You might be interested in some answers from the FAQ section entitled "Ancients' views on static electricity":

• Did the ancients give one another tiny static shocks? What did they think it was and are there accounts of this? - 67 comments, over 1 year old.

• The top level comments in this thread contextualize electricity as but one mystery in an environment that was filled with mysteries for ancient peoples.

• How was static electricity rationalized before the discovery and understanding of electricity? - 53 comments, over 8 months old.

• The top level comments cite ancient sources to showcase directly what some of the ancients (in this case Romans and Persians) thought of static electricity.

• before the discovery of electricity, what did people think of static electricity shocks? - 54 comments, over 4 months old.

• The commenters in this thread trace the reasoning for electricity from Ancient Egypt to Ancient Greece and also include bits about Nikola Tesla.