St. Elmo's fire (also St. Elmo's light) is an electrical weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms or thunderstorms created by a volcanic explosion).

St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors. The phenomenon sometimes appeared on ships at sea during thunderstorms, and was regarded by sailors with superstitious awe, accounting for the name.

It's also a movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090060/
Also a song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_Fire_(song)
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire

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