Historical Accounts
It has been suggested that ball lightning could be the source of the legends that describe luminous balls, such as the Mapuche Anchimayen of mythology (of southern Argentina and Chile).
In a 1960 study, 5% of the US population reported having witnessed ball lightning. Another study analyzed reports of 10,000 cases.
M. l'abbé de Tressan, in Mythology compared with history: or, the fables of the ancients elucidated from historical records:
... during a storm which endangered the ship Argo, fires were seen to play round the heads of the Tyndarides, and the instant after the storm ceased. From that time, those fires which frequently appear on the surface of the ocean were called the fire of Castor and Pollux. When two were seen at the same time, it announced the return of calm, when only one, it was the presage of a dreadful storm. This species of fire is frequently seen by sailors, and is a species of ignis fatuus. (page 417)
This account, however, shares more commonalities with the St. Elmo's fire phenomenon.
Read more about this topic: Ball Lightning
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