin, bluffs. It would form and sometimes release from this
v-shaped area. It would persist for 10-30 seconds before softly
exploding. Sometimes it would also travel down the power wires
delivering power to the transmitter site located at the base of the
tower. These would persist for a longer period of time, sometimes as
long as 45-60 seconds and travel 200-300 feet before popping. I was
a friend of the station engineer (fellow ham opr) and he invited me
up one summers evening to witness it as it occured for nearly 1 hour.
The radio engineer who lived with his family in a house adjacent to
the transmitter had an incident in which a large ball came through a
wall and terrified his wife before exploding.
After this occured leaves were noted piling up in a symetrical
circle around the base of the tower suggesting an electrostatic
effect of sorts. It should also be noted the tower is anchored in a
quartzite bluff nearly 600 feet high. The tower is an additional 600
feet above ground.
Dr. Resonance