About six months ago, several articles on “electrosmog” were published in the electronics magazine “ELV-Journal” (issues 3/97 and 4/97). Especially interesting were the instructions for assembling instruments for measurements in h-fields and e-fields (frequencies up to 1000 kHz). Both instruments have been used for measurements by pupils at the Freiherr-vom-Stein-School (Frankfurt/Main, Germany) since December of 1997. They are measuring the maximum amounts in buildings and outside, especially close to electrical appliances (TV, PC, 12V  halogen light, electrical cooking device, electrical alarm clock, plug-in transformer, high voltage cables, electrical train, high voltage transformer, power plant ...). The measurement records are being kept on pre-designed forms. The instruments are easy to handle. They give the impression of being sturdy, easy to repair and inexpensive. The measurement range is practical.
The surprising result: The electrical and magnetic fields within the household are often much stronger than those under a high voltage cable!
       (Dr. Peter Brockhaus)

Already some 250 years ago, people tried to find out more about thunder storm electricity. They wanted to find proof for the theory that lightning is nothing else but a huge electrical spark.
For this purpose, the physicist Dolibard had a 12 meter iron pole erected in a village near Paris. The pole was insulated towards the ground. In the next thunderstorm, a grounded wire should be put close to it. Dolibard was hoping that in the event of lightning a spark would jump over from the insulated pole to the  grounded wire. This would prove that lightning and sparks are “of the same nature”. Finally, in the afternoon of May 10th, 1752, a thunderstorm came up. An assistant and the village priest immediately grabbed the grounded wire and held it close to the pole.

And here are the records of the priest: “I report to you,  Sire, what you expected. The experiment went well. Today at 2:20 in the afternoon the thunder roared over Marly; it was a rather heavy blow. The desire to be helpful to you and my own curiosity drove me out of my study. I reached the place where the iron pole had been erected, I approached the iron wire to the pole little by little, finally I held it about one and a half inches from the pole, and then, suddenly, from the pole came a small beam of blue fire smelling of sulfur... I repeated the experiment in the presence of other persons at least six more times within four minutes, and I wanted to continue, but the effect of the fire faded slowly away. I approached the wire more and more to the pole but got only few more sparks, until finally nothing more could be seen.

And here are the records of the priest: “I report to you,  Sire, what you expected. The experiment went well. Today at 2:20 in the afternoon the thunder roared over Marly; it was a rather heavy blow. The desire to be helpful to you and my own curiosity drove me out of my study. I reached the place where the iron pole had been erected, I approached the iron wire to the pole little by little, finally I held it about one and a half inches from the pole, and then, suddenly, from the pole came a small beam of blue fire smelling of sulfur... I repeated the experiment in the presence of other persons at least six more times within four minutes, and I wanted to continue, but the effect of the fire faded slowly away. I approached the wire more and more to the pole but got only few more sparks, until finally nothing more could be seen.
The thunder, which had been the cause of this event, was not followed by any other. In the end, there was a shower of hale.
While  performing the experiment I was very much absorbed by everything I was seeing. So when I was hit by a shock on my arm a little above my elbow, I could not say whether this was caused by having touched the pole or the wire. The moment I was hit I did not complain about any pain. But as I continued to feel pain after having reached my home, I  opened my sleeve and noticed a blister going all around my arm and looking  as if someone had hit me with a wire on my naked arm. The vicar, Mister von Milly, and the school principal, to whom I told the story, complained about an odour of sulfur about me, which grew ever stronger, the closer they came to me.”
This experiment met with highest recognition and was repeated many times by others. But not always there was a lucky ending - many people underestimated in those days the deadly danger connected with thunderstorm electricity.