Explosions over the towns of Barisal, Bengal, if they were aërial
explosions, were continuing. As to some of these detonations that were
heard in May, 1874, a writer in _Nature_, 53-197, says that they did
seem to come from overhead. For a report upon the Barisal Guns, heard
between April 28, 1888, and March 1, 1889, see _Proc. Asiatic Soc. of
Bengal_, 1889-199.
Phenomena at Comrie were continuing. The latest date in Roper’s _List of
Earthquakes_ is April 8, 1886, but this list goes on only a few years
later. See _Knowledge_, n. s., 6-145—shock and a rumbling sound at
Comrie, July 12, 1894—a repetition upon the corresponding date, the next
year. In the _English Mechanic_, 74-155, David Packer says that, upon
Sept. 17, 1901, ribbon-like flashes of lightning, which were not
ordinary lightning, were seen in the sky (I think of Birmingham) one
hour before a shock in Scotland. According to other accounts, this shock
was in Comrie and surrounding regions (London _Times_, Sept. 19, 1901).
_Smithson. Miscell. Cols._, 37-Appendix, p. 71:
According to L. Tennyson, Quartermaster’s Clerk, at Fort Klamath,
Oregon, at daylight, Jan. 8, 1867, the garrison was startled from sleep
by what he supposed to be an earthquake and a sound like thunder. Then
came darkness, and the sky was covered with black smoke or clouds. Then
ashes, of a brownish color, fell—“as fast as I ever saw it snow.” Half
an hour later there was another shock, described as “frightful.” No one
was injured, but the sutler’s store was thrown a distance of ninety
feet, and the vibrations lasted several minutes. Mr. Tennyson thought
that somewhere near Fort Klamath, a volcano had broken loose, because,
in the direction of the Klamath Marsh, a dark column of smoke was seen.
I can find record of no such volcanic eruption. In a list of quakes, in
Oregon, from 1846, to 1916, published in the _Bull. Seis. Soc. Amer._,
Sept., 1919, not one is attributed to volcanic eruptions. Mr. W. D.
Smith, compiler of the list, says, as to the occurrence at Fort
Klamath—“If there was an eruption, where was it?” He asks whether
possibly it could have been in Lassen Peak. But Lassen Peak is in
California, and the explosion upon Jan. 8, 1867 was so close to Fort
Klamath that almost immediately ashes fell from the sky.
The following is of the type of phenomena that might be considered
evidence of signalling from some unknown world nearby:
_La Nature_, 17-126—that, upon June 17, 1881, sounds like cannonading
were heard at Gabes, Tunis, and that quaking of the earth was felt, at
intervals of 32 seconds, lasting about 6 minutes.
July 30, 1883—a somewhat startling experience—steamship _Resolute_ alone
in the Arctic Ocean—six reports like gunfire—_Nature_, 53-295.
In _Nature_, 30-19, a correspondent writes that, upon the 3rd of
January, 1869, a policeman in Harlton, Cambridgeshire, heard six or
seven reports, as if of heavy guns far away. There is no findable record
of an earthquake in England upon this date. In the London _Times_, Jan.
12, 15, 16, 1869, several correspondents write that upon the 9th of
January a loud report had been heard and a shock felt at places near
Colchester, Essex, about 30 miles from Harlton. One of the
correspondents writes that he had heard the sound but had felt no shock.
In the London _Standard_, Jan. 12, the Rev. J. F. Bateman, of South
Lopham, Norfolk, writes as to the occurrence upon the 9th—“An
extraordinary vibration, described variously by my parishioners as being
‘like a gunpowder explosion,’ ‘a big thunder clap,’ and ‘a little
earthquake’ was noticed here this morning about 11.20.” In the _Morning
Post_, Jan. 14, it is said that at places about twenty miles from
Colchester it was thought that an explosion had occurred, upon the 9th,
but, inasmuch as no explosion had been heard of, the disturbance was
attributed to an earthquake. Night of Jan. 13—an explosion in the sky,
at Brighton (_Rept. B. A._, 1869-307). In the _Standard_, Jan. 22, a
correspondent writes from Swaffham, Norfolk, that, about 8 P. M., Jan.
15, something of an unknown nature had frightened flocks of sheep, which
had burst from their bounds in various places. All these occurrences
were in adjoining counties in southeastern England. Something was seen
in the sky upon the 13th, and, according to the _Chudleigh Weekly
Express_, Jan. 13, 1869, something was seen in the sky, night of the
10th, at Weston-super-Mare, near Bristol, in southwestern England. It
was seen between 9 and 10 o’clock, and is said to have been an
extraordinary meteor. Five hours later were felt three shocks said to
have been earthquakes.
Upon the night of March 17, 1871, there was a series of events in
France, and a series in England. A “meteor” was seen at Tours, at 8 P.
M.—at 10.45, a “meteor” that left a luminous cloud over Saintes
(Charante-Inferieure)—another at Paris, 11.15, leaving a mark in the
sky, of fifteen minutes’ duration—another at Tours, at 11.45 P. M. See
_Les Mondes_, 24-190, and _Comptes Rendus_, 72-789. There were
“earthquakes” this night affecting virtually all England north of the
Mersey and the Trent, and also southern parts of Scotland. As has often
been the case, the phenomena were thought to have been explosions and
were then said to have been earthquakes when no terrestrial explosions
could be heard of (_Symons’ Met. Mag._, 6-39). There were six shocks
near Manchester, between 6 and 7 P. M., and others about 11 P. M.; and
in Lancashire about 11 P. M., and continuing in places as far apart as
Liverpool and Newcastle, until 11.30 o’clock. The shocks felt about 11
o’clock correspond, in time, with the luminous phenomena in the sky of
France, but our way of expressing that these so-called earthquakes in
England may have been concussions from repeating explosions in the sky,
is to record that, according to correspondence in the London _Times_,
there were, upon the 20th, aërial phenomena in the region of Lancashire
that had been affected upon the 17th—“sounds that seemed to come from a
number of guns at a distance” and “pale flashes of lightning in the
sky.”
Whether these series of phenomena be relatable to Mars or Martians or
not, we note that in 1871 opposition of Mars was upon March 19; and, in
1869, upon Feb. 13; and in 1867 two days after the explosions at Fort
Klamath. In our records in this book, similar coincidences can be found
up to the year 1879. I have other such records not here published, and
others that will be here investigated.
There is a triangular region in England, three points of which appear so
often in our data that the region should be specially known to us, and I
know it myself as the London Triangle. It is pointed in the north by
Worcester and Hereford, in the south by Reading, Berkshire, and in the
east by Colchester, Essex. The line between Colchester and Reading runs
through London.
Upon Feb. 18, 1884, at West Mersea, near Colchester, a loud report was
heard (_Nature_, 53-4). Upon the 22nd of April, 1884, centering around
Colchester, occurred the severest earthquake in England in the 19th
century. For several columns of description, see the London _Times_,
April 23. There is a long list of towns in which there was great damage:
in 24 parishes near Colchester, 1250 buildings were damaged. One of the
places that suffered most was West Mersea (_Daily Chronicle_, April 28).
There was something in the sky. According to G. P. Yeats (_Observations
upon the Earthquake of Dec. 17, 1896_, p. 6) there was a red appearance
in the sky over Colchester, at the time of the shock of April 22, 1884.
The next day, according to a writer in _Knowledge_, 5-336, a stone fell
from the sky, breaking glass in his greenhouse, in Essex. It was a
quartz stone, and unlike anything usually known as meteoritic.
The indications, according to my reading of the data, and my impressions
of such repeating occurrences as those at Fort Klamath, are that perhaps
an explosion occurred in the sky, near Colchester, upon Feb. 18, 1884;
that a great explosion did occur over Colchester, upon the 22nd of
April, and that a great volume of débris spread over England, in a
northwesterly direction, passing over Worcestershire and Shropshire, and
continuing on toward Liverpool, nucleating moisture and falling in
blackest of rain. From the Stonyhurst Observatory, near Liverpool, was
reported, occurring at 11 A. M., April 26, “the most extraordinary
darkness remembered”; forty minutes later fell rain “as black as ink,”
and then black snow and black hail (_Nature_, 30-6). Black hail fell at
Chaigley, several miles from Liverpool (_Stonyhurst Magazine_, 1-267).
Five hours later, black substance fell at Crowle, near Worcester
(_Nature_, 30-32). Upon the 28th, at Church Stretton and Much Wenlock,
Shropshire, fell torrents of liquid like ink and water in equal
proportions (_The Field_, May 3, 1884). In the _Jour. Roy. Met. Soc._,
11-7, it is said that, upon the 28th, half a mile from Lilleshall,
Shropshire, an unknown pink substance was brought down by a storm. Upon
the 3rd of May, black substance fell again at Crowle (_Nature_, 30-32).
In _Nature_, 30-216, a correspondent writes that, upon June 22, 1884, at
Fletching, Sussex, southwest of Colchester, there was intense darkness,
and that rain then brought down flakes of soot in such abundance that it
seemed to be “snowing black.” This was several months after the shock at
Colchester, but my datum for thinking that another explosion, or
disturbance of some kind, had occurred in the same local sky, is that,
as reported by the inmates of one house, a slight shock was felt, upon
the 24th of June, at Colchester, showing that the phenomena were
continuing. See Roper’s _List of Earthquakes_.
Was not the loud report heard upon Feb. 18 probably an explosion in the
sky, inasmuch as the sound was great and the quake little? Were not
succeeding phenomena sounds and concussions and the fall of débris from
explosions in the sky, acceptably upon April 22, and perhaps continuing
until the 24th of June? Then what are the circumstances by which one
small part of this earth’s surface could continue in relation with
something somewhere else in space?
Comrie, Irkutsk, and Birmingham.