Sighting

No exact date given.

Transcription from article:

Light in Sky.

Rare "Ball Lightning" Recently Seen
by People of France.

A singular instance of what seems to
have been globular or "ball" lightning
was recently reported in the French
scientific papers. The lightning was seen
in a place where there was no storm at
the time, although storm clouds were
visible in the neighborhood, says a Paris
dispatch to the New York Sun.

The appearance was that of two luminous
orange colored globes, one above
the other, and connected by a slender
cord or [chain?] which emitted a [?????]
light and seemed granular in constitution.
The two globes moved together
horizontally toward the northeast, although
at the place where the observers
were the wind was from the north.

The upper globe, which was the larger,
kept on its way steadily, while the other
dropped slowly toward the ground. The
connecting cord then disappeared and the
globes moved on slowly, remaining visible
for two minutes and finally disappearing
silently. This phenomenon differs
sensibly from the typical forms of
globular lightning described recently by
Prof. W. M. Thornton of Armstrong college.

According to this author globular
lightning descends slowly from a cloud,
generally after a violent clap of thunder,
in the form of a brilliant bluish ball. It
bounds from the earth when it touches,
and then moves off a few yards horizontally.
These balls readily follow an electric
conductor, a gas pipe, for instance,
and burst when they touch water, or
sometimes in the open air. The ball
then disappears instantaneously with a
violent explosion which may do damage
and which produces a strong smell of
ozone.

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