Quebec, Canada — 19 January 1665
Fireballs, preceded by explosions
“About a quarter to six in the evening, there was heard to come from beneath the ground a report so loud as to be taken for a cannon-shot. This sound was heard by persons distant three and four leagues from one another; while our Savages, knowing that the cannon is not fired toward evening, except to give warning of the appearance of the Iroquois, left the woods where they were, and came all through the night to ask us why we had fired such a terrible cannon shot. “About seven minutes after this report, there appeared over Quebec a ball of fire which merely passed by, coming from the mountains toward the North and emitting so bright a light that houses two leagues from Quebec was seen in broad day. In the course of the year there were seen several other similar fireballs, not only at Quebec, but below Tadoussac, and on the way to Three Rivers.”
Source: The Jesuit relations and allied documents: travels and explorations of the Jesuit missionaries in New France, 1610-1791: the original French, Latin, and Italian texts, with English translations and notes. Reuben Gold Thwaites, 1853-1913. (Cleveland: Burrows, 1899.) Case: W508