I love the two subreddits Today I Learned and Damn thats interesting. I know about a third of them but the ones I don’t know always make me do a double-take. Can recommend!
This one I knew about because my mother was ‘chased’ down the passage by ball lightning when she was a girl. It left her absolutely terrified of lightning. She would cover all our mirrors and hide away when there was a storm. The possibility of lightning made her almost hysterical.
I didn’t know about ball lightning either… No wonder your mother was so afraid of it. Does it happen when there is lightning outside and then somehow the lightning conditions are reproduced indoors? And regarding the name of the Earth, my mind is blown…