An account in Essonne, France

Recent testimony about an old observation: the witness speaks of an observation made around 1960 without further details (the date given here is an arbitrary day and month). In the late afternoon, two people are on the front steps of a house. A storm is threatening, the sky is dark gray. Looking toward the N-E, they see a "plump white fire drop" descend vertically from the storm clouds. The observation of this "drop," pointed at the top, lasts one to three seconds: the phenomenon disappears behind a curtain of trees. No noise, and no fire on the ground followed. The case was submitted to a lightning expert. The expert confirms that this type of observation is not rare: it happens that one or more luminous spheres descend (like the slow fall of a flare) from the base of the cumulonimbus during strongly pre-storm weather. Generally, the sphere's contact with the ground or a structure results in a single lightning strike, almost always in a dry storm situation. The phenomenon is one of the many facets of ball lightning. This case is classified "B" probable observation of ball lightning.