Hissing Sounds Heard During the Flight of Fireballs

Abstract

MANY responsible eye-witnesses, in their descriptions of fireballs, have emphatically stated that they have occasionally heard a peculiar hissing sound simultaneously with the flight of a meteor. From personal observation, I can also testify to the validity of these statements. Fireball literature is full of such accounts. Three recent cases (connected with fireballs seen by a number of competent observers at Hyderabad, on October 13, 1936, on March 25, 1944, and on August 6, 1944, respectively) have placed the matter beyond any doubt whatever.