Just came over this by accident. It's a plasma experiment that shows a plasma (plasmoid) between two points within a tube. Notice the interference pattern and animated "spine"... If these phenomenas happened over a large atmospheric field, I believe people would start talking about "dragons" and "serpents", as already referred to in (plasma) mythology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwCH9v1fcsc
Notice between 6:00 and 8:00