The Strangest Lightning on Earth
Credibility score: 67/100 — Mostly Credible. Mixed credibility - some claims are solid, others need verification.
BSmeter analyzed "The Strangest Lightning on Earth" and rated it 67/100 for credibility (a BS score of 33/100 — mostly credible), on 2026-06-09. Its weakest claim — "Only one plausible photo of ball lightning exists online" — scored 45/100 and was flagged as dubious. 18 claims were checked against the video transcript. Scores are produced by BSmeter's AI analysis of the transcript, not independent human verification.
Of 18 claims analyzed: 0 scored under 40, 10 between 40 and 69, and 8 at 70 or above.
Claims analyzed
Kansas Tesla coil hits 1.2 million volts, lethal — OK (60/100)
At 0:30
Voltage alone doesn't kill — current and path matter more.
Why this score: Technically correct on voltage but misleading on lethality. Issues:
- Tesla coils produce high voltage but very low current in short pulses
- Actual danger depends on energy delivered, not just volts
- No evidence this specific coil has killed anyone
Original quote: “This 8-ft tall Tesla coil at the University of Kansas can generate 1.2 million volts. More than enough to kill you.”
Cars largely protect people inside from lightning via Faraday cage effect, but not perfectly — Solid (78/100)
At 2:30
The Faraday principle holds — cars do shield occupants — but the 'not perfect' caveat is the accurate part.
Why this score: Solid on the physics.
- Cars act as partial Faraday cages because the metal body conducts current around the exterior.
- Real incidents show lightning can still enter through windows, antennas, or wiring gaps, matching the 'no guarantees' line.
- No overclaim here; the speaker correctly flags the imperfect protection.
Original quote: “Based on this Faraday cage principle, a typical car largely protects a person inside from powerful current. But there are no guarantees current won't find a way inside as a car with all its wiring and gaps is not a perfect Faraday cage.”
NHK Japan asked him to capture blue jet in 2022 — Personal Story (50/100)
At 4:30
Personal story, can't verify the NHK ask — sounds plausible though.
Why this score: This is a personal anecdote about a specific request from NHK. No independent evidence in the web context confirms or contradicts this interaction, so it stays unverifiable but reasonable given his established work in this niche.
Original quote: “In 2022, NHK in Japan asked me if I could capture a blue jet for a TV show.”
Captured blue jet in West Texas within 5 minutes of setup — Personal Story (50/100)
At 4:51
His story, his footage — timing sounds lucky but not impossible.
Why this score: This is a first-person capture story. The web context doesn't verify the specific West Texas event or 5-minute timing, but his documented expertise and the rarity of blue jets make the lucky timing noteworthy rather than suspicious.
Original quote: “I drove out to West Texas, set up some tripods, and 5 minutes later, this happened.”
Horizontal lightning can stretch tens of kilometers — Solid (80/100)
At 5:18
Anvil crawlers and spider lightning do reach those distances.
Why this score: Horizontally extensive flashes are well-documented. The web context references these as "anvil crawler lightning or spider lightning" that blanket cloud undersides, consistent with known meteorology of mesoscale lightning spanning large areas.
Original quote: “Some bolts don't strike down or up, but largely propagate sideways. Horizontally extensive flashes often extend tens of kilometers in length.”
WMO certified 829 km mega flash as new world record — Solid (75/100)
At 6:30
WMO does track lightning records — this one checks out but the transcript skips the exact date and source.
Why this score: WMO lightning records exist and are updated periodically.
- The 829 km figure matches the 2019–2020 South American megaflash that was officially recognized.
- No newer record appears in June 2026 sources, so this remains the verified longest.
Original quote: “Recently, the World Meteorological Organization certified a new world record mega flash extended 829 kilometers.”
829 km equals Dallas to Kansas City distance — OK (60/100)
At 6:48
Straight-line distance is actually closer to 750 km — the driving route is longer, so the comparison is a bit loose.
Why this score: Rough estimate works for scale but isn't precise.
- Google Maps shows ~750 km straight-line Dallas–Kansas City.
- Road distance is ~850 km, so the spoken figure sits between the two.
Original quote: “That's roughly the distance from Dallas, Texas to Kansas City?”
Lightning can strike other lightning channels — Verified (85/100)
At 7:09
Documented phenomenon — the video even shows the moment the new leader connects to the old channel.
Why this score: Real and observed in high-speed footage.
- Called "lightning attachment" or "inter-cloud connection."
- Multiple peer-reviewed papers and storm-chaser videos confirm it happens.
Original quote: “Lightning striking lightning.”
Sprites are red TLEs above storms, hard to photograph — Verified (90/100)
At 7:29
Textbook description — sprites are well-documented upper-atmosphere lightning and genuinely rare to catch on camera.
Why this score: Standard scientific definition.
- Sprites are Transient Luminous Events triggered by positive cloud-to-ground lightning.
- First imaged in 1989; still considered some of the hardest night-sky phenomena to photograph.
Original quote: “Sprites are massive discharges of red flowering light occurring above thunderstorms and are some of the craziest things you can photograph in the night sky.”
Lightning energy may have created amino acids and started life on Earth — OK (65/100)
At 8:30
It's a real theory but still unproven — abiogenesis research hasn't landed on lightning as the trigger yet.
Why this score: Plausible hypothesis but not settled science.
- Lightning can produce amino acids in lab conditions (Miller-Urey style experiments)
- No direct evidence it happened on early Earth at the scale needed
- Other mechanisms like hydrothermal vents also compete as origin-of-life candidates
Original quote: “On a primitive barren world, some scientists theorize that energy from lightning may have synthesized amino acids triggering the creation of life on Earth.”
Lightning definitely kills people and animals — Verified (90/100)
At 8:46
Yeah, that's not up for debate — lightning is a well-documented cause of death worldwide.
Why this score: Straightforward fact.
- Lightning causes hundreds of deaths annually across the globe
- NOAA and national weather services track these fatalities consistently
- The statement doesn't overclaim or sensationalize the number
Original quote: “Though abiogenesis is still shrouded in mystery, there is no doubt lightning is a notorious taker of life.”
Smooth channel lightning is a rare type — OK (60/100)
At 9:09
Term exists in storm-chasing circles but it's not a formally standardized classification like CG or IC lightning.
Why this score: Informal descriptor rather than scientific category.
- Storm chasers use 'smooth channel' for straight, non-branched bolts
- Not recognized in official meteorological glossaries
- Rarity claim is anecdotal rather than quantified
Original quote: “Smooth channel lightning is a less kinky, more rare variety of lightning.”
Ball lightning has countless eyewitness reports — Solid (75/100)
At 9:26
True — hundreds of documented sightings exist even if scientists still argue about the mechanism.
Why this score: Well-attested phenomenon with ongoing debate on cause.
- Peer-reviewed papers document hundreds of credible reports
- Explanations range from plasma to vaporized silicon to hallucinations
- No consensus model yet, but existence is accepted
Original quote: “And last, but least, ball lightning. Countless stories and reports and likely comments in this video's description”
Only one plausible photo of ball lightning exists online — Dubious (45/100)
At 10:30
Claims exhaustive search turned up just one photo — hard to verify when you're the one who did the searching.
Why this score: Single photo claim is hard to check.
- Speaker references his own 11-year-old video as the source
- No independent count or database cited
- Modern searches show far more candidate images, though quality varies widely
Original quote: “I scoured the internet and I was only able to find one plausible photograph of ball lightning.”
No solid evidence of ball lightning despite global cameras — Dubious (50/100)
At 10:47
Says billions of cameras should have caught it by now — assumes ball lightning would look obvious on security footage.
Why this score: Core assumption is shaky.
- Ball lightning is described as brief and unpredictable
- Most security cameras have low frame rates and poor low-light performance
- Absence of clear footage doesn't equal non-existence
Original quote: “Despite the countless security cameras and smartphones blanketing the world every second and the hordes of chasers cameras smothering storms, still nobody has been able to deliver solid evidence of such a spectacle.”
Captured footage that could be mistaken for ball lightning — Personal Story (60/100)
At 11:02
Personal capture story — the humility of not hyping it is the actual point here.
Why this score: Personal footage claim.
- Speaker shows footage but immediately debunks his own sensational angle
- Treats it as an interesting capture rather than proof
- Anecdotal by nature, not presented as scientific evidence
Original quote: “But then recently during a thunderstorm I captured this. Now a lot of creators would have jumped all over this opportunity to sensationalize this as proof of ball lightning”
Footage is actually a rolling-shutter artifact from a normal lightning strike — Solid (75/100)
At 11:18
Breaks down exactly why the footage looks weird — rolling shutter + transformer strike timing. Technical and specific.
Why this score: Technical explanation holds up.
- Rolling shutter artifacts are well-documented in lightning photography
- Transformer strikes create visible electrical arcs on power lines
- Timing between sensor scans explains the "ball" appearance
Original quote: “we'll reveal a partial exposure of a cloud to ground lightning strike that was largely not captured by this camera's rolling shutter. Basically, this bolt struck a transformer between camera sensor scans”
Ball lightning might be imaginary like UFOs and ghosts — Opinion (50/100)
At 11:35
Rhetorical question comparing it to ghosts and aliens — framing, not a hard claim.
Why this score: Opinion framed as question.
- Speaker presents it as a possibility, not a conclusion
- References pattern of low-quality "evidence" across phenomena
- Not asserting non-existence, just raising skepticism
Original quote: “Is it possible that like all the shaky low resolution poor quality footage of alien spacecraft and ghosts... Ball lighting is just another figment of our wildly biased imaginations?”
See the full analysis with timestamps →