Wonders in the Sky (22 page)

“A sign (or “a monster”) resembling a flying serpent” is said to have flown over Bohemia, and was recorded by two separate historians. This could have been a natural phenomenon.

 

Source: Czech magazine
Vecerni Praha
, quoted in
The Washington Post
, August 2, 1967. The original sources are
Canonici Wissegradensis Continuatio Cosmae
, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH) SS 9, 136 and
Annales Gradicences
in MGH SS 17, 650.

94.

12 August 1133, Japan, exact location unknown
Close encounter

 

A large silvery object is reported to have come down close to the ground. We have failed to locate an actual quote, so we give this case with reservations.

 

Source: Morihiro Saito,
Nihon-Tenmonshiriyou
, chapter 7.

95.

1142, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia: Flying “dragon”

 

Similar to the case from 1130, a phenomenon described as a “flying dragon” flew over Bohemia.

 

Source: Czech magazine
Vecerni Praha
, quoted in
The Washington Post
, August 2, 1967. Original:
Monachi Sazavensis, cont. Cosmae (a. 932-1162)
, in MGH SS 9, 159.

96.

1155, Rome, Italy
Three lights and a cross in the sky

 

During the coronation of Federico (Frederick) Barbarossa by Pope Eugene III “there appeared in the sky three lights, and a cross formed by stars.”

 

Source: B. Capone, “Luci dallo Spazio” in
Il Giornale dei Misteri
, Dec. 1972, which gives the year as 1152. While Barbarossa was declared king of the Holy Roman Empire in that year, the coronation did not actually take place until 1155 because of widespread unrest within the lands he supposedly controlled, and the disloyalty of his rival Henry the Lion. We hope that future researchers will be able to trace a more precise reference.

97.

1161, Thann, Alsace, France
Three lights in the sky

Three lights or luminous objects were observed by the Lord of Engelburg over the village of Thann, in Alsace, in 1161. A servant of Ubald, bishop of Ombrie, had stolen a relic from the Saint's body, hiding it in his walking stick, which he planted in the ground next to a pine tree. Three aerial lights were seen coming over the top of the tree. The next morning the servant found his stick immobilized and was unable to pick it up. This impressed people so much that they built a chapel to commemorate the ‘miracle.'

Each year in Thann, on the 30
^th
of June, three fir-trees (in reference to the three lights) are cremated in front of the main church in celebration of this foundation legend. The celebration is known as the “crémation des trois sapins” and still occurs today.

 

Source: Johannes Andreas Schenck,
Sanctus Theobaldus
(Freiburg, 1628).

98.

25 December 1167, England, location unknown
Two objects

Two “stars” appear on Christmas Day. The actual quote is from Nicholas Trivetus (
Annales
): “At the watch night (
vigilia
) of the Lord's Nativity, two fiery stars appeared in the western sky. One was large, the other small. At first, they appeared joined together. Afterwards, they were for a long time separated distinctly.” It is probable, but not certain, that the sighting was made in England.

 

Source: Nicholas Trivetus (1258-1328),
Annales sex regum Angliae
. Trivetus was not contemporary with the event, so he must have copied it from an older chronicle.

99.

1169, China, location unknown
Wheels fall off as two dragons fly away

In the history of the Song Dynasty it is written that in the fifth year of the K'ien Tao (now known as Qiandao) era, which corresponds with 1169 AD, dragons were seen battling in the sky during a thunderstorm:

“Two dragons fled and
pearls like carriage wheels fell down on the ground
, where herds' boys found them.”

 

Source: Dr. M. W. De Visser,
The Dragon in China and Japan
(Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1913), 48. Visser quotes from “the Wu ki.”

100.