Wonders in the Sky (20 page)

Circa 1059, Fanliang, China
The bright pearl in the lake

Sheng Gua, a Chinese scholar of the Song Dynasty, recorded an interesting sighting in Chapter 369 of his
Stories on the Bank of a Stream of Dreams
:

“In the middle of the reign of emperor Jia You [1056-1063], at Yangzhou, in the Jiangsu province, an enormous pearl was seen especially in gloomy weather. At first it appeared in the marsh of the Tianchang district, passed by the lake of Bishe and disappeared finally in the Xinkai lake. The inhabitants of that region and travelers saw it frequently over a period of ten years. I have a friend who lives on the edge of the lake. One evening, he looked through the window and saw the luminous pearl near his house. He half-opened his door and the light entered, illuminating the room with its brightness.
The pearl was round, with a gold-colored ring around it. Suddenly, it enlarged considerably and became bigger than a table. In its centre, the luminary was white and silvery, and the intensity was such that it could not be looked at straight on.
”

The light it emitted even reached trees that were some 5 kilometers away and as a result these cast their shadow on the ground; the faraway sky was all alight. Finally, the round luminous object began to move at a breathtaking speed and landed on the water between the waves, like a rising sun.

As the pearl often made its appearance in the town of Fanliang in Yangzhou, the inhabitants, who had seen it frequently, built a wayside pavilion and named it “The Pearl Pavilion.” Inquisitive people often came from afar by boat, waiting for a chance to see the unpredictable pearl.

 

Source: Shi Bo,
La Chine et les Extraterrestres
, op.cit., 26. The case is also mentioned by Paul Dong in
China's Major Mysteries: Paranormal Phenomena and the Unexplained in the People's Republic of China
(China Books, 2000), 69-71. Dong quotes from an article in Peking's
Guang Ming Daily
of February 18th 1979, “Could It Be That a Visitor from Outer Space Visited China Long Long Ago?” written by Professor Zhang Longqiao of the Chinese department of Peking Teachers College. The actual account comes from the book “Meng Qi Bi Tan” (“Essays of the Meng Hall”) by Shen Kua of the Song Dynasty (960-1127).

85.

1067, Northumbria, England
Fiery sign revolves, moves up and down

“In this year, truly, several people saw a sign; in appearance it was fire: it flamed and burned fiercely in the air; it came near to the earth, and for a little time quite illuminated it;
afterwards it revolved and ascended up on high
, then descended into the bottom of the sea;
in several places it burned woods and plains.
No man knew with certainty what this divined, nor what this sign signified. In the country of the Northumbrians this fire showed itself; and in two seasons of one year were these demonstrations.”

The original account, in Gaimar's
History of the English
(in
Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages
. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1889, Kraus reprint, 1966) runs thus:

Source: C. E. Britton,
A Meteorological Chronology to A.D. 1450
(London: H.M.S.O., 1937), 44. Britton comments: “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives the date of the return from Normandy as December 6 but does not mention the auroral appearances.” Also mentioned by Geoffrey Gaimar in
L'Estoire des Engles solum la Translacion Maistre Geffri Gaimar
, a 12th century manuscript.

86.

December 1071, Zhengjiang, China
Light rising from the river

Scholar Su Dongpo saw a big light emerge from the Yangtse River, scaring away the mountain birds.

 

Source: Shi Bo,
La Chine et les Extraterrestres
, op.cit., 26.

87.

July 1085, Estella, Navarra, Spain: A great star, and the Holy Virgin

Estella, in Navarra, is another place named after an unusual aerial sighting. The Virgin and a great star are said to have appeared to a group of shepherds on the mountain. The consequent worship of the area brought in pilgrims by the hundreds and King Sancho Ramirez built a sanctuary there. A sign on its capilla reads:

Source: Javier Sierra and Jesús Callejo,
La España Extraña
(Madrid: Editorial EDAF, 1997), 131-2.

88.

1092, Drutsk and Polotsk, Ukraine
First reference to the Devil's Hunt

A common theme in ancient folklore refers to mysterious sounds in the sky reminding terrified people of the passage of dozens of men on horseback riding at full speed, with their dogs and servants, leaving enormous destruction behind. In this particular account the phenomenon first appeared in Drutsk, as a great sign “like a very large circle in the middle of the sky.” That summer the weather was very dry, with numerous forest fires and many deaths. In Polotsk people heard great noises in the night, seemingly of devils galloping along the streets. Later they manifested during the day on horseback, but the only visible part was the hooves of their horses.

Another version of the text (Radziwill's) suggests that “the people of Polotsk are devoured by the dead,” showing ambiguity between the deceased and demons. It is related in the
Povest' vremennykh let,
usually referred as the
Nestor's Chronicle
or
Chronicle of Bygone Years.
The following text was extracted by Yannis Deliyannis from the Laurentian codex
which includes the oldest version of the
Povest' vremmenykh let
. Apart from the manifestation of demons in the streets of Polotsk, the reference to the appearance of a ‘great circle' in the sky is of particular interest.

Fig. 7: An illumination from the Radziwill Chronicle.

The text reads: “Year 6600 (note: since the creation of the world in 5500 BC) This year there was a very peculiar prodigy in Polotsk. At night, a great noise was heard in the street: demons ran like men and if someone went out of his house, he was hurt right away by an invisible demon with a deadly wound. No one dared to leave his house. Then the demons manifested themselves on horses in plain day: they could not be seen themselves but only the hooves of their horses. They also hurt people in Polotsk and in the neighbourhood. So it was said: “There are ghosts killing citizens in Polotsk”. These apparitions began in Droutchesk. Around this time a sign appeared in the heavens. A great circle was seen in the middle of the sky.”