Wonders in the Sky

by Jacques Vallee

  Source: Dr. Benjamin B. Olshin, Mechanical Mythology: Private Descriptions of Flying Machines as Found in Early Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Other Texts (from extensive quotes available online).

  Circa 1515 BC: Egypt: The infamous Tulli papyrus

  Shiny objects “brighter than the Sun” flew south and left a foul odor, according to an ancient Egyptian document found among the papers of Alberto Tulli, a director of the Egyptian museum at the Vatican.

  The text appeared in 1953, in Issue 41 of Doubt, journal of the Fortean Society, when novelist and co-founder of the Society, Tiffany Thayer (1902-1959), published the hieroglyphic translation of what would soon be known as the “Tulli Papyrus.” Accompanying the transcription was a letter from its translator, an amateur Egyptologist of Russian-Italian descent, Boris de Rachewiltz. This letter explained that the papyrus had been passed on to Tulli’s brother Gustavo, a priest. Rachewiltz had been sent the hieroglyphic transcription for translation.

  Rachewiltz explained to Doubt that the papyrus had been longer, and indeed we must assume the unpublished part referred to an incident during the reign of Thutmosis III because the fragment we have provides no sign of this. Several versions of the translation have been published, but the following is the first, as it appeared in Doubt:

  “In the year 22, third month of winter, sixth hour of the day (…) The scribes of the House of Life found it was a circle of fire that was coming in the sky. (Though) it had no head, the breath of its mouth (had) a foul odour. Its body one ‘rod’ long and one ‘rod’ large. It had no voice. Their hearts become confused through it: then they laid themselves on their bellies (…) They went to the King (…?) to report it. His majesty ordered (…) has been examined (…) as to all which is written in the papyrus-rolls of the House of Life. His Majesty was meditating upon what happened. Now, after some days had passed over those things, Lo! They were more numerous than anything. They were shining in the sky more than the sun to the limits of the four supports of heaven. (…) Powerful was the position of the fire circles. The army of the king looked on and His Majesty was in the midst of it. It was after supper. Thereupon they (i.e. the fire circles) went up higher directed to South. Fishes and volatiles fell down from the sky. (It was) a marvel that never occurred since the foundation of this Land! Caused His Majesty to be brought incense to pacify the hearth (…to write?) what happened in the book of the House of Life (…to be remembered?) for Eternity.”

  Fig. 40: The Tulli papyrus hoax

  If the Tulli papyrus is authentic, the objects it describes must indeed be classified as UFOs. Their shape, luminosity and silent movement in the sky are familiar. The text quickly became a classic in books of the genre, used first by George Adamski and Desmond Leslie in their Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953) and later by popular writers such as Harold Wilkins in Flying Saucers Uncensored (1956). We could devote many pages to the evolution of this document during its first 50 years of life in ufology. However, space allows us only to outline the reasons we have not included it in the main body of this book.

  First of all, the whereabouts of the Tulli Papyrus are completely unknown. Not even Boris de Rachewiltz knew where the original was kept. Later correspondence with Rachewiltz revealed he had only ever received the Egyptologist’s personal notes, not the papyrus itself, and that even Albert Tulli had only made his transcription during a visit to the house of an antiquarian in Cairo in 1934. Reportedly, the papyrus had been too expensive for him to purchase at the time.

  Secondly, the hieroglyphics Rachewiltz received, and which Doubt published, were not the characters on the original document. Tulli copied them down in hieratic – a kind of ancient Egyptian shorthand – and another Egyptologist, Etienne Marie-Felix Drioton (1889-1961), converted these into hieroglyphic symbols. We have no way of checking the accuracy of that conversion.

  Finally, the contents of the papyrus seem somewhat too convenient a find for the editors of Doubt magazine. In one stroke the text combines flying saucers – a hot topic in the early 1950s – with rains of fish and other animals, a staple of Fortean research since the phenomenon was famously popularized by the Society’s founder, Charles Fort. The fact that Rachewiltz was a member of the Fortean Society and a friend of Tiffany Thayer, also gives us cause for questioning the document’s authenticity.

  Circa 1447 BC, Nile Valley, Egypt

  Moses and the blue object

  Moses is seen brandishing a rod and triggering rains of blood, in an ancient illustration that shows a complex flying object. This picture is taken from the Ashkenazi Haggadah, in a section showing the Plagues of Egypt (Exodus 5-9). Reference: The British Library, Add. Ms. 14762.

  The artist has represented an astonishing blue device hovering in the sky. The picture shows an object with four circular structures or openings, surrounded by flames and what appear to be bloody explosions. The hand of God at the end of a reddish-brown sleeve is extended below it, pointing to the assembled–and somewhat astonished – Hebrews. A flame is burning atop a nearby column.

  The illustration represents a well-known event, the Seventh Plague sent against the Egyptians. The arm in the picture is textually referred to as “God’s outstretched arm.” Here is the relevant Old Testament passage, as used by Jews today:

  Fig. 41: Moses and the blue object

  Shemot (Exodus) 9:23-24: And Moshe stretched out his rod towards heaven: and HaShem sent thunder and hail; and the fire rained down upon the ground; and HaShem rained hail upon the land of Mitzrayim. So there was hail and fire flaring up amidst the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Mitzrayim since it became a nation.

  The image is from a 15th century manuscript composed and illuminated by Joel ben Simeon. That is, an illustration created 3,000 years after the event. It shows the fire (red and yellow) and hail (grey) sent by God. While the text itself does not mention any flying object in the sky, the artist, possibly influenced by tradition, has felt it necessary to display God’s manifestation in the form of something resembling a flying machine.

  Ca. 1440 BC, Elim, Sinai Desert, Arabic Peninsula

  Manna Machine

  The Zohar, a sacred Jewish text, describes a device miraculously providing food for the Hebrews as they flee:

  “There are three upper heads; two, and one which contains them. The dew of the white head drops into the skull of the Small-faced One and there is it stored. And those parts which are found in the beard, they are shaped and lead downwards in many directions. In his lower eyes there are a left and a right eye, and these two have two colors, except when they are seen in the white light of the upper eye.”

  Modern writers have speculated that in this puzzling text the ancient Hebrews, who lacked a technical vocabulary, used anatomical analogies to describe a complex flying machine that generated food to sustain the crowd as it moved through the desert.

  Fig. 42: The Manna Machine

  The Bible never tells us exactly what manna was and where it came from, but there are many Old Testament passages which describe its physical qualities and conditions associated with its appearance. The Bible’s first reference to manna is in the Book of Exodus as the children of Israel are fleeing from Egypt and follow Moses into the wilderness. After six weeks of wandering, they begin complaining to Moses that they are tired and hungry. What happens next is truly extraordinary:

  “Then said the LORD unto Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not (16:4).’

  And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground (16: 14). And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: It is manna, for they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them, ‘This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.’”

  Before 1200 BC

  Mesopotamia’s dark meteors and st
anding fireballs

  At the dawn of recorded history, Mesopotamian tablets deserve a mention, if only because a popular author, Zechariah Sitchin, has offered an interpretation of some passages in terms of visits by astronauts from other planets (notably in The Twelfth Planet, Avon Books 1978).

  It is a fact that some cuneiform literature deals with interesting celestial anomalies. Assyriologists have recognized these writings to be astromantic in nature, that is, texts explaining how to forecast the future by watching meteoric phenomena, as opposed to astrology, which deals with the movements of the planets. Some of these records are from 1200 BC or earlier, and were written in Hittite, but it is thought that they were copied from older Akkadian originals, not yet located.

  The vast majority of these texts described phenomena that can be explained today as the natural observation of meteors, fireballs, and comets. The scribes did not generally report on specific incidents that had occurred but rather provided meanings to particular kinds of sightings. A handful of cuneiform references to sky phenomena have puzzled archaeologists and astronomers. For example, the following text: “If a fireball moves across the Wagon-Star and stands…” seems to describe a meteor that stays motionless in the sky. The word “sallummu” has been translated as “fireball” but it very literally could have been anything bright passing through the sky that stood still. One possibility is that ‘sallummu’ was a meteor train that remained visible for some time across the face of the Wagon Star (Ursa Major), but the original text is not clear enough to reach a conclusion.

  Other texts mention a more complex picture: “Two great stars flashed one after the other in the middle watch.” (R. Campbell Thompson, The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon. Luzac & Co., London 1900, 202)

  The “dark meteors” were among other mysterious objects described in cuneiform. For example: “If a meteor comes from above the Wagon Star and is dark and passes at the right of the man: that man will see injury.” Since meteorites passing overhead are necessarily luminous or fiery rather than dark it is tempting to retain such quotes as indication of an exceptional phenomenon, but the context is so vague that it is ultimately anyone’s guess. To the extent that no date is associated with the observation, we have not retained these cases in our chronology.

  Circa 852 BC, Bath, England

  Did this English King crash a Druid Airship?

  According to writer John Michell (1967), King Bladud is said to have been killed at Troja Nova, in the London area, when riding a “druid airship” that crashed into the temple of Apollo.

  Although Bladud is legendary, the story of his flight has some factual basis. The trouble is, the legend doesn’t mention a druid airship but only chicken feathers! Bladud, or Blaiddyd, was the legendary founder of Bath. His son was King Lear, whose story William Shakespeare famously adapted for the theater. There is no evidence that Bladud actually existed before Geoffrey of Monmouth named him in his History of the Kings of Britain (1135), where he is said to have been the tenth ruler in line from Brutus.

  This legend has enjoyed centuries of embellishments. Usually it is said that young Bladud contracted leprosy in Athens and was banished from his native kingdom on return to Britain. Years went by, during which he lived as a swineherd in Swainswick, on the outskirts of present-day Bath, where he discovered by accident that the mud of a bog in the marshy ground could cure skin diseases in pigs. The prince wallowed in the mud himself to see what effect it had on his own lesions, and eventually managed to cure himself completely. He then returned to Court, where he was welcomed. On his father’s death Bladud became king himself. He founded the city of Bath and there built the temple of Aqua Sullis, dedicated to Minerva, goddess of healing.

  According to this legend, Bladud practiced magical arts, such as necromancy, and this led him to conduct an experiment. He constructed some wings from chicken feathers, and attempted to fly towards (or from) the Temple of Apollo in New Troy, present-day London. Unfortunately he fell and broke his neck. How this quaint legend entered UFO databases is a complete mystery to us! See also Fabyan, The Chronicles (1516) f. viii and H. C. Levis, The British King Who Tried to Fly (London: 1919).

  479 BC, Athens, Greece

  What was the flying object at the battle of Salamis?

  A “horn-shaped object” is said to have flown over during the battle of Salamis (Salamine) near Athens, Greece, between the Greeks and the Persians. The term “horned star” has often been used to describe comets.

  Upon consulting Cometography: A Catalogue of Comets by Gary W. Kronk and Brian G. Marsden (Cambridge University Press, 1999, 154) we find that interestingly, these authors do include the Salamis observation in their catalogue, calling it a Cerastes type comet.

  Pliny writes in his Natural History (Book II, Chapter XXII) that “There are stars that suddenly come to birth in the heaven itself; of these there are several kinds. The Greeks call them ‘comets,’ in our language ‘long-haired stars,’ because they have a blood-red shock of what looks like shaggy hair at their top. The Greeks also give the name of ‘bearded stars’ to those from whose lower part spreads a mane resembling a long beard. ‘Javelin-stars’ quiver like a dart; these are a very terrible portent.”

  336 BC, Venice, Italy

  Alexander the Great, and the UFO that shook Venice

  According to a letter he wrote to Aristotle, Alexander the Great seized Venice when an object came down from the sky, shot a beam, and crumbled the walls. This is an entirely spurious account: We traced the story and discovered it was about the use of gunpowder, not an unexplained flying object. The Aristotle letter is a known medieval forgery, only famous because Dante mentions it.

  330 BC: Sur (Tyre), Lebanon: Great silver shields

  Two strange craft were seen to dive repeatedly at Alexander’s army. They looked like great silver shields that went back up into the sky over the Macedonian camp. These “flying shields” flew in triangular formation, led by a large object, while the others were smaller by almost half. In all there were five. They circled slowly over Tyre while thousands of warriors on both sides stood and watched them in astonishment. Suddenly from the largest “shield” came a lightning flash that struck the walls, which crumbled. Unfortunately, no book about Alexander the Great contains the account. The story came from American writer Frank Edwards in 1959, who provided no reference.

  Fig. 43: An interpretation of Alexander’s “silver shields”

  In 1966 Italian writer Fenoglio (the man who invented the Alençon story and many others) embellished the tale. He did not give a reference either, except to say that Alexander’s historian recorded the event. The problem is that Alexander’s historian was Callisthenes, whose “Deeds of Alexander” are lost.

  Fenoglio also states 19th century historian Gustavo Droysen “intentionally does not cite it, believing it to be a fantasy of the Macedonian soldiers.” In 1970 Gordon Creighton referred to the sighting in Flying Saucer Review. He mentioned Edwards’ name but added details from Fenoglio. He stated that he did not know an original source. In 1976 another English researcher, W. Raymond Drake, interpreted Edwards’ and Fenoglio’s versions as two separate events, one in Venice and one in Tyre. He misread the article of 1966 and understood Fenoglio had actually quoted from Droysen.

  Until some original source can be located, we are left with the suggestion that Alexander’s army at Tyre simply witnessed fiery projectiles, some sort of flaming weapon.

  Ca. 300 BC, Kun-Lun Mountains, China

  The Charioteer of the Moon

  According to Professor Couliano, Taoist K’u Yuan (or Qu Yuan) flew with Wang-Shu,” the charioteer of the Moon,” in a chariot drawn by dragons.

  Fig. 44: Qu Yuan, from the Ming Dynasty

  The lady charioteer crops up in many florid poems, like this one, The Sorrow of Separation, by K’u Yuan (340-278 BC). It gave rise to the idea that he traveled with the moon entity, but in fact it is just a well-known poem, full of metaphor. The verse mos
t relevant to our reference is this:

  I could, for the time being, roam leisurely and remain carefree.

  I let the moon-driver Wangshu act as leader

  And told the wind-god Feilian to follow closely.

  A phoenix acted as vanguard.

  The thunder god told me that luggage was not ready.

  I ordered the phoenix to fly fast, day and night.

  A cyclone gathered around, leading clouds to welcome me.

  133 BC, Amiterno, 70 Roman miles NE of Rome, Italy

  Sun at night

  This case is not to be confused with the sighting at Amiterno in 218 BC mentioned in our Chronology.

  The literature of the UFO field often quotes this later event, with the mention that “Under the consulate of Africanus and Fabius, the sun was seen shining at midnight.” In reality this object probably was a comet, as recorded by Lucius Annaeus Seneca and Marcus Junianus Justinus in their books. According to Seneca, during the reign of Attalus III, King of Pergamum, “a comet appeared, of moderate size at first. Then it rose up and spread out and went all the way to the equator, so that its vast extent equaled the region of the sky which is called the Milky Way” (Quaestiones Naturales).

  Justinus noted that at the birth of Mithradates VI Eupator “a comet burned so brightly for 70 days that the entire sky seemed to be on fire. In its greatness it filled a quarter of the heavens, and with its brilliance it outshone the sun, while its rising and setting each took a period of four hours.” (Historiae Philippicae). While there is no proof both writers were referring to the same event, the reign of Attalus III has been dated from 137 to 132 BC, while Mithradates VI Eupator was born between 133 and 131 BC. The descriptions do seem to coincide. Furthermore, a Chinese document, the Han shu, records that a spectacular comet was seen between August and September 134 BC lasting 30 days, while the twelfth century text, T’ung kien kang mu, notes the reign changed due to a comet seen in 133 BC.