Wonders in the Sky (92 page)

778: Notre-Dame de Sabart (Ariège, France)
Luminous virgin

Tradition states that the Sabart sanctuary, near Tarascon, dates from the Great Charlemagne. The emperor dedicated a chapel to Notre-Dame in recognition of her help in his fight against the Saracens. The sanctuary is the site of a pilgrimage on September 8
^th
. According to legend, a luminous virgin was unearthed at this place by two heifers led by Charlemagne himself. The chapel is adorned with a wonderful stained glass window dating from the thirteenth century, the oldest such window in the Midi.

 

Source: René Alleau,
Guide de la France Mystérieuse
(Paris: Tchou, 1964).

793, Northumbria, England: Fiery Dragons, Evil Men

According to the Anglo Saxon chronicle, “Here in this year, dire portents appeared over Northumbria, and sorely terrified the people. They consisted of immense whirlwinds and flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air.

A great famine immediately followed those signs, and a little after that in the same year, on 8 June, the ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God's church on the island of Lindisfarne, with plunder and manslaughter.”

These descriptions are consistent with electrical storms, possibly associated with tornadoes.

 

Source: G. P. Cubbin, ed.,
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, A Collaborative Edition
, vol. 6 (Cambridge: Boydell & Brewer, 1996), 17.

819, Clent, Shropshire, England: Beam of light

A column of white light projects a beam towards a thorn tree where rested the head of murdered King Kenelm.

The connection with aerial phenomena is very tenuous indeed, yet this event is quoted in the literature of the field as if it was unidentified.

 

Source: Delair J Bernard,
UFO Register
(1971), quoting the Chronicles of Richard of Cirencester.

About 1000, Europe: Flying cross

A rare book entitled
Aragón reyno de Cristo y dote de María SS. ma fundado sobre la columna immobile de Nuestra Señora de su Ciudad de Zaragoza
, published in Zaragoza in 1739, mentions all kinds of celestial prodigies associated with religious images over the centuries. Among these, two incidents of flying crosses are recorded. Neither case is dated but they occurred at some time between the 10th and the 11th centuries. One of these was the “Miraculous appearance of the Sacred Cross over the carrasca in the Royal Field of the Town of Aynsa,” when Captain Garci-Ximenez, soon to become the first king of Sobrarbe, conquered the Moors of the town, “freeing it from Muslim tyranny.”

Among so many fears, Garci-Ximenez turned his eyes to the Sky, asking the God of Armies for help, and, as a presage of victory, He gave him a marvellous sign, a Sacred Red Cross that appeared over a carrasca. The sight of this spurred Garci-Ximenez on, as if he had heard the voice that Constantine the Great heard from the sky: “With this sign of the Holy Cross you will overcome.”

And, of course, they overcame. The second reference to a cross in the sky, under the heading “Prodigious apparition of the Holy Cross over the valley of Arahones in the ancient Kingdom of Sobrarbe.” On this occasion, when the Christian troops, led by Iñigo Arista, try to reconquer a place called Campo del Rey, in Aragues, they are surrounded by the Moors and ask Heaven for help. A cross then appears in the air, giving the Christians the spirit they need to fight on.

29 June 1033, England: An eclipse and the Antichrist

“Just as the superstitious idolatries of Antichrist were arrived at their height by overspreading the Christian world, upon June 29 (which is by some called St. Peter's day) at six o'clock in the morning, a terrible eclipse of the sun happened, in which he became like sapphire; so that it made men's countenances look pale, as if they had been dead; and every thing in the air seemed of a saffron colour.”

There is no unusual aerial phenomenon here, only an assumed connection between a religious incident (the arrival of the Antichrist) and a solar eclipse.

 

Source: John Howie,
An Alarm unto a secure generation…,
(Glasgow: John Bryce, 1780).

1066, River Setoml near Kiev, Ukraine
Red star and little man

The initial story we found stated that “in 1065” a dwarf-like entity was pulled out of the river by a fisherman and thrown back, while local residents observed a strange sign in the sky – a huge star with blood red beams of light.

“This phenomenon lasted for seven straight days. It was seen only during the evening. Around the same time a child-like dwarf type entity was found by fishermen in the river Setomi (this river does not exist at present). The dwarf was pulled out of the river in a net. The fishermen kept watch over the strange entity until late afternoon and then threw it back into the river out of fear and repugnancy. The dwarf like entity was very strange with a very wrinkled face and other “shameless” details on his face and body.”

Review of this case disclosed several problems: First, the year itself was incorrect: in the “
Povest Vremennyh Let
” (Tale of Bygone Years) the date of incident is given as 1066. Second, the “star with red beams” was none other than Halley's Comet! Its nearest approach to the Earth was March 27, 1066. The “monster” was only a deformed child who was dropped in the river Setoml (not Setomi) by his mother. His body was accidentally found by the fishermen (the manuscript clearly stated this). This child even had its genitalia on the face! Russian manuscripts often stated that the birth of “monstrous” children was an omen or a curse for all peoples.

 

Source:
Povest Vremennyh Let
(an ancient manuscript), and Dmitri Lavrov in
Ukrainian News
18 Feb. 1998. Further research by Mikhail Gershtein, Magonia Exchange (Magoniax) Project.

1 March 1095, Piacenza, Italy
Blue luminous dove, a great cross

In the public square, in front of the church of Saint Maria di Campagna, there was a meeting of the most powerful figures of the century. It was March 1st, 1095, and the preparations for the first crusade were under discussion. According to the legend, during the assembly, just as Countess Matilde di Canossa began to speak, a blue, luminous dove descended from the sky. Later, when these powerful leaders officially announced the launch of the crusade, the clouds opened miraculously, the public square was bathed in a powerful light, and a great cross appeared in the sky, identical to that which appeared before Emperor Constantine, with the words “In hoc signo vinces” written upon it. Probably just a bit of Christian brand management at the time of the crusades…

 

Source: P. Carpi,
Magia e segreti dell'Emilia-Romagna
(Borelli: Modena, 1988), 114.

Eleventh-century Europe: Astronauts in trouble

A new genre of folktales developed in Medieval Europe between the 11th and the 13th centuries. In these stories, a member of the aerial crew of a cloud ship runs into trouble as he descends to retrieve a lost spear or loosen a trapped anchor. These wonderful tales were told for a long time. Although it is likely they all derived from the same original source, certain details were slightly altered in each retelling.