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375
The Book of the Damned
·
Charles Fort
343
I
think,
myself,
that
thousands
of
objects
have
been
seen
to
fall
from
aloft,
and
have
exploded
luminously,
and
have
been
called
"ball
lightning."
"As
to
what
ball
lightning
is,
we
have
not
yet
begun
to
make
intelligent
guesses."
(Monthly
Weather
Review,
34-17.)
In
general,
it
seems
to
me
that
when
we
encounter
the
opposition
"ball
lightning"
we
should
pay
little
attention,
but
confine
ourselves
to
guesses
that
are
at
least
intelligent,
that
stand
phantom-like
in
our
way.
We
note
here
that
in
some
of
our
acceptances
upon
intelligence
we
should
more
clearly
have
pointed
out
that
they
were
upon
the
intelligent
as
opposed
to
the
instinctive.
In
the
Monthly
Weather
Review,
33-409,
there
is
an
account
of
"ball
lightning"
that
struck
a
tree.
It
made
a
dent
such
as
a
falling
object
would
make.
Some
other
time
I
shall
collect
instances
of
"ball
lightning,"
to
express
that
they
are
instances
of
objects
that
have
fallen
from
the
sky,
luminously,
exploding
terrifically.
So
bewildered
is
the
old
orthodoxy
by
these
phenomena
that
many
scientists
have
either
denied
"ball
lightning"
or
have
considered
it
very
doubtful.
I
refer
to
Dr.
Sestier's
list
of
one
hundred
and
fifty
instances,
which
he
considered
authentic.
In
accord
with
our
disaccord
is
an
instance
related
in
the
Monthly
Weather
Review,
March,
1887--something
that
fell
luminously
from
the
sky,
accompanied
by
something
that
was
not
so
affected,
or
that
was
dark:
That,
according
to
Capt.
C.D.
Sweet,
of
the
Dutch
bark,
J.P.A.,
upon
March
19,
1887,
N.
37
deg.
39',
W.
57
deg.
00',
he
encountered
a
severe
storm.
He
saw
two
objects
in
the
air
above
the
ship.
One
was
luminous,
and
might
be
explained
in
several
ways,
but
the
other
was
dark.
One
or
both
fell
into
the
sea,
with
a
roar
and
the
casting
up
of
billows.
It
is
our
acceptance
that
these
things
had
entered
this
earth's
atmosphere,
having
first
crashed
through
a
field
of
ice--"immediately
afterward
lumps
of
ice
fell."
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