At sea in August 1564, a Spanish priest in Pedro Menendez' fleet wrote of a "miracle from heaven" - a comet as bright as the sun, streaking west toward Florida.

On land, the hungry, miserable French settlers at Fort Caroline were stunned by a "stroke of lightning" that, one wrote, instantly "consumed about 500 acres and burned with such a bright heat that the birds which lived in the meadows were consumed."

The fire burned for three days. The river "seemed almost to boil." Enough fish died to fill 50 carts.

A retired University of North Florida professor thinks the Spanish comet and the French lightning strike were very likely the same thing - an object from outer space that struck at the edge of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville.

It could have been a meteor, asteroid or comet 100 feet across, says UNF's Jay Huebner. Most of it would have vaporized on impact, with trees and animals incinerated in unimaginable heat. Water from the river and marsh would have made a roaring waterfall as it rushed to fill the crater left by the strike.

That crater, Huebner theorizes, is today's Round Marsh in the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

Over the past 18 months, we've been growing increasingly concerned for the future of all life on planet earth. Sure, the signs that things have been going 'south' have been there for some time, but our concern began in earnest at the very beginning of 2011, when masses of birds began to fall dead from the sky around the world. The phenomenon continued for several months, and birds around the world are still dying for officially unknown reasons. None of the dead birds showed any sign of disease, but in several incidents birds were found to have 'external injuries' like they had been "hit by some kind of blunt instrument". All sorts of explanations for the deaths were offered (like fireworks or birds colliding with each other) including the predictable attempts by 'science experts' to downplay any significance to the bizarre deaths. But among the flurry of speculation, one report stood out.

NewsChannel5 Chief Meteorologist Mark Johnson decided to take a look at the the Doppler radar images from Beebe, Arkansas from the night when many red-winged blackbirds had fallen dead to the ground, and he discovered something interesting.

"There it was. This huge plume of turbulence over the Beebe birds just as they began their frenzied flight," Johnson said.

The turbulence appears above the birds between about 7,000 and 12,000 feet. Johnson realized there are only a few possible explanations for this phenomena.

Having homed in on the probable cause, Johnson then introduced some nonsense:

"Birds don't fly that high, and he quickly ruled out military action, a sonic boom, meteor shower or alien invasion."

While we can understand why Johnson ruled out military action or a sonic boom (there were no flights over the area at the time), Johnson never explained why he ruled out a "meteor shower", although we can understand the inclusion of "alien invasion" - to ridicule by association the idea of a "meteor shower" or other meteorite-related phenomenon.

Johnson then went on to say:

"Something in the atmosphere, something mysterious, occurred over Beebe, Arkansas that night... And I believe it was part of what caused those birds to fly and then die."

Indeed, but with the answer staring him in the face, Johnson lost the plot completely:

Johnson's research captured an unseen temperature reversal just above the birds' roosting area at about 1,500 feet above the ground. This temperature "inversion" acted like a megaphone, amplifying all the noises that occurred in Beebe at that time. As the fireworks exploded, the sound was amplified by the inversion and became much louder than normal. This appears to have startled the birds so much that they burst into flight, running into each other, and nearby buildings. Thousands of the now-disoriented birds then crashed to the ground, dying from blunt force trauma.

Temperature reversal? At 1,500 feet? But previously Johnson stated that the 'turbulence' occurred between 7,000 and 12,000 feet. He even produced a graph of the Doppler radar images that shows this. While temperature inversion does occur and can amplify sound, when birds are startled by noise they don't generally fly into each other and buildings in large numbers. What's most likely, is that the bird deaths of January 2011 (and later) were caused by an overhead meteorite or comet fragment (MoCF) explosion, with either the actual shock wave killing the birds (through blunt force trauma) or associated electrical effects 'frying' their 'circuits'.

This electrical effect can also explain the massive fish die-offs around the same time. Consider this report, just in today, about two children being mysteriously electrocuted to death as they swam in a lake in Missouri on 4th July. The thousands of dead fish found upstream from Beebe on New Year's Eve 2010 could well have had their circuits fried because of significant electrical discharge that accompanied the overhead MoCF airburst. Now check out this Tunguska blast simulation by Sandia lab. An incoming bolide exploding overhead would knock the wind out of anything within a radius relative to the extent of its blast. It would probably knock airplanes out of the sky too - more on that below.

This evening in the midst of Developing thunderstorms One of the flashes across the sky wasn't lightning! 1 large Bolide or Fireball came roaring to earth. Reports are coming in from Oklahoma Of sonic booms caused as the fireball streaked towards Earth.

A mysterious boom that shook portions of Appling late Monday was confirmed Tuesday as a minor earthquake, according to Columbia County authorities.

The event, which registered a 2.1 magnitude on the Richter scale, occurred at 9:26 p.m. and was located near Columbia and Appling-Harlem roads, Emergency Services Director Pam Tucker said.

The temblor was not listed on national earthquake monitors, but was confirmed by a seismologist at Savannah River Site, she said.

"This would explain the loud boom and shaking that many residents felt," she said.

Earthquakes occur periodically in the area, which lies along the fall line, where the Coastal Plains and Piedmont regions meet.

Was it a secret military exercise, the beginning of the Mayan prophesy or an alien invasion?

A loud boom, heard by Pocono residents and others throughout northeastern Pennsylvania the night of March 30, remains a mystery.

The boom, heard at about 10:10 p.m., shook cars and houses from Long Pond to Bushkill.

Pocono Record readers at the time speculated it was a tanker wreck on Interstates 80 or 380, a bunch of semi-trucks rolling down a quiet street or an exploding meth lab.

Some residents reported a bright flash in the sky that didn't appear to be lightning just before the blast.

But most readers agreed the sound was no routine thunder.

Columbus, Ohio - A loud noise heard near Delaware and Marion counties concerned many residents Thursday evening.

10TV News received reports that residents in Hilliard, Galloway, Westerville and Canal Winchester also heard the sound.

According to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, a low-flying jet broke the sound barrier and created a sonic boom.

US, Pennsylvania - Strong thunderstorms hit the Poconos Friday night, moving through shortly after 10 p.m. and continuing for at least a half hour, but the weather event that had folks talking was a loud sonic-like boom that shook houses at about 10:15 p.m.

Gilda Spiotta of Long Pond said, "The shaking last night lasted unusually long. Didn't sound like thunder, didn't feel like thunder, was wondering if something happened on 380/80; tanker accident."

Another Long Pond resident, Lorene R. Allman-Mars: "My son was at the back door letting the dogs out and he reported that he saw a large flash of light fill the sky toward/above the FedEx distribution site on 940, then he heard a loud boom. It didn't look like lightning, it looked like a bomb blew up in the air. I was on the second floor of the house; I didn't see anything but I heard the boom and felt it shake the house. I actually felt it under my feet. The floors shook; I have never felt lightning shake the house like that before and we've been up here 20 years!"

Some readers suggested an earthquake or an explosion, but said that definitely was no routine thunder.

Meteorologist and Pocono weather expert Ben Gelber offered this explanation: "One possibility is that thunderstorms in our chilly environment near the surface tonight, associated with an inversion of warm air aloft, sound much louder."

He added, "The sound waves are refracted back to the surface and reverberate in ways that we normally do not experience as they bounce between the surface and the inversion near the base of the clouds."

Other residents commented from across the Poconos:
"My kids and I heard the sound in Saw Creek," said Winnie Michaluk. "Our windows rattled and our dogs were barking like crazy."

Russo Albuja of Tobyhanna said, "I was driving along 196 on my way home from work when I felt the BOOM. It was so extreme, my car shook and on my left hand side on an empty field - all I saw was this HUGE flash of light coming from where the airport location would be at. Afterwards, I heard nothing. Kinda scared me that I rushed home and locked my doors."

Katee McCarthy said, "Felt it here in the Tannersville area. Quite scary." As of 11 p.m., she reported lightning and sleet in the area.

Tim Aziz said, "Just heard something at 10:35 in East Stroudsburg, the whole house vibrated!"

Highlands Ranch - Suha and Mike Owens took video Wednesday night from their home in Highlands Ranch. It shows a light in the sky that appears to change colors, and it moves left and right, up and down.

"Is it somebody's toy or is it a UFO?" Suha Owens says in the video.

9NEWS received several calls and emails Wednesday around 8:45 p.m. from viewers, all reporting a bright light in the western sky.

9NEWS spoke with Chris Peterson, a researcher at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Cloudbait Observatory, about the light.

Peterson looked at Owens' video. He says what they captured was most likely a reflective balloon blowing around or possibly a helicopter or some other aircraft.

The Royal Air Force has said none of its planes were responsible for what many have called a "sonic boom" over Grimsby.

As reported, the Grimsby Telegraph received many calls from residents who had heard what sounded like a large explosion at about 7pm on Wednesday.

Initial fears that there had been an explosion were quickly allayed and theories turned to the possibility of a sonic boom from a plane.

Initially, these suggestions appeared to be legitimate when it was revealed that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently carrying out a low-flying operation named "Exercise Lightning Force" in the area.

However, when contacted by the Grimsby Telegraph, Squadron Leader Nikki Stacey, based at Headquarters Air Command, said the noise had not been caused by an RAF aircraft, adding there was "nothing reported" from any of the forces' "fast jet units". Gareth Stringer, deputy editor of Global Aviation Resource magazine, said: "A sonic boom occurs when an aeroplane breaks the sound barrier and the noise that you hear is the shockwave of area around the aircraft.

The fireball fell from the sky -- streaking the colors of the rainbow and trailing smoke -- at 3:24 a.m., while most of Nebraska was sleeping.

Except for Greg, a ServiceMaster employee, who saw it from Lincoln Airport's parking garage. And Aaron, a TSA employee, who saw it from the interstate. And two citizens concerned enough to call 911.

And a sheriff's deputy, who was dispatched to search for a bright spot on the dark ground near Pawnee Lake, northwest of Lincoln.

And the surveillance camera (which never sleeps) mounted in the car rental return lot north of the airport terminal.

It recorded a black sky most of the night. But at about 42 seconds past 3:24, a streak appeared in the northwest. It stretched out, flared, seemed to spawn a pair of fireballs and disappeared behind the horizon.

Then phones started ringing.