Wonders in the Sky

by Jacques Vallee

  For this purpose, they published a catalogue of the principal vices of the times, in which were enumerated “a neglect of the education of children, pride displayed in the manner of cutting and curling the hair, excess of finery, immodesty of apparel, negligent carriage at church, failure in due respect to parents, profane swearing, idleness, and frequenting of taverns, and a sordid eagerness of shopkeepers to obtain high prices.”

  Source: James Silk Buckingham, America, historical, statistic, and descriptive (London: Fisher, Son & co., 1841), 259.

  256.

  14 March 1660, London (Westminster) England

  Peculiar cloud

  Boat passengers saw a dark, then bright cloud dropping fire over Westminster. About 8 P.M. they observed “a white bright cloud which gave such a light that they could plainly see the windows of the Parliament House, and people walking to and fro upon Westminster Bridge”.

  The cloud was seen to “drop down fire several times upon Westminster Hall and then it removed and (flew) over the Parliament Hall and did drop down fire upon that also several times”.

  Source: Eniaytos terastios Mirabilis annus, or, The year of prodigies and wonders being a faithful and impartial collection of severall signs that have been seen in the heavens, in the earth, and in the waters; together with many remarkable accidents, and judgements befalling divers persons, according as they have been testified by very credible hands: all which have happened within the space of one year last past, and are now made publick for a seasonable warning to the people of these three kingdoms speedily to repent and turn to the Lord, whose hand is lifted up amongst us (London, 1661).

  257.

  August 1660, Statford Row, near London, England

  A Great ship in the air

  The likeness of a “great ship” was seen in the air. It decreased in size and eventually disappeared.

  The worthy chronicler does not fail to inform us that “this is testified by an able Minister living not far from the place, who received the information from the spectators themselves”.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661)

  258.

  September 1660, London, England

  Multiple unknown lights

  “A gentleman of good quality and an Officer of Eminency in the late King’s army and now a Justice of the Peace in the Country” reported seeing a bright light in the Southwest, along with six smaller ones. “Whilst he with several others, were with some admiration beholding them, they all fell down perpendicularly and vanished.”

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  259.

  3 October 1660, Hull, England

  Large tapered flying object

  The soldiers on guard at the South Blockhouse saw a large fiery object tapering off at one end and leaving a narrow stream behind. It was so brilliant that they could read fine print or take up a pin from the ground by its light. This object was in sight for half an hour.

  Someone who was approaching Hull that same night, coming from Lincolnshire, confirmed the first report: “He saw a very great light in the sky, whereby he could perfectly discern his way, though it was exceedingly dark.”

  The whole relation–continues our chronicler–” is signified by letters from several eminent men in Hull who spoke with the eyewitnesses, as also by some inhabitants of London, who upon occasion have been at Hull since that time, and there from very good hands have received credible information concerning the premises.”

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  260.

  11 October 1660, Hertford, England

  Flying circle with appendages

  A person of very good note and credit awoke at 4 A.M. to see “a flashing like fire against his window, and fearing some house near him had been on fire, he immediately arose and went to the window.”

  He saw a large object with a circle around it, and two appendages above and below it, from which great flashes were indeed emitted. This object remained in view for several hours, and was observed by others in the town.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  261.

  12 October 1660, London, England: Two unknowns

  Around 4 P.M. people saw an object going through the air from west to east with a great noise.

  It was shaped “like a beesome” according to witnesses. Immediately afterwards, another object of the same shape, but smaller, flew overhead on the same trajectory.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  262.

  30 October 1660, Austy, England: Multiple objects

  Several persons who were going to Ware Market suddenly saw a terrible flash of lightning, after which the night became brighter and brighter, until a great fiery thing appeared in the East and ascended. Three star-like objects fell from it vertically. The large object changed to a crescent shape and remained in view until dawn.

  The same thing was seen by five people going from Hertford to London: they saw the flash of lightning, which was as bright as the noonday sun and made it seem that their horses were on fire. One suspects a fireball or very bright meteor, but the story disproves this hypothesis: “Within a little space, this Body of Fire rose up again into the Air, with a tayl (sic) about a Pole long, and went Eastward, where at last it fixed itself in the sky like a star”.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  263.

  30 October 1660, Yelden, England: Bright object

  A bright object seen in the sky for two hours by a credible witness. The record reads:

  “Very early was seen a great Star which…gave so great a light, that some inhabitants here…could see to do business in the house by the light of it; one credible person here beheld it two hours together, and at last saw it turn into the perfect form of a Roman S, and then presently it divided in the middle, and one half went to the north-east, and the other to the south-west, and so by degrees disappeared.”

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  264.

  10 November 1660, Oxford, England: Humanoid

  A scholar named Allen, of Magdalen College in Oxford, who was in bed, heard a noise like the sound of geese. He got up and looked out of a window on the side of a bridge, but saw nothing. As he went back to bed he saw a strange man at the door, apparently dressed as a bishop!

  “At first he was not much affrighted, but called to it and abjured it to speak. The Bishop immediately rose up and approached towards his bed, at which the young man was exceedingly terrified, and crying out murder, murder, it vanished. He since says that he saw and heard something which he will discover to no one.”

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  265.

  30 November 1660, Ilford, Essex, England

  Dogfight in the sky

  Very early in the morning two men saw a fiery cloud in the southwest. From under it appeared two bright objects as large as the moon, which began a dogfight in the atmosphere. One of them eventually grew dimmer while the other increased in size and remained in view for two hours, “a great part of which time they saw streaming from it…streams of fire and streams of blood.” It then diminished until it was no larger than an ordinary star.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  266.

  1 Dec. 1660, Hounsditch, England: Unknown moon

  At 5 A.M. an inhabitant of Hounsditch saw an unexplained, bright object the size of the moon in the eastern sky.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  267.

  1661, Goult, Vaucluse, France

  A luminous figure heals a sick man

  Antoine de Nantes, a messenger from Goult, who was gravely ill, caught sight of a marvelously beautiful child who hovered above a fiery halo. When this figure vanished, the man found himself fully healed. A chapel was consecrated two years later and “miracles became commonplace after that date.”

  Source: Louis Leroy, Histoire des pélerinages de la Sainte Vierge en France (Paris, 1873), 30.

  268.

  February 1661, Darken, Surrey, E
ngland

  Flying cathedrals

  A “discreet sober gentleman” saw a strange cloud in the evening sky, and two objects he compares to cathedrals or churches, “having upon it diverse goodly Pinnacles, and each of them a long streamer flying upwards upon it, and as he beheld it, he thought it grew up to a greater splendor and glory.” The other object was darker.

  After a while, the large one emitted puffs of vapor and disappeared, while the smaller one grew and became brighter. The witness was called into his house and could not observe the end of the phenomenon.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus (1661).

  269.

  20 March 1661, Canterbury, England

  A Star with an opening

  A very large “star” with an “opening” underneath, from which issued streams of fire was seen for thirty minutes.

  Source: MIRABILIS ANNUS SECUNDUS; or, a second year of prodigies. Being a true and impartial collection of many strange signes and apparitions, which have this last year been seen in the heavens, and in the earth, and in the waters. Together with many remarkable accidents and judgements befalling divers persons, according to the most exact information that could be procured from the best hands; and now published as a warning to all men speedily to repent, and to prepare to meet the Lord, who gives us these signs of his coming… (London, 1662).

  270.

  April 1661, Chard, Somersetshire, England

  Multiple Objects

  Several witnesses saw a narrow, long dusty cloud from which three very bright spots descended and joined.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus Secundus (1662).

  271.

  April 1661, Between Ilford and Romford, England

  Maneuvering light

  About 10 P.M. Captain Chelmford, of Ipswich, and another man riding to London saw a fiery light with a green-white glow that changed direction. It approached at great speed, emitting light beams. When it was exactly overhead it suddenly changed direction again and disappeared at the horizon. Upon arriving in London, the two travelers had a notarial deed drawn up, recording their experience.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus Secundus (1662).

  272.

  23 April 1661, Bednall-Green, England

  Pillar containing lights

  People saw a great pillar of fire with smaller objects (compared to “burning coals”) within it, and at 10 o’clock that night “several persons near Pickadilly saw strange fiery clouds and other objects very terrible to the spectators, from some of whose mouths we received the information”.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus Secundus (1662).

  273.

  29 June 1661, Eastberry, Berkshire, England

  Dark objects

  The Sun was obscured by a great number of dark balls passing in front of it. Other objects looked like crosses.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus Secundus (1662).

  274.

  October 1661, Bristol, England: Figures in a “cloud”

  A cloud was seen rising out of the river. It opened up three times, revealing various figures inside.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus Secundus (1662).

  275.

  April 1662, Tedworth, Wiltshire, England

  The humanoid threat?

  Numerous incidents of bedroom visitations, knocks and reports of witness paralysis by lights and humanoid entities.

  Source: Rev. Joseph Glanvill, Saducismus Triumphatus (1681).

  276.

  11 May 1662, near Salt Ash, Cornwall, England

  A great star and a black square object

  At St. Stephens near Salt Ash, a “very great star” was reported, with the likeness of two red “legs” and a black square object. The star moved to and fro.

  Source: Mirabilis Annus Secundus (1662).

  277.

  Late July 1663, Saint Martin, Brittany, France

  Flying red cross

  In the parish of Saint-Martin, near Quimper, a man named François Carré, from Bodeau, saw a red cross in the sky. It seemed to fly away from Saint Martin church and headed towards the chapel of Saint Michel.

  Jérome de Lestour, a priest in Caudan in the diocese of Vannes, reports that “fearing to be the victim of an illusion, Carré called his wife without saying anything else than to look in the same direction. ‘Do you see anything?’ he asked. ‘Yes, a red cross heading towards the chapel of Saint-Michel,’ she answered.”

  Source: The diary of Jesuit Father Julien Maunoir, written in 1672, kept in the library of the Society of Jesus in Rome. Translation of this passage is by Yannis Deliyannis.

  278.

  15 August 1663, Roboziero near Bieloziero, Russia

  Fiery object with burning beams

  Farmer Levko Federov and others saw a fiery object estimated at 40 meters in diameter, with burning beams. It returned one hour later. A formal report from Saint Cyrille monastery reads:

  “To His Highness the Archimandrite Nikita, to His Eminence the Starets Paul, to their Highnesses the Starets of St. Cyril Monastery, Most Venerable lords, salutations from your humble servant Ivachko Rievskoi.

  “The farmer Lievko Fiedorov, from the village of Mys of Antusheva of your monastery estate Losy, has related to me the following facts: On this Saturday, the 15th day of August of the year 7171 (that is 7171 year of old style or 1663 of modern style), the faithful from the district of Bieloziero, Robozierskaya volost, had assembled in great number in the church of the village of Roboziero, in the present holyday of Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

  “While they were inside, a great sound arose in the heavens and numerous people came out of God’s house to watch it from the square. There, Lievko Fiedorov, the farmer in question, was among them and witnessed what follows which for him was a sign from God. At noon, a large ball of fire came down over Roboziero, arriving from the clearest part of the cloudless heavens. It came from the direction whence winter comes, and it moved toward midday (south) along the lake passing over water surface. The ball of fire measured some 140 ft. from one edge to the other and over the same distance, ahead of it, two ardent rays extended. The people seeing the terror of God gathered in the church and prayed to God and the Blessed Virgin, with tears and crying, and the big fire and two smaller ones disappeared.

  “Less than an hour later, the people again came out to the square and the same fire suddenly reappeared over the same lake, from the same place where it first disappeared. It darted from the south to the west and must have been 1500 ft. away when it disappeared. But it appeared, in a short while, back again, from that another place, moving this time to the west; the third time the same fire ball appeared more terrific in width, and disappeared having moved to the west and it had been remaining over Roboziero, over water, for an hour and a half. And the length of the lake is about 7000 ft., and the width is 3500 ft.

  “As the fire ball was coming over water, peasants who were in their boat on the lake, followed it, and the fire burned them by the heat not allowing them to get closer. The waters of the lake were illuminated to their greatest depth of 30ft and the fish swam away to the shore, they all saw that. And where the fire ball came the water seemed to be covered with rust under the reddish light; it was then scattered by the wind and the water became clean again.

  “And I, your humble servant, sent a message to the priests in Robozierskya district, exactly for this reason, and they responded to me with a letter confirming that they had such sign in that day. And you, most Venerable lords, would know about this. And this Robozierskaya district is about 6 miles away from Antusheva village of your monastery estate Losa.”

  Source: Arkheografischeskaia Kommissiia, Vol. 4 (covering years 1645-1676) (Saint Petersburg, 1842), 331-332. Courtesy of Thomas Bullard.

  279.

  February 1665, Vienna, Austria: Flying box-like object

  An object resembling a coffin was seen in the air, causing much anxiety.

  Source: Walter G. Bell, The Great Plague in London in 1665 (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1924).

 
280.

  8 April 1665, Stralsund, Germany: Domed flying saucer

  Aerial ships and a saucer-shaped object with dome were reported flying over the church of this town located near the Baltic Sea, and hovered there till evening. Witnesses were left trembling, with pain in their head and limbs. The case is described in researcher Illobrand Von Ludwiger’s book Best UFO Cases – Europe published by the National Institute for Discovery Science in 1998.

  Fig. 23: The Stralsund phenomenon

  Several fishermen first reported seeing a big swarm of starling birds flying in the sky about 2 P.M., coming from the north over the sea. They changed to battle ships fighting one another. A lot of smoke developed. New ships kept appearing, small and big ones, and the battle lasted for a few hours. Once the initial vision had vanished, the scenario changed. Writer Erasmus Francisci (whose real name was Erasmus Finx) describes the scene:

  “After a while out of the sky came a flat round form, like a plate, looking like a big man’s hat…Its color was that of the rising moon, and it hovered right over the church of St. Nicolai. There it remained stationary till evening. The fishermen, worried to death, didn’t want to look further at the spectacle and buried their faces in their hands. On the following days they fell sick with trembling all over and pain in head and limbs. Many scholarly people thought a lot about that.”

  The Berliner Ordinari und Postzeitungen also wrote about the vision: “One of these fishermen had been sick on his feet. All of the citizens who have observed this are reliable. Yesterday, Herr Colonel von der Wegck and Docter Gessman interrogated two of the 6 fishermen. May God change this miracle for the best.”