Book of the Damned — Chapters 25-26

25 "A formation having the shape of a dirigible."

It was reported from Huntington, West Virginia (_Sci.

Amer.

_, 115-241).

Luminous object that was seen July 19, 1916, at about 11 P. M.

Observed through "rather powerful field glasses," it looked to be about two degrees long and half a degree wide.

It gradually dimmed, disappeared, reappeared, and then faded out of sight.

Another person--as we say: it would be too inconvenient to hold to our intermediatist recognitions--another person who observed this phenomenon suggested to the writer of the account that the object was a dirigible, but the writer says that faint stars could be seen behind it.

This would seem really to oppose our notion of a dirigible visitor to this earth--except for the inconclusiveness of all things in a mode of seeming that is not final--or we suggest that behind some parts of the object, thing, construction, faint stars were seen.

We find a slight discussion here.

Prof. H.

M.

Russell thinks that the phenomenon was a detached cloud of aurora borealis.

Upon page 369 of this volume of the _Scientific American_, another correlator suggests that it was a light from a blast furnace--disregarding that, if there be blast furnaces in or near Huntington, their reflections would be commonplaces there.

We now have several observations upon cylindrical-shaped bodies that have appeared in this earth's atmosphere: cylindrical, but pointed at both ends, or torpedo-shaped.

Some of the accounts are not very detailed, but out of the bits of description my own acceptance is that super-geographical routes are traversed by torpedo-shaped super-constructions that have occasionally visited, or that have occasionally been driven into this earth's atmosphere.

From data, the acceptance is that upon entering this earth's atmosphere, these vessels have been so racked that had they not sailed away, disintegration would have occurred: that, before leaving this earth, they have, whether in attempted communication or not, or in mere wantonness or not, dropped objects, which did almost immediately violently disintegrate or explode.

Upon general principles we think that explosives have not been purposely dropped, but that parts have been racked off, and have fallen, exploding like the things called "ball lightning."

Many have been objects of stone or metal with inscriptions upon them, for all we know, at present.

In all instances, estimates of dimensions are valueless, but ratios of dimensions are more acceptable.

A thing said to have been six feet long may have been six hundred feet long; but shape is not so subject to the illusions of distance.

_Nature_, 40-415: That, Aug.

5, 1889, during a violent storm, an object that looked to be about 15 inches long and 5 inches wide, fell, rather slowly, at East Twickenham, England.

It exploded.

No substance from it was found.

_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1864-54: That, Oct.

10, 1864, M.

Leverrier had sent to the Academy three letters from witnesses of a long luminous body, tapering at both ends, that had been seen in the sky.

In _Thunder and Lightning_, p. 87, Flammarion says that on Aug.

20, 1880, during a rather violent storm, M. A.

Trecul, of the French Academy, saw a very brilliant yellowish-white body, apparently 35 to 40 centimeters long, and about 25 centimeters wide.

Torpedo-shaped.

Or a cylindrical body, "with slightly conical ends."

It dropped something, and disappeared in the clouds.

Whatever it may have been that was dropped, it fell vertically, like a heavy object, and left a luminous train.

The scene of this occurrence may have been far from the observer.

No sound was heard.

For M. Trecul's account, see _Comptes Rendus_, 103-849. _Monthly Weather Review_, 1907-310: That, July 2, 1907, in the town of Burlington, Vermont, a terrific explosion had been heard throughout the city.

A ball of light, or a luminous object, had been seen to fall from the sky--or from a torpedo-shaped thing, or construction, in the sky.

No one had seen this thing that had exploded fall from a larger body that was in the sky--but if we accept that at the same time there was a larger body in the sky-- My own acceptance is that a dirigible in the sky, or a construction that showed every sign of disrupting, had barely time to drop--whatever it did drop--and to speed away to safety above.

The following story is told, in the _Review_, by Bishop John S. Michaud: "I was standing on the corner of Church and College Streets, just in front of the Howard Bank, and facing east, engaged in conversation with Ex-Governor Woodbury and Mr. A.

A.

Buell, when, without the slightest indication, or warning, we were startled by what sounded like a most unusual and terrific explosion, evidently very nearby.

Raising my eyes, and looking eastward along College Street, I observed a torpedo-shaped body, some 300 feet away, stationary in appearance, and suspended in the air, about 50 feet above the tops of the buildings.

In size it was about 6 feet long by 8 inches in diameter, the shell, or covering, having a dark appearance, with here and there tongues of fire issuing from spots on the surface, resembling red-hot, unburnished copper.

Although stationary when first noticed, this object soon began to move, rather slowly, and disappeared over Dolan Brothers' store, southward.

As it moved, the covering seemed rupturing in places, and through these the intensely red flames issued."

Bishop Michaud attempts to correlate it with meteorological observations.

Because of the nearby view this is perhaps the most remarkable of the new correlates, but the correlate now coming is extraordinary because of the great number of recorded observations upon it.

My own acceptance is that, upon Nov.

17, 1882, a vast dirigible crossed England, but by the definiteness-indefiniteness of all things quasi-real, some observations upon it can be correlated with anything one pleases.

E.

W.

Maunder, invited by the Editors of the _Observatory_ to write some reminiscences for the 500th number of their magazine, gives one that he says stands out (_Observatory_, 39-214).

It is upon something that he terms "a strange celestial visitor."

Maunder was at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Nov.

17, 1882, at night.

There was an aurora, without features of special interest.

In the midst of the aurora, a great circular disk of greenish light appeared and moved smoothly across the sky.

But the circularity was evidently the effect of foreshortening.

The thing passed above the moon, and was, by other observers, described as "cigar-shaped," "like a torpedo," "a spindle," "a shuttle."

The idea of foreshortening is not mine: Maunder says this.

He says: "Had the incident occurred a third of a century later, beyond doubt everyone would have selected the same simile--it would have been 'just like a Zeppelin.'

" The duration was about two minutes.

Color said to have been the same as that of the auroral glow in the north.

Nevertheless, Maunder says that this thing had no relation to auroral phenomena.

"It appeared to be a definite body."

Motion too fast for a cloud, but "nothing could be more unlike the rush of a meteor."

In the _Philosophical Magazine_, 5-15-318, J.

Rand Capron, in a lengthy paper, alludes throughout to this phenomenon as an "auroral beam," but he lists many observations upon its "torpedo-shape," and one observation upon a "dark nucleus" in it--host of most confusing observations--estimates of height between 40 and 200 miles--observations in Holland and Belgium.

We are told that according to Capron's spectroscopic observations the phenomenon was nothing but a beam of auroral light.

In the _Observatory_, 6-192, is Maunder's contemporaneous account.

He gives apparent approximate length and breadth at twenty-seven degrees and three degrees and a half.

He gives other observations seeming to indicate structure--"remarkable dark marking down the center."

In _Nature_, 27-84, Capron says that because of the moonlight he had been able to do little with the spectroscope.

Color white, but aurora rosy (_Nature_, 27-87).

Bright stars seen through it, but not at the zenith, where it looked opaque.

This is the only assertion of transparency (_Nature_, 27-87).

Too slow for a meteor, but too fast for a cloud (_Nature_, 27-86).

"Surface had a mottled appearance" (_Nature_, 27-87).

"Very definite in form, like a torpedo" (_Nature_, 27-100).

"Probably a meteoric object" (Dr. Groneman, _Nature_, 27-296).

Technical demonstration by Dr. Groneman, that it was a cloud of meteoric matter (_Nature_, 28-105).

See _Nature_, 27-315, 338, 365, 388, 412, 434. "Very little doubt it was an electric phenomenon" (Proctor, _Knowledge_, 2-419).

In the London _Times_, Nov.

20, 1882, the Editor says that he had received a great number of letters upon this phenomenon.

He publishes two.

One correspondent describes it as "well-defined and shaped like a fish...

extraordinary and alarming."

The other correspondent writes of it as "a most magnificent luminous mass, shaped somewhat like a torpedo."

26 _Notes and Queries_, 5-3-306: About 8 lights that were seen in Wales, over an area of about 8 miles, all keeping their own ground, whether moving together perpendicularly, horizontally, or over a zigzag course.

They looked like electric lights--disappearing, reappearing dimly, then shining as bright as ever.

"We have seen them three or four at a time afterward, on four or five occasions."

London _Times_, Oct.

5, 1877: "From time to time the west coast of Wales seems to have been the scene of mysterious lights....

And now we have a statement from Towyn that within the last few weeks lights of various colors have been seen moving over the estuary of the Dysynni River, and out to sea.

They are generally in a northerly direction, but sometimes they hug the shore, and move at high velocity for miles toward Aberdovey, and suddenly disappear."

_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1877-45: Lights that appeared in the sky, above Vence, France, March 23, 1877;

described as balls of fire of dazzling brightness; appeared from a cloud about a degree in diameter; moved relatively slowly.

They were visible more than an hour, moving northward.

It is said that eight or ten years before similar lights or objects had been seen in the sky, at Vence.

London _Times_, Sept.

19, 1848: That, at Inverness, Scotland, two large, bright lights that looked like stars had been seen in the sky: sometimes stationary, but occasionally moving at high velocity.

_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1888-66: Observed near St. Petersburg, July 30, 1880, in the evening: a large spherical light and two smaller ones, moving along a ravine: visible three minutes; disappearing without noise.

_Nature_, 35-173: That, at Yloilo, Sept.

30, 1886, was seen a luminous object the size of the full moon.

It "floated" slowly "northward," followed by smaller ones close to it.

"The False Lights of Durham."

Every now and then in the English newspapers, in the middle of the nineteenth century, there is something about lights that were seen against the sky, but as if not far above land, oftenest upon the coast of Durham.

They were mistaken for beacons by sailors.

Wreck after wreck occurred.

The fishermen were accused of displaying false lights and profiting by wreckage.

The fishermen answered that mostly only old vessels, worthless except for insurance, were so wrecked.

In 1866 (London _Times_, Jan.

9, 1866) popular excitement became intense.

There was an investigation.

Before a commission, headed by Admiral Collinson, testimony was taken.

One witness described the light that had deceived him as "considerably elevated above ground."

No conclusion was reached: the lights were called "the mysterious lights."

But whatever the "false lights of Durham" may have been, they were unaffected by the investigation.

In 1867, the Tyne Pilotage Board took the matter up.

Opinion of the Mayor of Tyne--"a mysterious affair."

In the _Report of the British Association_, 1877-152, there is a description of a group of "meteors" that traveled with "remarkable slowness."

They were in sight about three minutes.

"Remarkable," it seems, is scarcely strong enough: one reads of "remarkable" as applied to a duration of three seconds.

These "meteors" had another peculiarity;

they left no train.

They are described as "seemingly huddled together like a flock of wild geese, and moving with the same velocity and grace of regularity."

_Jour.

Roy.

Astro.

Soc.

of Canada_, November and December, 1913: That, according to many observations collected by Prof. Chant, of Toronto, there appeared, upon the night of Feb.

9, 1913, a spectacle that was seen in Canada, the United States, and at sea, and in Bermuda.

A luminous body was seen.

To it there was a long tail.

The body grew rapidly larger.

"Observers differ as to whether the body was single, or was composed of three or four parts, with a tail to each part."

The group, or complex structure, moved with "a peculiar, majestic deliberation."

"It disappeared in the distance, and another group emerged from its place of origin.

Onward they moved, at the same deliberate pace, in twos or threes or fours."

They disappeared.

A third group, or a third structure, followed.

Some observers compared the spectacle to a fleet of airships: others to battleships attended by cruisers and destroyers.

According to one writer: "There were probably 30 or 32 bodies, and the peculiar thing about them was their moving in fours and threes and twos, abreast of one another;

and so perfect was the lining up that you would have thought it was an aerial fleet maneuvering after rigid drilling."

_Nature_, May 25, 1893: A letter from Capt. Charles J. Norcock, of H. M. S.

_Caroline_: That, upon the 24th of February, 1893, at 10 P. M.

, between Shanghai and Japan, the officer of the watch had reported "some unusual lights."

They were between the ship and a mountain.

The mountain was about 6,000 feet high.

The lights seemed to be globular.

They moved sometimes massed, but sometimes strung out in an irregular line.

They bore "northward," until lost to sight.

Duration two hours.

The next night the lights were seen again.

They were, for a time, eclipsed by a small island.

They bore north at about the same speed and in about the same direction as speed and direction of the _Caroline_.

But they were lights that cast a reflection: there was a glare upon the horizon under them.

A telescope brought out but few details: that they were reddish, and seemed to emit a faint smoke.

This time the duration was seven and a half hours.

Then Capt. Norcock says that, in the same general locality, and at about the same time, Capt. Castle, of H. M. S.

_Leander_, had seen lights.

He had altered his course and had made toward them.

The lights had fled from him.

At least, they had moved higher in the sky.

_Monthly Weather Review_, March, 1904-115: Report from the observations of three members of his crew by Lieut.

Frank H. Schofield, U. S.

N, of the U. S.

S.

_Supply_: Feb.

24, 1904. Three luminous objects, of different sizes, the largest having an apparent area of about six suns.

When first sighted, they were not very high.

They were below clouds of an estimated height of about one mile.

They fled, or they evaded, or they turned.

They went up into the clouds below which they had, at first, been sighted.

Their unison of movement.

But they were of different sizes, and of different susceptibilities to all forces of this earth and of the air.

_Monthly Weather Review_, August, 1898-358: Two letters from C. N.

Crotsenburg, Crow Agency, Montana: That, in the summer of 1896, when this writer was a railroad postal clerk--or one who was experienced in train-phenomena--while his train was going "northward," from Trenton, Mo.

, he and another clerk saw, in the darkness of a heavy rain, a light that appeared to be round, and of a dull-rose color, and seemed to be about a foot in diameter.

It seemed to float within a hundred feet of the earth, but soon rose high, or "midway between horizon and zenith."

The wind was quite strong from the east, but the light held a course almost due north.

Its speed varied.

Sometimes it seemed to outrun the train "considerably."

At other times it seemed to fall behind.

The mail-clerks watched until the town of Linville, Iowa, was reached.

Behind the depot of this town, the light disappeared, and was not seen again.

All this time there had been rain, but very little lightning, but Mr. Crotsenburg offers the explanation that it was "ball lightning."

The Editor of the _Review_ disagrees.

He thinks that the light may have been a reflection from the rain, or fog, or from leaves of trees, glistening with rain, or the train's light--not lights.

In the December number of the _Review_ is a letter from Edward M. Boggs--that the light was a reflection, perhaps, from the glare--one light, this time--from the locomotive's fire-box, upon wet telegraph wires--an appearance that might not be striated by the wires, but consolidated into one rotundity--that it had seemed to oscillate with the undulations of the wires, and had seemed to change horizontal distance with the varying angles of reflection, and had seemed to advance or fall behind, when the train had rounded curves.

All of which is typical of the best of quasi-reasoning.

It includes and assimilates diverse data: but it excludes that which will destroy it: That, acceptably, the telegraph wires were alongside the track beyond, as well as leading to Linville.

Mr. Crotsenburg thinks of "ball lightning," which, though a sore bewilderment to most speculation, is usually supposed to be a correlate with the old system of thought: but his awareness of "something else" is expressed in other parts of his letters, when he says that he has something to tell that is "so strange that I should never have mentioned it, even to my friends, had it not been corroborated...

so unreal that I hesitated to speak of it, fearing that it was some freak of the imagination."