The BL was observed in Oliva in the monastery of Pi, located at 38 ∘ 55 ′ 17 ′ ′ N, 0 ∘ 07 ′ 11 ′ ′ W (Fig. 2a). The monastery is now the “El Rebollet” school, and, although the church remains, the buildings have been substantially modified since the 17th century. During the 17th century the monastery was outside the city wall and surrounded by agricultural fields (Fig. 2b).

Figure 3 shows a schematic map of the monastery, provided to clarify the path of the BL. The BL appeared in the “preached cell”; the precise location of the cell is unclear, but it did share a wall with the church and was probably on the second floor. The BL crossed that wall and appeared in the church. The crossing of walls, windows, and aircraft fuselages is a very commonly reported feature of BL (Grigorev, 1992). Bychkova et al. (2016) studied the passage of a BL through a window, and Torchigin and Torchigin (2016), considering BL a self-confined light, explained its ability to cross walls.

The BL entered the church and “falling to the tabernacle smudged the face of Our Lady of Pi and burns her ruff”. Our Lady of Pi (now known as the Lady of Rebollet) is a sculpture 38 cm high and 15 cm wide made of birch wood (Fig. 4). Because of the possible electrical properties of BL it is important to note that at the time the image was backed by an iron plate having a ring fixed to the image by four nails. The BL burnt the wood and the ruff (a collar of lace, commonly used during the 16th and 17th centuries). Thermal effects of BL have been frequently reported (e.g., Stenhoff, 1976; Corliss, 1982). Holes burnt in a dress by BL (described by Stenhoff, 1988) were studied by Wooding (1976) to estimate the thermal properties of the BL.

The report goes on to describe that the BL “open the tabernacle and overturn the Jerusalem Cross”. Opening of locked doors is not a previously described feature of BL, although it has been widely reported that BL can move and break objects (e.g., Tomlinson, 1848; Flammarion, 1905; Cade and Davis, 1969; Singer, 1971). It seems possible that the tabernacle was unlocked and was opened when the cross was affected by the BL and fell.

A father in the church described the BL as a “burning rolling vessel”, and later in the report it is described as a “ball of fire”. Statistical analyses of BL reports indicate that the most common shape of BL is spherical, with a diameter of approximately 25 cm (Stenhoff, 1999), which is consistent with the possible dimension of a 17th century vessel. Fire colors and spinning or rotating motion are commonly reported characteristics of BL (Rayle, 1966).

The last to see the BL were the Sala brothers. They had no contact with the BL, but Geroni Sala died at the sight of the BL. The most plausible cause of his death is myocardial infarction triggered by the “extreme” experience of seeing the BL. Other extreme experiences have been reported to trigger myocardial infarctions, including earthquakes (Suzuki et al., 1995) and missile strikes (Meisel et al., 1991). Unfortunately, the decay of the BL was not reported.

At the end of the record, Pere Joan Porcar reported that two observers “at same night and time” saw a lightning flash described as “a bar of fire long as a spear and wide as a hand, and immediately vanished”. Approximately 80 % of reports of BL indicate that this phenomenon is observed following a lightning flash (McNally, 1966; Rayle, 1966).