Located in Conception Bay just off Newfoundland, Bell Island is small: less than 35 square kilometers but it had a once thriving iron ore mining operation and it was the location of a steel mill; however the industry is now abandoned.

Strange happenings transpired there on April 2, 1978.  A loud explosion heard over a hundred miles away occurred and there was damage the cause of which was hypothesized to be ball lightning, but in 1978 so little was known about ball lightning that it could only be considered as speculation. 

Three cup-shaped holes (two feet deep and three feet wide) were found at the impact site and at the same time a number of TV sets also exploded indicating the presence of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).  The incident brought investigators from the U.S. weapon laboratory at Los Alamos.

One family in particular was hit hard.  The Bickford’s property was decimated.  Quote from source (see ref below)

       “The fuse box in the Bickford's home blew up and shot 2 fuses 20 ft. down the hall and    left imprints in the opposite wall.
-       Fuses were not blown.
-       Seconds before the "Boom" Mr. Bickford's daughter, Cynthia heard a loud sound, like P.A. feed-back and Mrs. B.heard hailstones hitting her bedroom window and felt a terrible pressure in her head.
-       All light switches and TV were blown out.
-       A ball of fire shot of the oven and passed through the front door.
-       A neighbor saw a blue flame shoot up out of an iron baking pan.
-       Many neighbor's lights came on for a few seconds but switches were off.
-       Many neighbor's TV's and electrical appliances were destroyed.
-       Blue flames shot out of plumbing fixtures. (Neighbor’s)
-       Boy on a bike saw a ball of blue fire 3 ft in diameter hovering, with orange around the edges, discharging sparks from the outer surface of the ball.
-       A grandfather clock that had not worked in years, suddenly started and the hands moved forward at an accelerated rate. (Paul Bickford)
-       The Bickford's 2 room shack, behind the home, had a portion of the roof and wall blown out in the rear corner.
-       The wire inside the A.C. drop into this building was completely vaporized, leaving only the melted insulation.
-        Chicken coop behind summer home was destroyed killing 5 chickens.
-        Horse in attached barn was OK ( no electrical wires in barn)
-        Behind the barn in the woods were three mysterious holes in the ground 2 ft. deep, in a equilateral triangle formation 2 ft apart.
-        Above the holes, a fir was scorched a quarter of its height about 20 ft.
-        A man outside sawing wood, saw odd blue hail that stuck to his raincoat that disappeared within seconds, before he heard the boom and saw a bright orange flash.
-        Many witnesses saw an orange glow or smoke in the woods, ‘like iron ore dust.’”  

Witnesses saw a great flame heading toward the Bickford’s place.   Another witness from down the road said she heard a rumbling sound followed by an explosion.  The room she was in lit up and the sky turned red.  A shot of light came out of the glass door of her oven.

Many witnesses from across the bay reported seeing a ball of fire streak across the sky over the island.  Up to 20 people from a wide area called into a radio station to report that they saw the fire ball.

This is definitely an electromagnetic phenomenon that today is more securely attributable to ball lightning.

REF:

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=20055

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Island