Wonders in the Sky

by Jacques Vallee

  “I was now alone in the machine at the rear end of the tablet or table resting my fore fingers and thumbs on its edge looking vacantly with downcast eyes upon the table and repenting like at my saying yes – when the spirit previous to my entering upon it had spoken to me – I felt miserably queer – just like one undertaking a billet or post he knows nothing of, so I remained for some considerable time, when I was aroused as it were from my reverie by the voice of the spirit on my right hand (and his hand resting upon the table with several printed paper within it) who said ‘here are some papers for your guidance.’”

  Associated with this sighting, and with the papers that contained formulas to make a flying machine, the witness later experienced paranormal phenomena. Prior to the observation of the “Ark” itself he had had a vision of faces in the sky. Some time later he experienced poltergeist phenomena when the latch of a gate kept raising itself in full view without visible cause. In April 1872 he observed three clouds of very peculiar shape, which flew away quickly. He took this observation to be another divine instruction, the meaning of which he could not decipher.

  Source: The document containing this report has an interesting history. It is known as the Memorandum Book of Fred Wm. Birmingham, the Engineer to the Council of Parramatta and subtitled Aerial Machine. Researcher Bill Chalker has traced its post-1940s whereabouts and spoken to some of the people involved. It seems it was originally written in ink in a small black imitation-leather book, which came into the possession of a teacher named Wallace Haywood, a resident of Parramatta. In the 1940s he passed the book to a Mrs. N. de Launte, a qualified nurse who was looking after his wife, and she finally gave it to ufologist Tasman V. Homan in the 1950s. Homan made a transcription of the book, including the sketches contained in it, with the help of four other people. A copy of this 15-page typed version was discovered among the papers of an astrologer called June Marsden. Mr. Fred Phillips, then honorary president of the Sydney-based UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC), showed this to Bill Chalker in 1975. The original (if it exists?) has not been found, hence our reservations.

  475.

  8 June 1869, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA: Circle of fire

  About 2:30 A.M. an object “larger than the moon when full” was observed in the western sky for half an hour.

  “It was of a bright red color, and at intervals of a few minutes, darted forth on every side bright rays like the straws of a broom, and from the ends of these were sent out sparks like those of a Roman candle. Suddenly this would cease, and only the circle or ball of fire remained, when again the rays would blaze out around the whole circumference of the central ball.”

  Two witnesses, including the doorman of Pike’s Opera House, watched the phenomenon as it went down behind Mount Davidson, following the motion of the stars and “still blazing and sputtering forth sparks and jets of fire.”

  Source: “Singular Celestial Phenomenon,” Fort Wayne Daily Democrat (Fort Wayne, Indiana), 9 June 1869.

  476.

  7 August 1869, Adamstown, Pennsylvania

  A silvery object lands

  At noon a luminous object was seen to descend from the sky to a dry, swampless area 200 yards north of the village, which is situated in Lancaster County. “It was square and became a column about 3 or 4 feet in height and about 2 feet in thickness.” The object reflected sunlight “like a column of burnished silver” but after 10 minutes it disappeared. Several people gathered at the spot where it had rested but there were no landing traces.

  Source: Reading Eagle (Pennsylvania), 14 August 1869.

  477.

  7 August 1869, Ottumwa, Iowa

  Astronomer’s sighting

  About 25 minutes before the totality of the solar eclipse, Professor Zentmayer observed some bright objects crossing from one cusp to the other of the solar crescent.

  Each object took two seconds to make the crossing. The points were well-defined and must have been miles away from the telescope, given their sharpness.

  Other sources indicate that similar objects were seen at the same time by Professor Swift in Mattoon, Illinois and in Shelbyville, Kentucky by Alvan Clark Jr., George W. Dean and professor Winlock, showing the objects were not local insects or seeds picked up by the wind.

  Source: Henry Morton, “Solar eclipse—August 7, 1869,” Journal of the Franklin Institute, S. 3, 58 (whole series, vol. 88): 200-16, at 213-4; Henry Morton, “Apparence d’une pluie météorique,” Cosmos: Les Mondes 21: 241-3; “Meteors observed during a total eclipse of the Sun,” Popular Astronomy 2 (March 1895): 332-3.

  478.

  Spring 1870, Alen, Norway

  Flying object with occupant

  The grandmother of Lars Lillevold saw a flying object in the sky. “Somebody” aboard the object beckoned to her.

  Source: J. S. Krogh, The Hessdalen Report (CENAP Rept, 1985), 11.

  479.

  22 March 1870, Atlantic Ocean: Circle with five arms

  On a very clear day, with the wind blowing from the north-northeast, Captain Frederick William Banner and his crew of the American bark “Lady of the Lake” observed an object at 6:30 P.M. in the south-southeast. The ship was located about halfway between Senegal and Natal, Brazil, at latitude 5.47 N and longitude 27.52 W.

  The object was described as “a circular cloud” light gray in color with a semicircle near the center and four arm-like appendages reaching from the center to the edge of the circle. Banner noted that “from the center to about 6 degrees beyond the circle was a fifth ray, broader and more distinct than the others, with a curved end.”

  The object moved to the northeast, much lower than the cloud cover. It was last seen at 7:20 P.M. about 30 degrees above the horizon.

  Source: Quarterly Journal of the Meteorological Society, vol.1, new series, No.6 (April 1873): 157.

  480.

  15 August 1870, Dunbar, Scotland

  Hovering ball of light

  About 8:45 P.M. a bright sparkling ball of light tinged with blue appeared about 45 degrees above the northern horizon.

  “From the head or ball there issued a tail of the same bright colour…pointing in a north-easterly direction. A remarkable circumstance was that it appeared quite motionless and stationary. By-and-by, however, a second tail seemed to branch off from about the middle of the first one, at an angle of 45 degrees, thus giving the tail of the figure a cleft or forked appearance.

  “This second tail seemed to come and go, being occasionally detached for a few seconds, sometimes being lost to sight altogether…The phenomenon lasted with little variation for fully 20 minutes, and then proceeded very slowly in a south-westerly direction.

  “No noise or explosion of any kind was heard during its passage. It attracted a great deal of attention, and was witnessed with a great deal of excitement by the inhabitants of the villages to the west.”

  Source: The Scotsman (Edinburgh), 17 Aug. 1870, 2. Two days later the same paper added that the object had been seen by people on the Greenock Esplanade.

  481.

  26 September 1870, Berlin, Germany: Slow transit

  “As I was last night examining the constellation Lyra through my 41/2-inch achromatic, with a power of 46, I observed a luminous object, with a distinct comet-like tail, pass slowly through the field of my glass, apparently starting from Vega and falling in the direction of Epsilon Lyræ. The hour by my watch was 12:15, Berlin time. The time occupied by this object in its transit across the disc of the glass was about 30 seconds, but before it had reached its edge it disappeared suddenly from view. I at first thought it was a falling star, but on reflection it appeared to me that a falling star would never have remained so long visible in the telescopic field.”

  Source: Mr. Barbazon’s letter to the editor of London Times, 30 Sept. 1870, 9.

  482.

  2 August 1871, Marseille, France

  Magnificent red object

  Camille Flammarion reports an observation made by Mr. Coggia, also the discoverer of a comet. At 10
:43 P.M. he observed a long-duration “bolide” that could not have been a classical meteor, given its slow rate of progression in the sky. He described it as “a magnificent red object.” It moved eastward, slowly, clocked for no less than nine minutes. It stopped, moved north, and was stationary again at 10:59. It turned eastward again and was lost to sight at 11:03 P.M.

  Source: Coggia. “Observation d’un bolide, faite à Observatoire de Marseille le 1er août,” Comptes Rendus 73 (1871): 397-8.

  483.

  31 August 1872, Rome, Italy: Slow sky object

  French astronomer and author Camille Flammarion notes another observation of a slow-moving object that could not have been a meteor, given its trajectory.

  Source: Flammarion, Bradytes, op. cit., 135.

  484.

  2 June 1873, Paris, France: Three round objects

  Astronomers from Paris observatory are reported to have observed three round bodies evolving slowly at an altitude estimated at 80 km, leaving no trail.

  Source: Le Journal du Ciel, unknown date and issue number.

  485.

  Ca. 30 August 1873, Brussels and Ste-Gudule, Belgium

  Starlike mystery

  At 8 P.M. an object was seen rising above the horizon in a clear sky. It was starlike, mounted higher and higher for two minutes, and then disappeared suddenly.

  Source: “Le météore de Bruxelles,” Nature 2 (Paris, Sept. 13 1873): 239.

  486.

  30 November 1873, Poissy, France: Slow transit

  Several observers tracked a maneuvering object, red like Mars in color. It was in the sky for 10 minutes. They first saw it in the North above the Big Dipper, then it approached the star ‘gamma’ without touching it, moved away on several curves and disappeared in the west. Camille Flammarion and Mr. Vinot, editor of Journal du Ciel, later made inquiries that confirmed the sighting.

  Source: Flammarion, Bradytes, op. cit., 159.

  487.

  24 April 1874, Prague, Czechoslovakia

  Dazzling white object in front of the moon

  Professor Schafarik observed “an object of so peculiar a character that I do not know what to make of it.”

  He was observing the three-quarter moon at about 3:30 in the afternoon in bright sunshine, using a 4-inch achromatic telescope by Dancer with power 66, field 34 minutes of arc, when: “I was surprised by the apparition, on the disc of the moon, of a dazzling white star, which travelled slowly from E.S.E. to W.N.W and after leaving the bright disc, shone on the deep blue sky like Sirius or Vega in daylight and fine air. The star was quite sharp and without a perceptible diameter.”

  Source: “Telescopic Meteors” in The Astronomical Register 273, (September 1885): 205-211. Professor Schafarik discusses the frequency and appearance of telescopic meteors, which he places into four classes, for which he hypothesizes various explanations, ranging from faint shooting stars at the limit of the atmosphere to such mundane objects as birds, bats, the pappus of various seeds and “convolutions of gossamer.” He was genuinely puzzled, however, by the above observation.

  488.

  Ca. 17 February 1875, Pwllhi, Caernarvonshire, Wales

  Eight lights on erratic trajectories

  A reader of the Field newspaper reports that eight lights were seen at once, at an estimated distance of 8 miles, moving in “horizontal, perpendicular and zigzag directions. Sometimes they were a light blue colour, then like the bright light of a carriage lamp, then almost like an electric light, and going out altogether, in a few minutes [they] would appear dimly again, and come up as before.”

  Source: Notes and Queries, 17 April 1875. London Times of 5 October 1877 gives the name of the witness as Mr. Picton Jones.

  489.

  About 12 January 1876, Sheridan, Pennsylvania

  Gliding light and human figure

  A man who was riding home on horseback at night had trouble controlling his terrified horse when they were faced with a bright light on the bank of a creek. Very bright at first, the light decreased in intensity, appearing to recede in the process. Urging the animal to move forward, the witness saw the light again in a field, borne by what appeared to be a human figure clothed in white that glided along the ground. When it came within 100 yards the horse dashed forward, almost unseating the witness.

  Source: Reading Eagle (Pennsylvania), quoted in the St. Louis Democrat (Missouri), 17 January 1876.

  490.

  4 April 1876, Peckleloh, Germany: Planetary mystery

  Mr. Weber, of Berlin, observed what he believed to be an intra-mercurial planetoid. The time of the observation was 4:25 A.M. Berlin Mean Time. Astronomer Wolf reported this sighting to Le Verrier in August 1876.

  Source: “Les Planètes entre le Soleil et Mercure” Année Scientifique et Industrielle 20 (1876): 6-11, at 7.

  491.

  17 March 1877, Gunnersbury, England

  Long-lasting red celestial unknown

  A large red “star” was witnessed in the sky about 8:55 P.M. in the constellation of Serpens. It seemed to be brighter than Arcturus. After no less than 10 minutes it began to “increase and diminish in magnitude two or three times,” giving the impression that it was flashing, after which it disappeared.

  Source: Nature 15 (March 1877): 451.

  492.

  23 March 1877, Vence, France

  Luminous balls emerge from a cloud-like formation

  A number of lights appeared in the sky, described as balls of fire of dazzling brightness. They emerged from a cloud about a degree in diameter and moved relatively slowly. They were visible more than an hour, moving northward.

  Source: “Eclairs en boule observés à Vence, en Provence” in Année Scientifique et Industrielle 21 (1877): 45-6.

  493.

  7 September 1877, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

  Five luminous objects in the sky, stationary

  Mr. John Graham “had his attention arrested by a sudden light in the heavens, and upon looking up he saw a stationary meteor between Aquila and Anser et Vulpecula, about right ascension 295°, declination 15°N. It increased in brightness for a second or more, and disappeared within less than half a degree east of the point in which it was first seen. Immediately after the extinction of the first, three others, separated by intervals of three or four seconds, appeared and vanished in the same place; with the exception that one disappeared about as much west of the radiant as the first did to the east of it. Mr. Graham’s curiosity was excited and he continued to watch till, after an interval of a few minutes, a fifth meteor, corresponding in appearance to the preceding, was seen in the same place. The meteors resembled stars of the first magnitude.”

  A possible interpretation of this observation would be an exceedingly unlikely train of identical meteorites falling directly in the direction of the observer over a period of several minutes.

  Source: Scientific American, 29 Sept. 1877, New Series, 37: 193.

  494.

  22 January 1878, Dallas, Texas, USA

  Dark object: the very first “flying saucer?”

  Mr. John Martin, a farmer who lived some six miles north of town, was out hunting in the morning when his attention was directed to a dark object in the northern sky.

  “The peculiar shape, and the velocity with which the object seemed to approach, riveted his attention, and he strained his eyes to discover its character. When first noticed it appeared to be about the size of an orange, which continued to grow in size.”

  Going through space at a wonderful speed, it came directly overhead and Mr. Martin compared it to “a large saucer.”

  First mentioned in the UFO literature by Major Donald Keyhoe, this use of the word “saucer” by John Martin has triggered many debates among researchers. John Martin’s use of the term seems to relate to the size of the object rather than its shape, just as Kenneth Arnold, in 1947, would use it to describe the motion of the crescent-shaped objects he witnessed. It is interesting, nonetheless, that “saucer” should be the word
that came to the mind of these men when they tried to describe what they saw. The possibility that Martin observed a balloon must also be considered. The site is more likely to be Dallas than Denison.

  Source: Denison Daily News for 25 January 1878, 1.

  495.

  c. 1st February 1878, Osceola Township, Iowa, USA

  Strange light in the road

  A newspaper reported that a strange phenomenon had occurred in Osceola Township, Iowa, one evening the evening the week before. A young man “well known in the community” was crossing the fields when his attention was attracted by a light moving along the road some way ahead. It was “much larger than a lantern,” and it came nearer: