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Jones wrote, Grimer wrote..
> Professor James Tuck had access to a I saw ball lightning produced during the 1933 hurricane in LaPorte Texas. The lightning was severe and while watching from an upstairs window at around 3 am, a bolt struck across the road into a ravine. The vertical light produced seemsed to fragment into vertical segments and remain in that form for a few seconds. I watched three or more balls near the base of the vertical bolt segments " float" down toward the ground and disappear into the undergrowth in the ravine. The actual " balls" appeared to be on fire with a trailing tail at the top similar to candle flame. I recall this event must have lasted 5-10 seconds until the balls vanished. My estimate of the ball diameter was volleyball size based on the distance from my point of view ( about 500 feet) Our home was was located about 2500 feet from Galveston bay which opens into the gulf of Mexico. I learned at a tender age to NEVER mention what I saw because of the ridicule. Later attending a special school in the US Navy, our Lt. Commander flatly stated I was lying. It wasn't until I saw a pic of a Japanese lab experiment in the 1980's that confirmed ball lightning that most of the physics community came around to believing. I have never met another person that said they had actually witnessed this type of event. Since that time, I have considered there are many forms of what may be described as ball lightning. Richard |
