The climacteric opposition of Mars, of 1909—the last in our records—the
next will be in 1924—
Aug. 8, 1909—see _Quar. Jour. Met. Soc._, n. s., 35-299—flashes in a
clear sky that were seen in Epsom, Surrey, and other places in the
southeast of England. They could not be attributed to lightning in
England. The writer in the _Journal_ finds that there was a
storm in France, more than one hundred miles away, For an
account of these flashes, tabulated at Epsom—“night fine and
starlight”—see _Symons’ Met. Mag._, 44-148. During each period
of five minutes, from 10 to 11.15, P. M., the number of
flashes—16-14-20-31-15-26-12-20-30-18-27-22-14-12-10-21-8-5-3-1-0-1-0.
With such a time-basis, I can see no possibility of detecting anything
of a code-like significance. I do see development. There were similar
observations at times in the favorable oppositions of Mars of 1875 and
1877. In 1892, such flashes were noted more particularly. Now we have
them noted and tabulated, but upon a basis that could be of interest
only to meteorologists. If they shall be seen in 1924, we may have
observation, tabulation, and some marvellously different translations of
them. After that there will be some intolerably similar translations,
suspiciously delayed in publication.
Sept. 23, 1909—opposition of Mars.
Throughout our data, we have noticed successions of appearances in local
skies of this earth, that indicate that this earth is stationary, but
that also relate to nearest approaches of Mars. Upon the night of Dec.
16-17, 1896, concussion after concussion was felt at Worcester, England;
a great “meteor” was seen at the time of the greatest concussion. Mars
was seven days past opposition. We thought it likely enough that
explosion after explosion had occurred over Worcester, and that
something in the sky had been seen only at the time of the greatest, or
the nearest, explosion. We did not think well of the conventional
explanation that only by coincidence had a great meteor exploded over a
region where a series of earthquakes was occurring, and exactly at the
moment of the greatest of these shocks.
In November, 1911, Mars was completing his cycle of changing proximities
of a duration of fifteen years, and was duplicating the relationship of
the year 1896. About 10 o’clock, night of Nov. 16, 1911, a concussion
that is conventionally said to have been an earthquake occurred in
Germany and Switzerland. But plainly there was an explosion in the sky.
In the _Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America_, 3-189, Count
Montessus de Ballore writes that he had examined 112 reports upon
flashes and other luminous appearances in the sky that had preceded the
“earthquake” by a few seconds. He concludes that a great meteor had only
happened to explode over a region where, a few seconds later, there was
going to be an earthquake. “It therefore seems highly probable that the
earthquake coincided with a fall of meteors or of shooting stars.”
The duplication of the circumstances of Dec., 1896, continues. If of
course this concussion in Germany and Switzerland was the effect of
something that exploded in the sky—of what were the concussions that
were felt later, the effects? De Ballore does not mention anything that
occurred later. But, a few minutes past midnight, and then again, at 3
o’clock, morning of the 17th, there were other, but slighter, shocks.
Only at the time of the greatest shock was something seen in the sky.
_Nature_, 88-117—that this succession of phenomena did occur. We relate
the phenomena to the planet Mars, but also we ask—how, if most
reasonably, all three of these shocks were concussions from explosions
in the sky, if of course one of them was, meteors could ever so hound
one small region upon a moving earth, or projectiles be fired with such
specialization and preciseness? November 17th, 1911 was seven days
before the opposition of Mars. Though the opposition occurred upon the
24th of November, Mars was at minimum distance upon the 17th.
No matter how difficult of acceptance our own notions may be, they are
opposed by this barbarism, or puerility, or pill that can’t be digested:
Seven days from the opposition of Mars, in 1896, a great meteor exploded
over a region where there had been a succession of earthquakes—by
coincidence.
Seven days from the next similar opposition of Mars, a great meteor
exploded over a region where there was going to be a succession of
earthquakes—by coincidence.
* * * * *
The Advantagerians of the moon—that is the cult of lunar
communicationists, who try to take advantage of such celestial events as
oppositions and eclipses, thinking that astronomers, or night watchmen,
or policemen of this earth might at such times look up at the sky—
A great luminous object, or a meteor, that was seen at the time of the
eclipse of June 28, 1908—“as if to make the date of the eclipse more
memorable,” says W. F. Denning (_Observatory_, 31-288).
Not long before the opposition of Mars, in 1909, the bright spot west of
Picard was seen twice: March 26 and May 23 (_Jour. B. A. A._, 19-376).
Nov. 16, 1910—an eclipse of the moon, and a “meteor” that appeared,
almost at the moment of totality (_Eng. Mec._, 92-430). It is reported,
in _Nature_, 85-118, as seen by Madame de Robeck, at Naas, Ireland,
“from an apparent radiant, just below the eclipsed moon.” The thing may
have come from the moon. Seemingly with the same origin, it was seen far
away in France. In _La Nature_, Nov. 26, 1910, it is said that, at
Besançon, France, during the eclipse, was seen a meteor like a superb
rocket, “qui serait partie de la lune.” There may have been something
occurring upon the moon at the time. In the _Jour. B. A. A._, 21-100, it
is said that Mrs. Albright had seen a luminous point upon the moon
throughout the eclipse.
* * * * *
Our expression is that there is an association between reported objects,
like extra-mundane visitors, and nearest approaches by the planet Venus
to this earth. Perhaps unfortunately this is our expression, because it
makes for more restriction than we intend. The objects, or the voyagers,
have often been seen during the few hours of the visibility of Venus,
when the planet is nearest. “Then such an object is Venus,” say the
astronomers. If anybody wonders why, if these seeming navigators can
come close to this earth—as they do approach, if they appear only in a
local sky—they do not then come all the way to this earth, let him ask a
sea captain why said captain never purposely descends to the bottom of
the ocean, though travelling often not far away. However, I conceive of
a great variety of extra-mundanians, and I am now collecting data for a
future expression—that some kinds of beings from outer space can adapt
to our conditions, which may be like the bottom of a sea, and have been
seen, but have been supposed to be psychic phenomena.
Upon Oct. 31, 1908, the planet Venus was four months past inferior
conjunction, and so had moved far from nearest approach, but there are
vague stories of strange objects that had been seen in the skies of this
earth—localized in New England—back to the time of nearest approach. In
the New York _Sun_, Nov. 1, 1908, is published a dispatch, from Boston,
dated Oct. 31. It is said that, near Bridgewater, at four o’clock in the
morning of Oct. 31, two men had seen a spectacle in the sky. The men
were not astronomers. They were undertakers. There may be a disposition
to think that these observers were not in their own field of greatest
expertness, and to think that we are not very exacting as to the sources
of our data. But we have to depend upon undertakers, for instance: early
in our investigations, we learned that the prestige of astronomers has
been built upon their high moral character, all of them most excellently
going to bed soon after sunset, so as to get up early and write all day
upon astronomical subjects. But the exemplary in one respect may not
lead to much advancement in some other respect. Our undertakers saw, in
the sky, something like a searchlight. It played down upon this earth,
as if directed by an investigator, and then it flashed upward. “All of
the balloons in which ascensions are made, in this State, were accounted
for today, and a search through southeastern Massachusetts failed to
reveal any further trace of the supposed airship.” It is said that
“mysterious bright lights,” believed to have come from a balloon, had
been reported from many places in New England. The week before, persons
at Ware had said that they had seen an illuminated balloon passing over
the town, early in the morning. During the summer such reports had come
from Bristol, Conn., and later from Pittsfield, Mass., and from White
River Junction, Vt. “In all these cases, however, no balloon could be
found, all the known airships being accounted for.” In the New York
_Sun_, Dec. 13, 1909, it is said that, during the autumn of 1908,
reports had come from different places in Connecticut, upon a mysterious
light that moved rapidly in the sky.
Venus moved on, travelling around the sun, which was revolving around
this earth, or travelling any way to suit anybody. In December, 1909,
the planet was again approaching this earth. So close was Venus to this
earth that, upon the 15th of December, 1909, crowds stood, at noon, in
the streets of Rome, watching it, or her (New York _Sun_, Dec. 16). At 3
o’clock, afternoon of December 24th crowds stood in the streets of New
York, watching Venus (New York _Tribune_, Dec. 25). One supposes that
upon these occasions Venus may have been within several thousand miles
of this earth. At any rate I have never heard of one fairly good reason
for supposing otherwise. If again something appeared in local skies of
this earth, or in the skies of New England, and sometimes during the few
hours of the visibility of Venus, the object was or was not Venus, all
according to the details of various descriptions, and the credibility of
the details. The searchlight, for instance; more than one light;
directions and motions. Venus, at the time, was for several hours after
sunset, slowly descending in the southwest: primary maximum brilliance
Jan. 8th, 1910; inferior conjunction Feb. 12th.
There is an amusing befuddlement to clear away first. Upon the night of
September 8, 1909, a luminous object had been seen sailing over New
England, and sounds from it, like sounds from a motor, had been heard.
Then Mr. Wallace Tillinghast, of Worcester, Mass., announced that this
light had been a lamp in his “secret aëroplane,” and that upon this
night he had travelled, in said “secret aëroplane,” from Boston to New
York, and back to Boston. At this time the longest recorded flight, in
an aëroplane, was Farman’s, of 111 miles, from Rheims, August, 1909;
and, in the United States, according to records, it was not until May
29, 1910, that Curtiss flew from Albany to New York City, making one
stop in the 150 miles, however. So this unrecorded flight made some stir
in the newspapers. Mr. Tillinghast meant his story humorously of course.
I mention it because, if anybody should look the matter up, he will find
the yarn involved in the newspaper accounts. If nothing else had been
seen, Mr. Tillinghast might still tell his story, and explain why he
never did anything with his astonishing “secret aëroplane”; but
something else was seen, and upon one of the nights in which it
appeared, Tillinghast was known to be in his home.
According to the New York _Tribune_, Dec. 21, 1909, Immigration
Inspector Hoe, of Boston, had reported having seen, at one o’clock in
the morning of December 20, “a bright light passing over the harbor” and
had concluded that he had seen an airship of some kind.
New York _Tribune_, Dec. 23—that a “mysterious airship” had appeared
over the town of Worcester, Mass., “sweeping the heavens with a
searchlight of tremendous power.” It had come from the southeast, and
travelled northwest, then hovering over the city, disappearing in the
direction of Marlboro. Two hours later, it returned. “Thousands thronged
the streets, watching the mysterious visitor.” Again it hovered, then
moving away, heading first to the south and then to the east.
The next night, something was seen, at 6 o’clock, at Boston. “The
searchlights shot across the sky line.” “As it flew away to the north,
queries began to pour into the newspaper offices and the police
stations, regarding the remarkable visitation.” It is said that an hour
and a half later, an object that was supposed to be an airship with a
powerful searchlight, appeared in the sky, at Willimantic, Conn.,
“hovering” over the town about 15 minutes. In the New York _Sun_, Dec.
24, are more details. It is said that, at Willimantic, had been seen a
large searchlight, approaching from the east, and that then dark
outlines of something behind the searchlight had been seen. Also, in the
_Sun_, it is said that whatever it may have been that was seen at
Boston, it was a dark object, with several red lights and a searchlight,
approaching Boston from the west, hovering for 10 minutes, and then
moving away westward. From Lynn, Mass., it was described as “a long
black object,” moving in the direction of Salem, and then returning, “at
a high speed.” It is said that the object had been seen at Marlboro,
Mass., nine times since Dec. 14.
New York _Tribune_, Jan. 1, 1910—dispatch from Huntington, West
Virginia, Dec. 31, 1909—“Three huge lights of almost uniform dimensions
appeared in the early morning sky, in this neighborhood, today. Joseph
Green, a farmer, declared that they were meteors, which fell on his
farm. An extensive search of his land by others who saw the lights was
fruitless, and many persons believe that an airship had sped over the
country.”
In the _Tribune_, Jan. 13, 1910, it is said that, at 9 o’clock, morning
of Jan. 12, an airship had been seen at Chattanooga, Tenn. “Thousands
saw the craft, and heard the ‘chug’ of its engine.” Later the object was
reported from Huntsville, Alabama. New York _Tribune_, Jan. 15—dispatch
from Chattanooga, Jan. 14—“For the third successive day, a mysterious
white aircraft passed over Chattanooga, about noon today. It came from
the north, and was travelling southeast, disappearing over Missionary
Ridge. On Wednesday, it came south, and on Thursday, it returned north.”
In the middle of December, 1909, someone had won a prize for sailing in
a dirigible from St. Cyr to the Eiffel Tower and back.
St. Cyr is several miles from Paris.
Huntsville, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, are 75 miles apart.
An association between the planet Venus and “mysterious visitors” either
illumines or haunts our data. In the New York _Tribune_, Jan. 29, 1910,
it is said that a luminous object, thought to be Winnecke’s comet, had
been seen, Jan. 28, near Venus; reported from the Manila Observatory.
I have another datum that perhaps belongs to this series of events.
Every night, from the 14th to the 23rd of December, 1909, if we accept
the account from Marlboro, a luminous object was seen travelling, or
exploring, in the sky of New England. Certainly enough it was no “secret
airship” of this earth, unless its navigator went to extremes with the
notion that the best way to kept a secret is to announce it with red
lights and a searchlight. However, our acceptance depends upon general
data as to the development of terrestrial aeronautics. But upon the
night of December 24th, the object was not seen in New England, and it
may have been travelling or exploring somewhere else. Night of the
24th—Venus in the southwest in the early hours of the evening. In the
_English Mechanic_, 104-71, a correspondent, who signs himself “Rigel,”
writes that, upon Dec. 24, at 8.30 o’clock in the evening, he saw a
luminous object appear above the northeastern horizon and slowly move
southward, until 8.50 o’clock, then turning around, retracing, and
disappearing whence it came, at two minutes past nine. The correspondent
is James Fergusen, Rossbrien, Limerick, Ireland. He writes frequently
upon astronomical and meteorological subjects, and is still contributing
to the somewhat enlightened columns of the _English Mechanic_.
* * * * *
Nov. 19, 1912—explosive sounds reported from Sunninghill, Berkshire. No
earthquake was recorded at the Kew Observatory, and, in the opinion of
W. F. Denning (_Nature_, 9-363, 417) the explosion was in the sky. It
was a terrific explosion, according to the Westminster _Gazette_ (Nov.
19). There was either one great explosion that rumbled and echoed for
five minutes, or there were repeated detonations, resembling
cannonading—“like a tremendous discharge of big guns” according to
reports from Abingdon, Lewes, and Epsom. Sunninghill is about ten miles
from Reading, and Abingdon is near Reading, but the sound was heard in
London, and down by the English Channel, and even in the island of
Alderney. In the _Gazette_, Nov. 28, Sir George Fordham (H. G. Fordham)
writes that, in his opinion, it was an explosion in the sky. He
says—“The phenomena of airshock never have, I believe, been very fully
investigated.” His admissions and his omissions remain the same as they
have been since occurrences of the year 1889. He does not mention that,
according to Philip T. Kenway, of Hambledon, near Godalming, about
thirty miles southeast of Reading, the sounds were heard again the next
day, from 1.45 to 2 P. M. Mr. Kenway thinks that there had been big-gun
firing at Portsmouth (_West. Gaz._, Nov. 21). In the London _Standard_,
a correspondent, writing from Dorking, say that the phenomena of the
19th were like concussions from cannonading—“at regular intervals”—“at
quick intervals, lasting some seconds each time, for five minutes, by
the clock.”
It develops that Reading was the center over which the detonations
occurred. In the Westminster _Gazette_, Nov. 30, it is said that the
shocks had been felt in Reading, upon the 19th, 20th, and 21st. Only
from Reading have I record of phenomena upon the 21st. Mr. H. L.
Hawkins, Lecturer in Geology, of the Reading University, writes that
according to his investigations there had been no gun-firing in England,
to which the detonations could be attributed. He says that Fordham’s
explanation was in accord with his own investigations, or that the
detonations had occurred in the sky. He writes that, inasmuch as the
detonations had occurred upon three successive days, a shower of
meteors, of long duration, would have to be supposed. How he ever
visualized that unerring shower, striking one point over this earth’s
surface, and nowhere else, day after day, if this earth be a rotating
and revolving body, I can not see. If he should say that by coincidence
this repetition could occur, then by what coincidence of coincidences
could the same repetitions have occurred in this same local sky,
centering around Reading, seven years before? The indications are that
this earth is stationary, no matter how unreasonable that may sound.
In the Westminster _Gazette_, Dec. 9, W. F. Denning writes that without
doubt the phenomena were “meteoric explosions.” But he alludes to the
“airquake and strange noises” that were heard upon the 19th. He does not
mention the detonations that were heard upon the following days. Not one
of these writers mentions the sounds that were heard in Reading, in
November, 1905.
London _Standard_, Nov. 23, 1912—that, according to Lieut. Col. Trewman,
of Reading, the sounds had been heard at Reading, at 9 A. M., upon the
19th; 1.45 P. M., the 20th; 3.30 P. M., the 21st.