by Charles Fort
Monthly Weather Review, January, 1892—“It was in all probability of volcanic origin.”
I have records of five other new stars, which, from Dec. 21, 1896, to Aug. 10, 1899, appeared at times of disturbances upon this earth; times of deluges and of volcanic discharges that cannot be attributed to terrestrial volcanoes. Two of the discoveries were made by amateurs. The other discoveries were made by professionals, who, with nothing at all resembling celerity, learned, by examining photographic plates, that new stars that had been looked at by astronomers had been recorded by cameras. The period of one of these incelerities was eleven years. See Nature, 85-248.
Star after star has appeared, as a minute point, or as a magnificent sight in the heavens, and the professional astronomers have been unobservatory. They have been notified by amateurs. We shall have records of youngsters who have seen what they were not observing. The first of the bright infants, of whom I have record, is Seth Chandler, of Boston. I have it that anybody who is only nineteen years old, or, for that matter, twenty-nine, is a youngster. Seth was nineteen years old. Upon May 12, 1866, an amateur astronomer, named Birmingham, at Tuam, Ireland, notified the professional astronomers, who were looking somewhere else, that there was a new star in the constellation Corona Borealis. In the United States, the professional astronomers were busily engaged looking in other directions. Upon the night of the 14th, Seth Chandler interrupted their observations, telling them that there was something to look at. For any pessimist, who is interested in what becomes of exceptionally bright boys, and the disappointing records of many of them, I note that when this bright youngster grew up, he became a professional astronomer.
What on earth—pretty nearly assuredly unrelated to the skies—were the professionals doing, February, 1901? Night of February 22nd—and Dr. Anderson, the amateur who had discovered Nova Aurigae, nine years before, looked up at the constellation Perseus, and, even though he had probably been befoozling himself with astronomical technicalities ever since, saw something new, and knew the new, when he saw it. It was a magnificent new star. It was a splendor that scintillated over stupidity—not a professional, at any of this earth’s Observatories, knew of this spectacle, until informed by Dr. Anderson. Usually it is said that Dr. Anderson discovered this star, but his claim has been contested. In Russia, it was recorded that, nine hours earlier, at a time when the sleepiest of the Observatories had not yet closed down, or had not yet quit not observing, the new star had been discovered by Andreas Borisiak of Kieff. Andreas was a schoolboy.
Before the discovery of this new star in Perseus, or Nova Persei, there had been appearances like volcanic phenomena, unattributable, however, to any volcano of this earth. Upon the morning of February 13th, deep greenish-yellow clouds, spreading intensest darkness, appeared in France (Bull. Soc. Astro. de France, March, 1901). Upon the 16th, a black substance fell from the sky, in Michigan (Monthly Weather Review, 29-465). There was the extreme coldness that often results from interferences with sunlight, by volcanic dust. At Naples, three persons were found to have frozen to death, night of the 13th (London Daily Mail, February 15). A red substance fell with snow near Mildenhall (London Daily Mail, February 22). It may have been functionally transmitted organic matter. “Pigeons seemed to feed upon it.”
I have data for thinking that at least four nights before Dr. Anderson’s observation, this new star, or a beam from it, though unseen at all Observatories, was magnificently visible. I think so, because, upon the night of the 18th, somebody in Finchley (London) and somebody in Tooting (London) saw something that they thought was a comet. Upon the night of the 20th, somebody in Tottenham saw it. A story of three somebodies who had seen something that was missed by all this earth’s professional astronomers, would not be worth much, if told after an announcement of a discovery, but these observations were told of in the London Daily Mail, published upon the morning of February 22nd, before Dr. Anderson was heard from.
Sixteen days after the Anderson observation, dust arrived upon this earth—or it fell from the sky—in volumes that were proportional to this outburst of first magnitude in the heavens. The new star at its brightest was of the magnitude of Vega. Dust, of the redness of many volcanic dusts, and of no African deserts that one hears anything of—and if African deserts ever are red, moving picture directors, who are strong for realism, or, rather, sometimes are, should hear about this—fell from the sky. It came down, upon the 9th and 10th of March, in Sicily, Tunis, Italy, Germany, and Russia. A thick orange-red stain was reported from Ongar, Essex, England, upon the 12th (London Daily Mail, March 19).
The standardized explanation was published. I shall oppose it with heresy. Throughout this book, I say that all expressions of mine are only mental phenomena, and sometimes may be rather awful specimens, even at that. But, if we examine our opposition, and find it wanting, and if my own expression includes much that it left out, my own expression is not wanting, whether it’s wanted, or not. Two wisemen wrote the standardized explanation. The red dust had come from an African desert. See Nature, 66-41.
They wrote that they had traced this dust to a hurricane in an African desert, pointing out that, upon the first day, it had fallen in Tunis. That looked like a first fall near an African desert.
But the meteorologists are not banded like the astronomers. For a record of a fall, not so near an alleged African desert, see Symons’ Met. Mag., 1902-25—that while this dust was falling in Tunis, also it was falling in Russia. That this dust did come to this earth from outer space—see the Chemical News, 83-159—Dr. Phipson’s opinion that it was meteoric. That may be accepted as the same as volcanic.
My own expression—
That a hurricane that could have strewn Europe with dust, from the Mediterranean to Denmark, and from England to Russia, could have been no breeze fluttering obscurely in some African desert, but a devastating force that would have fanned all Northern Africa into taking notice—
Lagos (Gold Coast) Record, March-April, 1901—no mention of a whirlwind of any kind in Africa. In the Egyptian Gazette (Alexandria) there is nothing relating to atmospheric disturbances. There is nothing upon any such subject noted in the Sierra Leone News. Al-Moghreb (Tangier) reports the falls of dust in Europe, but mentions no raising of dust anywhere in Africa.
But there was a new star.
The standardized explanation is perforated with omissions. It seems unthinkable that mind upon this earth could be so bound down to this earth by this thing of gaps, until we reflect that so are all nets fabricated. In Austria, while this dust was falling, the earth quaked. What could such an occurrence have to do with dust from an African desert? Omitted. But at the time of this quake, something else was seen, and it may have been a volcanic bomb that had been shot from a star. London Daily Mail, March 13—a great meteor was seen. Dust falling in Tunis—and that was told. More of the omitted—see the Levant Herald, March 11—that while the dust was falling in Tunis, there were violent earthquakes in Algeria. Something else that was left out—see the English Mechanic, 73-96, and the Bull. Soc. Astro. de France, April, 1901—that, upon March 12th, ashes fell from the sky, at Avellino, Italy.
Vesuvius, April, 1872—
Krakatoa, August, 1883—
Charleston, August, 1886—
Time after time after time—
And now May, 1902—in the hollow of their ignorance, two of these conventionalists held 30,000 lives.
May, 1902—there was another surprise. It, too, was preceded by announcements that were published by mountains, and were advertised in columns of fire upon pages of clouds.
In April and May, 1902, across a zone of this earth, also outside the zone, there were disturbances. More than earthwide relations are indicated, to start with. Eruptions of Mt. Pelée, Martinique, began upon April 20th, the date of the Lyrids. However, in this book, I am omitting many data upon a seeming relation between dates of meteor streams and catastrophes. Then the volcano La Soufrière, island of St. Vincent, B.W.I., broke out. Up
on the day of an earthquake in Siberia (April 12th) mud fell from the sky in widely separated places, in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. See Science, n.s., 15-872; New York Herald, April 14, 1902; Monthly Weather Review, May, 1902.
There may have been an eruption in some other part of one relatively small existence, or organism. There may have been a new star. In the English Mechanic, 75-291, a correspondent in South Africa told that, in the constellation Gemini, night of April 16th, he had seen an appearance like a new red star. He thought that it might have been not a star, but a mirage of the red light of the Cape Town lighthouse.
The white houses of St. Pierre, Martinique—a white city, spread up on the slopes of Mt. Pelée. Early in May, there were panics in St. Pierre. Pelée was convulsed, and the quavering city of St. Pierre shook out inhabitants. Desertion of the city was objected to by its rulers, and the Governor of the island called upon two wisemen, Prof. Landes and Prof. Doze, for an authoritative opinion.
They had studied the works of Dr. Davison. There were shocks in Spain, and in France. La Soufrière was of continuing violence. A volcano broke out in Mexico. Quakes in the Fiji Islands. Violent quake in Iceland. Volcanic eruption at Cook’s Inlet, Alaska.
Prof. Landes and Prof. Doze were studying Mt. Pelée. An eruption of cattle and houses and human beings, in Rangoon, Burma—or “the most terrible storm remembered.” A remarkable meteor was seen at Calcutta. In Java, the Rooang volcano broke out. There were rumblings of an extinct volcano in France. In Guatemala, with terrific electrical displays, enormous volumes of water fell upon earthquakes.
Profs. Doze and Landes “announced” that there was, in Pelée’s activity, nothing to warrant the flight of the people. See Heilprin, Mont Pelée, p. 71. Governor Mouttet ordered a cordon of soldiers to form around the city, and to permit nobody to leave.
Upon the 7th of May, a sky in France turned black with warning. See back to other such “coincidences” with catastrophes. Soot and water, like ink, fell from the sky, at Parc Saint Maur (Comptes Rendus, 134-1108).
Upon this day, the people of St. Pierre were terrified by the blasts from Pelée. No inhabitant of the city was permitted to leave, but, as recorded by Heilprin, the captain of the steamship Orsolina did break away. They tried to hold him. The “pronouncement” was read to him, and officialdom threatened him, but, with half a cargo, he broke away. His arrival at Havre is told of, in the Daily Messenger (Paris) June 22. The authorities of the Port of St. Pierre had refused to give him clearance papers, but, terrified by the blasts from the volcano, he had sailed without them.
The people of St. Pierre were trying to escape, but they were bound to the town by chains of soldiers. Even in discreetly worded accounts, we read of these people, running in droves in the streets. In storms of ashes, turned back at all outskirts, by the soldiers, they were running in whirlpools.
Not one word of retreat, nor of any modification, came from the two professors. They had spoken in accordance with the dogmas of their deadly cult. Considered locally, an effusion of ashes was not considered alarming, and no relationship with wider disturbances could be admitted. The professors had spoken, and the people of St. Pierre were held to the town. The people were hammered and stabbed back, or they were reasoned with, and persuaded to stay. Just how it was done, one has to visualize for oneself. It was done.
At night there was a lull. Then blasts came from the volcano. Screaming people ran from the houses. The narrow streets of this white city were dark with people, massing one way, only to gather against the military confines, sweeping some other way, only to be turned back by soldiers. Had there been darkness some of them might have escaped, but even at sea the glare from the volcano was so intense that the crew of a passing steamship, Lord Antrim, were almost blinded.
As seen from the sea, the streets, hung up on the mountainside, distorted by smoke and glare, fluttered. Long narrow crowds darkening these fluttering streets—folds of white garments of a writhing being, chained, awaiting burning.
Upon the morning of the 8th, the city of St. Pierre was bound to the stake of Mt. Pelée. There was a rush of flames. In the volcanic fires that burned the city, 30,000 persons perished.
28
Early in October, 1902, vast volumes of smoke, of unknown origin, obscured all things at sea, and made navigation difficult and dangerous, from the Philippines to Hong Kong, and from the Philippines to Australia. I do not know of anything of terrestrial origin that, with equal density, ever has had such widespread effects. Vesuvius has never been known to smoke up the whole Mediterranean. Compared with this obscuration, smoke at a distance from Krakatoa, in August, 1883, was only a haze. For an account, see the Jour. Roy. Met. Soc., 30-285. Hong Kong Telegraph, October 25—that a volcanic eruption in Sumatra had been reported. Science, n.s., 23-193—that there had been no known eruption in Sumatra—that perhaps there had been enormous forest fires in Borneo and Sumatra. Sarawak (Borneo) Gazette, October-November, 1902—no record of any such fires.
There came something that was perhaps not vaster, but that was more substantial. If a story of a sandstorm in a desert is dramatic, here is a story of a continent that went melodramatic. Upon the 12th of November, upon all Australia, except Queensland, dust and mud fell from the sky. Then densest darkness lit up with glares. Fires were falling from the sky.
Sometimes there are abortive embryos that are mixtures—an eye looking out from ribs—other features scattered. Fires and dust and darkness—mud that was falling from the sky—Australia was a womb that was misconceiving.
A fireball burst over a mound, which flickered; and frightened sheep ran from it—or, reflecting glares in the sky, a breast leered, and stuck out a long, red mob of animals. A furrowed field—or ribs in a haze—and a stare from the embers of a bush fire. An avenue of trees, heavy with mud, sagging upon a road that was pulsing with carts—or black lips, far from jaws, closing soggily upon an umbilical cord, in vainly attempted suicide.
Fireballs started up fires in every district in Victoria. They fell into cities, and set fire to houses. At Wycheproof, “the whole air seemed on fire.” All day of the 12th, and the next day, dust, mostly red dust, sifted down upon Australia, falling, upon the 13th, in Queensland, too. Smoke rolled in upon Northern Australia, upon the 14th. A substance that fell from it was said to be ashes. One of the descriptions is of “a light, fluffy, grey material” (Sydney Daily Telegraph, November 18).
How many of those who have a notion that they’re pretty well-read, have ever heard of this discharge upon Australia? And what are the pretty well-read but the pretty well-led? Little of this tremendous occurrence has been told in publications that are said to be scientific, and I take from Australian newspapers: but accounts of some of the fire balls that fell from the sky were published in Nature, vol. 67. There are reports from about fifty darkened, stifled towns in the Sydney Herald, of the 14th—“business suspended”—“nothing like it before, in the history of the colony”—“people stumbling around with lanterns.” Traffics were gropes. Mail coaches reached Sydney, nine hours late. Ashes with a sulphurous odor fell in New Zealand, upon the 13th (Otago Witness, November 19). The cities into which fell balls of fire that burned houses were Boort, Allendale, Deniliquin, Langdale, and Chiltern.
Smoke appeared in Java, and the earth quaked. A meteorite fell at Kamsagar (Mysore), India. Upon this day of the 12th, a disastrous deluge started falling, in the Malay States: along one river, seven bridges were carried away.
There was no investigation. However, passing awareness did glimmer in one mind, in England. In a dispatch to the newspapers, Dec. 7, 1902, Sir Norman Lockyer called attention to the similarity between the dust and the fire balls in Australia, and the dust and the fire balls from volcanoes in the West Indies, in May, of this year.
Our own expression depends upon whether all this can be attributed to any eruption upon this earth, or not. The smoke, in October, cannot be so explained. But was there any particular volcanic activity upon t
his earth, about Nov. 12, 1902?
The most violent eruption of Kilauea, Hawaii, in twenty years, was occurring, having started upon the 10th of November. There was a geyser of fire from the volcano Santa Maria, in Guatemala, having started upon October 26th. About the 6th of November, Colima, in Mexico, began to discharge dense volumes of smoke. The volcano Savii, in Samoa, broke out, upon the 13th, having been active, though to no great degree, upon October 30th. According to a dispatch, dated November 14th, there was an eruption in the Windward Islands, West Indies. Stromboli burst into eruption upon the 13th. About this time, Mt. Chullapata, in Peru, broke out.
But the smoke that appeared, with an earthquake, in Java, was the spans of an ocean and a continent far away. New Zealand is nearer all these volcanoes, except Stromboli, than is Australia, but dust and ashes fell a day later in New Zealand. Fire balls fell enormously in Australia. Not one was reported in New Zealand. Nothing appeared between New Zealand and these volcanoes, but dense clouds of smoke, between Australia and the Philippines, delayed vessels until at least November 20th (Hobart Mercury, November 21). So we regard the unexplained smoke of October and November, as continuous with the discharges of November 12th, and relate both, as emanations from one source, which is undiscoverable upon this earth.
There was a new star.
Popular Astronomy, 30-69—that, in October, 1902, a new star appeared in the southern constellation Puppis.
Upon the 19th of November, a seismic wave, six feet high, crashed upon the coast of South Australia (Sydney Morning Herald, November 20). Upon this day the new star shone at its maximum of seventh magnitude.
See our expression upon phenomena of August, 1885. If, in November, 1902, a volcanic discharge came to Australia from a southern constellation, it came as if from a star-region to the nearest earth-region. But, if constellations be trillions of miles away, no part of this earth could be appreciably nearer than any other part, to any star.