Wonders in the Sky

by Jacques Vallee

  Source: Brother Jonathan, Vol. 5:2 (May 13, 1843): 55.

  427.

  3 October 1843, Warwick, Ontario, Canada

  Flying men

  Charles Cooper, a farmer, saw something strange crossing the sky in the middle of the afternoon:

  “On the third day of October, as I was labouring in the field, I saw a remarkable rainbow, after a slight shower of rain. Soon after, the bow passed away and the sky became clear, and I heard a distant rumbling sound resembling thunder. I laid by my work, and looked towards the west from whence the sound proceeded, but seeing nothing returned to my labour.

  “The sound continued to increase until it became very heavy, and seemed to approach nearer. I again laid by my work, and looking towards the west once more, to ascertain its cause, I beheld a cloud of very remarkable appearance approaching, and underneath it, the appearance of three men, perfectly white, sailing through the air, one following the other, the foremost one appearing a little the latest. My surprise was great, and concluding that I was deceived, I watched them carefully.

  “They still approached me underneath the cloud, and came directly over my head, a little higher up than the tops of the trees, so that I could view every feature as perfectly as of one standing directly before me. I could see nothing but a milky-white body, with extended arms, destitute of motion, while they continued to utter doleful moans, which, I found as they approached, to be the distant roar that first attracted my attention. These moans sounded much like Wo-Wo-Wo! I watched them until they passed out of sight. The effect can be better imagined than described. Two men were labouring at a distance, to whom I called to see the men in the air; but they say they did not see them. I never believed in such an appearance until that time.”

  Source: Eli Curtis, Wonderful Phenomena (New York, 1850).

  428.

  4 October 1844, location unknown

  Unknown planetoid

  Astronomer Glaisher: A luminous object as bright as Jupiter, “sending out quick flickering waves of light.”

  Source: “Astronomical puzzle,” John Timbs’ Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art (1843): 278.

  429.

  29 March 1845, London, England

  Orange object, hovering

  At 11 P.M. Mr. Goddart observed an unusual object and reported it to an English journal: “The sky was perfectly clear and the stars sparkled (…) My attention was suddenly diverted by a weak light in the constellation of Canes Venatici, resembling a speck of fog about 4 in magnitude but clearly of a yellow color. I immediately pointed my telescope toward it, which gives small but very clear and bright vision. The meteor appeared as a fog of four stars, with the center of an orange color. From Alpha Can.Ven. it moved slowly towards Coma Berenices, gaining ever more brilliance. It took two minutes before it went out.”

  Source: L’institut, journal général des sociétés et travaux scientifiques de la France et de l’étranger. 1ère section, Sciences mathématiques, physiques et naturelles, vol. 13, no. 590 (Paris, 1845): 148. There is a reference to this observation in Poggendorf’s catalog in Annalen der Physik und Chemie (1854).

  430.

  11 May 1845, Capodimonte Observatory, Naples, Italy

  Black objects

  Astronomer Schumacher wrote to Gauss on 18 September 1845: “Erman sends me a report of Capocci about bodies which he has seen pass in front of the sun on 11 to 13 May.” Ernesto Capocci (1798-1864) was an Italian astronomer. Heinrich Christian Schumacher (1780-1850) was the founder of Astronomische Nachtrichten.

  Source: Correspondence between mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and astronomer Schumacher. Briefwechsel zwischen C.F. Gauss und H.C. Schumacher, edited by C.A.F. Peters, vol. 5 (Altona, 1863), 46-47; Report of the nineteenth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (year 1849) (London, 1850): 46.

  431.

  18 June 1845, between Malta and Turkey

  Three luminous objects rise from the sea

  “At 9:30 P.M. the brig Victoria, from Newcastle to Malta, in lat. 36° 40’ 56”, long. 13° 44’ 36” was becalmed, with no appearance of bad weather; when her top-gallant and royal masts suddenly went over the side as if carried away by a squall. Two hours it blew very hard from the east; and whilst all hands were aloft reefing topsails, it suddenly fell calm again, and they felt an overpowering heat and stench of sulphur. At this moment three luminous bodies issued from the sea, about half a mile from the vessel, and remained visible for ten minutes. Soon after it began to blow hard again, and the vessel got into a current of cold fresh air.”

  The geographic coordinates given in the report would place the ship 900 miles away from Antalya in Turkey.

  Source: “Malta Mail”, cited by London Times, 18 August 1845, and James Glaisher, et al. “Report on observations of luminous meteors, 1860-1861.” Annual Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1861): 1-44, at 30.

  432.

  18 June 1845, Ainab Mountain, Lebanon

  Two large unknowns

  “At Ainab, on Mount Lebanon, at half an hour after sunset, the heavens presented an extraordinary and beautiful though awful spectacle.” Witnesses described the phenomenon as “composed of two large bodies, each apparently at least 5 times larger than the moon, with streamers or appendages from each joining the two, and looking precisely like large flags blown out by a gentle breeze.” They appeared in the west, remaining visible for an hour, taking an easterly course, and gradually disappeared.

  “The appendages appeared to shine from the reflected light of main bodies, which it was painful to look at for any time. The moon has risen about half an hour before, and there was scarcely any wind.”

  This phenomenon may well have been related to the first sighting for this date, above.

  Source: James Glaisher, et al. “Report on observations of luminous meteors, 1860-1861,” Annual Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, (1861): 1-44.

  433.

  7 June 1846, Darmstadt, Germany

  Slag residue falling

  An object falling from the sky is found to be “only slag.” In several well-attested modern cases when an unknown flying object dropped some molten metal, the residue was also found to be “nothing but slag,” So while not representing an important sighting, the report should not be summarily discounted and we include it for its possible physical relevance.

  Source: James Glaisher et al. “Report on observations of luminous meteors, 1866-67.” Annual Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1867): 288-430, at 416.

  434.

  25 August 1846, Saint-Apre, France

  Bright globe emits ‘stars’

  At 2:30 A.M. Dr. Moreau was returning from a visit to a patient’s home by warm, calm weather when he found himself bathed in the light coming from a globe that seemed to open up, emitting hundreds of star-like objects. This was observed for three to four minutes, after which the display slowed down and the globe disappeared.

  Source: “Sur un météore lumineux,” Comptes-Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences 23 (Paris, 1846): 549-550.

  435.

  19 September 1846, La Salette, France

  Brilliant light and apparition

  Two cowherds, an eleven year old boy, Maximin, and a fourteen year old girl, Mélanie Calvat, saw a sudden flash of light. She testified:

  “I could see our cows grazing peacefully and I was on my way down, with Maximin on his way up, when all at once I saw a beautiful light shining more brightly than the sun. ‘Maximim, do you see what is over there? Oh! My God!’ At the same moment, I dropped the stick I was holding. Something inconceivably fantastic passed through me in that moment, and I felt myself being drawn. I felt great respect, full of love, and my heart beat faster. I kept my eyes firmly fixed on this light, which was static, and as if it had opened up, I caught sight of another, much more brilliant light which was moving, and in this light I saw a most beautiful lady.”

&
nbsp; The “lady” was dressed in white and gold, with a cap of roses on her head. She was surrounded by a brilliant light and was weeping. The lady complained that Sunday was being desecrated and the peasants were blaspheming the saints in swearing. (The Curé d’Ars and other clergy were complaining about these very sins in their sermons). If there was no amendment, there would be great disaster, the harvest would fail and people would starve

  The parish priest declared the lady to be the Blessed Virgin; the apparitions were later approved by the Bishop of Grenoble, and pilgrimages began. Mélanie became a nun and continued to receive revelations. Maximin tried unsuccessfully to become a priest but was always in debt.

  Source: Mélanie wrote down her testimony in 1878. On 15 Nov. 1879 it was published with the “Imprimatur” of the Bishop of Lecce. In 1904, a few weeks before her death, it was reprinted “ne varietur” at Lyon.

  436.

  November 1846, Rangoon River, China

  Light beam and extreme heat

  By a dark night, at about 7:30 P.M., a bright light appeared, accompanied by extreme heat, and moved rapidly in front of the ship where the witness, (the wife of the ship’s owner) was standing with the captain and a 4 year old child.

  The light did not come as a bolt of lightning but rather as a compact flame that terrified the witnesses. Several people in the vicinity felt the sudden increase in heat, although they were not in a position to see the light.

  Source: Collingwood, Philosoph. Magazine, and L’Institut, 29 April 1868, 144.

  437.

  19 March 1847, Holloway, London, England

  Unknown object ascending

  “On the evening of Friday, March 19, “A” and I left Albion road, [Holloway], about half-past eight. Not any stars were then visible, but when we were in Highbury place, “A” called my attention to what we thought a fire-balloon ascending slowly. It was in the west, a little inclining to the south. As it passed on slowly to the west, its intense brilliance convinced me that it was not an earthly thing.

  “When it appeared to be over Hampstead (but as high in the heavens as the sun is at six o’clock in the evening when the days are longest) it shot forth several fiery coruscations, and whilst we were gazing at it broke into an intensely radiant cloud: this cloud sailed on slowly, and we never took our eyes off it. At this time the stars were shining. When we were in the gravel path opposite to Highbury terrace, the cloud was higher in the heavens and more to the west. It cast a most brilliant light on the houses there, brighter than moonlight, and unlike any light I ever saw. It appeared of a blue tint on the bricks, but there was no blue light in the cloud itself.

  “Suddenly, over the radiant cloud appeared another cloud still more brilliant, but I now felt so awe-struck, that I cannot say precisely how long they hung one over the other before the most wonderful sight happened. Perhaps they remained so for two or three minutes, when from the upper cloud a small fiery ball (about the size that the largest planets appear to the naked eye) dropped into the lower cloud, and was instantly absorbed. Soon after, another similar ball dropped from the upper to the lower cloud and then a ball apparently four or five times the size of the two preceding, fell from one cloud to the other.

  “Shortly after this both clouds disappeared, apparently absorbed in the heavens, though I did see a few particles of the brilliant clouds floating about for a minute or so. Presently the moon appeared, considerably to the northward of the place where the clouds had hung. We then saw the bright light across the heavens, which you told me, was zodiacal light, which lasted for more than an hour.”

  Source: “Meteoric Stones,” The Living age, vol. 56, No. 717 (Feb 20, 1858), 503. Also Excelsior: Helps to Progress in Religion, Science and Literature, vol. V (London: James Nisbet and Co., 1856).

  438.

  11 October 1847, Bonn, Germany

  Fast-moving intruder

  Single object, a small black spot rapidly crossing the disk of the sun, reported by astronomer Schmidt.

  It was “neither a bird nor an insect crossing before the telescope.”

  Source: R. C. Carrington, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 20 (January 1860): 100-1.

  439.

  19 November 1847, Oxford, Wytham Park, England

  A large object makes two stops

  A large object reported by Mr. Symonds was stationary at two points of its trajectory, which took seven minutes.

  Source: Report of the eighteenth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (year 1848) (London, 1849): 9-10.

  440.

  1848, Arabian Sea, Arabia: Two wheels at sea

  A ship at sea was approached by two “rolling wheels” that exploded with a crashing sound:

  “Sir W. S. Harris read a report from a ship towards which two fiery wheels described as rolling haystacks on fire had whirled. When they came close there was a horrible crack as two masts had ruptured under a violent shaking. A strong odor of sulphur was noted.”

  Source: Mentioned in GEPA Bulletin, new series no. 2 (Feb. 1965), 17, the original source was The Athenaeum, no. 1086 (19 August, 1848).

  441.

  9 March 1848, Oxford, Wytham Park, England

  Unidentified celestial body

  Single unidentified object reported by Mr. Symonds.

  Source: Report of the eighteenth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (year 1848) (London, 1849): 10.

  442.

  4 September 1848, Nottingham, England

  Slow celestial object

  At 8:59 P.M. Mr. Lowe observed an unidentified object from Highfield Observatory. The bright star-like source moved from Eta of Antinoüs to Pi of Sagittarius. It covered this distance in no less than 45 seconds, much too slow for a meteor. Its intensity was estimated at six times the brilliance of Jupiter.

  Source: Report of luminous meteors of the British astronomical association, 1849, quoted by Flammarion in Bradytes, op. cit.

  443.

  18 September 1848, Inverness, Scotland

  High velocity objects

  Two large, bright lights that looked like stars were seen in the sky. Sometimes they were stationary, but occasionally they moved at high velocity.

  Source: The Times, 19 Sept. 1848.

  444.

  5 February 1849, Deal, Kent, England

  Two dark objects

  Two dark objects seen crossing the disk of the sun by an observer named Brown.

  Source: E. J. Lowe, “Meteors, or falling stars,” Recreative Science 1 (1860): 130-8, at 138.

  445.

  13 February 1849, Reims, France

  Star moving in the sky with sudden accelerations

  Skilled amateur observer Coulvier-Gravier observed an unusual “star” at 7:30 P.M. It was a 3rd magnitude object first seen in the vicinity of Delta Cephei. It moved through a course of 20 degrees in the sky, with sudden accelerations and stops (“saccades”).

  Source: Rémi Armand Coulvier-Gravier, Recherches sur les Météores (Paris: Mallet-Bachelier, 1859), 292.

  446.

  12 March 1849, location unknown: Sighting of Vulcan

  Astronomer Sidebotham reports an object crossing the disk of the sun. This is one of the observations judged reliable enough by Le Verrier to compute his orbit of Vulcan, the supposed intra-mercurial planet.

  Source: E. Dunkin. “The suspected Intra-Mercurial planet,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 37 (February 1877): 229-30.

  447.

  4 April 1849, Delhi, India: Very slow object

  An extremely slow object was seen in the sky, dimming and brightening.

  Source: Report of the twentieth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (year 1850) (London, 1851): 129.

  448.

  14 October 1849, Athens, Greece

  Unknown celestial object

  Astronomer Schmidt reports an unknown celestial object crossing the disk of the sun.

  So
urce: E. Ledger, “Observations or supposed observations of the transits of intra-mercurial planets or other bodies across the Sun’s disk,” Observatory 3 (1879-80): 135-8, at 137.

  449.

  15 January 1850, Cherbourg, France

  Light, swinging motion

  About 7:45 P.M., by snowy weather, a bright light appeared above the trees. It was observed by Mr. Fleury, swinging about its base, which was in line with the horizon. It scintillated, seemed ready to disappear, then was reignited and finally disappeared. Small flashes continued to be seen, moving south.

  Source: Camille Flammarion, Bolides Inexpliqués par leur aspect bizarre et la lenteur de leur parcours – Bradytes, citing Sestier, La Foudre et ses formes, T.I., 205.

  450.

  5 February 1850, Sandwich, Kent, England

  Slow-moving “red-hot iron ball”

  At 6:50 P.M. according to Mr. W. H. Weekes, a small luminous object appeared stationary near Orion and approached slowly on a straight line, growing to one third the apparent diameter of the moon. It went from a speck of light to a “red-hot iron ball,” hovered for about three minutes and disappeared in a shower of fire. The object had remained stationary for 1 min 45 seconds, then moved horizontally for a full 45 seconds.

  Source: Report of the British Astronomical Association (1851): 1-52 at 2-3, 38, and Baden Powell, On Observations of luminous meteors, op. cit.

  451.

  18 February 1850, Athens, Greece: Solar intruder

  An unknown body was seen passing in front of the Sun. It was observed and reported by astronomer Schmidt.

  Source: R. C. Carrington, “In the 10th number of Professor Wolf’s Mittheilungen über die Sonnenflecken…” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 20 (January 1860): 100-1.

  452.

  13 March 1850, Paris, France

  A flying object reverses course