A UFO in 1665 - The Air Battle of Stralsund

In April 1665, six fishermen witnessed an unexplained celestial phenomenon – an aerial battle in the skies above the Baltic Sea near Stralsund. As evening broke, a dark-grey disk appeared high above the city centre. A UFO in 1665 is the first exhibition of its kind to focus on this historical UFO sighting. With reference to contemporaneous visual and textual sources, the exhibition reconstructs the way this event was portrayed in the media and exposes certain paradigms and communications strategies that are still used today to determine how we report on “unexplained aerial phenomena” (UAPs).

The exhibition takes visitors on an expedition into a strange and unfamiliar world of images that otherwise remains concealed from the museum’s general audience in archives or between the pages of old books. Those who are only familiar with 17th century art from the grand galleries of paintings may be somewhat taken aback: upon entering the exhibition space, visitors might feel they are entering a baroque parallel universe with strange symbols in the sky, airships, space rockets, and flying saucers.

Everything here is centred around one of the most spectacular celestial phenomena of the modern era: at 2 pm on 8 April 1665, six fishermen who are fishing for herring off the coast of Stralsund watch on as great flocks of birds in the sky morph into warships and engage in a thunderous air battle. The decks teem with ghostly figures. When, at dusk, “a flat, round shape like a plate” appears above the St. Nicholas Church, they flee. The following day, they find that they are trembling all over and complain of pain.

Media Transformation

The media spread the news like wildfire, with the publishers of various leaflets and newspapers locked in fierce competition with each other to concoct the most colourful versions and interpretations of events. It was religious convictions in particular that were most responsible for determining how the event was transformed by the media. The general public could not have known that what had actually been witnessed was an atmospheric reflection of a sea battle that was raging just beyond the horizon. Instead, they were convinced that the universe was ruled by a god who had the power to project visions of impending disaster into the sky. The air battle was likewise perceived as a prodigium (Latin for “omen” or “portent”).

The visual themes of the 17th century were likely also decisive in terms of determining how the media shaped depictions of the air battle, with futuristic visions of airships – which the people of the 17th century were incredibly enthusiastic about – playing a special role. More than 100 years before the first manned hot air balloon flight was conducted, Francesco Lana Terzi (1631–1687) had published his design for a flying boat borne aloft by vacuum spheres, which caused a great sensation throughout Europe. The fact that the project could never actually be realised did little to detract from the general fervour. Humankind continued to dream of conquering the skies.

The Power of Myths

Another theme of the exhibition is the power of myths: when, on 19 June 1670, lightning struck – of all places – the St. Nicholas Church, the building above which the grey disc had loomed so ominously five years earlier, the celestial phenomenon was subsequently interpreted as a sign of God’s wrath. The descriptions and accounts of the day invoked a mystical link to the destruction of Babylon at the hands of a great millstone, as it is described in the Book of Revelation.

However, the popular perception of the air battle over Stralsund was not only shaped by the media, beliefs, designs, and myths of the baroque era; it also reveals the kinds of things that humans of the era were unable to envisage and comprehend. There are no seventeenth-century sources, for example, that mention extraterrestrials in connection with the unexplained aerial phenomena. Yet at the same time, the human imagination was already so far advanced that it could well conceive of expeditions to other inhabited planets and the kinds of propulsion systems that would be required to carry these out. Why nobody considered for a moment that extraterrestrials might appear in our skies with their own flying machines is one of the many mysteries this exhibition endeavours to solve.

An Excursion into the Present

This cultural and media-historical investigation culminates in an excursion into the present, which focusses on the videos and accounts of sightings of mysterious “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UAPs) made by the US military that went viral in 2019 and even made their way onto the front cover of an issue of Der Spiegel two years later. The sightings in question have given rise to a maddeningly broad spectrum of interpretations. Are they physically explicable natural phenomena, sophisticated, high-tech drones made in China or Russia, extraterrestrials, or even visitors from the future? Even NASA and the Pentagon seem completely baffled. We can, however, be sure of one thing: the factors that were so crucial to the media success of the UFO of 1665 lack none of their that same potency today.

Source: https://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/a-ufo-in-1665/

On the following days, they fell sick with trembling all over and pain in head and limbs. Many scholarly people thought a lot about that,” wrote Erasmus Francisci in “Der wunder-reiche Ueberzug unserer Nider-Welt/Oder Erd-umgebende” in 1689. Francisci had gathered news reports from 1665 related to the event. The “scholarly people” who considered the event and the illness could not discern the causes. 

In the June 2015 edition of EdgeScience magazine, Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough detail their investigation of the event. Aubeck is the founder of the historical research group Magonia Exchange, an international archival project, and a prolific writer on the subject of UFOs as cultural history. Shough is a research associate for the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP). 

“All of the citizens who observed this are reliable.”

— Berliner Ordinari und Postzeitungen, April 10, 1665

Aubeck and Shough looked at various possible explanations for the phenomenon. They ruled out certain celestial phenomena. The angle of the sun described in accounts would preclude an ice halo, for example. 

Could It Have Been a Mirage?

A Fata Morgana is a kind of mirage that appears just above the horizon when the right mix of thermal layers is present in the air. The mirage shifts frequently and can sometimes make it look like there are ships in the sky just above the horizon. The 1665 event was described as occurring higher in the sky than a Fata Morgana would appear. A mirage also would not explain the plate- or hat-shaped object that was said to remain into the evening, as Fata Morgana do not remain stable for so long.

Could It Have Been a Flock of Birds?

The “battle” seems to have started with the appearance of a flock of birds. Aubeck and Shough summarize the accounts: “A large flock of birds appeared in the heavens. After moving in unison for a time they formed a shape ‘like a long passage in a house.’ This became a warship that seemed to approach from the north, followed by countless other vessels. Then another group of large ships came from the south, heading northeast. Fire and smoke ensued as the two main ships sent cannonballs whizzing at each other, terrifying the fishermen down below. The ship from the north then retreated, came back, and headed south. Two other fleets appeared from the west and the east, with smaller ships. When the smoke cleared, the fishermen could make out the broken masts of the southern fleet, and a man dressed in brown clothes, a hat beneath one arm and his left hand by his side, watching the crew working and running.”

“The fishermen could make out the broken masts of the southern fleet, and a man dressed in brown clothes, a hat beneath one arm and his left hand by his side.”

An unusually large flock of starlings may have resembled such a scene, Aubeck and Shough said. Flocks sometimes merge together in startlingly well-defined masses that move in patterns before settling down. Perhaps in the spring of 1665 more starlings than usual were pushed by uncommon weather to move west of the Baltic to their summer breeding grounds?

A flock would still not account for the dark object that stayed in the sky until night-fall. Is it possible two unusual phenomena occurred at once, one producing the scene of the battle and another producing the mysterious, hovering object in the sky?

La série de BD Airship Boys est créée par H. L. Sayler, commençant par La quête du trésor Aztec cette année-là, suivi de 7 autres histoires. Les Airship Boys sont Ned Napier et Alan Hope, un duo de génies de Chicago. Ils battent des records de vitesse et de durée, volant de New York à Londres sans escale. Leurs airships sont au début des dirigeables, puis deviennent des appareils à base de moteurs à explosion contrôlés à gaz, et un moteur fonctionnant à "l'éther sulfurique" capable d'atteindre de hautes altitudes et 800 miles/h.

Le 22 à Peterborough (Northamptonshire), une certaine Miss Gill ainsi que 2 autres personnes qui reviennent du théatre aperçoivent un objet sombre avec une lumière survolant la ville. Le lendemain, observation d'un aéronef. Un policier du nom de P. C. Keetle témoigne : J'étais de service dans Cromwell Road et je sortais de Cobden Street pour arriver dans cette rue, quand j'ai entendu ce que j'ai d'abord pris pour une automobile à environ 400 m de moi. Je descendis Cromwell Road, m'attendant à voir les phares d'une auto, mais rien de tel ne se produisit. Pourtant, j'entendais toujours le bourdonnement régulier d'un puissant moteur, quand soudain je fus frappé par le fait que ce son venait non pas de la route mais d'au-dessus de celle-ci ! Je levais les yeux et mon regard fut alors attiré par une puissante lumière qui devait se trouver à environ 350 m au-dessus du sol. Un corps sombre se découpait sur fond d'étoiles (...) de forme plutôt étroite et oblongue (...). Il se déplaçait à très grande vitesse et, alors que je le suivais des yeux, les bruit des moteurs diminua peu à peu. L'engin disparut en direction du Nord-Est. En tout, je dirais que j'ai pu le voir pendant environ 3 mn.

Le 7 mai à 22:30, un grand aéronef en forme de "saucisse" est aperçu à Clacton-on-Sea (Essex) avant de disparaître vers le Nord-Est.

Le 8 l'épouse du témoin, Egerton S. Free, découvre dans la zone survolée par le mystérieux dirigeable une sorte de roue métallique entourée de caoutchouc sur le côté de laquelle est inscrit Muller Fabrik Bremen. On accuse alors les allemands d'espionner le pays à l'aide de leurs déjà fameux zeppelins. On s'avisera seulement plus tard qu'il s'agissait là d'une cible couramment utilisée par la Royal Navy. De plus, cette idée ne tient pas debout en raison du soin pris par les pseudo-dirigeables à se montrer, à faire du bruit et à voler à basse altitude. Le 12 une observation similaire à Terrington March (Norfolk) où sont entendus des cliquetis et sifflements.

Le 14 en mer du Nord, au large de Blyth dans le Northumberland, les marins du navire norvégien St. Olaf voient un immense dirigeable équipé de 5 projecteurs flotter au-dessus de leur bateau et l'éclairer comme en plein jour. Un peu plus tard, l'engin abandonne le St. Olaf pour répéter sa manoeuvre non loin de là au-dessus d'un autre navire, avant de disparaître à toute allure vers le Sud [2]. Le 18 Mai, observation similaire à Caerphilly Mountain (près de Cardiff) où est entendu un bruit terrible de machinerie. Le lendemain, encore une observation similaire à Cardiff où est entendu un bruit de roues mécaniques.

Le 21 : La Grande-Bretagne Envahie ! Des aéronefs dans l'East Anglia, au Pays de Galles et dans les Midlands. Norwich et Southend n'en mènent pas large. La flotte aérienne qui est en train d'envahir l'Angleterre a été très active dans la nuit de vendredi. Nous avançons le mot "flotte" car, d'après nos correspondants, il semble y avoir non une, mais bien plusieurs machines mystérieuses en forme de cigare, avec des lumières clignotantes et des mécanismes vrombissants. Mercredi soir, on a pu les observer en des endroits aussi différents que Southend-on-Sea, Birmingham et Norwich. [3].

En juin, alors qu'il déambule sur le pont d'un paquebot de la compagnie East Danish, le Bintang, le capitaine Gabe aperçoit à travers le détroit de Malacca une sphère de lumières mouvantes, située au-dessous du niveau de la mer. De long bras paraissent décrire des cercles en partant d'un même centre : celui-ci était si grand qu'on n'en voyait qu'une partie, l'autre étant dissimulée par l'horizon. Le capitaine Gabe s'assure alors que ces lumières ne peuvent avoir d'autre source que la mer. Le Bintang lui-même ne peut dégager une telle luminosité et, surtout, les bras en raies de lumière sont trop longs et leur origine à l'opposé du bâtiment. Bientôt, l'immense sphère s'approche lentement du paquebot, en s'atténuant et en s'évanouissant dans les eaux.

Le 16 à 04:10, un bolide de forme allongée et aux extrémités tronquées survole en émettant une vive lumière la ville de Dong Hoi (Viêt-nam du Nord) suivant une trajectoire d'Ouest en Est. La présence d'une forte source lumineuse incite à penser qu'il s'agit là d'un faux dirigeable plutôt que d'un ovni de forme cylindrique standard [4].

En juillet, La Nouvelle-Zélande subit une vague d'observations similaires à celles survenues en Angleterre le mois précédent. A cette époque, aucun vol de dirigeable n'a encore eu lieu dans cette partie du monde aux antipodes des îles britanniques.

Le samedi 23 à 12:00, Mrs Russel, une institutrice accompagnant un groupe d'enfants à Kelso (Sud de la Nouvelle-Zélande), voit soudain une sorte d'éclair de noirceur filer au-dessus de la colline sur la gauche et se diriger apparemment droit sur elle. Puis il obliqua soudain et fit un écart au-dessus des arbres et disparaît hors de sa vue. Elle ressentit une peur intense lorsqu'elle le vit. On aurait dit un bateau de couleur noire. Elle ne le vit que quelques minutes. A son arrivée, il se déplaçait à grande vitesse mais lorsqu'il vira de bord, il perdit de l'altitude et ralentit quelque peu. [5].

Le mardi 27 : Quelques jeunes garçons étaient en train de jouer sur la plage à Kaka Point, [6] virent un énorme objet lumineux se déplaçant dans les airs. Il semblait sur le point de se poser... Les garçons, pensant qu'il était attiré par leur lanterne, la laissèrent sur la plage. La vaisseau plana alors autour des rochers de la vieille base nautique et arriva presqu'à leur niveau. Il disparut peu après. Selon eux, c'était aussi gros qu'une maison [7]. Un journaliste du Daily Times se rend même à Kelso pour rencontrer les témoins : On a interrogé séparément tous les élèves qui ont vu le vaisseau et on leur a demandé de dessiner ce qu'ils avaient vu. Le degré de ressemblance entre les 6 dessins était tout simplement extraordinaire.

Le jeudi 29 on dénombre pas moins de 6 observations marquantes en Nouvelle-Zélande entre 12:00 et 00:00. 3 d'entre elles évoquent des "cigares" volants ou des aéronefs, tous équipés de projecteurs, de phares ou de lumières colorées. Une autre, faite par des habitants de Mount Rochefort et de Christchurch, concerne un ovni en forme de "cône". Quand aux 2 dernières observations, elles se rapportent à des lumières dont le comportement aérien semble défier les lois naturelles.

Un objet en forme de cigare apparaît à plusieurs reprises au-dessus de Dunedin et de plus petites villes le long de la côte d'Otago de South Island (Nouvelle-Zélande) [8].

Le vendredi 30 à 05:00, 2 hommes qui travaillent dans la vallée de Waikaka, à quelques km au Nord de la ville de Gore (Sud de la Nouvelle-Zélande), aperçoivent soudain un objet volant inconnu en forme de coque de bateau plutôt étroire, avec un projecteur à chacune de ses extrémités. Il perd de l'altitude et va tourner au-dessus de la rivière pendant plusieurs mn. Ce qui est remarquable selon les témoins, c'est l'étrangeté de ses manoeuvres : l'airship semble capable de freiner et d'accélérer brusquement, un peu comme une mouche, selon l'expression de F. Green, l'un des 2 témoins. Ceux-ci affirment par ailleurs avoir entrevu des silhouettes de 2 personnes à bord.

En août, les airships se déplacent du Sud au Nord de l'archipel, où ils se manifestent.

Le 3, Il (le témoin) chevauchait près du champ de courses (de Waipawa) lorsque son cheval devint rétif. Il découvrit que la cause de ce comportement était la présence d'un gros engin en forme de torpille qui le survolait. L'aéronef, affirma-t-il, était peint en gris et 3 personnes étaient visibiles à son bord. L'une d'elles lui cria quelque chose dans une langue inconnue. Le vaisseau monta à une grande altitude, alluma des lumières à sa proue et à sa poupe puis, après avoir décrit un cercle, disparut derrière une colline. La même nuit, un autre habitant vit un engin en forme de bateau en altitude qui émettait un bourdonnement puissant [9].

Entre les 5 et 8, observation d'une lumière au-dessus de Goulburn (Nouvelle-Galles-du-Sud, Australie), de couleur bleue et effectuant des va-et-vients dans la nuit.

Le 9, les observations cessent brusquement en Nouvelle-Zélande.

Le 13 à 23:00, à Glen Innes, des témoins peuvent suivre à la jumelle l'évolution d'un ovni ressemblant à un toit retourné dont la partie inférieure aurait été allumée, et qui dirige un rayon vers le sol.

Certains journaux commençent toutefois à rappeler les confusions astronomiques qui ont pu générer nombre de témoignages, interprétant comme les seuls "phares" visibles des supposés aéronefs ce qui n'aurait en fait été que la planète Mars par exemple [10] [11].

En septembre le phénomène réapparait en Nouvelle-Zélande pour quelques apparitions, puis disparait complétement.

Le 1er Septembre à 16 h 30 : Un objet ressemblant à un aéronef a été observé au-dessus de Gore vers 16:30. Il se déplaçait en ondulant (sic) en direction de Tapanui Hills et disparut graduellement à l'horizon au-dessus de Kelso. Les témoins sont 2 personnes bien connues de Gore et leur récit est authentique. Ils décrivirent l'objet comme un cigare avec une sorte de véhicule qui lui était attaché, mais furent incapables de voir ses occupants. Il resta visible prendant quelques mn avant de disparaître à une vitesse élevée. D'autres habitants de la ville observèrent également le curieux engin. Entre 17:45 et 18:00, on le vit aussi au-dessus des collines à l'Est d'Otaraia [12].

Le 22 décembre, 6 ans après Kitty Hawk, des journaux de New York à Chicago sont stupéfaits pas des rapports provenant du pays entier concernant un immense aéronef volant au travers du pays et observé par des milliers de personnes. Il s'est écrasé à l'Ouest de Chicago, mais ne fut jamais retrouvé. L'histoire fait la une des nouvelles nationales dans les principaux journaux du pays.

Le 24 décembre, Wallace Tillinghast, un habitant de Worcester (Massachussets) décide de faire un coup publicitaire en tirant profit de l'événement. Vice-président d'une usine, il déclare avoir construit un monoplan, fonctionnant à l'essence, capable de le transporter, lui et 2 mécaniciens. Le repaire du vaisseau mystère aurait été enfin découvert ! 14 hommes travaillant pour Paul Morgan, de la Morgan Construction Company de Worcester, étaient attelés à une tâche secrète... il y a 2 ans, Morgan a payé 15 000 $ l'aéroplane d'un aviateur suédois. C'est probablement cette machine, perfectionnée avec l'aide de Tilinghast, que l'on a pu voir survolant la Nouvelle-Angleterre. [13]. Mais d'autres journaux se montrent plus sceptiques.

Source: http://www.rr0.org/science/crypto/ufo/enquete/dossier/Airships/1909/index.html 

Britain's First Military UFO Encounter ?

By Dr David Clarke

Reports of unidentified flying objects by the crews of military aircraft form some of the most challenging evidence for the existence of ‘exotic’ aerial phenomena. Strange flying objects have been frequently reported by pilots since the time of Kenneth Arnold’s sighting which ushered in the ‘flying saucer’ craze of 1947. A lesser known fact is that long before Arnold's sighting made world headlines, British naval and air force pilots were reporting ‘close encounters’ with strange flying objects to intelligence officers at flight de-briefings.

Reports by bomber crews of strange lights and rockets over the European and Pacific during the 1939-45 conflict, dubbed ‘Foo-fighters’ by the Americans, formed part of the testimony considered by the early US and British inquiries into saucer phenomena. The Foo-fighter mystery of WW2 is usually the starting point for discussions of UFO reports from military sources. However, it is a little known fact that similar reports of aerial phenomena, which today would be called ‘unidentified flying objects,’ were also made by pioneer fighter pilots of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) during the First World War. One of these appears to be the very first encounter reported by a military pilot with an unidentified flying object.

From the commencement of hostilities in 1914 the British War Office and the newly-formed Home division of the Secret Service Bureau - which became known as MI5 in 1916 - began to receive many reports of enemy aircraft and moving lights above the British coastline. The possibility that German spies were using sophisticated signal lights to communicate with the crews of Zeppelin airships was a very real possibility at this period of great tension and fear. As a result, when real air-raids against Britain led by squadrons of German airships began in 1915 the British Government decided to crack down upon what it called the “false reports” of phantom airships and signallers.

One year later, GHQ issued a secret Intelligence Circular which concluded there was “no evidence on which to base a suspicion that this class of enemy activity ever existed.” It said an investigation by Intelligence officers had satisfactorily explained 89 percent of the reports received and the authors attacked “the groundless rumours regarding the presence of hostile airships over Great Britain which of late have become very frequent.” In addition, the Military Authorities decided to impose severe penalties upon what it called “irresponsible persons” who were originating and circulating such stories. They would be dealt with, it threatened, “under the Defence of the Realm regulations” which included imprisonment.

Within months of the secret report's completion, ‘phantom’ aircraft were reported by the Britain’s own pioneer fighter pilots who were attempting to defend a vulnerable London from night-time raids by the dreaded Zeppelins. Early in 1916 a mysterious light in the sky was spotted and chased by a pilot of the Royal Flying Corps on patrol above the capital. On the night of January 31 the crews of nine Zeppelins of the German Navy left their sheds on the Continent with orders from their commanding officer, Peter Strasser, to “attack England middle and south.”

With their giant hydrogen-filled envelopes weighted down with explosives and incendiary bombs, the squadron of aerial monsters crossed the North Sea with plans to attack industrial targets in England. These included the important steelworks in Sheffield and Liverpool docks. However, the plan was thrown into chaos by atrocious weather conditions of freezing rain, snow and thick ground mist which shielded much of the countryside from the air and made accurate navigation impossible. Amidst much confusion secondary targets in the North and the Midlands were bombed including Birmingham, Burton-on-Trent and Scunthorpe, leaving 71 people dead and 113 injured.

Despite the confusion, the War Office was able to plot the precise course of all nine raiding airships and it has been established that none of the enemy ventured further south than the Norfolk Broads. Because intially at least one of the raiding Zeppelins turned south after crossing the East Anglian coastline, the War Office calculated that if the course was held they would be over London at 8.10 p.m. Orders to this effect were sent to the fighter aerodromes defending the capital, one of these being Hainault Farm, four miles north of Romford in Essex.

At 7.40pm Lieutenant R.S. Maxwell arose from Hainault Farm aerodrome in his BE2C fighter but saw nothing unusual until 8.25 when according to his report:

“.my engine was missing irregularly and it was only by keeping the speed of the machine down to 50 mph that I was able to stay at 10,000 feet. It was at this time when I distinctly saw an artificial light to the north of me, and at about the same height. I followed this light northeast for nearly 20 minutes, but it seemed to go slightly higher and just as quickly as myself, and eventually I lost it completely in the clouds.”

At around the same time Claude Ridley, the pilot of a second BE fighter, reported seeing what he called “a moving light” in the sky over London which he followed and lost in dense cloud. It is a possibility that both Maxwell and Ridley had caught a fleeting glimpse of each other’s biplanes, but it was impossible for them to confirm visual contact without radio sets. During the air-raid 16 British pilots took off in a desperate bid to engage the high-flying Zeppelins, but according to the surviving records not one succeeded in engaging the enemy. At this stage in the air war, few people outside the embryonic army and navy flying corps - which merged to create the RAF in 1918 - had any real idea of the problems involved in night-time interceptions, with take offs and landings being particularly hazardous procedures. Two of the RFC’s most experienced pilots lost their lives during the course of the night, when the flimsy aircraft collided with fog-shrouded trees during their attempts to become airborne.

Confusion, inexperience and bad weather may well account for Maxwell’s sighting. But what happened next, just 20 minutes later, makes an altogether different - and far stranger - interpretation of that night’s events a distinct possibility. »

Some 20 miles east of Hainault Farm was another of London’s fighter aerodromes at Rochford in Essex. It was from here at 8.45pm that Flight Sub-Lieutenant J.E. Morgan arose for an anti-Zeppelin patrol in his BE2C fighter. Morgan, in an official report to the Admiralty, said that when he reached 5,000 feet he saw a little above his own altitude and slightly ahead to his right, about 100 feet away from his plane,“a row of what appeared to be lighted windows which looked something like a railway carriage with the blinds drawn.”

Believing that he had flown directly into the path of a hostile Zeppelin preparing an attack upon Central London, Morgan drew his Webley Scott service pistol, aimed and fired several times in the direction of the “railway carriage.” Immediately, “the lights alongside rose rapidly” and disappeared into the inky blackness, so rapidly in fact that Morgan believed his own aircraft had gone into a dive. By now Morgan had completely lost his bearings, and after a lengthy battle to bring his aircraft under control he was forced to make a crash landing on the Thameshaven Marshes.

A full account of Morgan's sighting, dubbed “an encounter with a phantom airship” appears in Captain Joseph Morris’s official history of the German air raids, The War in the Air, published in 1925. The book was compiled from then classified records, and Morris refers directly to the airman’s report filed with the War Office. Extensive searches of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service records at the Public Record Office have failed to locate Morgan's original report. The station log from Rochford aerodrome does give brief details of Morgan’s flight with the addition of the word “Zepp” which shows the pilot and his station commander believed he had had an encounter with something he took to be an enemy airship.

Morgan’s report is not included in the official account of the 31 January, 1916 raid published by the War Office which charts the movements of the Zeppelins and the attempts by British fliers to intercept them in great detail. Historians have been left with the impression that the authorities gave no credence to his report. Here we have the first evidence of what has become a long tradition on the part of the War Office, and its successors the Air Ministry and today’s Ministry of Defence, of 'down-playing’ reports by military pilots of unidentified flying objects.

There was, in fact, additional support for the claim that an airborne object of some kind was present over London during the air raid. A fourth RFC pilot, McClelland, reported seeing what he described as “a Zeppelin” caught briefly in the glare of searchlights above London at 9 pm, 15 minutes after Morgan’s encounter.

McClelland’s report was in fact the subject of a comment by the Third Sea Lord, Rear-Admiral F.C.T Tudor, who dismissed it in one single paragraph which reads:

“night flying must be difficult and dangerous, and require considerable nerve and pluck, but this airman seems to have been gifted with a more than usually vivid imagination.”

Historians of the Great War have used the phrase 'phantom airship’ to describe inexplicable aerial phenomena. In later years broadly similar sightings were categorised by the largely baffled Air Ministry as ‘ghost planes’ and ‘flying saucers.’ Almost a century later we are no closer to explaining what was independently reported by four experienced pilots long before the phrase “UFO” was invented.

References:

• David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the Shadows: UFOs, the Establishment and the Official Cover-up, London: Piatkus, 2002: see chapter 3, pp 40-44 for details of ‘Operation Charlie.’

• H.A. Jones, The War in the Air, Volume 3, The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1931.

• C. Cole and E.F. Cheeseman, The Air Defence of Britain 1914-1918, Bodley Head, London, 1984.

• PRO Air 1/611 16/15/286. Report from Officer in Command, Royal Flying Corps, Hainault Farm, 2 February 1916.

• PRO Air 1/438 15/300/1. Rochford Station (Naval): report on night landing ground, 1916.

• PRO Air 1/720 36/1/6 GHQ Home Forces Intelligence Circular No 6, May 1916.

Un premier point intéressant à relever est celui de la documentation de ces cas : si l’observation de Kenneth Arnold s’inséra dans un torrent d’articles de presse, il en fut de même pour beaucoup de témoignages de la grande vague nord-américaine de 1896-1897 ou celle de Scandinavie-Europe de 1946. Quantité d’articles parurent alors dans les territoires concernés et au-delà. On ne se situe donc certainement pas dans le registre d’une tradition orale déformant le récit.

Le deuxième point intéressant à considérer concerne les détails rapportés par les témoins. Quelles sont les caractéristiques observées et présentent-elles des ressemblances avec les cas plus contemporains ? En 1896-1897, de très nombreux rapports font état de formes de « dirigeables » ou cigares , parfois équipées de projecteurs éclairant intensément le sol de nuit . Des vitesses élevées sont parfois évaluées : un conducteur de locomotive estime ainsi à 150 milles/h la vitesse d’un « dirigeable » observé . Certains de ces « dirigeables » sont décrits comme métalliques, émettent parfois des sifflements ou des lumières multicolores . Plus étranges, un nombre important de témoins indiquent avoir aperçu les occupants de ces engins, la plupart du temps dans les airs , parfois en train de réparer leur machine au sol. Des crashes sont également signalés, avec récupération de « pilotes » vivants ou décédés. Dans un des cas, deux occupants sont retrouvés morts dans leur machine . Dans un autre crash signalé dans la ville d’Aurora, au Texas, l’occupant est récupéré puis enterré dans le cimetière de la ville. Voici la traduction de passages de l’article de S. E. Haydon, paru sur ce célèbre événement  :

« Il navigua [l’airship] au-dessus du square public et lorsqu'il atteint la partie nord de la ville il entra en collision avec la tour du moulin à vent du Juge Proctor et partit en pièces en une terrible explosion, éparpillant des débris sur plusieurs acres de terrain, détruisant le moulin à vent et le réservoir d'eau et détruisant le jardin de fleurs du juge. Le pilote du vaisseau est supposé avoir été le seul à bord et, bien que ses restes furent salement défigurés, suffisamment de l'original a été ramassé pour montrer qu'il n'était pas un habitant de ce monde [...]. Les papiers trouvés sur sa personne -- à l'évidence les archives de ses voyages -- sont écrits en hiéroglyphes inconnus et ne peuvent être déchiffrés. Le vaisseau était trop salement détruit pour former une conclusion quelconque quant à sa construction ou sa puissance motrice. Il était construit d'un métal inconnu, ressemblant quelque peu à un mélange d'aluminium et d'argent, et il devait peser plusieurs tonnes. La ville est aujourd'hui pleine de gens qui examinent l'épave et ramassent des spécimens de métal étrange parmi les débris. Les funérailles du pilote auront lieu à midi demain ».

Ce cas a été de nombreuses fois enquêté et, inévitablement, certaines investigations ont conclu à un canular… Cependant, l’auteur de ce « canular » devait être doté du pouvoir de précognition, dans la mesure où il décrit presque à l’identique -50 ans avant- une situation qui va se dérouler à Roswell, qui est, comme chacun sait, un non moins célèbre canular… D’ailleurs, le crash « inventé » d’ Aurora rapporte beaucoup de caractéristiques qui seront évoquées plus tard dans  d’autres crashes. Canular, canular…

Plus inquiétant, certains témoignages rapportent des tentatives d’enlèvements d’humains ou d’animaux. Ainsi, plusieurs témoignages font état de « dirigeables » en métal tentant d’attraper des hommes depuis les airs avec des ancres accrochées à des câbles, utilisées comme des hameçons . Un fermier témoigne même avoir vu une génisse attrapée par un câble et enlevée dans les airs . Cela résonne étrangement avec certaines caractéristiques rapportées dans des cas plus actuels de « mutilations de bétail » ou d’abductions.

Si la vague d’observations de 1896-1897 au-dessus des Etats-Unis (ou plutôt les vagues de 1896 et de 1897) fut alimentée par des dizaines d’observations (soixante-deux exactement, selon la base de données de Larry Hatch), celle de 1909-1910 (essentiellement au-dessus de l’Europe et de la Nouvelle-Zélande) compte cinquante-huit observations recensées (toujours selon la même base de données). Plus tard, celle de 1933-1939 au-dessus de la Scandinavie comptera, elle, des centaines de témoignages (selon l’AFU citée par le site RR0).

Durant ces vagues -et plus généralement de 1896 à la Seconde Guerre mondiale- des « torpilles » ou des « cigares » volants, des boules ou des disques vont être observés (Bulletin de la Société Astronomique de France , janvier 1936 ; Phénomènes Spatiaux, n° 32, juin 1972), parfois éclairant le sol avec leurs projecteurs, évoluant dans le ciel, atterrissant ou décollant (Fate, janvier 1958), et parfois s’écrasant au sol sans qu’on ne retrouve jamais rien (FORT, Charles H., Le livre des damnés, 1919 ; Monthly Weather Review, n°35, juillet 1907). Des vitesses élevées sont rapportées dans certains cas (The New Zealand Herald, 10 septembre 1909 ; Daily News (Des Moines, Iowa), 9 juillet 1910), ainsi que des évolutions en feuille morte (Liljegren, Anders, « A bibliography of references to UFO incidents during World War II », 1987). Parfois, ces objets produisent des couleurs changeantes (Le Matin, 3 avril 1905 ; Star Journal (Sandusky, Ohio), 2 août 1905), ou des bruits divers comme des sifflements. Des témoins vont même jusqu’à tirer avec des armes à feu sur ces objets aériens (News, (Newcastle, Pennsylvanie), 13 avril 1917). Des occupants de ces mystérieux aéronefs sont également distingués par les témoins dans leurs engins ou au sol (Evening Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), 24 février 1908 ; « Observations canadiennes d’hier et d’aujourd’hui », Phénomènes Spatiaux, n° 18, décembre 1968). Des objets ou des « nuages » peuvent aussi avoir un effet magnétique, affolant notamment les boussoles sur leur passage (Washington Times, 2 août 1904 ; Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant (Rotterdam, P.-B.), 23 mars 1910).

Evénement nouveau, dans le climat de suspicion précédent la Première Guerre mondiale, il semble que c’est en 1912 que fut créée la première commission d’étude des ces objets volants. Cette initiative aurait été décidée par le renseignement naval britannique pour déterminer s’il ne s’agissait pas d’engins mis au point par les Allemands (« 1912 », RR0). Deux décennies plus tard, c’est l’Etat suédois qui cherche à en savoir un peu plus sur les « avions fantômes » dépourvus d’immatriculations et étonnamment à l’aise par mauvais temps. La Suède aurait ainsi créé un bureau d’étude sur cette question en 1933 (selon Anders Liljegren, cité in « 1933 », RR0).

Location of First UFO Sighting

Muddy River is located at Back Bay Fens, opposite Cambridge, MA, and diagonally across from Charlestown. Back Bay wasn't filled-in at that time, and a large area of open water existed in the river that was then called Broad Bay. The distance to Charlestown would have been more than two miles.

James Savage added the following footnote about the sighting in his early edition of Winthrop's Journal (1825):

"This account of an ignis fatuus [pale light over marshy ground] may easily be believed on testimony less respectable than that which was adduced. Some operation of the devil, or other power beyond the customary agents of nature, was probably imagined by the relaters and hearers of that age, and the wonder of being carried a mile against the tide became important corroboration of the imagination. Perhaps they were wafted [carry lightly], during the two or three hours' astonishment, for so moderate a distance, by the wind; but, if this suggestion be rejected, we might suppose, that the eddy [whirlpool], flowing always, in our rivers, contrary to the tide in the channel, rather than the meteor, carried their lighter back."

Being objective about the sighting, the Charles River, prior to being dammed, had great tidal flow, and would drain much of Back Bay each day, and then replenish it. Muddy River likely had a larger volume of water flowing through it in 1639, but it is unlikely that a great eddy existed near its mouth. Thus, it is unusual for witnesses to assert they were unmoved by tidal flow (in a small boat) for more than two hours.

Witnesses also stated that the lights contracted into the shape of a swine. Muddy River, the hamlet, eventually became the separate town of Brookline. Pigs and other cattle were stored there during summer while corn was growing in Boston. It is safe to deduce that the UFO witnesses had seen or heard swine on the same day they observed the great light. Thus, the lights resembled a common animal, making it probable they saw ignis fatuus mirage phenomena in the darkness.

In any case, the event was observed by divers (many) people, and noteworthy enough for the Puritan Governor to document it in his private journal.

In 1644, the first USO sighting occurred over Boston Harbor, and then a major UFO sighting took place at New Haven, CT, in 1647.

Historic Location:

Muddy River UFO Sighting, 1639 

Back Bay Fens at Charlesgate East, Boston, MA 02215 

Source: http://www.celebrateboston.com/ufo/first-ufo-sighting.htm

"Exactly 16 days after the blowing up of Capt. Chaddock's ill-fated ship and crew, and just at 'the witching hour of midnight,' as Shakespeare calls it, 'when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes forth contagion in the air,' three men in a boat, coming toward Boston—a strange hour for reputable puritans to be so far from home—saw two bright lights rise out of the water, at the place where the vessel had been blown up, just off the [old] North Ferry slip.

They made the still more inexplicable [observation] that the two lights assumed the form of a man, and sailed leisurely off over the water to the south, keeping but a short distance from the shore, till it reached a point now occupied by Rowe's Wharf, at the foot of Franklin St., where it vanished as suddenly as it had appeared just 15 minutes before. The story was told and retold about the town, for the next few days, till the whole population had reached a mental condition that made them capable of seeing the ghosts of Chaddock's buccaneers, if given any kind of chance.

A week after the event just described, the old records say, 'the twin lights were seen again by many,' but this time they arose off Castle Island, and after traveling through the air just 12 minutes, vanished at the spot where the remains of the ship were resting. The restless spirits of the deep continued to make things satisfactorily terrifying for those who were 'out late 'o night' along the waterfront.

On one occasion, the story was, that at 8 o'clock, a light resembling the moon rose from the water at the wreck, sailed through the air till it was over the highest point of 'Nottle's Island,' now East Boston—but then uninhabited, and an ideal place for ghostly gambols—and there it was met by its twin light, the two suddenly merging into one, then parting, and thus continuing uniting and separating, as if in playful mood, many times, all the while 'shooting out sometimes flames and sometimes sparkles.' Finally, uniting permanently, the big illuminated disc floated off behind the hill on 'Nottle's Island,' disappearing from sight of the wondering eyes of Bostonians.

Later returns from different quarters showed that while the North enders were watching this pyrotechnic display the people along the shore from [old] North Ferry to Fort Hill were being treated to a different sort of hair-raising demonstration, a voice having been heard on the water, toward South Boston—then also uninhabited—crying out in a most dreadful manner, 'Boy! Boy! Come Away! Come Away!' the voice frequently shifting its location, in the whimsical manner, from point to point, separated by a great distance. It was declared that the voice was heard above 20 times 'by divers[e] Godly persons.'

Three weeks after the perturbed spirits first began their peregrinations they went finally to rest, as far as our local annals testify, and on their last appearance the agonizing voice had been transferred to the scene of the wreck in the North end.

The public discussion stimulated by the phenomena brought out the fact that the man who snapped the pistol that ignited the powder that blew up the ship that released the ghost had professed to be a necromancer [a communicator with the spirit world], and was known to have done many wonderful things during his last voyage, and was also suspected of having murdered his master some time before in Virginia, though unfortunately these important facts had not been imparted to the local authorities until the necromancer had done his worst.

It was considered a matter of especial significance that all the bodies of the crew, save only his, had been recovered before the spiritualistic manifestations began, and, as it was considered one of the cardinal principles of ghostly etiquette not to walk—or even fly—by night, after one's 'earthly tabernacle' had been given a reputable internment, it was reasonably clear that the cause of the psychic disturbance must have been the failure to recover the body of the missing sailor."

In 1639, the first UFO sighting occurred over Boston Harbor, and then a major UFO sighting took place at New Haven, CT, in 1647.

Historic Location:

Chaddock USO Sighting, 1644 

1 Battery Wharf, Boston, MA 02109

Source: http://www.celebrateboston.com/ufo/first-uso-sighting.htm 

Reverend Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia Christi Americana, recorded what can be described today as a major UFO sighting. Mather received a letter from a Pastor in New Haven, Connecticut, that described the "apparition of a ship in the air." A large vessel was lost at sea in 1646, and one year later witnesses observed this ship appear in the sky above New Haven. Some readers may consider this a Flying Dutchman or ghost story. The following letter summarizes this most grievous incident:

"In the year 1647, besides much other lading, a far more rich treasure of passengers, (five or six of which were persons of chief note and worth in New-Haven) put themselves on board a new ship, built at Rhode-Island, of about 150 tons; but so walty [liable to roll over], that the master, (Lamberton) often said she would prove their grave. In the month of January, cutting their way through much ice, on which they were accompanied with the Reverend Mr. Davenport, besides many other friends, with many fears, as well as prayers and tears, they set sail. Mr Davenport in prayer with an observable emphasis used these words, Lord, if it be thy pleasure to bury these our friends in the bottom of the sea, they are thine; save them!

The spring following, no tidings of these friends arrived with the ships from England: New-Haven's heart began to fail her: this put the godly people on much prayer, both publick and private, that the Lord would (if it was his pleasure) let them hear what he had done with their dear friends, and prepare them with a suitable submission to his Holy Will.

In June next ensuing, a great thunder-storm arose out of the north-west; after which (the hemisphere being serene) about an hour before sun-set a Ship of like dimensions with the aforesaid, with her canvass and colours abroad (though the wind northernly) appeared in the air coming up from our harbour's mouth, which lyes southward from the town, seemingly with her sails filled under a fresh gale, holding her course north, and continuing under observation, sailing against the wind for the space of half an hour.

Many were drawn to behold this great work of God; yea, the very children cryed out, There's a brave ship! At length, crouding up as far as there is usually water sufficient for such a vessel, and so near some of the spectators, as that they imagined a man might hurl a stone on board her, her main-top seemed to be blown off, but left hanging in the shrouds; then her missen-top; then all her masting seemed blown away by the board: quickly after the hulk brought unto a careen, she overset, and so vanished into a smoaky cloud, which in sometime dissipated, leaving, as everywhere else, a clear air.

The admiring spectators could distinguish the several colours of each part, the principal rigging, and such proportions, as caused not only the generality of persons. to say, This was the mould of their ship, and thus was her tragick end: but Mr. Davenport also in publick declared to this effect, That God had condescended, for the quieting of their afflicted spirits, this extraordinary account of his sovereign disposal of those for whom so many fervent prayers made continually. Thus I am, Sir, Your humble servant, James Pierpont."

The first UFO and first USO sightings in America occurred at Boston prior to this event. 

Source: http://www.celebrateboston.com/ufo/new-haven-ufo-1647.htm

According to professor A.C. Carnes, who reported the incident in a letter to Scientific American, the first had the appearance of a small new moon, while the other resembled a large star. The small object then vanished, while the bigger one changed shape, first into a globe and then into an elongated shape parallel with the horizon. The smaller light then became visible again, and increased rapidly in size, while the other object shrank. The two objects continued fluctuating in a similar fashion for the next 30 minutes.  “The students have asked for an explanation, but neither the President nor Professors are satisfied as to the character of the lights,” wrote Carnes. While he himself speculated that the occurrence might have been caused somehow by atmospheric moisture, the incident remains a mystery.

Source: http://www.educatinghumanity.com/2012/07/Mass-UFO-Sightings-Top-15.html#sthash.mtu2LvtQ.dpuf

A Curious Phenomenon on Lake Erie

Brooklyn Eagle, Thursday, December 12, 1867

A Mystery on the Lakes--The Wizard Lights--A Curious Phenomenon on Lake Erie

I notice in the Dispatch, of the 11th inst.*, the following paragraph:--

"The statement that a vessel was seen burning off Erie on Tuesday night, is corroborated by several persons living on the highlands south of the city, who say they saw it."

On the Tuesday evening mentioned, Oct. 29th, at about 7 o'clock, my attention was called by one of my family to a bright light on the lake, having very much the appearance of a vessel on fire. Bringing several objects into range, I watched the light foursome time to ascertain whether there was any preceptible [sic] motion.

The wind was blowing hard at the time down the lake and a vessel would naturally drift rapidly to leeward, at all events as soon as the propelling power should be interfered with the fire. No motion, however, in any direction was to be discovered, and at once concluded that it was nothing more than the "mysterious light," which for many years past, at longer or shorter intervals, has been seen by the inhabitants at this point on the lake shore. The light has made its appearance generally, if not always, in the fall of the year, and usually in the month of November, and almost always during or immediately after a heavy blow from the southwest. The most brilliant exhibition of the light I have ever seen was during the night of the 24th or 25th, as nearly as I can recollect, of November, 1852. It had been my fortune to witness the burning of the steamer Erie, near Silver Creek, several years before, and the resemblance which this light bore to that of the burning steamer was so strong that I confidently expected the arrival of the boats from the wreck during the night. Others with myself watched the light for perhaps two hours, and with the aid of a good night-glass obtained what seemed to be a very distinct view of the burning vessel.

The object appeared to be some 200 or more feet in length upon the water, and about as high above the water as an upper cabin steamer, such as was in use upon the Lake twenty years ago. At times the flames would start up in spires or sheets of light, then away from side to side, and then die away, precisely as would be the case with a large fire exposed to a strong wind; and two or three times there was the appearance of a cloud of sparks, as if some portion of the upper works had fallen into the burning mass below. The sky and water were beautifully irradiated by the light during its great brilliancy.The light gradually subsided, with occasional flashes until it disappeared altogether. The light of Tuesday evening, although very brilliant for a time, was not nearly so brilliant nor of so long duration as that of 1852.

I am told that this light was seen by mariners on the lakes as long as fifty years ago, but I am not aware that it has ever been made the subject of philosophical speculation or investigation, or, in fact, has ever obtained the notoriety of a newspaper paragraph before. The only theory approaching plausibility I have heard is that the shifting of the sands caused by the continued and heavy winds of autumn has opened some crevices or seams in the rock of the lake bottom through which gas escapes, and that this gas, owing to some peculiar condition of the atmosphere with which it comes in contact, becomes luminous, or perhaps ignited, and burning with a positive flame. That there are what are called "gas springs" in the water along this portion of the lake shore is a well-known fact, and that highly inflammable gas in large quantities exist at a comparatively shallow depth on the shore, has been sufficiently proved by the boring of wells at different points, as at Erie, Walnut Creek, and Lock Haven, and by natural springs at Westfield and Fredonia.

But whatever the cause, the light is a curious fact, and well worthy the attention of those interested in the investigation of the phenomenon of nature.

Introduction

En 1896-1897, les Etats-Unis sont le lieu d'une vague d'observations avec plus de 1 500 témoignages "d'airships". Le fait que les airships déployaient des sources lumineuses et des comportements identiques à ceux des ovnis modernes, indique que ces phénomènes sont probablement de la même essence, produits par la même intelligence. Cependant ces observations sont mélangées avec des observations de ballons ce qui complique la tâche des ufologues. Par conséquent, les histoires d'airship dans la presse de cette époque ne doivent pas être systématiquement assimilées d'office à des "observations d'OVNIS" juste à leur lecture. Il faut analyser au cas par cas avant de se prononcer. Il existe plusieurs cas de vols groupés de plusieurs « engins », et même deux ou trois cas de « vaisseau-mère » éjectant de plus petits corps qui excluent d'office toute méprise avec un ballon.

Airship (en français : « vaisseau volant ») était le terme utilisé à la fin du XIXe siècle et au début du XXe, principalement en Europe et en Amérique du Nord, pour désigner des phénomènes aériens non-identifiés. Les ufologues établissent généralement un lien entre ce phénomène et celui des OVNIs.

Le nom « Airship » provient du contexte technologique de l'époque. À ce moment, les seuls engins volants connus de l'homme étaient les ballons et surtout les dirigeables, dits aussi « vaisseaux » ou « navires des airs ». Les phénomènes que recouvraient le terme « Airship » ont donc été nommés en fonction des premières réalisations de la technologie aérienne. D'ailleurs, plusieurs observations de ces « vaisseaux volants » indiquent qu'ils avaient une forme ronde (comme les ballons) ou allongée en cigare (comme les dirigeables).

La vague de 1896-1897

La première grande vague d'observations d'« Airship » aurait eu lieu en 1896-1897. Auparavant, les observations de ce phénomène avaient été rares et ponctuelles. Le 17 novembre 1896, entre 18h et 19h, une lumière survole Sacramento (Californie). Elle est observée par des centaines de personnes, qui souvent décrivent le phénomène comme un long cigare d'aluminium ailé, avec un projecteur. Tout le monde pense à un dirigeable humain, certains affirment même avoir entendu des voix humaines provenant de l'aéronef, qui était à basse altitude. Le lendemain, un objet semblable est observé dans le ciel d'Oak Park et de Sacramento. Le 20 novembre, c'est un ballon muni d'un phare à l'avant, d'un projecteur ventral et de deux paires d'ailes qui est vu à Oakland, toujours en Californie.

Le 22 novembre, toujours à Oakland, un « cigare ailé muni d'un projecteur » est observé. D'autres observations ont lieu aux États-Unis, dans 19 États. Le 15 décembre, un dernier airship est observé à San Francisco. De nombreux affabulateurs prétendront être les inventeurs, ou les pilotes, de ces airships. Cependant, ce ne fut qu'en 1897 que l'Autrichien David Schwartz fit voler à Berlin le premier dirigeable métallique (et donc le premier dirigeable ressemblant aux airships observés quelques mois plus tôt aux États-Unis). Ce premier essai de dirigeable métallique se solda cependant par un crash.

En janvier 1897, les observations reprennent. Le journal Omaha Daily Bee écrit : « Lundi dernier [le 25 janvier], à 21 h 30, on a vu la lumière faire des cercles pendant quelques minutes, puis descendre à environ 60 m du sol tout en poursuivant ses rotations à une vitesse incroyable... On guette son éventuelle réapparition ». Ce même journal parle de l'observation faite à Hastings, dans le Nebraska, le 1er février, où un aéronef très lumineux, immobile près de la ville, avant de se mettre en mouvement en faisant des cercles. Le 4 février, toujours dans le Nebraska, un objet volant d'environ 10 mètre de long et de forme conique, muni d'ailes et de lumières est observé. D'après les témoins, on entendit des voix et des rires. Dès la fin du mois, les observations se multiplient, principalement dans le centre des États-Unis cette fois. Le 28 mars, une grande partie des habitants d'Omaha, dans le Nebraska, observent une grosse lumière venue du Sud-Est, à basse altitude. Les observations du même type se multiplieront jusqu'à la fin de l'année. Les canulars et observations fantaisistes aussi (tel ce paysan de l'Iowa prétendant qu'un airship à tenté de l'enlever en l'accrochant à une ancre. De ce fait, le scepticisme s'installe et les doutes quant à la réalité du phénomène, ainsi que sur l'honnêteté ou la santé mentale des témoins arrivent, en particulier dans la presse.

Le phénomène s'arrêtera ensuite, pour devenir beaucoup plus rare et ponctuel, tel les vagues d'OVNI moderne. Un nouveau pic d'observation aura lieu aussi entre 1903 et 1909, aux États-Unis et en Angleterre.

Balayage californien

Dessin représentant l'aéronef observé cette année-là [1] Dessin paru dans le "San Fransisco Call" représentant l'aéronef

Le 17 novembre, à partir de 18:00, on voit à à Sacramento une lumière électrique propulsée par une force mystérieuse passe à basse altitude au-dessus de la ville, évitant habilement les hauteurs avant de disparaître. Elle est vue par des centaines de témoins. Certains décriront un objet énorme, en forme de cigare, fabriqué en aluminium et pourvu de grandes ailes. Personne ne met en doute l'origine terrestre de l'objet, certains affirmant même avoir entendu une voix s'écrier : On espère bien être à San Francisco demain midi.

Le 18, un objet semblable à celui observé la veille, sombre, équipé d'un projecteur et de 4 grandes ailes qui semblaient actionnées par de l'air comprimé est vu passant au-dessus de Oak Park et de Sacramento.

Puis le 20 dans la soirée, à Oakland une sorte de ballon avec un phare à l'avant, un projecteur mobile ventral et 2 paires d'ailes devant et derrière.

De prétendus inventeurs de l'engin ne tardent pas à en revendiquer la paternité. Cependant, plusieurs airships vont continuer à survoler la Californie jusqu'à la fin de l'année, ainsi que quelques lumières volantes.

Le 22, un groupe de passagers d'un tramway d'Oakland (Californie) observe un cigare ailé projetant un brillant faisceau de lumière et capable de voler contre le vent.

Des phénomènes analogues, mettant en scène de mystérieux aéronefs, sont ensuite observés par des centaines de témoins au-dessus de 19 états du pays.

Le 26, un sommet d'observations est atteint.

Le 15 décembre, c'est la dernière observation de cette première vague, au-dessus de San Francisco. En l'espace d'un bon mois, un ovni aura défrayé la chronique dans un pays industrialisé en générant quelques 220 témoignages.

Le lundi 25 janvier 1897 à 21:30 : Lundi dernier, à 21 h 30, on a vu la lumière faire des cercles pendant quelques minutes, puis descendre à environ 60 m du sol tout en poursuivant ses rotations à une vitesse incroyable... On guette son éventuelle réapparition [2].

Le 1er février : Plusieurs habitants de Hastings (Nebraska) ont dit avoir vu un aéronef ou quelque chose d'approchant, voguant dans les airs à l'Ouest de la ville. Il se tint d'abord immobile pendant une demi-heure, flottant dans l'air à environ 150 m du sol, avant de décrire des cercles ; il se dirigea vers le Nord sur environ 3 km, puis revint à son point de départ pour enfin disparaître. (...) A première vue, on aurait dit une grosse étoile, mais à y regarder de plus près, la lumière qui en émanait semblait bien artificielle. Il devait être éclairé par des dynamos électriques très puissantes ; la lumière qui s'en dégageait était extraordinaire [3].

Dessin d'un "aéronef fantôme" observé durant la vague de 1897

Le 4 à Inavale, à environ 60 km au Sud de Hastings, une douzaine de personnes qui reviennent de l'église sont survolées par un aéronef mystérieux de forme conique, d'une longueur évaluée à 10 m environ. 2 paires d'ailes dépassent des flancs de l'engin qui se termine par un gouvernail. Un projecteur est fixé à sa proue et on distingue 6 lumières plus petites. D'après les témoins, on peut entendre comme des voix et des rires venant du ciel.

La vague du midwest

A la fin du mois, les rapports d'observations d'aéronefs recommencent à fleurir, mais, cette fois, pour se concentrer sur le centre des Etats-Unis, entre le Texas et le Michigan.

Le 26 mars, la nuit, Robert Hibbard, un fermier habitant à 22 km au nord de Sioux City (Iowa), observe un "navire" aérien mais aussi une ancre pendant au bout d'une corde attachée à l'engin qui l'attrape par ses vêtements et le traîne sur une distance de 6 ou 8 m avant de retomber à terre lorsque ses affaires se déchirent [4].

Le 28 à 22:30 à Omaha (Nebraska), la majorité de la population voit un objet arriver du Sud-Est. Il ressemble à une énorme source lumineuse, volant lentement vers le Nord-Ouest, à basse altitude. La foule se rassemble au coin d'une rue pour l'observer (185).

Canulars

Assez rapidement après le début de la vague, des auteurs de canulars entrent dans la partie, déclarant avoir piloté la machine volante, avoir parlé avec son équipage, ou même l'avoir inventée. Lorsque certains de ces canulars sont exposés, les journaux commençent à devenir sceptiques, remettant en question la véracité ou la sobriété des témoins, et faisant de l'airship the sujet de plaisanteries. Après que l'excitation soit tombée sur la côte ouest, l'airship réapparait dans les cieux du midwest et du sud en avril.

Le 1er avril

Le mystérieux aéronef qu'on a pu voir dans le Kansas ces dernières semaines a été observé à nouveau la nuit dernière à Everest, Brown County, dans le Nord-Ouest de l'état... L'aéronef avait une trajectoire imprévisible. Au lieu de se déplacer en ligne droit, il allait vers le haut, vers le bas, tantôt vers la droite, tantôt vers la gauche, mais apparemment toujours d'une façon extrêmement contrôlée... Le vaisseau est arrivé du Nord en début de soirée, puis est reparti au petit matin. De nombreux habitants d'Everest vont passer la nuit dehors dans l'espoir qu'il reviendra et qu'ils pourront apercevoir à nouveau le mystérieux visiteur [5].

A Le Roy, Alexander Hamilton, riche cultivateur du Kansas, se lève en pleine nuit, ayant entendu ses bêtes faire du remue-ménage. Il aperçoit alors un engin de 100 m de long environ qui plane au-dessus de la ferme. Un câble tombe et entoure la tête d'une génisse qui beugle et tente désespérément de se libérer. Engin et génisse disparaissent rapidement dans le ciel. De nombreuses personnes, obligées d'accréditer ses dires, se portent garantes de son bon équilibre mental.

Le 10 avril

est observé un "navire" planant et jettant des "sondes" sur Newton (Iowa). En plusieurs endroits, cette chose merveilleuse fut observée par plusieurs personnes équipées de petites télescopes ou de jumelles (...). D'après ces personnes, le corps principal de l'objet volant nocturne doit avoir 20 m de longueur, il est de proportions agréable et semble être construit très fragilement. A ce corps est attaché un projecteur et d'autres lumières. Quelques observateurs affirment avoir vu, à peu de distance au-dessus de ce corps principal, comme des structures latérales ressemblant à des ailes ou à des voiles. Ces dernières devaient avoir 6 m de largeur [6].

On commence toutefois déjà à entendre l'avis qu'il peut s'agit d'une méprise, astronomique en l'occurence [7] [8].

Le 12 avril

à 20:30 Fontanelle, Iowa. C'est à 20:30 que le navire aérien a été vu par la population toute entière. Il arrivait du sud-est, ne dépassait pas le faîte des arbres de plus de 60 m et se déplaçait très lentement, n'excédant pas 15 km/h. On pouvait voir très distinctement la machine, longue d'environ 20 m, et jusqu'aux vibrations des ailes. Il était muni des habituelles lumières de couleur, on entendait le bruit que faisait la machine, comme aussi des airs de musique qu'on aurait dit d'orchestre. On le salua au passage mais il prit la direction du nord en paraissant augmenter de vitesse, et disparut. On ne doute pas, à Fontanelle, qu'il s'agissait bien du réel engin, les plus hautes personnalités de la ville en témoignent [9].

Le 13 avril

De son bord parviennent parfois des rires et de la musique — comme s'il y avait eu un orchestre dans le ciel [10].

Le 15 avril

Un "aéronef" est aperçu au même moment dans plusieurs états.

Le 17 avril

Un aéronef a mis la région en ébullition... L'étranger qui en est l'occupant affirme qu'il a dû atterrir pour faire quelques réparations et qu'il va reprendre aujourd'hui son périple aérien... L'homme est armé d'un fusil pour empêcher les gens d'examiner la machine de trop près. Il affirme qu'il fait le tour du monde, mais qu'il a été forcé de se poser pour des réparations. Si les gens ne croient pas qu'il puisse voler, qu'ils patientent : ils auront droit à une démonstration gratuite ! [11].

Le 19 avril

A. et W. Hamilton et leur fermier Gid alertés par un vacarme de bêtes voient un dirigeable descendant lentement au-dessus de mon troupeau à environ 40 perches (200 m) de la maison. L'objet a donc une forme de cigare, émêt des lumières rouges et vertes, et descend à 10 m, portant 6 des plus étranges créatures que j'ai jamais vues. Une génisse accrochée à un câble rouge s'élève lentement avec l'engin.

Un des mystérieux aéronefs qui survolèrent les Etats-Unis en 1897. Le témoin qui dessina l'étrange vaisseau prétendit même avoir pu s'entretenir avec les occupants.

Le 20 avril

A 18:00 à Homan (Arkansas), observation du capitaine Hooton : Comme je marchais dans les broussailles, un bruit familier a attiré mon attention, un bruit exactement semblable à celui d'une pompe à air de locomotive. Je décidai d'aller en direction de ce son et, dans une clairière de 5 ou 6 acres, j'ai découvert l'objet qui faisait ce bruit. Ce n'est rien de dire que j'ai été étonné. Je me suis tout de suite rendu compte que c'était le fameux aéronef que tellement de gens avaient vu. (...) En y regardant de plus près, je me suis rendu compte que la quille était divisée en 2 parties qui se terminaient à l'avant comme le côté tranchant d'un couteau. En fait tout l'avant du vaisseau se terminait comme une lame de couteau tandis que les côtés se bombaient progressivement jusqu'au milieu pour ensuite s'amincir. Il y avait 3 grandes roues sur chacun des côtés, comprenant des pièces métalliques infléchies et disposées de telle façon qu'elles présentaient la partie concave de leur surface lorsqu'elles se déplaçaient vers l'avant (...). Je remarquai que, devant chaque roue et tout près, il y avait un tuyau de 2 pouces (environ 6 cm) qui commença à projeter de l'air comprimé sur les roues qui se mirent à tourner. Le vaisseau s'éleva peu à peu avec un bruit de sifflement. Les plans horizontaux jaillirent brusquement en avant, tournant leur arêtes aiguës vers le ciel, puis les plans de queue à l'arrière du navire commencèrent à s'orienter d'un côté, tandis que les roues se mettaient à tourner si vite qu'on ne voyait plus les pales. En moins de temps qu'il n'en faut pour le dire, le vaisseau fut hors de vue. (...) Vous pouvez ajouter que la pompe a fonctionné tout le temps que j'ai été à côté du vaisseau, exactement comme la pompe à air d'une locomotive. Un point particulier dont je me souviens : ce que j'appellerai le chasse-corps (également appelé chasse-buffle, NdA) était aussi pointu qu'une aiguille. Sur le navire, il n'y avait, du moins je n'en ai pas vu, ni cloche ni corde de cloche comme il devrait y en avoir sur toute locomotive de l'air bien conçue [12].

Le 21 avril

Observation à Rockland [13].

Le 22 avril

Pour expliquer cette aéronef, il y a autant d'explications qu'il y a d'individus. Ceux qui ne l'ont pas observé pensent qu'il s'agit d'un canular, mais il faut bien dire que la personnalité des témoins ne permet pas de confirmer ce point de vue. Un certain nombre de personnes pensent que cet engin appartient à un gang de malfaiteurs qui se sont assurés la collaboration des scientifiques pour leurs méfaits. A l'aide du projecteur et des rayons X, ils inspectent l'intérieur des maisons et peuvent même voir ce que les coffres des banques contiennent (...). Une autre solution proposée est qu'il s'agirait d'une mission d'exploration venue d'une autre planète. Mais la plus plausible des théories est qu'il s'agit d'un génial inventeur qui a résolu le problème de la navigation aérienne et qui mène à bien des essais en compagnie d'amis [14]

Le 26 avril

Merkel, Texas. Des groupes revenant de l'église, hier soir, remarquèrent un objet lourd tiré par une corde qui y était attachée. Ils le suivirent jusqu'au moment où, traversant la voie ferrée, la corde se prit dans un rail. Levant la tête, ils virent ce qu'ils supposèrent être le navire aérien. Ils n'étaient pas assez près pour donner une idée de ses dimensions. On pouvait voir de la lumière à certains hublots ; il y en avait une très brillante à l'avant, qui rappelait le phare d'une locomotive. Après quelques 10 mn, on vit un homme glisser le long de la corde. Il parvint assez près pour qu'on puisse le voir clairement ; il portait un habit bleu de marin et était de petite taille. Il s'arrêta quand il vit des groupes près de l'ancre, coupa la corde sous lui et repartit dans la direction nord-est. L'ancre est maintenant exposée dans la boutique des forgerons Elliot et Miller et attire la curiosité de centaines de personnes [15].

Le 6 mai

Rencontre du shérif adjoint McLemore, de Hot Springs (Arkansas).

Le 15 avril

Fin de la cette vague de témoignages concernant les aéronefs.

Mais ces étranges lumières nocturnes, dont le corps soutenant est souvent plus supposé que perçu (et dont on s'étonne parfois que leur intensité ne permette pas de le voir, peut-être à cause de l'altitude supposée), ne sont pas vues qu'aux USA. A partir de juin, des observations semblables sont également faites en Russie. Là aussi, la séquence d'observations fait supposer qu'il s'agissait d'un seul objet, qui serait passé au-dessus de Yeniseisk en août, de Rybinsk le 6 septembre puis au-dessus de Ustug. Certains proposent qu'il s'agisse du ballon de André, mais cela semble impossible, un tel ballon ne pouvait à l'époque rester plus de 1 mois en l'air [16].

Une observations sur le continent américain tout de même, le 14 août : Avez-vous vu la lumière dans le ciel ? Si tel n'est pas le cas, vous n'êtes pas à la mode. De nombreux témoins l'ont vue planer au-dessus de Vancouver presque tous les soirs de cette semaine. On l'a aperçue pour la dernière fois vendredi soir, on la reverra peut-être ce soir, ou peut-être pas. La nuit dernière, l'objet mystérieux a été aperçu au nord de la ville ; il se dirigeait vers l'est. La boule de feu, ou l'aéronef pour certains l'appellent, a été observé de près. Il s'est approché très rapidement, a fait une pause en l'air, des lueurs colorées en ont jailli, puis il est reparti en direction du nord-est. Tantôt il ressemblait à une boule de feu, tant son éclat se ternissait et de petites étincelles jaillissaient de sa masse rougeoyante [17].

L'équipage d'un navire près de la Norvège voit un ballon aérien [18].

Références

* Articles de presse contemporains de la vague.

* Genini, Ron: "Close Encounters of the Earliest Kind", American Heritage Magazine, vol. 31, n° 1, décembre 1979 — Décrit notamment le début de la vague en Californie en novembre 1896.

* Sider, J.: L'Airship de 1897 : Contribution a l'etude socio-historique de la vague de dirigeables fantômes aux Etats-Unis, 1987

* Cohen, Daniel: The Great Airship Mystery: A Ufo of the 1890s, 1981

* Busby, Michael: Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery, Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. 2004. ISBN: 1-58980-125-3.

   1. San Fransisco Call, 1896

   2. Omaha Daily Bee du 2 février 1897

   3. Omaha Daily Bee du 2 février 1897

   4. [FSR 66, 4]

   5. Evening Times de Patucket, Rhode Island

   6. Chicago Chronicle

   7. "They Saw The Airship", The Milwaukee Sentinel de Milwaukee (Wisconsin), 11 avril 1897

   8. "Identity of 'Airship'", The Milwaukee Sentinel de Milwaukee (Wisconsin), 13 avril 1897

   9. [Navire Aérien Vu Dans l'Iowa, Chicago Chronicle du 13 avril 1897]

  10. [Chicago Chronicle]

  11. [Evening Times de Paxtucket, Rhode Island]

  12. The Arkansas Gazette of Little Rock, Arkansas, du 22 avril 1897

  13. Houston Daily Post  du 22 avril 1897

  14. [Houston Post]

  15. [Houston Daily Post  du 28 avril 1897]

  16. "What the Balloon Is?", Novoe Vremya (Saint-Petersbourg), 26 septembre 1897 < Gershtein, Mikhail: "1897 Russian reports - part 3 (for Chuck)", Magonia Exchange, 15 décembre 2007

  17. Daily World de Vancouver, Canada

  18. Bullard, Mysteries in the eye of the beholder, 1982, 226

L’airship de 1897  Par Jean SIDER

Certaines personnes plus ou moins intéressées par les phénomènes ovnis, notamment en France, ignorent encore que ceux-ci ne sont pas nés en 1947, contrairement à une croyance qui perdure encore. En fait, les observations d’étranges manifestations célestes ont prévalu de tout temps. Si l’on se donne la peine de feuilleter les vieilles collections de journaux et de périodiques accessibles dans certaines bibliothèques, notamment à la Bibliothèques Nationale, Annexe de Versailles, on peut en découvrir avec de la patience et du temps. De même que dans celles des Archives Départementales, il est possible, en remuant la poussière de livres et de fonds anciens, de mettre au jour des faits très curieux qui peuvent entrer dans cette discipline que l’on appelle l’ufologie. Plusieurs ufologues ont d’ailleurs œuvré dans ce sens, à l’exemple de Michel Bougard, et ont passé au peigne fin la littérature spécialisée constituée de revues et de livres tant français qu’étrangers consacrés aux phénomènes aériens inconnus.

Introduction

Dans le cas de la vague d’airships de 1897, quelques auteurs américains se sont risqués à publier leurs recherches, le plus souvent sous forme d’articles de plusieurs pages, à l’instar de Jerome Clark2. Par contre, il n’existe qu’une bien maigre poignée le livres entièrement dévolus à cette série exceptionnelle d’incidents, et ils peuvent même se compter sur les doigts d’une seule main. Parmi ceux-ci, je citerai celui de Daniel Cohenn3, mais dont le contenu traduit une forme très marquée de scepticisme pour ne pas dire de debunking (de to debunk, déboulonner). Par contre, le travail le plus volumineux et le plus sérieux est sans conteste celui de Thomas Eddie Bullard, qui a publié à compte d’auteur un véritable travail de bénédictin. Il s’agit d’une énorme compilation d’articles de journaux américains de 1897 qui traitent de l’airship, avec deux suppléments4. En ce qui me concerne, j’ai publié en 1987 un ouvrage artisanal consacré à l’airship, grâce surtout à la bonne volonté de Thierry Pinvidic5. Puis, en 1995, Colette Vléryck a accepté d’éditer cette étude quelque peu remaniée et améliorée, qui plus est nantie d’index divers6. Cette édition particulièrement soignée est sortie en format 21x27, mais en une centaine d’exemplaires seulement, et se trouve actuellement pratiquement épuisée.

A toutes fins utiles, voici les coordonnées de Mme Vléryck : 11 Grand Rue, 29880, Plouguerneau. Peut-être dispose-t-elle encore de deux ou trois exemplaires de mon étude. J’ai élaboré mes recherches de base sur une compilation d’articles d’époque de Robert Neeley7, et de copies de documents originaux obtenus auprès d’organismes américains divers, après une vaste prospection par courrier. Il s’agit surtout de bibliothèques, de musées, d’historiens en aéronautique, etc. Je n’ai eu accès à la compilation d’Eddie Bullard que lorsque mon étude initiale était pratiquement venue à son terme, ce qui fait que je n’ai pu exploiter à fond le formidable travail de ce chercheur. Toutefois, j’estime que mon étude est suffisamment consistante pour montrer qu’une authentique vague de phénomènes célestes non identifiés s’est bien produite chez l’oncle Sam à la fin du siècle dernier. Chaque cas décrit est cité avec sa référence précise : le nom de l’organe de presse, la ville où il était établi, l’Etat impliqué, la date de parution, et le numéro de la page qui reprend le texte concerné. Seule la moitié Est des Etats-Unis a été concernée par cette série extraordinaire d’étrangetés. A noter qu’en décembre 1896, la Californie a enregistré une mini-vague d’airships, seul état de la moitié Ouest à avoir enregistré ce type d’incidents. Si je devais citer le nombre total d’observations signalées dans la presse locale, je dirai qu’en gros celui-ci doit se situer entre trois et quatre mille. Voyons tout d’abord dans quelles circonstances sociales locales s’est située cette vague.

Le contexte socio-historique

L’année 1897 aux Etats-Unis se situe en plein milieu d’une révolution industrielle. La mécanisation prenait de plus en plus le pas sur le travail manuel dans de nombreux secteurs. La vapeur, le pétrole et surtout l’électricité avaient permis la naissance de nombreuses industries dans différents domaines, sans pour autant supplanter un artisanat encore très florissant. En fait, à cette époque, tous les secteurs des activités commerciales et industrielles étaient en pleine expansion, et cette effervescence sociale facilitait l’immigration car la main d’œuvre manquait dans beaucoup de corps de métiers.

Les phénomènes observés étant bien souvent assimilés à des ballons dirigeables (d’où le terme airship employé dans les comptes rendus publiés dans les journaux locaux), je me suis employé à retracer l’histoire de l’aéronautique aux Etats-Unis. Cela, afin de voir si ce type d’appareils avait pu provoquer des confusions. Il se trouve en fait que le premier dirigeable motorisé américain digne de ce nom a effectué son premier vol réussi en 1904 seulement, soit sept ans après la vague8. Tout ce qui a été entrepris avant cette date ne représente que des tentatives ratées ou le plus souvent des projets mirobolants d’inventeurs dont beaucoup ont permis à leurs auteurs de se livrer à des tentatives d’escroquerie. Les seuls aérostats qui pouvaient voler à ce moment-là étaient quelques ballons sphériques libres livrés aux caprices des courants éoliens. D’autre part, les témoins ayant observé de nombreuses sources lumineuses de diverses couleurs sur les masses observées, on peut déjà éliminer toute possibilité d’objets conventionnels. En effet, les feux de position n’ont été utilisés qu’en 1911 sur les dirigeables dans le Connecticut9, et les phares en 196010. En conséquence, les debunkers et autres rationalistes qui ratiocinent dans les marécages de la « sociopsychologie », ne font qu’exprimer leur malhonnêteté intellectuelle lorsqu’ils attribuent cette vague à d’authentiques dirigeables. Heureusement, les historiens sont là pour prouver que ces tristes individus mentent comme des arracheurs de dents.

En outre, en cette fin de dix-neuvième siècle, l’esprit des populations locales n’était pas « contaminé » comme de nos jours par les agressions psychologiques d’un univers excessivement médiatisé. La radio, la télévision et le cinéma n’existaient pas encore. Seuls, de multiples journaux et périodiques divers véhiculaient les informations, si l’on excepte le télégraphe et le téléphone qui commençaient seulement à se développer, limités essentiellement aux grandes villes. En conséquence, les influences extérieures, notamment des médias, étaient quasi nulles sur les témoins, dont la plupart découvraient l’existence du phénomène Airship pour la première fois en l’observant dans les cieux. Là encore, l’argumentation des debunkers se trouve contrecarrée, car ils ne peuvent absolument pas s’appuyer sur un stimulus de la presse sur le cerveau des observateurs. D’autant que si l’on peut à la rigueur avancer cette éventualité pour les grandes villes où les journaux étaient très lus, elle est totalement à écarter pour ce qui concerne les zones rurales. En effet, l’analphabétisme y était encore très répandu, et il où n’étaient publiés que des petits hebdomadaires imprimés sur quatre pages seulement. Qui plus est, ils passaient sous silence les observations d’airships, soit par manque de place, soit par absence d’intérêt pour le sujet . De plus, les journalistes qui ont fait allusion à ces phénomènes, choisirent bien souvent de s’en gausser, mettant les témoignages sur l’abus de boissons fortes. Ce qui a dû décourager certains de leurs lecteurs de rapporter leurs éventuelles observations, à n’en pas douter. D’ailleurs, j’ai souvent eu accès à des rapports faisant état de témoins qui ont demandé à rester anonymes, par peur d’être tournés en ridicule par leur entourage. Passons maintenant aux divers paramètres d’étrangeté contenus dans les témoignages les plus sérieux que j’ai pu réunir pour l’élaboration de mon étude.

1 - Les formes : Celle qui a été signalée avec le plus de régularité est celle d’un objet de forme oblongue, arrondie aux deux extrémités. La comparaison la plus fréquente avec une forme bien connue est celle du cigare, plus rarement du cylindre. Toutefois, d’autres formes ont été observées, qui nécessitèrent l’utilisation des parallèles suivants : comme un entonnoir, une lettre A, un œuf, un wagon de voyageurs, une coque de bateau, un rectangle, un tube, un cône, un croissant, et même....un disque ! Parfois, ces formes d’apparence matérielle étaient remarquées se manifestant sous la couverture nuageuse et progressant contre le vent. La nuit, elles étaient parfois décrites nanties de fenêtres éclairées par une lumière intérieure. En plein jour, des témoins ont dépeint des ouvertures semblables à des vitrages, placées sur le côté visible de l’objet. De temps à autre, des observateurs pouvaient distinguer des appendices ressemblant à des ailes, quelquefois comparées à celles des chauves-souris. Chose véritablement ahurissante, il y a aussi des témoignages décrivant des ailes battantes ! Quelques comptes rendus évoquent des voilures, mais je pense qu’il faut comprendre ce terme comme se rapportant à des ailes de toile et non des voiles. Au reste, personne n’a prétendu avoir vu d’airship équipé de mâts équipés comme ceux des voiliers qui circulaient sur mer à l’époque. A noter qu’il y a un cas d’airship duquel pend une corde le long de laquelle descend un homme qui en coupe l’extrêmité terminée par une ancre restée coincée dans un rail de chemin de fer. C’est l’affaire de Merkel (Texas), mais il s’agit probablement d’un canular de salle de rédaction, car il n’y avait pas d’ancre à bord des ballons captifs de l’époque, mais au mieux un grappin, objet beaucoup plus léger. Cette mystification a sans doute été inspirée par une légende du Moyen-âge faisant état d’un « bateau-volant » dont l’ancre s’était accrochée au toit d’une église irlandaise. En effet, Richard Nolane indique dans l’un de ses livres, que cette histoire rapportée dans une œuvre de Gervais de Tilbury, avait été reprise dans plusieurs journaux américains de 1897 avant celle de Merkel11. Des descriptions citent aussi des hélices ou des roues tournant sur les côtés, orientées vers la droite et la gauche de « l’appareil », ce qui constitue une absurdité en matière d’aéronautique !

2 - Les sources lumineuses : C’est surtout lors d’observations faites à nuit tombée que ces précisions figuraient dans les rapports. En 1897, les rares ballons libres qui effectuaient de longs parcours n’emportaient aucune source électrique. Non seulement cet équipement était inutile, mais il aurait obligé l’aérostier à embarquer de lourdes batteries, ce qui aurait constitué un handicap sérieux pour atteindre une altitude élevée. Cette situation indique que les phénomènes voulaient être vus même dans l’obscurité. De multiples témoins de toutes les conditions sociales ont décrit des feux de positions de différentes couleurs, des phares, ainsi que des projecteurs dont certains dispensaient un faisceau de lumière de plusieurs centaines de pieds de longueur qui balayait quelquefois le sol ou l’espace devant l’« appareil ». Certains témoins ont aussi été pris dans le faisceau puissant de ce projecteur au point d’en être éblouis. Il est même arrivé que le phénomène ait été équipé de feux qui changeaient de couleur à intervalles réguliers : vert, puis rouge, ensuite jaune, et retour au rouge etc.

3 - L’aspect matériel : Beaucoup de témoignages faits en plein jour dans un ciel sans nuages, insistent sur le fait que le soleil se reflétait sur la « coque » de l’objet, si tant est qu’il pût s’agir d’une construction de quelque sorte. Ceux qui ont fait ce constat estimaient donc que l’airship avait une structure essentiellement métallique, ce qui écarte de façon sûre une très hypothétique confusion avec un éventuel ballon (dont l’enveloppe était en soie ou en toile imperméabilisée). Ces reflets lumineux ont même conduit des témoins à décrire l’airship comme possédant une coque d’acier lisse !. A nuit tombée, c’était la luminosité de la lune qui réfléchissait sur la « machine », portant les témoins à croire que son revêtement était fait d’un métal quelconque, l’acier, l’aluminium et le fer blanc étant cités le plus souvent. Curieusement, c’est le 11 mars 1897, soit quelques jours avant les principaux témoignages de la vague, que le premier dirigeable en métal vola en Europe. Il s’agissait d’un appareil en cornières et en feuilles d’aluminium, qui fut testé à Tempelhof, Allemagne, par l’aéronaute autrichien David Schwartz. N’est-ce qu’une coïncidence ?

4 - Les comportements : Des airships ont été vus en plein milieu d’un orage, ou encore remontant de forts vents, ce qui écarte systématiquement les ballons libres de l’époque. Certains progressaient en accomplissant un parcours fait d’ondulations verticales, ou encore de zigzags horizontaux. D’autres avançaient en accomplissant des oscillations, ou des bonds successifs. En de plus rares occasions l’airship a été suivi des yeux au moment où il plongeait brusquement vers le sol pour remonter ensuite brusquement et se replacer à son altitude initiale. Tout comme il avait la capacité de changer de direction à volonté, comme s’il avait un gouvernail, selon les propres termes employés par les témoins. Cette disposition à pouvoir tourner l’a conduit de temps en temps à suivre un trajet erratique, allant jusqu’à virer à angle droit et même à faire demi-tour. Des bruits divers ont été émis par le phénomène, presque toujours associés à ceux d’un moteur. Les termes suivants apparaissent dans les rapports des témoins : ronflement, crissement, bourdonnement, sifflement, grondement, etc. La plupart du temps, les observateurs n’ont remarqué qu’un seul objet, mais j’ai répertorié plusieurs cas de vols groupés de plusieurs « engins », et même deux ou trois cas de « vaisseau-mère » éjectant de plus petits corps. Des airships ont suivi des trains sur un parcours plus ou moins long, et survolé à très basse altitude des nhavires fluviaux ainsi que des bâtiments divers. Je reviendrai par ailleurs sur les cas d’atterrissages avec ou sans vue d’occupants.

5 - Réactions animales : Les réactions des animaux domestiques confrontés à ces phénomènes constituent indéniablement des preuves formelles d’une interférence réelle dans leur environnement immédiat. L’airship a provoqué la frayeur de chevaux d’attelages, certains allant jusqu’à s’emballer au point de causer un grave accident. D’autres ont été saisis d’une agitation anormale au moment où un airship survolait leur écurie, donc sans l’avoir vu. Ce qui implique de la part du phénomène des émissions d’ondes de quelque sorte qui auraient perturbé les sens des bêtes concernées. Même constat pour ce qui concerne les chiens, qui se sont manifestés essentiellement par leurs frénétiques aboiements, ou au contraire par leur refus de sortir de la maison de leur maître tellement ils étaient effrayés.

6 - Réaction des témoins : à la vue du phénomène, la plupart des observateurs de race blanche ont ressenti surtout de la surprise, de l’émerveillement et une certaine émotion. Par contre, le comportement des Noirs a été entièrement différent, car ils réagissaient comme si leur dernière heure était venue. Il est vrai qu’ils étaient analphabètes et cultivaient encore toutes sortes de tabous et de croyances transmises par leurs ancêtres africains. J’ai également trouvé une coupure de presse faisant état des réactions de certains Amérindiens, lesquels voyaient en l’airship un moyen de transport utilisé par leurs ancêtres qui, sous leur forme d’esprits désincarnés, venaient visiter le monde matériel pour voir ce que leur descendance était devenue ! Toutes les ethnies ayant vu ces phénomènes, cela démontre par conséquent leur relative réalité. Parmi les témoignages les plus fiables, il y a surtout ceux de médecins, d’hommes de loi, de professeurs, et même d’astronomes, bien que ces derniers se soient bien gardés de révéler leur nom. En effet, les rationalistes de l’époque n’étaient autres que leurs confrères affectés dans les divers observatoires d’astronomie du pays (en même temps qu’ils étaient ministres du culte protestant !). Ce sont surtout ces hommes de science (et de religion) qui étaient questionnés par les journalistes, et qui se sont évertués à clamer que les témoins prenaient les étoiles les plus visibles (comme Vénus) pour des navires aériens.

7 - Atterrissages avec ou sans vue d’occupants : Beaucoup de témoignages font état d’un airship posé au sol qui décolle vivement à l’approche des témoins. Ce sont les cas les plus crédibles. D’autres font état d’occupants observés sortis de leur « machine », mais qui s’empressent de la regagner lorsqu’ils se rendent compte qu’ils sont observés. Là encore, ces incidents restent vraisemblables. Par contre, il est beaucoup plus difficile de prendre pour argent comptant certaines affaires de contact du troisième type dans lesquelles les témoins ont pu dialoguer avec les « aéronautes » supposés. Cela tient au fait qu’il y a eu beaucoup de canulars, dont certains sont probablement nés dans l’imagination d’individus à la recherche de vedettariat, d’escrocs, ou encore de journalistes en mal de copie. C’est ainsi que le fameux incident de Leroy, Kansas, témoigné par le fermier Alex Hamilton, au cours duquel un occupant d’airship aurait capturé une vache au lasso( !), n’est qu’une mystification. Elle fut montée par le témoin avec la complicité d’un éditeur de journal pour promouvoir un petit périodique local qui venait d’acheter une presse rotative pour remplacer un vieux matériel d’impression manuel. Imaginer qu’un Extraterrestre pourrait utiliser une vulgaire corde pour s’emparer d’un bovidé, relève manifestement d’une plaisanterie que seul un cow-boy à pu monter ! D’une façon générale, les RR3 imaginaires se distinguent des cas authentiques surtout par l’abondance des détails fournis par le narrateur.

D’une façon générale, les populations croyaient que les airships étaient des ballons dirigeables testés par leurs constructeurs américains, et n’envisageaient aucunement des vaisseaux spatiaux occupés par des Extraterrestres.

Certaines RR3 développent des dialogues avec des occupants tout à fait humains et disant s’appeler Wilson ou donnant un nom différent mais typiquement anglo-saxon. Je soupçonne que ces récits aient pu être livrés pour faciliter une escroquerie. Par prudence, je n’ai considéré comme valables que les cas où les occupants rembarquent précipitamment dans l’airship comme s’ils voulaient éviter tout contact avec les autochtones. Cela a sans doute été estimé excessif par certains de mes lecteurs, mais qu’ils se disent que si ces cas sont vrais, ils ne sont qu’une tromperie de l’intelligence qui dispense ces phénoménales rencontres. J’ai également noté une affaire qui ressemble beaucoup à une « abduction » (ou enlèvement). La victime est un certain M. Joslin, de Saint-Louis, Missouri. Il aurait été enlevé par les occupants d’un airship posé au sol. Ces créatures n’ont pas été dépeintes comme des aéronautes humains selon nos standard. Il s’agissait, chose curieuse, de bipèdes plus petits qu’un homme moyen, dotés d’une tête noire sans yeux apparents et d’une peau rouge (ou un vêtement quelconque de cette couleur). Le témoin dit avoir été maltraité et ignore comment il a été restitué à son environnement familier. Ce cas comporte plusieurs éléments que l’on retrouve dans les cas d’enlèvements modernes tels ceux-ci : paralysie et hypnose du témoin, effets physiologiques divers, mauvais traitements corporels, perte de conscience, avec une possibilité d’anomalie temporelle.

8 - Particularités diverses. Il y a eu aussi plusieurs histoires de chute d’airship plus que suspectes qui ont circulé à l’époque. Toutes ne sont que des nigauderies probablement du fait de journalistes malicieux ou désireux de remplir un espace libre afin de boucler plus rapidement l’édition de leur journal. La plus connue est celle du crash d’airship d’Aurora, Texas, qui n’est qu’ un coup monté. Il aurait été conçu afin de redonner vie à une petite ville menacée d’être vidée de ses habitants parce qu’elle n’était pas desservie par le chemin de fer. De même que durant la vague, qui s’est étalée en gros de mars à début mai, diverses autres phénoménales manifestations ont été rapportées par des personnes apparemment dignes de fois. Plusieurs êtres humanoïdes velus, qualifiés d’hommes sauvages, ont été aperçus, ce qui rappelle les « bigfoots » et les « sasquashs ». Ces êtres plus ou moins simiesques proches du yéti tibétain par la morphologie, sont observés en Amérique du Nord de nos jours. J’ai même découvert un cas d’ « hommes volants », tout comme plusieurs affaires entrant dans la catégorie des phénomènes « fortéens » (de Charles Fort, premier compilateur du genre). Le seul cas de traces au sol que j’ai pu localiser est relatif à celles laissées par un airship observé au sol près de Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Il s’agissait de quatorze empreintes faisant chacune 0,65m de long sur 0,15m de large, disposées en deux rangées de sept traces parallèles. Le compte-rendu de cette affaire est exempt de toute fantaisie, ce qui le rend tout à fait crédible. D’une façon générale, les vitesses estimées par les témoins tournent autour de chiffres modestes, même si, pour l’époque, ils étaient considérés comme très élevés. En gros, ces vitesses se situent dans une fourchette comprise entre 50 et 150 km/h. Cependant il y a un petit nombre de cas où il est fait mention d’un airship qui, après avoir évolué à une allure modérée, a été décrit bondissant à une vitesse fulgurante pour disparaître très rapidement de la vue.

Conclusions

Des individus plus préoccupés de faire étalage de leur érudition que d’honnêteté intellectuelle, se sont dépensés inutilement pour faire croire que les ovnis (et surtout les enlèvements) sont des fantasmes suscités par la science-fiction américaine des années 1920-1930. Mais ils évitent soigneusement de décrire le mécanisme humain qui opérerait un tel processus totalement ignoré de la Science. Autant parler de baguette magique, pendant qu’ils y sont ! De même qu’ils font semblant d’ignorer que ces phénomènes ont été observés de tout temps, même si les comptes rendus faits avant 1947 ne sont pas aussi nombreux que ceux enregistrés après. La vague de 1897, qui comporte en gros les mêmes paramètres d’étrangeté que celle de 1954, dément formellement les arguments avancés par ces debunkers.

 D’autant qu’en 1897 la science fiction était pratiquement inexistante, si l’on excepte la publication, en fin de cette année-là (donc après la vague), du premier roman dans ce genre, La guerre des mondes, d’Herbert George Wells. Sans oublier les observations en milieux ruraux, faites par des gens analphabètes (notamment les Noirs), qui ruinent totalement cette explication ahurissante qui ne tient aucunement compte du contexte socioculturel dans lequel se situent certaines catégories d’observateurs. Toutes les ethnies américaines de 1897 virent l’airship, comprenant des personnes de toutes conditions sociales, du manœuvre illettré jusqu’au scientifique le plus érudit. D’autre part, la presque totalité des témoins ont décrit ce qu’ils estimaient n’être que le ballon dirigeable d’un inventeur local de génie, qui testait son appareil avant de se faire connaître.

Or, il faut savoir qu’à l’époque, les aérostiers qui voulaient voyager en ballons (il n’y avait que des ballons libres sphériques à ce moment-là), étaient obligés de s’installer à proximité d’une usine fabriquant des gaz plus légers que l’air. Celui utilisé le plus à l’époque était l’hydrogène, fluide qui fut supplanté bien plus tard par l’hélium. Ces usines ne se trouvaient que dans les grandes villes, ce qui veut dire que tout aérostier devait nécessairement être vu par la population locale avant son envol. D’autant que ce genre d’événement nécessitait de longs préparatifs, ce qui attirait toujours une foule énorme parmi laquelle il y avait des journalistes.

Or, aucun journal ne signale le départ d’un airship, dans l’éventualité d’un aéronaute américain ayant réussi à construire un ballon dirigeable performant. Ce constat élimine définitivement une invention locale (et même plusieurs), car ce phénomène a été observé bien souvent le même jour à la même heure en des lieux séparés parfois par plusieurs centaines de kilomètres. Il n’y avait pas qu’un seul airship qui s’exhibait dans les cieux, comme la presse américaine l’a pensé quelque temps, mais plusieurs.

Il faut donc écarter ces deux explications:

les phénomènes « psychophysique » engendrés par l’influence de la science-fiction américaine, ainsi que les appareils d’inventeurs géniaux inconnus. Le fait que les airships déployaient des sources lumineuses et des comportements identiques à ceux des ovnis modernes, indique que ces phénomènes sont probablement de la même essence, produits par la même intelligence.

En conséquence, la vague d’airships de 1897 peut être considérée comme une vague d’ovnis qui s’est produite exactement cinquante ans avant que le témoignage de Kenneth Arnold en juin 1947, ne donne naissance au terme Flying Saucers. Pour l’anecdote, je signale que le mot anglais saucer (soucoupe), n’a pas été employé la première fois pour décrire un ovni lors de cette affaire de 1947. 

January 1878, Denison, Texas Daylight UFO - First use of "saucer"

Description of Denison UFO in 1878 became archetype for alien space travel

According to a January 25, 1878, front-page report in the Denison Daily News—which was attributed to the Dallas Herald and headlined A Strange Phenomenon—a farmer named John Martin was hunting “six miles north of this city” when he spotted something in the distance. Martin’s “attention was directed to a dark object high up in the southern sky,” the story said. The “shape and velocity with which the object seemed to approach riveted his attention, and he strained his eyes to discover its character.”

Of course, the years 1896-97 saw numerous mysterious airship sightings across the country. While many credible people saw these “airships,” the August 28th edition of The St. Johns Herald couldn’t resist poking fun at the witnesses by inferring that such sightings corresponded to lightning bug season.

What were these strange lights seen in 1909, 1911, and 1918? The year 1909 was an active one for sightings in the Hudson Valley of New York and New England, and indeed it was during my research into this wave of sightings that I came across these Phoenix cases. As no planes were yet flying at night or carrying lights, any conventional explanations would be limited to some type of balloon or dirigible. Further research would be needed to determine if anyone in the Phoenix area had any type of balloon or lighter-than-air craft that was equipped with a powerful searchlight and batteries, which would have been very heavy. It is not likely for that time period, but the possibility should be explored.

In the meantime, we may need to push back the timeline of the first appearance of the Phoenix Lights from 1997 to at least 1909, and continue the search for other such cases.

Source: http://www.openminds.tv/the-first-phoenix-lights/37016 

One of the earliest formation cases was reported February 28, 1904, by a ship in the North Pacific off San Francisco. Three members of the crew of the USS Supply, at 6:10 a.m. local time, sighted an echelon formation of three "remarkable meteors" which appeared near the horizon below clouds, moving directly toward the ship. As they approached, the UFOs began soaring, rose above the cloud layer, and were observed climbing into space, still in echelon. The lead object was egg-shaped and about the size of six suns (about 3 degrees of arc). The other two were smaller and appeared to be perfectly round. They remained visible for over two minutes. (Meteors, of course, do not travel in echelon formation, change course and climb, nor remain visible for two minutes).

Source: NICAP / Richard Hall (1964) citing "Monthly Weather Review" (1904)

first published in the MUFON Symposium procedings, 2003; updated to 2005

The February 28, 1904 sighting, by witnesses aboard the U.S.S. Supply, of three bright objects moving rapidly through the sky is compared with what would be expected if they had been meteors. Information provided by the Monthly Weather Review and by the ship's log is compared with theoretical expectations for meteors. This comparison indicates that the objects were not meteors because they (a) were too close to the earth (about a mile high or less), (b) made a large change in flight direction, and (c) were seen for too long for the amount of sky traversed.

INTRODUCTION

There are meteors, and then there are REMARKABLE meteors! But just how remarkable must a meteor be in order to be classified as a UFO? Here is an over 100 year old sighting that stretches the meteor explanation to its limit... and beyond!

THE REMARKABLE REPORT

The March, 1904, issue of the Monthly Weather Review (MWR) contains a letter entitled "Remarkable Meteors." The letter was written by Lt. Frank H. Schofield, who was just beginning a long and important career with the Navy. Some twenty years later he would be promoted to rear Admiral and ten years after that would be the Commander in Chief of the U. S. Fleet. The article in the MWR begins as follows: "We are pleased to report the following communication from the U.S.S. Supply at sea off the coast of California." The letter from Schofield follows:

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"1) I have the honor to report that three somewhat remarkable meteors were observed from this ship at 6:10 AM (Greenwich Mean Time, 3 hours, 12 minutes) February 28,1904, in latitude 35 deg. 58 min. north, longitude 128 deg, 36 min west." (Note: This is about 300 hundred miles west south-west of San Francisco.) "2) The meteors appeared near the horizon and below the clouds, traveling in a group from northwest by north (true) directly toward the ship. At first their angular motion was rapid and color a rather bright red. As they approached the ship they appeared to soar, passing above the clouds at an elevation of about 45 deg. After rising above the clouds their angular motion became less and less until it ceased, when they appeared to be moving directly away from the earth at an elevation of about 75 deg. and in direction west-northwest (true). It was noted that the color became less pronounced as the meteors gained in angular elevation." "3) When sighted the largest meteor was in the lead, followed by the second in size at a distance of less than twice the diameter of the larger and then by the third in size at a similar distance from the second in size. They appeared to be traveling in echelon and so continued as long as in sight." "4) The largest meteor had an apparent area of about six suns. It was egg shaped, the sharper end forward. This end was jagged in outline. The after end was regular and full in outline." "5) The second and third meteors were round and showed no imperfections in shape. The second meteor was estimated to be twice the size of the sun in appearance and the third meteor about the size of the sun." "6) When the meteors rose there was no change in relative position; nor was there at any time any evidence of rotation or tumbling of the larger meteor." "7) I estimated the clouds to be not over 1 mile high." "8) The near approach of these meteors to the surface and the subsequent flight away from the surface appear to be most remarkable, especially so as their actual size could not have been great. That they did come below the clouds and soar instead of continuing their southeasterly course is also equally certain, as the angular motion ceased and the color faded as they rose. The clouds, in passing between the meteors and the ship completely obscured the former. Blue sky could be seen in the intervals between the clouds." "9) The meteors were in sight for over two minutes and were carefully observed by three people, whose accounts agree as to details. (The Officer on Deck) sent a messenger to me who brought an untelligible message. When I arrived on the bridge the meteors had been obscured for about one-half minute."

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The number of details in the report indicate that Lt. Schofield carefully interviewed the witnesses shortly after the sighting and then compiled the above report. According to the report the three "meteors" traveled "in echelon" (a steady flying formation of one in front, the next to one side and a bit behind, and the third also to one side and a bit behind the second). They were seen underneath the 1 mile high cloud layer and then their altitude increased so that they passed through the cloud layer and appeared to move directly away from the ship, which might have been nearly radially away from the earth. Figure 1 illustrates, in two views (top view looking down and side view looking westward), a possible path of the "meteors" based on the information in the report. Of course, there are numerous possible paths that one could construct from the rather inexact information about their motion but any suggested path must be consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the description. The sketch shows the objects approaching the ship from the north-northwest, traveling in echelon, and below cloud level. Then the objects curved upward and, while maintaining their echelon order, passed through the cloud layer and traveled away from the earth. Ultimately they traveled directly away from the ship in a direction west-northwest and at an angular elevation of about 75 degrees (nearly straight upward).

REMARKABLE OBSERVATIONS

If Schofield's letter is taken as literal truth, then these "remarkable meteors" were not meteors for three main reasons. First, according to the letter the objects were traveling for a period of time (nearly two minutes?) below the clouds. Meteors can, of course, penetrate the atmosphere to altitudes beneath the clouds, but by the time they reach such low altitudes they are no longer glowing and they are falling downward, not traveling in a horizontal trajectory. Had these been meteors below the clouds they would not have been seen as brightly glowing objects with angular sizes comparable to or greater than that of the sun (1/2 degree). In fact, they probably would not have been seen at all (unless they hit the ship). Second, according to the letter, before the objects disappeared their forward motion diminished and finally ceased and they then appeared to move "directly" away from the ship. If, to an observer, the forward motion of a typical meteor seemed to cease it would be because it burned up or because it penetrated the atmosphere enough to slow down below the speed needed to make the atmosphere glow. In neither of these cases would it appear that the meteor was moving away from the observer before its brightness decreased to zero. In the rare case of a grazing or "skipping" meteor (see below), the brightness would decrease and eventually it would stop glowing as it enters thinner atmosphere at higher altitudes before leaving the earth entirely. In this case, also, the brightness would decrease before the forward motion apparently ended, in contrast to the description provided by Schofield: the forward motion stopped before the brightness decreased to zero. The third reason is that meteors travel from near the horizon to nearly overhead in a time much shorter than the reported time of "over two minutes," for reasons described below. Thus, if Schofield's description is accurate these objects were not meteors. End of discussion. (Then, what were they? Beginning of another discussion...)

REMARKABLE METEORS...NOT!

But, what if Schofield's description was not accurate? What if they were not below the clouds after all? What if their forward motion did not actually stop? What if they were seen for less than two minutes? What if the only accurate part of the report is that the objects apparently glowed like meteors? We must assume that this part of the report, at least, is accurate, because if the objects hadn't appeared to the witnesses be meteors they likely would not have made the report, and certainly they wouldn't have called the objects "remarkable meteors." The fact is that, if we ignore (a) the apparently low flight path, (b) the apparent cessation of forward motion and (c) the reported 2 or more minute duration, the report could be consistent with the meteor explanation. Even the "echelon" flight pattern might fit the meteor explanation if the left-to-right distances between the meteors were small. There have been numerous observations of meteors traveling in what appears to the witness(es) to be a flight pattern. This occurs as a meteor enters the atmosphere and heats and breaks into pieces. The pieces then travel together. Sometimes individual pieces burn out or deviate from the initial trajectory or appear to tumble. However, based on the description one can assume that in this case the individual pieces stayed together in whatever "formation" they initially acquired. Hence, if we assume that Schofield's report contains major errors of observation (regarding the actual flight path, altitude and duration), then these objects could have been parts of a single meteor and there would then be only one remaining aspect of the report to explain, namely the reported large apparent size. It does seem strange that a normal meteor or even a bolide (a large meteor, a "fireball" meteor) would be bright enough to appear to have an angular size of "six suns." Meteors range in size from tiny (millimeters) to perhaps centimeters in size (very rarely meters in size) and they are seen glowing (or causing the atmosphere to glow brightly) at altitudes above 30 miles. Therefore the actual angular size of a meteor is extremely small compared to that of the sun (the angular size of 1 cm at 30 miles distance is about 1 cm/4,800,000 cm = 0.000000208 radians, whereas the angular size of the sun is about 0.0088 radians, or about 42,000 times larger than the angular size of a 1 cm meteor at 30 miles; 1 radian = 57 degrees). Even though the angular size of a typical meteor is extremely small, a meteor may seem sizeable to the observer because the visually apparent size of a small bright light source, i.e., the apparent angular size, increases with the luminous flux or "luminosity" of the source. For example, stars appear to have different sizes, with the brighter stars - e.g., Vega or Sirius - seeming to be larger than the dimmer stars, even though the angular sizes of all stars are vanishingly small (even smaller than the actual angular size of a meteor at 30 miles). As another example, consider that a bright light bulb that is only a few inches in size might appear to be larger than a foot in diameter when seen from a great distance (consider the apparent sizes of car headlights seen in the distance). In one experiment a steel sphere 5 mm in diameter, heated to incandescence (bright white) and viewed from about 1/2 mile away seemed to be as large as the moon's diameter (1/2 degree), i.e., as large as a 23 ft sphere at a distance of 1/2 mile (I. L. Smith, Journal of the Royal Academy of Science, Canada, Vol. 8, pg 109, 1914). The increase in apparent size with brightness results from optical properties of any imaging system including the eye. Therefore, if the lead object was a meteor that seemed to be six times larger than the sun then it must have been EXTREMELY bright! In fact, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY bright.... Note that the witnesses claimed the color was red. (If this color was a result of temperature, then the temperature was lower than the temperature needed for incandescent white, 5000 - 6000 K.) Nevertheless, for "dyed in the wool" skeptics and those who would take the "easy way out," this is the end of the discussion. The witnesses saw meteors and misperceived the altitude, the flight dynamics, the duration and the apparent size. What they saw were three parts of a rather large meteor which had broken into pieces before they saw it. (Airplanes are ruled out as a possible explanation... there weren't any in 1904!)

REMARKABLE ANALYSIS

However, I am skeptical of glib explanations proposed by the skeptics. I ask, is it justifiable to simply reject, as witness errors, the three major characteristics that make these "meteors" so remarkable? Let us compare the reported details with what would be expected if they actually were meteors.

1) As the objects traveled toward the ship they appeared to be under the clouds.

The witnesses claimed that the objects were initially below cloud level. If they actually were meteors then this claim must be based on a "radical misperception?" Is it reasonable to believe that such a radical misperception occurred? If the objects were meteors they would have been far above the clouds, probably more than 25 miles (32 km) up (see further discussion below). 

Therefore the only way they could have been seen is through holes or gaps in the cloud cover. Schofield's statement that blue sky could be seen between the clouds indicates that there must have been enough light from the approaching sunrise to make the sky visible so that they could, in fact, see the clouds. Therefore one may assume that the witnesses would have noticed if the objects appeared to pass behind a cloud because the light from the objects would be temporarily blocked. According to the report, initially the objects appeared to be "near the horizon and below the clouds." 

Meteors might appear to be lower than the clouds, if they were seen under a cloud cover that ends long before it reaches the visual horizon (the distance at which the curvature of the earth cuts off the line of sight). In this case, with an altitude of 1 mile, the visual horizon is about 90 miles away. If, for example, the cloud cover in the direction of the assumed meteors ended 50 miles from the ship, then the angular elevation of the objects would have been less than arctan(1/50) = 1 degree; if the cloud cover ended 20 miles from the ship the angular elevation would have been less than 3 degrees. The point is that at the time of the initial sighting their angular elevation must have been only a few degrees. As the objects approached the ship the angular elevation increased. (This is true whether the objects were lower than cloud height or high above the clouds.) 

Not until the angular elevation reached about 45 degrees did the objects appear to go above or behind the clouds. If the objects were meteors approaching the ship, then they must have been visible continually until they reached this angular elevation, otherwise the witnesses would have seen them going behind clouds and would have realized they were above the clouds. The cloud which first blocked the direct view of the hypothetical meteors would have been at an angular elevation of about 45 degrees and, hence about 1 mile horizontally from the ship. (Consider a 45 degree right triangle with the cloud at 1 mile up, and 1 mile away (horizontally), leading to 1.4 miles radially from the ship). We can therefore conclude that, if they were meteors, then there was a long gap or "slot" in the cloud cover that ran from about 1 mile from the ship (horizontal measure) out to the horizon, a distance of perhaps 50 miles, in the direction of the path of the oncoming "meteors." If the sky were nearly clear of clouds this conclusion might be acceptable. So we can ask, what is the liklihood that there was a long clear area in the direction toward the objects? 

The ship's log, a copy of which is in Figure 2, has provided useful information in this regard. According to the log, at 0600, there were "stratus, moving from north, coverage 9." the log also shows that the sky coverage had been in the range of 8 to 9 for the preceding two hours. Stratus clouds are horizontally layered clouds caused by atmospheric cooling over large horizontal areas. "Coverage 9" indicates that the sky was about 90% covered by the cloud layer which was coming from the north and moving southward. This amount of cloud coverage is incompatible with the suggestion that there was about a many mile long gap or "slot" in the cloud cover through which the hypothetical meteors could have been seen.

The report includes the statement that "The clouds, in passing between the meteors and the ship completely obscured the (meteors)." But this statement, because of its location in the narrative, clearly refers to the conditions after the angular elevation of the objects exceeded about 45 degrees. Conclusion: the witnesses did not misperceive the altitude of the objects. The weather report indicates that there was a cloud layer coming from the north with 90% coverage of the sky at the time of the sighting. Hence, if the objects had been meteors it is likely that they wouldn't have been seen at all, or at most briefly through holes in the clouds. But one can deduce from the way the report is written that the objects were seen continually from the horizon to a distance estimated to be about 1 mile (horizontally) from the ship, a viewing distance which is incompatible with the reported 90% cloud cover. Hence the combination of the witness statement and the weather report provides strong evidence that the objects were, in fact, below the altitude of the clouds. This, by itself, rules out any normal meteors.

2) When the objects reached an angular elevation of about 45 degrees they appeared to soar upward through the clouds, then the forward motion ceased and the color "faded."

According to Schofield's report, "As they approached the ship they appeared to soar, passing above the clouds at an elevation of about 45 deg." and "That they did come below the clouds and soar instead of continuing their southeasterly course is also equally certain, as the angular motion ceased and the color faded as they rose." I assume that the phrase "color faded" means that their brightness decreased after they rose above the clouds. If they were meteors they wouldn't have actually "soared" while the brightness decreased. Instead, they would have maintained a nearly constant high altitude and simply disappeared behind the clouds or burned out. Meteors would have actually gotten closer to the ship and possibly gotten brighter, had they continued in a straight line from the angular elevation of 45 degrees to the angular elevation of 75 degrees. If they had been meteors at, say, 30 miles altitude, then at the 45 degree elevation the radial distance from the ship would have been about 1.4 x 30 = 42 miles. When the hypothetical meteors reached the 75 degree elevation they would have been about 31 miles (radial distance) from the ship. Hence they would have appeared brighter, not dimmer, and would not have given the impression of soaring upward and fading (unless, of course, they were burning out). The actual (as opposed to observed) forward motion of meteors does not stop unless the meteor burns up. Before the meteor burns up its brightness generally fades rapidly, so, to the observer, it would appear that the forward motion continued until it burned out. Generally this burnout is very fast (in a fraction of a second to a second or two). In rare cases large meteors have been known to travel in slightly curved arcs around the earth, maintaining altitudes above 30 miles or so (about 50 km), and then to leave the atmosphere and continue traveling away from the earth (grazing or "skipping meteors"). Observers who see such a meteor fading in brightness as it leaves the atmosphere would see the forward motion continue at high speed. The meteor would not appear to slow down and apparently stop its forward motion before it faded out. However, the report indicates that the witnesses saw exactly this, the forward motion slowed to a stop before the brightness faded out. Could they have been wrong? Does it seem reasonable that they would misperceive the burnout of meteors at high altitude and interpret this as low altitude bright objects that rose upward and faded? This doesn't seem likely but, before reaching a conclusion, let us consider more carefully what they reported. According to the report, the angular elevation increased rapidly at first and then slowed down, reaching a maximum of about 75 degrees: "At first their angular motion was rapid and color a rather bright red. As they approached the ship they appeared to soar, passing above the clouds at an elevation of about 45 deg. After rising above the clouds their angular motion became less and less until it ceased, when they appeared to be moving directly away from the earth at an elevation of about 75 deg. and in direction west-northwest (true). It was noted that the color became less pronounced as the meteors gained in angular elevation." The report reiterates this last observation: "That they did come below the clouds and soar instead of continuing their southeasterly course is also equally certain, as the angular motion ceased and the color faded as they rose." The statement that the color (brightness) faded as the objects "soared" is consistent with the inverse square law of apparent brightness of a light: the apparent brightness (luminous intensity, actually) would diminish in proportion to the inverse square of the distance between the ship and the objects (double the distance, decrease the apparent brightness to 1/4, etc.). Could the witnesses have been incorrect in their description of what happened just before the objects faded out? Perhaps they could have been incorrect in one or two of the details, such as appearing to rise upward through the clouds or appearing to fade out rather then suddenly disappearing. However, it is difficult to imagine that they could have incorrectly perceived all four of these easily observed and interconnected events near the end of the sighting: (a) the apparent rising upward through the clouds, (b) the apparent slowing down of the rate of angular elevation increase, (c) the apparent stopping of the forward motion at 75 degree elevation, (d) and the apparent decrease in brightness, while slowing and "soaring," that gave them the impression that the objects were moving away from the earth. These 4 events taken together are consistent with objects which initially traveled along a horizontal track near the earth's surface (lower than cloud level) and then abruptly turned "upward and to the right" (from the point of view of an observer traveling with the the objects), reversing their southward motion somewhat, so that they would travel a bit northward and directly away from the ship (and from the earth). Conclusion: the witnesses were probably correct in their observations. Objects which make direction changes as large as reported and travel almost radially away from the earth are not meteors.

3) The objects were observed for several minutes.

Schofield wrote, "The meteors were in sight for over two minutes and were carefully observed by three people, whose accounts agree as to details." This is, indeed, a long duration for meteors and, when combined with the observation that the objects were not observed as they traveled from horizon to horizon but rather as they traveled from the horizon to nearly overhead, immediately rejects meteors. This is because meteors travel in (nearly) straight lines through the atmosphere at such high speeds that they typically would go from horizon to horizon in under 2 minutes (see below). Therefore they would typically go from horizon to overhead in less than 1 minute, not "over two minutes." Again we must ask, could the report and/or the observers have been wrong? It is well known that people often misjudge time durations when observing dynamic events. (A typical misjudged time statement is like this: "It seemed to have lasted an eternity even though it must have been only a few seconds to a minute.") In order to determine how accurate Schofield's report of the duration I did, in 1976, something no one had ever done before (at least no one had ever reported doing before): I looked up the ship's log at the National Archives to see if there might have been some mention of the sighting in the log. Figures 3 is a copy of the portion of the ship's log that shows the events of the day before, during and after the time of the sighting.

For the date of the sighting I found the following entry at 0800 hours (8:00 AM): "0400 - 0800 Cloudy to fair; light breeze from WSW; at 0600 wind shifted to SW; steaming on course NE(1/4)E; executed morning orders; steam 125 lbs., revolutions 64.6. At 0610 three large bodies appeared in the sky traveling from NW(1/2)W. The largest one egg or pear shaped, with sharp point and ragged edge to full body aft. In size it appeared to be six times the size of the sun. The next one was round and about twice the size of the sun. The third one was round and about twice the size of the sun. They were in echeleon (sic) when first seen and were below the clouds and traveling fast and rising to directly overhead. They were dull red in color and were in sight about three minutes. The largest body would cover all of them. When first seen were like an airship." Clearly the log leaves out many of the details that Schofield reported, after interviewing the witnesses, but it confirms Schofield's report of the long duration, the apparent large size, the color and the initially low altitude (below the clouds). The phrase "rising to directly overhead" is a short version of the description of climbing through the clouds and then the forward motion ceasing and the objects disappearing while they were at a high angular elevevation. Comparing the report with the log it appears that Schofield "underplayed" the duration by writing "over two minutes" rather than "about three minutes." Perhaps he was aware that the reported duration of the observation was extremely long for meteors and, to be as consistent as possible with normal meteors, underreported the duration. It seems, therefore, that the rather long duration is a fact of the observation and not an error. It could mean that the time for the objects to travel from the horizon to overhead was as long as 3 minutes. This is clearly far beyond the expected duration for normal meteors, as I will now demonstrate by calculating the longest duration time possible for meteors, namely the observation duration of "grazing meteors," also called "skipping meteors." These are meteors that both enter and exit the earth's atmosphere. The question is, what would be the maximum sighting duration if the observer were in the optimum location for the seeing the meteor from horizon to horizon? Given this answer, then, if the observer were below the end of the visible path (as the meteor leaves the atmosphere), as suggested by the witnesses claims that the objects faded out while nearly overhead, the observation time would be about half that of the maximum duration. The visible duration of a grazing meteor can be estimated by imagining a nearly straight line path of a meteor above the curved surface of the earth. (The geometric model is illustrated in Figure 4.) The atmosphere is curved around the earth, with the greatest density at the surface and a nearly exponential decrease in density with increasing altitude. The meteor enters the atmosphere and approaches the earth on a tangential path. I assume it starts to glow (actually it starts to make the air glow) at an altitude called Hi. It penetrates the atmosphere to some minimum depth called Hm, and then, still traveling in a (nearly) straight line, increases its distance from the earth while traveling out of the atmosphere. It stops glowing at a final height, Hf. The actual path would actually be slightly curved around the earth, but the radius of curvature would be several times that of the radius of the earth, so the actual path can be usefully approximated by a straight line, at least over the distance from Hi to Hf. Use of a curved-path in this illustration would seriously complicate the analysis and provide little further information. It may seem to be "cheating" to base calculated speeds and observation times on a straight path, but in 1975 I exchanged letters with Dr. David Meisel, then the Director of the American Meteor Society on this very issue. I sent him some of my calculations and he responded "Your velocity analysis using a linear trajectory is a reasonable approximation."

[Of course, the "ultimate" curved path for a non-crashing object is parallel to the surface of the earth, i.e., an orbit with radius of curvature =(6328 km + Hm), where Hm is the minimum height of the object in km. No grazing meteor track would have a radius of curvature this small because if it did, it wouldn't be "grazing." Instead, it would be captured,i.e., a satellite of earth. ] First I estimate the maximum possible duration of meteor visibility. Assume the meteor started to glow visibly at an altitude as high as Hi = 100 km (60 miles), then penetrated the atmosphere deeply to about Hm = 40 km (25 miles) and then continued along a substantially straight path away from the earth, becoming invisible as it reached Hf = 100 km altitude. A slightly lower altitude, 20 miles, is mentioned in the Encyclopedia Britannica as an absolute minimum altitude for large, bright meteors called "fireballs," to be visible. (At lower altitudes they slow and cool below visibility.) However meteors which penetrate to down to 20 miles from the surface either explode or land. Grazing meteors don't penetrate as far. Therefore, to calculate a visible duration which is longer than the longest likely duration (i.e., an upper bound on the visible duration) I use, as lowest altitude, 40 km. The geometry is illustrated in Figure 4 and the pertinent equations for right triangles are presented in Figure 5 (Re = radius of the earth). With one side of a right triangle having a length of Re + Hm = 6328+40 = 6368 km and the hypotenuse having a length of Re + Hi = 6328+100 = 6428 km, we find that the path length through the atmosphere from Hi to Hm is (6428^2 - 6368^2)^(1/2) = 876 km (544 mi). Since Hf = Hi in this model, the path length from Hm to Hf will be the same so the total length of the straight path would be about 1,750 km (1,090 mi).

How long would it take a meteor to travel this distance? Meteors come from long distances away from the earth and travel at high speeds in orbit around the sun. As they approach the earth they tend to speed up. Meteors enter the atmosphere at speeds greater than 11 km/sec (6.8 mi/sec, the orbital capture speed). However, to calculate an upper bound on the duration of visibility, i.e., a time longer than any actual duration of visibility, I use the orbital speed. The corresponding duration of visibility would on the order of 1,750 km/11 km/sec = 160 sec. this is considerably over two minutes. However, it must be understood that this is unreasonably long because it is based on an unrealistically low velocity and because it assumes an unrealistally low minimum altitude with the consequent unrealistically long path through the atmosphere. Of course, in order for an observer to see the meteor this long he would have to be below the point of closest approach and then watch it from "birth to death," i.e., the observer must see it start to glow and then be able to watch it as it goes from horizon to overhead to the opposite horizon. The observer would first see the meteor start to glow at an angular elevation about 3 1/2 degrees above the horizon and a distance of about 880 km. He would last see it at the same angular elevation and distance but above the opposite horizon. As it approached the angular elevation would increase at first slowly and then more rapidly as the meteor passed directly overhead. The forward motion would appear to decrease and then cease. Also, it would be brightest directly overhead, not at an angular elevation of 45 degrees. If the observer were below the end of the glowing path, i.e., directly below Hf, he would first see it at his horizon, already glowing, and at a distance of about 880 km. It would appear to increase in angular elevation while increasing in brightness (as the distance decreased) and finally fade out overhead as the meteor leaves the atmosphere and cools. The forward motion of the meteor would appear to be greatest just as the meteor dimmed (the exact opposite of what was reported). The duration of observation would be half that of the observer who was beneath the center of the path, i.e., about 80 seconds. An alternative hypothesis to calculate a long observation time, also unrealistic, is that a meteor might follow a curved path around the earth at constant altitude at which the glow is brightest. Suppose a meteor penetrates the earth's atmosphere to a depth of 40 km and then travels at that constant altitude of 40 km while an observer, standing below the center of the meteor's path, watches it from horizon to horizon. In this case the path length would be the arc of a circle of radius 6368 km. The angle formed by the arc would be 2 x inverse cos(6328/6368) = 12.9 degrees. Hence the curved path length would be (12.9/360)x (2 pi) x 6368 = 1,430 km! This is less than distance calculated before using the straight line approximation so the duration would be less, namely, 130 sec. (If one assumed a circular arc at higher altitude the path length would be longer but also the meteor brightness would be less because the atmosphere would be less dense.) The above results are based on physically unrealistic assumptions about skipping meteors. However, the general conclusion that the longest realistic meteor visibility would be less than 160 seconds can be checked against the famous August, 1972, fireball meteor sighting which has been used in the past to justify the claim that meteors can be seen for long times. This was a grazing meteor which passed through the upper atmosphere of the earth, glowed, and then continued its travels after having suffered a severe deviation (a curvature around the earth) from its initial track in space (an ellipse with the sun as a focal point). Calculations based on measurements by infrared sensors on a military satellite, and presented in Sky and Telescope Magazine (July, 1974), indicate that it became visible to the infrared sensor when it was about 76 km high, that it penetrated the atmosphere to a depth of about 58 km, and then became invisible to the satellite again at about 102 km. The infrared sensor was able to "see" the meteor for 101 seconds. According to the article in Sky and Telescope the length of the path of visibility (to the satellite) was about 1,500 km (930 mi). The average speed in the path was therefore 1500/101 = 14.85 km/sec (9.2 mi/sec), which is larger than the orbital speed used in the calculations above. (Note: according to the Sky and Telescope article, the 1972 meteor approached the earth from behind at a relative speed difference of about 10 km/sec, but then accelerated as it got closer and was traveling at about 14.8 km/sec on a track nearly parallel to the surface of the earth at its closest approach.) Some people have used this 100 second observation by the satellite as evidence that meteors can be seen from the ground for nearly as long as two minutes. However, no ground observer could have seen it that long, even if he were in the optimum viewing location (below the center of the path of the glow) because this duration is based on infrared measurements. Before the meteor entered the atmosphere it was very cold. The friction of moving at high speed into the atmosphere heated up the hot gas (plasma) around the meteor, first to a temperature that was visible to the infrared satellite sensor, and then to an even higher temperature that was visible the naked eye. As the meteor left the atmosphere this process reversed: first the temperature of the hot gas (plasma) decreased to the point that it was too cool to be visible to the naked eye and then it continued to decrease, eventually becoming too cool to be detected by the infrared sensor. In other words, the meteor became visible to the eye after it was visible to the satellite and it became invisible to the eye before it became invisible to the satellite. Hence the length of the path of visibility (to a human) was less than 1,500 km and so the duration of sufficient brightness to be seen with the naked eye was less than the 100 seconds "seen" by the satellite. Exactly how short the path of visibility was I do not know. However, for the purposes of using the straight line model of the meteor path to estimate the maximum possible duration of visibility to a human I have assumed that the meteor would have been visible from Hi = 75 km altitude ("turn on") to Hf = 100 km ("turn off"). I have also assumed penetration to Hm = 58 km altitude. Using the above numbers the straight line model predicts a distance of (6403^2 - 6386^2)^(1/2) = 470 km from Hi to Hm and (6428^2 - 6386^2)^(1/2) = 730 km from Hm to Hf. The total path length of visibility to a human was therefore about 1160 km. If an observer had been able to watch it from the beginning to the end of its glow he would have seen it for about 1160/14.8 = 78 seconds. A observer below the point of closest approach would have first seen the meteor when it was about arctan(58/470) = 7 degrees above the horizon, he would have seen it pass overhead and disappear when it was about arctan(58/740) = 1.2 degrees above the opposite horizon. This maximum duration can be compared with the numerous witness accounts of the meteor. There were many observations over 10 seconds but most of the observations were for 40 seconds (estimated) or less. The longest estimated duration was reported by an astronomer and meteor expert who was on vacation in the Grand Teton area of Wyoming. He first saw it 10 degrees above the horizon. It did not go over his head, but reached a maximum elevation of about 20 degrees and then receded and disappeared over his local horizon. He estimated that he had it in sight for about 1 minute (letter by astonomer Luigi Jacchia in Sky and Telescope, Oct. 1972). The famous film of this fireball seems to last "forever," but, in fact, lasts "only" 26 seconds. No observer reported seeing this meteor from the first moment it was visible to the last. However, it is reasonable to guess that, had there been such an observer he could have seen the meteor for maybe 70 - 80 seconds (but certainly not as long as 100 seconds; only the satellite could have seen it for that long). This is consistent with the 78 second duration based on the straight line path calculation presented above. The consistency of the calculated results with an actual observation suggests that the previous estimate of an upper bound to the maximum possible duration of visibility, 160 seconds from horizon to horizon, is correct for the unusual or "impossible" case of a meteor that starts to be visible at 100 km altitude, penetrates to 40 km altitude and stops being visible at 100 km. Based on this calculation, the time it would take for a meteor to travel from the horizon to directly overhead would be less than 80 seconds, perhaps about a minute. In an attempt to approach the Remarkable Meteor duration of nearly three minutes to go half the way across the horizon (or nearly six minutes to go from horizon to horizon), one might ask, couldn't a meteor "turn on" at a higher altitude and thereby increase the path length and the calculated time? The answer to this is that the atmosphere gets thinner with increases in altitude and above 100 km it simply to thin to for a relatively large, relatively slow meteor (the type that would make a bright fireball) to cause a sufficient glow to be seen. Alternatively, one might ask, why not decrease the assumed the minimum altitude and thereby increase the path length and the duration? The answer to this has been given before: as the altitude decreases the meteor enters continually more dense atmosphere where is slows down and actually cools off becoming invisible. Large meteors penetrating to low altitudes explode or land. Conclusion: the report was probably correct in stating that the duration of the sighting was "over 2 minutes." Objects viewed for over two minutes while they travel from horizon to overhead are not meteors.

The above discussion shows that the meteor hypothesis is strained, at the very least, by the observation that these objects appeared to travel beneath the clouds (especially considering the 90% cloud cover), strained even further by the observation that the angular motion ceased as they appeared to travel directly away from the ship, and finally it is strained to the breaking point by the reported duration of over 2 minutes to go from near the horizon to overhead.

REMARKABLE SIZE, SHAPE AND SPEED

A size estimate can be calculated based on (a) the observation that the largest body had an apparent diameter of "six suns" and (b) the assumption that the distance to the objects was about 1.5 miles when the angular size was "six suns." Obviously both of these numbers are disputable. The apparent angular size of the first object was probably somewhat larger than the actual angular size because it was bright, and bright objects appear larger than they are. The distance has to be just a guess since the report does not state at what time during the sighting the angular size was "six suns." Here I assume that it was when the objects were closest, that is, when they were passing through the cloud layer at about 45 degree elevation with the cloud layer at 1 mile altitude. Hence the slant range would have been about (1 mile) x (tan 45) = 1.414 miles which I have "rounded upward" to 1.5 miles. The angular size of the sun is about 1/2 degree or about 0.0088 radians, so the object appeared to have an angular size of about 0.053 radians. Multiplying the angular size in radians by the distance gives the "actual" size as measured transverse to the line of sight (the size as projected onto a plane surface that is perpendicular to the line of sight). In this case the result is 0.053 x 1.5 x 5280 = 420 ft (128 m). The actual size could have been smaller if the angular size were overestimated or larger if the range were underestimated. If we use the third "meteor" as a better example, described as perfectly round and the size of a "single" sun, the calculation yields about 70 ft (about 20 m). As pointed out above, size estimates of bright objects could be exaggerations resulting from brightness. This applies to sources of tiny angular size (stars, for example), but does it apply here? As anyone (with normal vision) who has looked at the sun or moon can attest, the apparent size does not change much with brightness when the light source is already "large" (compare the sun with and without partial obscuration by clouds or sunglasses; its apparent size changes only a little). The "growth-with-brightness" rule has only a slight affect on light sources which are much larger than "point" sources, i.e., light sources which are large enough (in angular size) to be resolvable to the eye (e.g., sun, moon). The report does not say that the brightness was so great as to make the objects difficult to look at, as the sun is difficult to look at. Under the circumstances (early morning) we may assume that the witness' eyes were dark-adapted. Hence very bright lights could have even been painful to look at, would have left afterimages, etc. Yet, despite the level of detail in Schofield's report, there is nothing that indicates optical difficulty in looking at the objects. Instead, we find some details about the shapes: "The largest meteor had an apparent area of about six suns. It was egg shaped, the sharper end forward. This end was jagged in outline. The after end was regular and full in outline. The second and third meteors were round and showed no imperfections in shape." That the observers were able to see details of the shapes and outlines ("jagged," "regular and full") suggests that they were easily able to look at the objects and note details of appearance. This strongly suggests, then, that the angular sizes were not a result of brightness, but rather are indicative of the actual physical sizes of the objects. How fast were they actually traveling? It is not known how far away they were when first seen, but if they were at cloud height, about 1 mile altitude, and if they were about 1 degree above the horizon, then they were about 50 miles away (the distance of a point 1 mile up and 1 degree above the horizon) at the beginning of the sighting. Also assume that they got to within 1.5 miles of the ship before "soaring," and that they traveled this distance in 2 minutes = 120 sec = .0333 hours. Then their speed was approximately 0.40 mi/sec (0.64 km/sec) or 1,440 mph (2316 km/hr). This is fast, but not meteoric speed, which is more than 10 times faster. If the objects had been farther away when first seen and/or had reached the 45 degree elevation in less than 2 minutes then they would have been going even faster. Had they been closer when first seen then the speed would have been lower. Obviously this speed calculation can do no more than "get us into the ballpark."

CONCLUSION

Although there is always a problem with correctly interpreting witness statements (and removing the witness' own interpretations so that the true description "shines through"), the analysis provides three main reasons for rejecting the meteor explanation. These reasons are (1) the objects were seen below the 90% cloud cover, whereas meteors would be far above clouds, (2) they made a large direction change from initially traveling along a horizontal path toward the ship to traveling along an upward path, directly away from the ship ("soaring" at an elevation of 75 degrees), whereas meteors would continue along in a (nearly) straight line, and (3)they were seen for over two minutes (perhaps as long as 3 minutes), whereas meteors traversing the distance from horizon to overheard would be seen for less than a minute. Any of these reasons would be sufficient to reject meteors or fireballs as the explanation. ............................................................................................

NOTE: Some people have confused the maximum duration of individual meteors and fireballs with the duration of a particular event which involved many meteors and fireballs. In 1913 there was a "meteor procession" studied first by Professor C. A. Chant of Canada. This procession involved many meteors traveling in an elongated group. Calculations based on sightings suggest that the group of meteors and fireballs in this procession traveled more than 6,000 miles around the curve of the earth. The total duration of meteor and fireball sightings at any particular location along the path of the procession was estimated at about 5 minutes. Any given meteor in this group could have traversed a long path partly around the earth and thus it could have been visible to a series of observers along its path. However, any one observer at a particular location under the path saw any particular meteor for much less than 5 minutes. According to astronomer William Pickering, writing about this event in Popular Astronomy (Vol. 30, pg 632, 1922), individual fireballs in this procession were seen for 40 seconds or less by observers at fixed locations.

Source: http://brumac.8k.com/RemarkableMeteors/Remarkable.html

Strange lights in Maitland

On a quiet and muggy July night in 1926 a woman awoke to loud noises outside of her house in the outskirts of rural Maitland, Canada. Looking outside she saw strange lights hovering a few hundred feet next to her farm. Terrified and confused, the woman couldn’t do anything but stare in complete disbelief of the otherworldly lights. What were they? Who were they?

As one of the lights got closer she managed to catch something staring at her from within the bright, bathing light. Not something but rather someone.

“…It was a figure. A figure of a gigantic man with something resembling a rifle in his hands.“

During the summer of 1933, stories drifted into Nipawin that some homesteaders, as well as a forest tower ranger, had observed strange lights in the sky and near the ground. This was seen for the better part of a week, in the northwest of Nipawin, near the Tobin Lake area, a country of rolling hills and low lying marsh. Parts of the area had begun to be farmed just a few years earlier, but was then left without improvement. Because of the local marsh, most of the towns-folk who heard about the strange lights explained them away as swamp gas.

But two men and a woman from Nipawin decided to check the lights, and shortly after midnight that summer night they jumped into a small pick-up truck and drove to the area where the lights were reported to have been seen. They saw that the glow on the horizon gradually grew brighter as they drove on. After driving as close as the rough trail would allow them, they got out, and hiked through the woods in the direction of this glow. They were blocked a quarter of a mile or less from reaching the source of the glow by a strip of muskeg that was too boggy to risk on to in the middle of the night.

But the spot was close enough to make out that the light came from a large oval and domed shaped object, slightly rounded on the bottom. The craft rested on legs, and from a central doorway or hatch, about a dozen figures could be seen going up and down a ladder-like stairway.

These occupants appeared to be slightly shorter than the average man, and were all dressed in what appeared to be silver colored suits or uniforms, and all wearing helmets or ski caps. They were all were busy running around, "repairing" the craft.

All about was a strange sort of quiet, even though the occupants were busy scurrying about. Not a sound could be heard. The three witnesses stared in silent amazement at what was going on, no one even thought to speak out. The bright orange glow that emanated from the craft lit up the surroundings area, and the three of them had no difficulty spying on the activities. The light from the craft was not only bright, but bad an "unearthly" quality never seen by any of them before and added to the mystery of the scene, miles away from the nearest farmhouse or forest tower.

After about a half an hour, the three of them returned to the truck and started back to town, hoping to find a way around the muskeg to get a closer look at the craft. But when they finally did come across a cut-off trail that might take them closer, they realized that they didn't have enough gasoline to take them in and out, so they gave up.

A couple of nights later, they were able to make a return trip out. It was a clear night with almost a full moon, and they hoped to get an even better view, but the object was not there that night. No trace of the glowing craft could be seen from the vantage point of two nights previous, and they returned to the truck to await dawn. They then walked back in across the muskeg to see if any evidence of what they had seen was left. And there was: six large square imprints that must have been the bases of the legs that supported the craft. Each imprint was the same size, 2 to 2.5 feet square, and approximately 5 to 10 feet apart. The imprints were 2 to 3 inches deep, and reminded the three of them of a kind of mark that would be made by boiler plate stomped into the ground. They could also see markings where the base of the stairway met ground. there was also a large burn mark in the center of the area that covered a circle approximately 12 feet in diameter. They looked for footprints but found none, though there was some scuffling of the vegetation surrounding the spot where the craft had been.

One of the witnesses had brought along a small brownie box camera and took photographs of the burn marks and of the imprints. Later, two of them wrote up an article about the whole affair and submitted it, along with copies of the photos, to a number of magazines and newspapers in Canada, but no publication was interested, and those publishers that replied wondered what kind of party they had been to those nights.

Musgrave says that in the course of the 40 plus years since the incident, the original photographs have been lost by the witness who took them. He provides a sketch of the traces and a sketch of the UFO, a "classical flying saucer", made by one of the witnesses.

The story was then picked up with more or less details and the usual slight errors in various UFO books and websites, but apparently nothing else happened about it.

John Brent Musgrave

__________________________________________________________

1933: UFO stops for repairs

Even as late as the mid 1930's, much of the prairie provinces of Canada was still on the frontier of immigrant settlement. Particularly in the northern areas homesteaders were just beginning to open up the land to commerce and agriculture, and such Luxuries as telephones, paved roads and electricity were things of the future. The town of Nipawin, Saskatchewan, is situated in the northwest corner of the province and in the 30's was on the edge of this settlement. During the summer of 1933 stories drifted into Nipawin that some homesteaders, as well as a forest tower ranger, had been observing strange lights in the sky and near the ground. Whatever it was, they had been seeing it for the better part of a week. The land to the northwest of Nipawin, near the Tobin Lake area, is made up of rolling hills and low lying marsh. Parts of it bad begun to be farmed just a few years earlier, and it was without improvement Because of the local marsh, most of the towns-folk who heard about the strange lights explained them away as swamp gas - a convenient scapegoat that still gets used today.

Fortunately, not everyone in Nipawin was convinced that the stories were based on nothing more than "hot air", and shortly after midnight that summer night two men and a woman (names known to the author) jumped into a small pick-up truck and drove to the area where the lights were reported to have been seen. They were not disappointed as the glow on the horizon gradually grew brighter as they drove on. After driving as close as the rough trail would allow them, they got out and hiked through the woods in the direction of the glow. They were blocked a quarter of a mile or less from reaching the source of the glow by a strip of muskeg that was too boggy to risk on to in the middle of the night. But it was close enough. From their vantage point they were able to make out that the light came from a large oval shaped object that was domed at the top and slightly rounded on the bottom. It was supported by legs and from a central door- way, or hatch, about a dozen figures could be seen going up and down a ladder-like stairway. The Occupants appeared to be slightly shorter than the average man, and were all dressed in what appeared to be silver colored suits or uniforms. All appeared to be wearing helmets or ski caps, and all were busy running around "repairing" the craft.

All about was a strange sort of quiet, even though the occupants were busy scurrying about. Not a sound could be heard. The three witnesses stared in silent amazement at what was going on, no one even thought to speak out. The bright orange glow that emanated from the craft lit up the surroundings area, and the three of them had no difficulty spying on the activities. The light from the craft was not only bright, but bad an "unearthly" quality never seen by any of them before and added to the mystery of the scene. After about a half hour the three of them returned to the truck and started back to town hoping to find a way around the muskeg to get a closer look at the strange machine parked in the middle of a marsh miles away from the nearest farm- house or forest tower. But when they finally did come across a cut-off trail that might take them closer they realized that they didn't have enough gasoline to take them in and out. So they had to return home that night.

It was not until a couple of nights later that they were able to make a return trip out. It was a clear night with almost a full moon, and they hoped to get an even better view. But this night the object was gone. No trace of the glowing craft could be seen from the vantage point of two nights previous, and they returned to the truck to await dawn. They then walked back in across the muskeg to see if any evidence of what they had seen was Left. And there was. six large square imprints that must have been the bases of the legs that supported the craft proved that there indeed had been something there that night. Each imprint was the same size - 2 to 2 1/2 feet square, and approximately S to 10 feet apart. The imprints were 2 to 3 inches deep, and reminded the three of them of a kind of mark that would be made by boiler plate stomped into the ground. They could also see markings where the base of the stair- way met ground. As if this wasn't remarkable enough, a great burn mark in the center of the area covered a circle approximately 12 feet in diameter. They looked for footprints but found none though there was some scuffling of the vegetation surrounding the spot where the craft had been.

They came better prepared this time. One of the witnesses had brought along a small brownie box camera and took photographs of the burn marks and of the imprints. Later two of them wrote up an article about the whole affair and submitted it, along with copies of the photos, to a number of magazines and newspapers in Canada. But no publication was interested, and those publishers that replied wondered what kind of party they had been to those nights. In the course of the 40 plus years since the incident, the original photographs have been lost by the witness who took them, and who had learned the hard way that they were apparently of no interest to anyone else. Perhaps copies of them are still in existence stored in an attic or sandwiched between vacation shots in some photo album. If they are ever uncovered they may prove to be the earliest photographs of a physical trace case where there were witnesses, and which even had occupants.

"A UFO Vision"

In about 1975, a 15 page document came to my notice.   The material described itself as a "Copy from the Memorandum Book of Fred Wm. Birmingham, the Engineer to the Council of Parramatta. A machine to go through the air. A.D. 1873."   It was ostensibly prepared by a group of people, with the work co-ordinated by Mr T.V. Homan (now deceased) -- a former staff member of the UFO Investigation Centre (UFOIC).  The undated copy was at least known to have been produced during the 1950s.

If the "Memorandum Book" of Fred. Wm. Birmingham is to be believed, then Parramatta, in 1868, played host to a most peculiar "machine to go through the air."  Although I had the "Memorandum Book" copy in my possession for some years, other activities always largely managed to prevent me from carrying out my desire to confirm the possible historical validity of the Birmingham account.

It was not until January, 1980, that an oblique stimulus appeared which was sufficient to encourage me to launch into what has developed into a detailed and exhaustive enquiry into the "Memorandum Book of Fred. Wm. Birmingham."

That stimulus was "An Account of a Meeting with Denizens of Another World - 1871 - William Robert Loosley - edited and with commentary by David Langford".   Although I found the Loosley/Langford account uncompelling and unsatisfactory, it was enough to project me into attempting to see whether there was something of substance behind the Birmingham account.   My scepticism of Langford's book was justified. Years later he confirmed it had been a hoax.

The account

The "Memorandum book, A.D. 1873" attributed to the hand of one "Fred. Wm. Birmingham, C.E. & Lic. Sureyor, Parramatta, Australia," gives an account of an "aerial machine" -- "A machine to go through the air." "On the night of the 25th - 26th July Anno Domino (original spelling) 1868, I had a wonderful dream -- a vision..."

Birmingham described standing under the verandah of his rented cottage in Duck's Lane, Parramatta, when he saw up in the sky, to the north-east, the passage of a bizarre apparitional procession. This consisted of "the Lord Bishop of Sydney's head in the air looking intently upon me in a frowning half laughing mood... I watched it intently and when it had travelled to the east it dimmed -- just as one loses his focus by quickly drawing in or out the slide of a telescope."

In the same manner, "the Premier's head twice appeared... this dimmed and again the Lord Bishop's head shone forth as it were looking intently and impeachingly upon me, and travelling southerly to about s.s-east."

Birmingham dropped his gaze to ponder the extraordinary display. "After some considerable time I determined to look at the head or heads again...," but they were gone. "A Machine to go through the Air"

"I retraced the course the head had taken and just in the spot where I first saw the head I saw an 'Ark' and while looking at it - moving along the same track as the head had taken -- I said to myself aloud, `Well that is a beautiful vessel.' I had no sooner ended the sentence than I was made aware that I was not alone, for to my right hand and a little to the rear of my frontage a distinct voice said, slowly -- `That's a machine to go through the air.'

"In a little time I replied - `It appears to me more like a vessel for going upon the water, but, at all events, it's the loveliest thing I ever saw.'

"I then felt that somehow or another the spirit and I were as it may have been spiritually on the highest part of the Parramatta Park."

By this time, "the machine" had moved through the air in a zig-zag fashion, "then quite, stopped, the forward motion and decended some twenty feet or so as gently as a feather on the grass," at a distance of about 20 yards from Birmingham and the "spirit."

Birmingham described the ark in the following way:

"...through a brown colour (rubber!) all over at a distance... its peculiar shapings are well impressioned upon my mind and the colour seemed to blend with faint, flitting shades of steel blue, below and appearing tremulous and like what one might term magnified scales on a large fish, the latter being as it were flying in the air, (the machine has not the shape of anything that has life)."

The "spirit" was described by Birmingham as being "like a neutral tint shade (white? - B.C.) and the shape of a man in his usual frock dress."

It said to him, "Have you a desire or do you wish to enter upon it?" Birmingham replied, "Yes."

 "`Then come' - said the spirit, thereupon we were lifted off the grass and gently carried through the air and onto the upper part of the machine."

Aboard the "Ark"

On the machine, the spirit showed Birmingham two cylinders, located at the front and back of it, indicating their purpose, "by downward motion of hand."

The spirit beckoned the surveyor to enter the "pilot house" (as Birmingham termed a part of the machine) saying, "Step in."

Birmingham described how he went down about three steep steps. They led into the pilot house room, which was about three and a half feet lower than the deck of the machine. The only feature of the room was a table, about five feet by three and a half feet and two and a half feet high covered with material like oilskin, "or perhaps iron covered with rubber cloth tightly." About two feet separated the table and the walls of the room. Birmingham referred to how, "everything appeared very strong, the sides I noticed were extremely thick, about six inches -- and I (then) wondered why they were so strong in `a machine to go through the air'."

Standing alone at the rear end of the table, whereupon he rested one hand, Birmingham began to repent agreeing to "entering upon" the "ark."

"I felt miserably queer -- just like one who undertaking a billet or post he knows nothing of. So I remained for some considerable time, when I was aroused as it were from my reverie by the voice of the spirit on my right hand, who said, `Here are some papers for your guidance'."

The hand of the spirit was resting on the table and within it were several printed papers. The first paper was covered with figures and formulae.

"...Thinking the formulae and figures of other kinds might be too intricate for my comprehension I said to the spirit -- 'Oh! Will I want them?' The spirit replied slowly, but with marked emphasis, `It is absolutely necessary that you should know these things, but, you can study them as you go on'."

"... I again cast down my eyes between my hands as it were on the table and considering silently the words of the holy spirit and when I looked about I found I was alone in the ark!

"So I fell, I suppose, into my usual sleeping state, and waking next morning deeply impressed with that vision of the night..."

Birmingham pondered his "vision" occasionally but could only rationalise (to his own satisfaction at least) the first portion, namely that it reminded him:

"that I must serve God by conforming to the Christian doctrine and laws of his church. (Christ's Bride).   As to the second portion of the vision I could not conclude what it meant - at least in any satisfactory way (`a machine to go through the air' -- or in other words, the ark mentioned in the Book of Revelations!)"

Things did not end there for Frederick William Birmingham.

The Opening Gate

On March 27, 1871, he was struck by the strange behaviour of the gate latch to his verandah. It seemed to mysteriously keep opening by itself even when under scrutiny.

"I need hardly say I was astounded for a time... The thing has sunk deeply into my mind even to my very soul, and I now know that the power of god never sleeps. (The latch for years before and years after this occurrence never did rise without hands to it or hand and cane)."

"A thing to be accomplished"

"Day by day and at night in my wakeful moments I have often rehearsed the wonderful dreams I have had, and coupling them one day with the vision of the Lord Bishop's head and the latch rising, I came down from the hill in the Parramatta Park firmly convinced that the vision was gradually unfolding itself and `the machine to go through the air' was a thing (through God's mercy) to be accomplished.

"I sat down at the same end of the table where from I saw the latch rise, calculating pressures etc. and taking a match box in my hand and letting it drop on the table I said aloud 'But, how in the name of goodness can I overcome 'gravity'.' I instantly felt in my left air a sound like that produced by pressing a large sea shell close to one's ear, and the words `Are not the sides greater than a third'. Becoming excited and in great joy I said aloud, "Yes, and the sides and bottom working together can overcome the top'. This was the first practical clue as to forming the interior parts of the machine I saw in the vision of the aforenamed night 25th - 26th July, 1868. (About three years and nine months had passed away viz to the 15th April, 1872)."

The Background of the Manuscript

Are we dealing with a copy of a legititmate historical document, or a literary hoax perpetrated more recently? As far as it has been possible to determine, the copy of the Memorandum Book of Fred. Wm. Birmingham, from which the above account is drawn, was made by T.V. Homan, during the late 1950s. Mr Homan acquired the manuscript, when it was given to him, by a Mrs N. de Launte. Mr Homan came to know the de Launte family during the fifties, apparently because of his fringe interest in matters occult and spiritual.

Mrs de Launte obtained the original memorandum book from a Mr Wallace Haywood, a teacher, who lived in the Park, Parramatta, a street which ran along the south-western perimeter of Parramatta Park. How Mr Haywood obtained the memorandum book is unclear, but it is known that it was in his family for quite a long time, either obtained directly or indirectly. It may be significant that Haywood's home was situated within a few hundred yards of "the highest part of the Parramatta Park" -- Parramatta Park Hill -- ostensibly the landing site of the ark in Birmingham's vision.

Fred. WM. Birmingham - The man

Fred Wm. Birmingham was a real person, and lived in Duck's Lane, Parramatta, between 1868 and 1873, as alleged in the Memorandum Book.

I found nothing in the "Memorandum Book of Fred. Wm. Birmingham... A.D 1873," which was inconsistent with information known at that time in the 19th century. No apparent anachronism exists in the manuscript's text. The allusion to Birmingham's surprise as to why the ark's furnishings were "extremely thick" and "very strong," and the reference to rubber, steel, centrifugal pumps and "positive and negative electricity" are realistic for the period of the manuscript -- 1868 to 1873.

The Memorandum Book is therefore consistent with the period in which it is based. Research has taken the established existence of the document, back at least to the early 1940s, when it was in the possession of the Parramatta school teacher. The case for the manuscript being what it purports to be -- a Memorandum Book written by a Parramatta resident in 1873 -- is, I believe, well established. The chance of it being a literary hoax perpetrated around the early 1940s or earlier, certainly seems quite remote.

Discussion

Many aspects of the Birmingham vision are common to the rich harvest of "contactee" stories of the 1950s, other "contact" tales and even "abductions." Some of these elements include "the invitation," "levitation," tours of the "machine," "alien tutelage," ESP, precognition or other faculties, disorientation and bizarre "follow up" experiences.

The bizarre nature of the Birmingham vision (the dream-like quality of the account, floating heads, spirits, flying, instantaneous relocation, poltergeists, voices and not-the-least -- visions -- all elements of dreams, psychotic episodes, hallucinations or other realities, depending where your preferences lie), does not, in my mind, lessen its relevancy to modern UFO accounts of contacts, contactees, abductions and the like.

The impossible and the totally absurd are no longer strange bedfellows in today's UFO accounts. So as the bizarre fabric of UFO experiences continues to be woven onto the world scene and incorporated into our culture at what seems to be both a subtle but profound level, I consider it unlikely that such accounts will cease. The bizarre and impossible will continue to emerge. But at what level of human existence are these sorts of experiences occurring.

Were the visions of Fred. Wm. Birmingham objective or subjective in nature? Does the Memorandum Book record a real physical event or is it principally psychological in origin? Perhaps the event had some physical basis, but was embroidered by fantasy and imagination. Probably most contactee, contact and abduction events of the modern era beg the same questions.

In 1873, Birmingham had a clear and undeniable daylight sighting of a UFO.

"The most extraordinary cloud"

(And a UFO ?)

His strange memorandum book continues:

"My thoughts have been continually bent on unravelling and learning the matter, and the little monies I could spare went towards experimenting an d each experiment learnt me something but, on the last of the three principal occasions, I was disappointed and felt unhappy and laid on my back on my `couch' for a long time (some hours) thinking and when I had finished all of my thinking I said aloud to myself - `Well, I don't care, I believe it firmly and try I will if I should fail a thousand times, to the day of my death I will believe in it'.

"So saying I threw myself on my feet and went out to the kitchen (at 7 p.m.) and slowly took my evening meal. The sun was or had just set. My door was open and my eyes were toward the sky which was quite clear, excepting three small clouds of Van Dyke brown colour, in the south-west a little separate.

"The middle one being the largest, drew my attention and was without doubt, the most extraordinary cloud in its wonderful movements that I ever saw. I made a sketch of it which I keep because it is evidence that we are taught betimes by the great and good spirit."

Birmingham records the date as March 9, 1873.

Out of the middle "cloud" appeared two screw-like appendages, which projected downwards. Between these "screws" appeared a "second shape with like two flat necks on a turtle shaped body". How it came there puzzled Birmingham. The "necks" bent up as the screws rotated about seven times more.

"As the screws reversed the neck(s) came down gradually to the horizon tal position and after a few minutes (2 or 3 minutes) the screw part rotated the second time and reversed as before. After this double operation the `turtle' disappeared, I then knew not where to.

"After a few minutes lapse of time I was astonished (and said aloud) ` Well I declare! The turtle is forming again', and sure enough, in the same shape and place it remained for a pause of a few minutes, and to my surprise the movements were exactly the same as the previous series, namely twice screwed and twice reversed all the same forms as before.

"After a couple of minutes the turtle began to fade away and the last shred of it I saw winding around and going upwards to the middle cloud and to my surprise the two big three-threaded screws folded up like the arms of a bear and lost their shape in the middle cloud! Just after this the whole three clouds which had remained stationary in the sky for, as truly as I can reckon, (without a clock or watch) twenty to twenty five minutes or so - moved quickly south-easterly, formed into one cloud and in about three mi nutes melted out of sight. This going away of the clouds was so quickly done that I had to rise quickly and step out of doors to watch them!"

"There may be a meaning in all this."

"I thought silently over the thing that was shown one, and said I to myself `How could these things be done!' So I concluded that the cloud material was worked upon by positive and negative electricity -- for wind there was none seemingly -- after some lapse of time I said to myself 'There may be a meaning in all this' -- doubled over and twice each time. I then thought of Pharaoh's `dream' of the fat and the lean kine - but said I (inwardly) `Pharaoh's was a dream but this just now seen by me was in daylight!'

"It sunk as it were deep into my soul and I concluded that the thing was shown one by God, but I could not on that day unravel it -- but my fixed belief then (and ever since) was that there was a meaning -- a teaching for me in it."

There the account finishes.

Birmingham's memorandum book indicated he had become obsessed with learning the secret of the "ark". However he died, ostensibly without finding out the secret, in 1893, 19 years before a more prosaic "machine to go through the air" landed in Parramatta Park.

On June 29, 1912, William E. Hart, a Parramatta dentist and holder of Australia's first aerial pilot's licence, won Australia's first air race.

He challenged the visiting American flier, "Wizard" Stone, to a twenty mile race for a stake of 250 pounds. Stone lost his way, landing at Lakemba, but Hart, a much less experienced pilot, finished the flight in 23 minutes and landed as planned in Parramatta Park.

 "...I came down from the hill in the Parramatta Park firmly convinced that the vision was gradually unfolding itself and 'the machine to go through the air' was a thing (through God's mercy) to be accomplished."-- Fred. Wm. Birmingham, 1873.

Many ancient people including the Hindu, Babylonians, Chinese, Egyptians, kept elaborate written records of astronomical events. One of such extraordinary event was the comet observation. In this particular case, there is no mention in ancient records of “this” comet appearance except for the above-mentioned ancient engraving.
Considering the duration of observation (about one hour), the event was not any other natural phenomenon but rather an unidentified flying object.

If we follow some other ancient records we learn that in the afternoon, December 6th, 1737 a large ”symbol” made an appearance in the western sky over Bucharest, located between Transylvania’s Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea, (Romania).

The remarkable, “red as blood and very broad” occurrence remained stationary in the sky for two hours and then split up into two parts (!). Later, these two parts reunited once again in the western sky…(Biblioteca Academiei, ”manuscris romänesc” 2342, f. 3-4.)
On November 27th in 1793, another strange incident was reported to happen in Floresti, a commune in Cluj County, Transylvania when “the moon carried out a miracle – she made a journey along the sky for half an hour…” (Biblioteca româneasca 2150, f. 111v.)

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20201106170451/https://www.messagetoeagle.com/ufos-and-mysterious-happenings-in-transylvania-is-it-a-portal-to-another-dimension/