What happened in the sky over Tuam?

The World of Wonders reproduces a report from a 1756 Gentleman’s Magazine and calls the sight at Tuam, Ireland, an apparent aurora borealis^[1]. On 2 January, around four in the afternoon, an extraordinary light, described as brighter than the brightest day, astonished onlookers before gradually fading^[2].

At seven, streamers stretched across the sky from west to east, seeming to ripple like water^[3]. The report says people grew alarmed; the streamers then changed colour and flashed northward, accompanied by a shock that everyone felt but that caused no damage^[4]. The book gives no cause for the reported shock or for the sequence of lights^[5].