Earliest known report of ball lightning phenomenon in England discovered in medieval text

Almost mythical weather phenomenon has consistently been reported for centuries, but is rarely seen and remains mysterious

A 1901 depiction of ball lightning (Public domain)

Ball lightning is a weather phenomenon which is not well documented, and remains scientifically unproven. Though very rare, over the centuries the numbers of sightings of moving balls of lightning – often during electrical storms – have stacked up.

Now, scientists at the University of Durham believe they may have found the earliest report of the phenomenon in a medieval text.

The researchers found the account in the text of the Chronicle – a work by the 12th century Benedictine monk Gervase of Christ Church Cathedral Priory, in Canterbury.

His description, in which “a marvellous sign descended near London” on 7 June 1195, predates the previous earliest known description of ball lightning recorded in England by nearly 450 years, the researchers said.

In his account, Gervase went on to describe a “dense and dark cloud, emitting a white substance which grew into a spherical shape under the cloud, from which a fiery globe fell towards the river”, the researchers said.

Over the centuries, ball lightning has routinely been described as a bright spherical object ranging from less than 25 centimetres up to several metres in diameter.

The Durham researchers compared the text in Gervase’s Chronicle with historical and modern reports of ball lightning.

Professor Brian Tanner, emeritus professor in the department of physics at Durham University, said: “Ball lightning is a rare weather event that is still not understood today.

“Gervase’s description of a white substance coming out of the dark cloud, falling as a spinning fiery sphere and then having some horizontal motion is very similar to historic and contemporary descriptions of ball lightning.

“If Gervase is describing ball lightning, as we believe, then this would be the earliest account of this happening in England that has so far been discovered.”

Professor Giles Gasper, from the department of history at Durham University, said: “The main focus of Gervase’s writings was Christ Church Cathedral Priory in Canterbury, its disputes with neighbouring houses and an Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as chronicling the actions of the king and his nobles. But he was also interested in natural phenomena, from celestial events and signs in the sky to floods, famine and earthquakes.”

Gervase’s accounts of natural phenomena were already known to include reliable records of eclipses and a description of the splitting of the image of the crescent moon.

Professor Gasper added: “Given that Gervase appears to be a reliable reporter, we believe that his description of the fiery globe on the Thames on 7 June 1195 was the first fully convincing account of ball lightning anywhere.”

Prior to this account, the earliest report of ball lightning from England is during a great thunderstorm in Widecombe in Devon on 21 October 1638.

During this storm, four people were killed and 60 injured. According to witness accounts at the time, during a violent thunderstorm a fireball around 8 feet in diameter smashed into the village church, breaking a window and tearing part of the roof open. It reportedly then moved through the church, almost destroying it, bringing down large stones from the walls and heavy wooden beams.

The wife of the church’s Anglican minister was among those who died. In an astonishing account published the same year, it states that she “had her ruff and the linen next her body, and her body, burnt in a very pitiful manner”.

Another man reportedly struck a pillar so hard it left an indentation. “His head was cloven, his skull rent into three peeces and his braines throwne upon the ground whole.”

The fiery ball then reportedly divided into two segments, one exiting through another window by smashing it open, and the other disappearing within the church.

A direct scientific observation of ball lightning is believed to have been made by chance by scientists in China in 2012 who were trying to measure normal lightning.

According to a 2014 report in New Scientist, Jianyong Cen and his colleagues at Northwestern Normal University in Lanzhou were observing a thunderstorm in Qinghai with video cameras and spectrographs. When a bolt struck the ground, a glowing ball about 5 metres wide rose up and travelled about 15 metres, disappearing after 1.6 seconds.

The researchers subsequently said their measurements supported a theory postulated in 2000 in which the orbs form from vaporised soil.

The research is published in the journal Weather.