| ID | #1636467814 |
| Added | Tue, 09/11/2021 |
| Author | July N. |
| Sources | |
| Phenomena | |
| Status | Research
|
Initial data
An email from a man from Clifton, Virginia, reported that his wife witnessed something strange late at night during a storm that hit our area the day before (Clifton is about 12 miles west of Springfield, in which several glowing spheres were seen during a thunderstorm).
"Last night, our electricity went out, and my wife was woken up by the fact that the answering machine turned on and off when the electricity tried to be restored, and then it completely turned off.
She went to the front door to see if it was raining or windy, and saw a very large object hovering over the neighboring house about 1/8 of a mile from our house. It was bigger than the house, seemed to be at an angle to her open-bottom view and illuminated everything around evenly
When he began to move away, several flashes of lightning were visible, and then she disappeared. The electricity returned two hours later."
The next day, a second email was received saying that he had the opportunity to talk to his wife about this observation, and he added that it looked like his wife could actually observe "lightning balls".
He also wrote:
"what she describes sounds just like an image with lots of fireballs, which, according to her, disappeared when she was watching it, and then the lightning flew into the space above the house from the ground to where the lights seemed to be."
Original news
Date: March 23, 2005
Location: Clifton, Virginia, United States
The luminous spheres during the storm were described as a "very large object hovering over a nearby house about an 1/8 of a mile from our house. It was larger than the house, seemed to be at an angle to her view with the bottom exposed and had lights all around it evenly spaced."
Source: Norman Gagnon (MUFON Field Investigator)/UFO Evidence
Date Posted: 5/6/2005 6:21:07 AM
Sighting Time: 00:30 AM
Day/Night: Nighttime
Duration: 5 seconds
No. of Witnesses: 1
Urban or Rural: Suburban
No. of Object(s): Multiple
Distance to Object(s): 1/8 of a mile
Shape of Object(s): bright circular obs
Color of Object(s): white
Full Description and Details
Received an email from a Clifton, Virginia man, reporting that his wife witnessed something strange late in the night, during a storm that hit our area the previous day (Clifton is approximately 12 miles west of Springfield, in which Multiple luminous spheres during thunderstorm I reside). Email sighting account in part: "We had a power outage last night and my wife was awakened by the answering machine clicking on and off as the power tried to recover, and then it went out completely. She went to the front door to see if it was raining or windy and saw a very large object hovering over a nearby house about an 1/8 of a mile from our house. It was larger than the house, seemed to be at an angle to her view with the bottom exposed and had lights all around it evenly spaced. When it began to move away, several lightning flashes were seen and then it was gone. The power returned two hours later."
A second email was received the next day stating that he had a chance to talk to his wife about this sighting and he added that it would seem that his wife might have actually observed "balls of lightning". He also wrote: "what she describes sounds just like a multiple ball lightning display which she says disappeared as she watched it, and then a bolt of lightning went up into the space above the house from the ground to where the lights had appeared to be."
A little more details were obtained during a telephone interview that was conducted March 31st. Sighting took place around 12:30 a.m., March 23, during a thunderstorm, as she was facing south, towards Manassas. The length of the appearance lasted just a few seconds, from the "balls of light" formation to the vertical lightning flash.
It is my belief that this incident may have been a natural, Rare Atmospheric Phenomena (RAP) involving multiple ball lightning, or Mobile Luminous Spheres. To be a witness of one or two of these lightning balls are rare but witnessing a group of ten or more is phenomenal! According to Dominion Virginia Power website, their electrical outage legend summary dated 3/23/2005, indicated that there were about 24 homes that were affected by this storm in the Northern Virginia's Fairfax County area.
March 23rd temperature: 44 degrees, cloudy with rain, average humidity 81, wind 13 mph NE.
Personal Background:
MUFON Field Investigator - Virginia
Other Comments:
This is a complementary report. A drawing/graphic will be sent shorlty.
Reported Sighting? Yes
Reported To: MUFON & NUFORC
Name: Norman Gagnon
Location: Northern Virginia
Hypotheses
Investigation
Resume
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