Ball lightning: ghost or science?

It pops up inside homes, floats around, and even goes through walls. What gives?

By Smartasaurus· 2 min read Curious

then drifting straight through a solid brick wall

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The short version

It pops up inside homes, floats around, and even goes through walls. What gives?
But this doesn't explain how these orbs pass through glass or appear inside the pressurized cabins of high-altitude aircraft.
We might find that the air around us is capable of structures we haven't yet learned to name.

Imagine a glowing sphere the size of a grapefruit floating through your closed window, hovering near your dinner table, and silently exiting through a solid brick wall. For centuries, thousands of people have reported exactly this, yet science still cannot definitively explain how it exists.

Most witnesses describe a persistent orb of light that lasts for several seconds—far longer than the millisecond flicker of a standard lightning bolt. It moves independently of the wind, often traveling against the breeze as if guided by an invisible hand.

In 2012, researchers in China caught a lucky break when their spectroscope accidentally recorded a ball of light rising from a ground strike. The data showed the orb contained silicon, iron, and calcium—the exact elements found in soil.

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