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June, 1801—a mirage of an unknown city. It was seen, for more than an hour, at Youghal, Co. Cork, Ireland—a representation of mansions, surrounded by shrubbery and white palings—forests behind. In October, 1796, a mirage of a walled town had been seen distinctly for half an hour at Youghal. Upon March 9, 1797, had been seen a mirage of a walled town.
Feb. 7, 1802—an unknown body that was seen, by Fritsch, of Magdeburg, to cross the sun (Observatory, 3-136).
Oct. 10, 1802—an unknown dark body was seen, by Fritsch, rapidly crossing the sun (Comptes Rendus, 83-587). Between 10 and 11 o'clock, morning of Oct. 8, 1803, a stone fell from the sky, at the town of Apt, France. About eight hours later, "some persons believed that they felt an earthquake" (Rept. B. A., 1854-53).
Upon August 11, 1805, an explosive sound was heard at East Haddam, Connecticut. There are records of six prior sounds, as if of explosions, that were heard at East Haddam, beginning with the year 1791, but, unrecorded, the sounds had attracted attention for a century, and had been called the "Moodus" sounds, by the Indians. For the best account of the "Moodus" sounds, see the Amer. Jour. Sci., 39-339. Here a writer tries to show the phenomena were subterranean, but says that there was no satisfactory explanation.
Upon the 2nd of April, 1808, over the town of Pignerol, Piedmont, Italy, a loud sound was heard: in many places in Piedmont an earthquake was felt. In the Rept. B. A., 1854-68, it is said that aerial phenomena did occur; that, before the explosion, luminous objects had been seen in the sky over Pignerol, and that in several of the communes in the Alps aerial sounds, as if of innumerable
stones colliding, had been heard, and that quakes had been felt. From April 2 to April 8, forty shocks were recorded at Pignerol; sounds like cannonading were heard at Barga. Upon the 18th of April, two detonations were heard at La Tour, and a luminous object was seen in the sky. The supposition, or almost absolute belief of most persons is that from the 2nd to the 18th of April this earth had moved far in its orbit and was rotating so that, if one should explain that probably meteors had exploded here, it could not very well be thought that more meteors were continuing to pick out this one point upon a doubly moving planet. But something was specially related to this one local sky. Upon the 19th of April, a stone fell from the sky at Borgo San Donnino, about 40 miles east of Piedmont (Rept. B. A., 1860). Sounds like cannonading were heard almost every day in this small region. Upon the 13th of May, a red cloud such as marks the place of a meteoric explosion was seen in the sky. Throughout the rest of the year, phenomena that are now listed as "earthquakes" occurred in Piedmont. The last occurrence of which I have record was upon Jan. 22, 1810.
Feb. 9, 1812—two explosive sounds at East Haddam (Amer. Jour. Sci., 39-339).
July 5, 1812—one explosive sound at East Haddam (Amer. Jour. Sci., 39-339).
Oct. 28, 1812—"phantom soldiers" at Havarah Park, near Ripley, England (Edinburgh Annual Register, 1812-II-124). When such appearances are explained by meteorologists, they are said to be displays of the aurora borealis. Psychic research explains variously. The physicists say that they are mirages of troops marching somewhere at a distance.
Night of July 31, 1813—flashes of light in the sky of Tottenham, near London (Year Book of Facts, 1853-272). The sky was clear. The flashes were attributed to a storm at Hastings, 65 miles away. We note not only that the planet Mars was in opposition at this time (July 30), but in one of the nearest of its oppositions in the 19th century.
Dec. 28, 1813—an explosive sound at East Haddam.
Feb. 2, 1816—a quake at Lisbon. There was something in the
sky. Extraordinary sounds were heard, but were attributed to "flocks of birds." But six hours later something was seen in the sky: it is said to have been a meteor (Rept. B. A., 1854-106).
Since the year 1788, many earthquakes, or concussions that were listed as earthquakes, had occurred at the town of Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland. Seventeen instances were recorded in the year 1795. Almost all records of the phenomena of Comrie start with the year 1788, but, in Macara's Guide to Creifi, it is said that the disturbances were recorded as far back as the year 1597. They were slight shocks, and until the occurrence upon Aug. 13, 1816, conventional explanations, excluding all thought of relations with anything in the sky, seemed adequate enough. But, in an account in the London Times, Aug. 21, 1816, it is said that, at the time of the quake of August 13, a luminous object, or a "small meteor," had been seen at Dunkeld, near Comrie; and, according to David Milne (Edin. New Phil. Jour., 31-110), a resident of Comrie had reported "a large luminous body, bent like a crescent, which stretched itself over the heavens."
There was another quake in Scotland (Inverness) June 30, 1817. It is said that hot water fell from the sky (Rept. B. A., 1854-112).
Jan. 6, 1818—an unknown body that crossed the sun, according to Loft, of Ipswich; observed about three hours and a half (Quar. Jour. Roy. Inst., 5-117).
Five unknown bodies that were seen, upon June 26, 1819, crossing the sun, according to Gruithuisen (An. Sci. Disc., 1860-411). Also, upon this day, Pastorff saw something that he thought was a comet, which was then somewhere near the sun, but which, according to Olbers, could not have been the comet (Webb, Celestial Objects, p. 40).
Upon Aug. 28, 1819, there was a violent quake at Irkutsk, Siberia. There had been two shocks upon Aug. 22, 1813 (Rept. B. A., 1854-101). Upon April 6, 1805, or March 25, according to the Russian calendar, two stones had fallen from the sky at Irkutsk (Rept. B. A., 1860-12). One of these stones is now in the South Kensington Museum, London. Another violent shock at Irkutsk, April 7, 1820 (Rept. B. A., 1854-128).
Unknown bodies in the sky, in the year 1820, February 12 and April 27 (Comptes Rendus, 83-314).
Things that marched in the sky—see Arago's Œuvres, 11-576, or Annales de Chimie, 30-417—objects that were seen by many persons, in the streets of Embrun, during the eclipse of Sept. 7, 1820, moving in straight lines, turning and retracting in the same straight lines, all of them separated by uniform spaces.
Early in the year 1821—and a light shone out on the moon—a bright point of light in the lunar crater Aristarchus, which was in the dark at the time. It was seen, upon the 4th and the 7th of February, by Capt. Kater (An. Reg., 1821-689); and upon the 5th by Dr. Olbers (Mems. R. A. S., 1-159). It was a light like a star, and was seen again, May 4th and 6th, by the Rev. M. Ward and by Francis Bailey (Mems. R. A. S., 1-159). At Cape Town, nights of Nov. 28th and 29th, 1821, again a star-like light was seen upon the moon (Phil. Trans., 112-237).
Quar. Jour. Roy. Inst., 20-417:
That, early in the morning of March 20, 1822, detonations were heard at Melida, an island in the Adriatic. All day, at intervals, the sounds were heard. They were like cannonading, and it was supposed that they came from a vessel, or from Turkish artillery, practicing in some frontier village. For thirty days the detonations continued, sometimes thirty or forty, sometimes several hundred, a day.
Upon April 13, 1822, it seems, according to description, that clearly enough was there an explosion in the sky of Comrie, and a concussion of the ground—"two loud reports, one apparently over our heads, and the other, which followed immediately, under our feet" (Edin. New Phil. Jour., 31-119).
July 15, 1822—the fall of perhaps unknown seeds from perhaps an unknown world—a great quantity of little round seeds that fell from the sky at Marienwerder, Germany. They were unknown to the inhabitants, who tried to cook them, but found that boiling seemed to have no effect upon them. Wherever they came from, they were brought down by a storm, and two days later, more of them fell, in a storm, in Silesia. It is said that these corpuscles were identified by some scientists as seeds of Galium spurium, but that other scientists
disagreed. Later more of them fell at Posen, Mecklenburg. See Bull. des Sci. (math., astro., etc.) 1-1-298.
Aug. 19, 1822—a tremendous detonation at Melida—others continuing several days.
Oct. 23, 1822—two unknown dark bodies crossing the sun; observed by Pastorff (An. Sci. Disc., 1860-411).
An unknown, shining thing—it was seen, by Webb, May 22, 1823, near the planet Venus (Nature, 14-19).
More unknowns, in the year 1823—see Comptes Rendus, 49-811 and Webb's Celestial Objects, p. 43.
February, 1824—the sounds of Melida.
Upon Feb. II, 1824, a slight shock was felt at Irkutsk, Siberia (Rept. B. A., 1854-124). Upon February 18, or, according to other accounts, upon May 14, a stone that weighed five pounds, fell from the sky at Irkutsk (Rept. B. A., 1860-70). Three severe shocks at Irkutsk, March 8, 1824 (Rept. B. A., 1854-124).
September, 1824—the sounds of Melida.
At five o'clock, morning of Oct. 20, 1824, a light was seen upon the dark part of the moon, by Gruithuisen. It disappeared. Six minutes later it appeared again, disappeared again, and then flashed intermittently, until 5:30 A.M., when sunrise ended the observations (Sci. Amer. Sup., 7-2712). And, upon Jan. 22, 1825, again shone out the star-like light of Aristarchus, reported by the Rev. J. B. Emmett (Annals of Philosophy, 28-338).
The last sounds of Melida of which I have record, were heard in March, 1825. If these detonations did come from the sky, there was something that, for at least three years, was situated over, or was in some other way specially related to, this one small part of this earth's surface, subversively to all supposed principles of astronomy and geodesy. It is said that, to find out whether the sounds did come from the sky, or not, the Prêteur of Melida went into underground caverns to listen. It is said that there the sounds could not be heard.