Wonders in the Sky (58 page)

29 October 1726, Vilvoorde, Brabant, Belgium
Terrifying objects

About nine o'clock at night and for two consecutive hours were seen in the sky “horrible and strange meteors” that came among the clouds like lightning and disappeared in the same way. Their aspect was most terrifying.

In the absence of a more complete description, we cannot exclude the notion that witnesses may have observed an aurora borealis.

 

Source: J. Nauwelaers,
Histoire de la Ville de Vilvorde
, vol. 2 (Paris, 1941).

324.

1729, Finis Terrae Cape, Galicia, Spain
Strangers from the sky

A local story claims that three men came out of a cloud, had a meal at the market, took off and flew south.

 

Source: Benito Jeronimo Feijoo,
Teatro crítico universal (1726-1740),
Volume Three (1729). Text from the Madrid edition of 1777, 86-87.

325.

1 October 1729, Noes, Uppland, Sweden: Fiery globe

Two hours prior to sunrise, M. Suen-Hof saw red vapors in the sky, which stretched in wide bands from north to south, then proceeded to gather together into a fiery globe about two feet in diameter. The globe kept moving in the same direction where the reddish vapors had appeared. It emitted sparks and was as bright as the sun. After moving through a quarter of the sky it disappeared abruptly, leaving thick black smoke and a burst of sound similar to cannon shot.

 

Source: Sestier,
La Foudre et ses formes
, T.I., 222. Cited by Camille Flammarion,
Bolides Inexpliqués par leur aspect bizarre et la lenteur de leur parcours–Bradytes,
in
Etudes et Lectures sur l'Astronomie
(Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1874), T.5, 143.

326.

2 November 1730, Salamanca, Spain
Globe of fire with beams

Torres himself was a witness to the incident. He wrote that at 11:30 P.M. he saw, from Salamanca, “an amazing Globe of fire,” as large as a building. On each side of the globe were two luminous beams or columns which seemed to rise and fall, “becoming brighter as they moved.” The columns changed from green to red and the light from the phenomenon illuminated the surrounding area. At two o'clock in the morning the columns joined together but the spectacle did not disappear until 4:30 A.M.

Though often cited as a UFO, many consider the event to have been an aurora borealis.

 

Source: Diego de Torres Villaroel,
Juicio, i Prognostico del Globo, i Tres Columnas de Fuego
(Madrid: Manuel Caballero, 1730).

327.

9 December 1731, Florence, Italy
Unexplained luminous “cloud”

“A luminous cloud was seen, driven with some violence from east to west, where it disappeared below the horizon.” A contemporary author named Bianchini speaks of several strange luminous spheres making a whirring sound.

 

Source: Robert Mallet, “Catalogue of recorded earthquakes from 1606 BC to AD 1850,”
Annual Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
(1852), and “Third Report on the facts of earthquake phenomena,” id., 1853 and 1854.

328.

17 March 1735, London, England: Unexplained light

Dr. John Bevis observed an unknown light in the sky. It remained stationary for one hour.

 

Source: John Bevis, MD. “An Account of a Luminous Appearance in the Sky, seen at London…”
Philosophical Transactions
(1739-1741), 41: 347-349.

329.

5 December 1737, Sheffield, England
Beams of hot light from a luminous body

At about 5 P.M. a peculiar phenomenon was seen. The witness (astronomer Thomas Short) described it as “a dark red cloud that made its appearance, with a luminous body underneath that sent out very brilliant beams of light.”

It did not look anything like aurora borealis, because the light beams were moving slowly for some time, then stopped. Suddenly the air was so hot that he had to take off his shirt, although he was outside.

 

Source: Thomas Short, “An Account of Several Meteors, Communicated in a Letter from Thomas Short, MD to the President,”
Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775),
41 (1739-1741): 625-630.

330.

6 December 1737, Bucharest, Romania: Red intruder

In the afternoon, an object only described as a “Symbolic form,” blood-red in color, appeared from the west. After remaining in the sky for two hours it split into two parts that shortly joined again and went back towards the west.

 

Source: Ion Hobana and Julien Weverbergh,
Les Ovni en URSS et dans les Pays de l'Est
(Paris: Robert Laffont, 1972), 287-288, citing Biblioteca Academiei Române, BAR ms. rom. 2342, fol. 3-4.

331.