New Lands

by Charles Fort

  There is an amusing befuddlement to clear away first. Upon the night of Sept. 8, 1909, a luminous object had been seen sailing over New England, and sounds from it, like sounds from a motor, had been heard. Then Mr. Wallace Tillinghast, of Worcester, Mass., announced that this light had been a lamp in his “secret aeroplane,” and that upon this night he had traveled, in said “secret aeroplane,” from Boston to New York, and back to Boston. At this time the longest recorded flight, in an aeroplane, was Farman’s, of 111 miles, from Rheims, August, 1909; and, in the United States, according to records, it was not until May 29, 1910, that Curtiss flew from Albany to New York City, making one stop in the 150 miles, however. So this unrecorded flight made some stir in the newspapers. Mr. Tillinghast meant his story humorously of course. I mention it because, if anybody should look the matter up, he will find the yarn involved in the newspaper accounts. If nothing else had been seen, Mr. Tillinghast might still tell his story, and explain why he never did anything with his astonishing “secret aeroplane”; but something else was seen, and upon one of the nights in which it appeared, Tillinghast was known to be in his home.

  According to the New York Tribune, Dec. 21, 1909, Immigration Inspector Hoe, of Boston, had reported having seen, at one o’clock in the morning of December 20, “a bright light passing over the harbor” and had concluded that he had seen an airship of some kind.

  New York Tribune, December 23—that a “mysterious airship” had appeared over the town of Worcester, Mass., “sweeping the heavens with a searchlight of tremendous power.” It had come from the southeast, and traveled northwest, then hovering over the city, disappearing in the direction of Marlboro. Two hours later, it returned. “Thousands thronged the streets, watching the mysterious visitor.” Again it hovered, then moving away, heading first to the south and then to the east.

  The next night, something was seen, at six o’clock, at Boston. “The searchlights shot across the sky line.” “As it flew away to the north, queries began to pour into the newspaper offices and the police stations, regarding the remarkable visitation.” It is said that an hour and a half later, an object that was supposed to be an airship with a powerful searchlight, appeared in the sky, at Willimantic, Conn., “hovering” over the town about fifteen minutes. In the New York Sun, December 24, are more details. It is said that, at Willimantic, had been seen a large searchlight, approaching from the east, and that then dark outlines of something behind the searchlight had been seen. Also, in the Sun, it is said that whatever it may have been that was seen at Boston, it was a dark object, with several red lights and a searchlight, approaching Boston from the west, hovering for ten minutes, and then moving away westward. From Lynn, Mass., it was described as “a long black object,” moving in the direction of Salem, and then returning, “at a high speed.” It is said that the object had been seen at Marlboro, Mass., nine times since December 14.

  New York Tribune, Jan. 1, 1910—dispatch from Huntington, West Virginia, Dec. 31, 1909—“Three huge lights of almost uniform dimensions appeared in the early morning sky, in this neighborhood, today. Joseph Green, a farmer, declared that they were meteors, which fell on his farm. An extensive search of his land by others who saw the lights was fruitless, and many persons believe that an airship had sped over the country.”

  In the Tribune, Jan. 13, 1910, it is said that, at nine o’clock, morning of January 12, an airship had been seen at Chattanooga, Tenn. “Thousands saw the craft, and heard the ‘chug’ of its engine.” Later the object was reported from Huntsville, Alabama. New York Tribune, January 15—dispatch from Chattanooga, January 14—“For the third successive day, a mysterious white aircraft passed over Chattanooga, about noon today. It came from the north, and was traveling southeast, disappearing over Missionary Ridge. On Wednesday, it came south, and on Thursday, it returned north.”

  In the middle of December, 1909, someone had won a prize for sailing in a dirigible from St. Cyr to the Eiffel Tower and back.

  St. Cyr is several miles from Paris.

  Huntsville, Ala., and Chattanooga, Tenn., are seventy-five miles apart.

  An association between the planet Venus and “mysterious visitors” either illumines or haunts our data. In the New York Tribune, Jan. 29, 1910, it is said that a luminous object, thought to be Winnecke’s comet, had been seen, January 28, near Venus; reported from the Manila Observatory.

  I have another datum that perhaps belongs to this series of events. Every night, from the 14th to the 23rd of December, 1909, if we accept the account from Marlboro, a luminous object was seen traveling, or exploring, in the sky of New England. Certainly enough it was no “secret airship” of this earth, unless its navigator went to extremes with the notion that the best way to kept a secret is to announce it with red lights and a searchlight. However, our acceptance depends upon general data as to the development of terrestrial aeronautics. But upon the night of December 24th, the object was not seen in New England, and it may have been traveling or exploring somewhere else. Night of the 24th—Venus in the southwest in the early hours of the evening. In the English Mechanic, 104-71, a correspondent, who signs himself “Rigel,” writes that, upon December 24, at 8:30 in the evening, he saw a luminous object appear above the northeastern horizon and slowly move southward, until 8:50, then turning around, retracing, and disappearing whence it came, at two minutes past nine. The correspondent is James Fergusen, Rossbrien, Limerick, Ireland. He writes frequently upon astronomical and meteorological subjects, and is still contributing to the somewhat enlightened columns of the English Mechanic.

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  Nov. 19, 1912—explosive sounds reported from Sunninghill, Berkshire. No earthquake was recorded at the Kew Observatory, and, in the opinion of W.F. Denning (Nature, 9-363, 417) the explosion was in the sky. It was a terrific explosion, according to the Westminster Gazette (November 19). There was either one great explosion that rumbled and echoed for five minutes, or there were repeated detonations, resembling cannonading—“like a tremendous discharge of big guns” according to reports from Abingdon, Lewes, and Epsom. Sunninghill is about ten miles from Reading, and Abingdon is near Reading, but the sound was heard in London, and down by the English Channel, and even in the island of Alderney. In the Gazette, November 28, Sir George Fordham (H.G. Fordham) writes that, in his opinion, it was an explosion in the sky. He says—“The phenomena of airshock never have, I believe, been very fully investigated.” His admissions and his omissions remain the same as they have been since occurrences of the year 1889. He does not mention that, according to Philip T. Kenway, of Hambledon, near Godalming, about thirty miles southeast of Reading, the sounds were heard again the next day, from 1:45 to 2 p.m. Mr. Kenway thinks that there had been big-gun firing at Portsmouth (West. Gaz., November 21). In the London Standard, a correspondent, writing from Dorking, say that the phenomena of the 19th were like concussions from cannonading—“at regular intervals”—”at quick intervals, lasting some seconds each time, for five minutes, by the clock.”

  It develops that Reading was the center over which the detonations occurred. In the Westminster Gazette, November 30, it is said that the shocks had been felt in Reading, upon the 19th, 20th, and 21st. Only from Reading have I record of phenomena upon the 21st. Mr. H.L. Hawkins, lecturer in geology, of the Reading University, writes that according to his investigations there had been no gun-firing in England, to which the detonations could be attributed. He says that Fordham’s explanation was in accord with his own investigations, or that the detonations had occurred in the sky. He writes that, inasmuch as the detonations had occurred upon three successive days, a shower of meteors, of long duration, would have to be supposed. How he ever visualized that unerring shower, striking one point over this earth’s surface, and nowhere else, day after day, if this earth be a rotating and revolving body, I cannot see. If he should say that by coincidence this repetition could occur, then by what coincidence of coincidences could the same repetitions have occurred in this same local sky, cente
ring around Reading, seven years before? The indications are that this earth is stationary, no matter how unreasonable that may sound.

  In the Westminster Gazette, December 9, W.F. Denning writes that without doubt the phenomena were “meteoric explosions.” But he alludes to the “airquake and strange noises” that were heard upon the 19th. He does not mention the detonations that were heard upon the following days. Not one of these writers mentions the sounds that were heard in Reading, in November, 1905.

  London Standard, Nov. 23, 1912—that, according to Lieut. Col. Trewman, of Reading, the sounds had been heard at Reading, at 9 a.m., upon the 19th; 1:45 p.m., the 20th; 3:30 p.m., the 21st.

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  “Unknown Aircraft Over Dover.”

  According to the Dover correspondent to the London Times (Jan. 6, 1913), something had been seen, over Dover, heading from the sea.

  In the London Standard, Jan. 24, 1913, it is said that, upon the morning of January 4, an unknown airship had been seen over Dover, and that, about the same time, the lights of an airship had been seen over the Bristol Channel. These places are several hundred miles apart.

  London Times, January 21—report by Capt. Lindsay, Chief Constable of Glamorganshire: that, about five o’clock, in the afternoon of January 17, he saw an object in the sky of Cardiff, Wales. He says that he called the attention of a bystander, who agreed with him that it was a large object. “It was much larger than the Willows airship, and left in its trail a dense smoke. It disappeared quickly.”

  The next day, according to the Times, there were other reports: people in Cardiff saw something that was lighted or that carried lights, moving rapidly in the sky. In the Times, of the 28th, it is said that an airship that carried a brilliant light had been seen in Liverpool. “It is stated at the Liverpool Aviation School that none of the airmen had been out on Saturday night.” Dispatches from town after town—a traveling thing in the sky, carrying a light, and also a searchlight that swept the ground. It is said that a vessel, of which the outlines had been clearly seen, had appeared in the sky of Cardiff, Newport, Neath, and other places in Wales. In the Standard, January 31, is published a list of cities where the object had been seen. Here a writer tries to conclude that some foreign airship had made half a dozen visits to England and Wales, or had come once, remaining three weeks; but he gives up the attempt, thinking that nothing could have reached England and have sailed away half a dozen times without being seen to cross the coast; thinking that the idea of anything having made one journey, and remaining three weeks in the air deserved no consideration.

  If the unknown object did carry something like a searchlight, an idea of its powers is given in an account in the Cardiff Evening Express, Jan. 25, 1913—“Last evening brilliant lights were seen, sweeping skyward, and now, this evening, the lights grow bolder. Streets and houses in the locality of Totterdown were suddenly illuminated by a brilliant, piercing light, which, sweeping upward, gave many spectators a fine view of the hills beyond.” In the Express, February 6, is a report upon this light like a searchlight, and the object that flashed it, by the police of Dulais Valley. Also there is an account, by a police sergeant, of a luminous thing that was for a while stationary in the sky, and then moved away.

  Still does the conventional explanation, or suggestion, survive. It is said that members of the staff of the Evening Express had gone to the roof of the newspaper building, but had seen only the planet Venus, which was brilliant at this time.

  Then writes a correspondent, to the Express, that the object could not have been Venus, because he had seen it traveling at a rate of twenty or thirty miles an hour, and had heard sounds from it. Someone else writes that not possibly could the thing be Venus: he had seen it as “a bright red light, going very fast.” Still someone else says that he had seen the seeming vessel upon the 5th of February, and that it had suddenly disappeared.

  There is a hiatus. Between the 5th and the 21st of February, nothing like an airship was seen in the sky of England and Wales. If we can find that somewhere else something similar was seen in the sky, in this period, one supposes that it was the same object, exploring or maneuvering somewhere else. It seems however that there were several of these objects, because of simultaneous observations at places far apart. If we can find that, during the absence from England and Wales, similar objects were seen somewhere else, a great deal of what we try to think upon the subject will depend upon how far from Great Britain they were seen. It seems incredible that the planet Venus should deceive thousands of Britons, up to the 5th of February, and stop her deceptions abruptly upon that date, and then abruptly resume deceptions upon the 21st, in places at a distance apart. These circumstances oppose the idea of collective hallucinations, by which some writers in the newspapers tried to explain. If they were hallucinations, the hallucinations renewed collectively, upon the 21st, in towns one hundred miles apart. One extraordinary association is that all appearances, except the first, were in the hours of visibility of Venus, then an “evening star.”

  Upon the night of the 21st, a luminous object was reported from towns in Yorkshire and from towns in Warwickshire, two regions about one hundred miles apart; about 10 p.m. All former attempts to explain had been abandoned, and the general supposition was that Germain airships were maneuvering over England. But not a thing had been seen to cross the coast of England, though guards were patrolling the coasts, especially commissioned to watch for foreign airships. Sailors in the North Sea, and people in Holland and Belgium had seen nothing that could be thought a German airship sailing to or from England. A writer in Flight takes up as especially mysterious the appearance far inland, in Warwickshire. Then came reports from Portsmouth, Ipswich, Hornsea, and Hull, but, one notes, no more, at this time, from Wales. Also in Ipswich, which is more than a hundred miles from the towns in Warwickshire, and more than a hundred miles from the Yorkshire towns, a luminous object was seen upon the night of the 21st. Ipswich Evening Star, February 25—something that carried a searchlight that had been seen upon the nights of the 21st and 24th, moving in various directions, and then “dashing off at lightning speed”—that, at Hunstanton, had been seen three bright lights traveling from the eastern sky, remaining in sight thirty minutes, stationary, or hovering over the town, and then disappearing in the northwest. Portsmouth Evening News, February 25—that soon after 8 p.m., evening of the 24th, had been seen a very bright light, appearing and disappearing, remaining over Portsmouth about one hour, and then moving away. Portsmouth and Ipswich are about 120 miles apart. In the London newspapers, it is said that, upon the evening of the 25th, crowds stood in the streets of Hull, watching something in the sky, “the lights of which were easily distinguishable.” Hull is about 190 miles northeast of Portsmouth. Hull Daily Mail, February 26—that a crowd had watched a light high in the air. It is said that the light had been stationary for almost half an hour and had then shot away northward. In the Times, February 28, are published reports upon “the clear outlines of an airship, which was carrying a dazzling searchlight,” from Portland, Burcleaves, St. Alban’s Head, Papplewich, and the Orkneys. The last account, after a long interval, that I know of, is another report from Capt. Lindsay: that, about nine o’clock, evening of April 8th, he and many other persons had seen, over Cardiff, something that carried a brilliant light and traveled at a rate of sixty or seventy miles an hour.

  Upon April 24, 1913, the planet Venus was at inferior conjunction.

  In the Times, February 28, it is said that a fire balloon had been found in Yorkshire, and it is suggested that someone had been sending up fire balloons.

  In the Bull. Soc. Astro. de France, 1913-178, it is said that the people of England were as credulous as the people of Cherbourg, and had permitted themselves to be deceived by the planet Venus.

  If German airships were maneuvering over England, without being seen either approaching or departing, appearing sometimes far inland in England without being seen to cross the well-guarded coasts, it was secret maneuverin
g, inasmuch as the accusation was denied in Germany (Times, February 26 and 27). It was then one of the most brilliantly proclaimed of secrets, or it was concealment under one of the most powerful searchlights ever seen. Possibly an airship from Germany could appear over such a city as Hull, upon the east coast of England, without being seen to arrive or to depart, but so far from Germany is Portsmouth, for instance, that one does feel that something else will have to be thought of. The appearances over Liverpool and over towns in Wales might be attributed to German airships by someone who has not seen a map since he left school. There were more observations upon sudden appearances and disappearances than I have recorded: stationariness often occurred.

  The objects were absent from the sky of Great Britain, from February 5 to February 21.

  According to data published by Prof. Chant, in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 7-148, the most extraordinary procession in our records was seen, in the sky of Canada, upon the night of Feb. 9, 1913. Either groups of meteors, in one straight line, passed over the city of Toronto, or there was a procession of unknown objects, carrying lights. According to Prof. Chant, the spectacle was seen from the Saskatchewan to Bermuda, but if this long route was traversed, data do not so indicate. The supposed route was diagonally across New York State, from Buffalo, to a point near New York City, but from New York State are recorded no observations other than might have been upon ordinary meteors, this night. A succession of luminous objects passed over Toronto, night of Feb. 9, 1913, occupying from three to five minutes in passing, according to different estimates. If one will think that they were meteors, at least one will have to think that no such meteors had ever been seen before. In the Journal, 7-405, W.F. Denning writes that, though he had been watching the heavens since the year 1865, he had never seen anything like this. In most of the observations, the procession is described as a whole—“like an express train, lighted at night”—“the lights were at different points, one in front, and a rear light, then a succession of lights in the tail.” Almost all of the observations relate to the sky of Toronto and not far from Toronto. It is questionable that the same spectacle was seen in Bermuda, this night. The supposed long flight from the Saskatchewan to Bermuda might indicate something of a meteoric nature, but the meteor-explanation must take into consideration that these objects were so close to this earth that sounds from them were heard, and that, without succumbing to gravitation, they followed the curvature of this earth at a relatively low velocity that cannot compare with the velocity of ordinary meteors.