Ball lightning observed in Hadley last night

Note: this photo of ball lightning was taken by UK scientists -
it was NOT taken in Hadley last night (it's actually incredibly
challenging to photograph ball lightning)

I'm posting this observation, provided by Paula, a friend of Head in the Clouds Amherst, of what sounds for all the world like an electrical phenomenon known as "ball lightning." She saw this last night, around 7:15, during that intense thunderstorm that came through the area. I wonder if anyone else saw this? Here's what Paula observed:

There was lightning, yes.... It looked like a cloud that morphed into a white ball, then exploded and slowly broke into many pieces before it disappeared. We were on North Maple near the Hadley Farm, and stopped along the road to watch the storm in the east. Other cars stopped, too. Some took pictures. The dark grey clouds moved fast, while wispy fingers dipped down toward the ground. I wanted to see if one of those fingers would rotate into a funnel cloud. It didn't. The finger receded, then a bright white ball glowed in the air below, until it burst apart into many pieces. Quite a sight, whatever it was.

Read more about ball lightning here.

Thanks, Paula, for that incredibly clear and fascinating description!