312 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
312 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: UFO'S THROUGHOUT HISTORY FILE: UFO2218
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MUFONET-BBS NETWORK - MUTUAL UFO NETWORK
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Contributed by: Georgia MUFON
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A PRIMER: UFO'S THROUGHOUT HISTORY
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Millions of people have seen objects in the sky that they could not identify,
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and many thousands have taken the time and trouble to submit written reports
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about them. The vast majority of these sightings could well be of such things
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as meteors, planets, stars, weather balloons, swamp gas, and atmospheric
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disturbances. There remains however, a significant body of experiences that
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are truly inexplicable.
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There is no doubt that disk shaped objects have been seen by a great many
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honest, sober, and mystified men and women. The objects have been tracked by
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ground-based and airborne radar and have been photographed by still and movie
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cameras in black and white and color. The craft have been observed to hover,
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move straight up or down, and accelerate and maneuver at speeds far beyond the
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capability of any known airplane.
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The sighting of strange objects in the sky may actually predate the emergence
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of modern man. Perhaps the earliest depiction of cylindrical objects
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resembling spacecraft, with what might be their extraterrestrial occupants,
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are those carved on a granite mountain and on rocks on an island in Hunan
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Province, China. They have been assigned a tentative age of 47,000 years,
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which puts them within the time-span of Neanderthal man, predating modern Homo
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sapiens.
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One of the first written accounts of a UFO sighting -- a fleet of flying
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saucers, perhaps -- is the following excerpt from an Egyptian papyrus -- part
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of the annals of Thutmose III, who reigned around 1504-1450 B.C.:
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"In the year 22 of the 3rd month of winter, sixth hour of the day...
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the scribes of the House of Life found it was a circle of fire that was
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coming in the sky... It had no head, the breath of its mouth had a foul
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odor. Its body one rod long and one rod wide. It had no voice. Their
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hearts became confused through it; then they laid themselves on their
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bellies... they went to the Pharaoh... to report it. His Majesty
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ordered... [an examination of] all which is written in the papyrus
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rolls of the House of life. His majesty was meditating upon what
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happened. Now after some days had passed, these things became more
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numerous in the skies than ever. They shone more in the sky than the
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brightness of the sun, and extended to the limits of four supports of
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the heavens... Powerful was the position of the fire circles. The army
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of the Pharaoh looked on with him in their midst. It was after supper.
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Thereupon, these fire circles ascended higher in the sky towards the
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south... The Pharaoh caused incense to be brought to make peace on the
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hearth... and what happened was ordered by the Pharaoh to be written in
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the annals of the House of life... so that it be remembered for ever."
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[Brinsley Le Poer Trench, "The Flying Saucer Story", pp. 81-82.]
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The prophet Ezekiel's "vision", recorded in the bible, is thought by some to
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be a UFO sighting. His description is of a strange "vehicle" coming from the
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sky and landing near the Chebar River (or canal) in Chaldea (now Iraq) in the
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fifth year of the Judean captivity (592 B.C.) under Nebuchadnezzar II of
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Babylon:
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"What kind of 'machine' was this?" Ezekiel continues:
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And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures.
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And from this was their appearance: they had the form of men, but each
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had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were
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straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's
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foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on
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their four sides they had human hands... each had the face of a man in
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front; the four had the face of a lion on the right side... the face of
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an ox on the left side, and... the face of an eagle at the back... and
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their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of
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which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. And
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each [creature] went straight forward... without turning as they
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went... And the living creatures darted to and fro, like a flash of
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lightning."
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Who were these humanoid "occupants"? Space-helmeted, space-suited astronauts
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with a strapped-on flying device? Or, perhaps, extraterrestrial flying
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robots? The account continues:
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"Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel upon the earth
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beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for
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the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance
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was like the gleaming of a chrysolite... being as it were a wheel
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within a wheel... The four wheels had rims and they had spokes; and
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their rims were full of eyes round about. And when the living creatures
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went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose
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from the earth, the wheels rose."
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Were these humanoids going back and forth into a green-glowing spacecraft
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surrounded by a ring of portholes? But there is more:
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"...there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and
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seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a
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human form. And upward from... his loins I saw as it were gleaming
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bronze... and there was brightness... like the appearance of the bow
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that is in the cloud on the day of the rain, so was the appearance of
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the brightness round about... And when I saw it... I heard the voice
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of one speaking."
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Ezekiel is told that the Israelites have transgressed and are to be punished
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unless they obey the Lord's commandments. Ezekiel is selected as the
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messenger to his people and is taken on board ("the spirit lifted me up").
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The spacecraft takes off ("I heard... the sound of the wheels... that
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sounded like a great earthquake"), and Ezekiel is carried to Tel-abib where
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his fellow exiles are and where he sits "overwhelmed among them seven days,"
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traumatized by his experience. (Ezekiel 1-3) (As we can see from contemporary
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UFO encounters, this could be interpreted as an almost classic report of the
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abduction and return of humans.)
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The roman author Julius Obsequens, believed to have lived in the fourth
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century A.D., drew on Livy as well as other sources of his time to compile his
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book "Prodigorium liber", which describes many peculiar phenomena, some of
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which could be interpreted as UFO sightings. here are just a few examples:
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"[216 B.C.] Things like ships were seen in the sky over Italy... At Arpi
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(180 Roman miles, east of Rome, in Apulia) a 'round shield' was seen in
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the sky... At Capua, the sky was all on fire, and one saw figures like
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ships...
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[99 B.C.] When C. Murius and L. Valerius were consuls, in Tarquinia,
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there fell in different places... a thing like a flaming torch, and it
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came suddenly from the sky. Towards sunset, a round object like a
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globe, or round or circular shield took its path in the sky, from west
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to east.
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[90 B.C.] In the territory of Spoletium (65 Roman miles north of Rome,
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in Umbria) a globe of fire, of golden colour, fell to the earth,
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gyrating. It then seemed to increase in size, rose from the earth, and
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ascended into the sky, where it obscured the disc of the sun, with its
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brilliance. It revolved towards the eastern quadrant of the sky.
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[Harold T. wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack", pp. 164-69]
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A later chronicler of inexplicable phenomena, one Conrad Wolffhart (a
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professor of grammer and dielectrics who under the pen name of Lycosthenes
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wrote the compendium "Prodigiorium ac Ostentorum Chronicon", published in
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1567), mentions the following events:
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"[A.D 393] Strange lights were seen in the sky in the days of the
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Emperor Theodosius. On a sudden, a bright globe appeared at midnight.
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It shown brilliantly near the day star (planet, Venus), about the circle
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of the zodiac. This globe shown little less brilliantly than the
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planet, and little by little, a great number of other glowing orbs drew
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near the first globe. The spectacle was like a swarm of bees flying
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round the bee-keeper, and the light of these orbs was as if they were
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dashing violently against each other. Soon, they blended together into
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one awful flame, and bodied forth to the eye as a horrible two-edged
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sword. The strange globe which was first seen now appeared like the
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pommel to a handle, and all the little orbs, fused with the first, shone
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as brilliantly as the first globe." [This report is similar to modern
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accounts of UFO formations.] [Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the
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Attack, pp. 174, 177]
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A rare typeset book from 1493, now preserved in a museum at Verdun, France,
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contains what may be the earliest pictorial representation of a UFO in Europe.
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Hartmann Schedel, author of the book "Liber Chronicarum", describes a strange
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fiery sphere --- seen in 1034 ---soaring through the sky in a straight course
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from south to east and then veering towards the setting sun. The illustration
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accompanying the account shows a cigar-shaped form haloed by flames, sailing
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through a blue sky over a green, rolling countryside. (Jacque Vallee, "UFO's
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in Space: Anatomy of a Phenomenon", p.9)
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A term equivalent to our "flying saucer" was actually used by the Japanese
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approximately 700 years before it came into use in the West. Ancient
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documents describe an unusual shining object seen the night of October 27,
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1180, as a flying "earthenware vessel." After a while the object, which had
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been heading northeast from a mountain in Kii province, changed its direction
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and vanished below the horizon, leaving a luminous trail. (Jacques Vallee,
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"Passport to Magonia", pp. 4-5)
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Here is a classical description from "William of Newburgh's Chronicle" of a
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flying saucer seen in England toward the end of the 12th century:
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"At Byland, or Begeland Abbey (the largest Cistercian abbey in England),
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in the North Yorkshire Riding, while the abbot and monks were in the
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refectorium, a flat, round, shining, silvery object ["discus" is the
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word used in the Latin account] flew over the abbey and caused the
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utmost terror." [Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack", p.
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185]
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The first official investigation of a UFO sighting occurred in Japan in 1235.
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During the night of September 24, while General Yoritsume and his army were
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encamped, they observed mysterious lights in the heavens. The lights were
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seen in the southwest for many hours, swinging, circling, and moving in loops.
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The general ordered a "full-scale scientific investigation" of these strange
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events. The report finally submitted to him as the "soothing" ring of many
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contemporary explanations offered for UFO phenomena. In essence it read: "The
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whole thing is completely natural, General. It is... only the wind making the
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stars sway." (Jacques Vallee, "Passport to Magonia", p.5)
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Many unusual celestial events were recorded in Japanese chronicles during the
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Middle Ages. As in Western society, such occurrences were usually considered
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"portents," often resulting in panics and other social disturbances. Here are
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some examples:
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"...on September 12, 1271, the famous priest Nichiren was about to be
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beheaded at Tatsunokuchi, Kamakura, when there appeared in the sky an
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object like a full moon, shiny and bright. Needless to say, the
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officials panicked and the execution was not carried out.
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In 1361, a flying object described as being 'shaped like a drum, about
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twenty feet in diameter' emerged from the inland sea off Western
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Japan...
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...on March 8, 1468, a dark object, which made a 'sound like a wheel,'
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flew from Mt. Kasuga toward the west at midnight." [Jacgues Vallee,
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"Passport to Magonia", pp. 5-6]
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The Eurpoean recoed of possible UFO sightings continued through the 14th and
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15th centuries:
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"[A.D. 1322] In the first hour of the night of Novr. 4... there was
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seen in the sky over Uxbridge, Enfland, a pile (pillar) of fire the size
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of a small boat, pallid and livid in colour. It rose from the south,
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crossed the sky wirh a slow and grave motion and went north. Out of the
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front of the pile, a fervent red flame burst forth with great beams of
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light. Its speed increased, and it flew thro' the air...
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[A.D. 1387] In Novr. and Decr. of this year, a fire in the sky, like a
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burning and revolving wheel, or round barrel of flame, emitting fire
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from above, and others in the shape of long fiery beam, were seen
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through a great deal of the winter, in the county of Leicester, Eng.,
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and in Northhamptonshire.
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[A.D. 1461] On November 1, a fiery thing like an iron rod of good
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length and as large as one half of the moon was seen in the sky, over...
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Arras, France for less than a quarter of an hour. This object was also
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described as being "shaped like a ship, from which fire was seen
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flowing." [Jacques Vallee, "UFO's in Space: Anatomy of a Phenomenon",
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p. 9; Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack", pp. 187, 188]
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From 1773 another classic account of one of those gleaming, silvery bodies
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today referred to as flying saucers:
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"Something in the sky which appeared in the north, but vanished from my
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sight, as it was intercepted by trees, from my vision. I was standing
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in a valley. The weather was warm, the sun shone brightly. On a sudden
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it re-appeared, darting in and out of my sight with an amazing
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coruscation. The colour of this phenomenon was like burnished, or new
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washed silver. It shot with speed like a star falling in the night.
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But it has a body much larger and a train longer than any shooting star
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I have seen... Next day, Mr. Edgecombe informed me that he and another
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gentleman had seen this strange phenomenon at the same time as I had.
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It was about 15 miles from where I saw it, and steering a course from E.
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to N."
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The witness of this event was a Mr. Cracker of Fleet, a small township in
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Dorset, England. Mr. Cracker said that he saw this "flying saucer" in broad
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daylight on December 8, 1773. ("Fate", April 1951, p. 24).
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A Fellow of the Royal Society in London was about to cross St. Jame's Park on
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his way home from a meeting on December 16, 1742, when he was startled by the
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appearance of a remarkable celestial object:
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"...a light arose from behind the trees and houses, to the south and
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west, which at first I thought was a rocket, of large size. But when it
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rose 20 degrees, it moved parallel to the horizon, and waved like this -
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- he draws an undulating line -- and went on in the direction of north
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by east. It seemed very near, its motion was very slow. I had it for
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about half a mile in view. A light flame was turned backward by the
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resistance the air made to it. From, one end, it emitted a bright glare
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and fire like that of a burning charcoal. That end was a flame like
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bars of iron, and quite opaque to my sight. At one point, on the
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longitudinal frame, or cylinder, issued a train in the shape of a tail
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of light more bright at one point on the rod or cylinder; so that it was
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transparent for more than half of its length. The head of this strange
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object seemed about half a degree in diameter, and the tail near three
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degrees in length."
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The observer signed himself "C.M.," probably preferring to remain anonymous to
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avoid the expected skepticism and scoffing of his fellow members. (Harold T.
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Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack," p. 206)
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First UFO photograph and a most unusual sighting was reported by Monsieur de
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Rostan, an amateur astronomer and member of the Medicophysical Society of
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Basel, Switzerland. On August 9, 1762, at Lausanne, Switzerland, he observed
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through a telescope a spindle-shaped object crossing and eclipsing the sun.
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Monsieur de Rostan was able to observe this object almost daily for close to
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a month. He also managed to trace its outline with a camera obscure and sent
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the picture to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris. Unfortunately, his
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image -- probably the first one ever obtained of a UFO -- no longer exists.
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A friend of Monsieur de Rostan, living at Sole near Basel, also observed the
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spindle-shaped object against the sun, but it seemed to present more of an
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edge and was not quite as broad. Oddly enough, the UFO was not visible to a
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third astronomer, a Monsieur Messier who studied the sun, during the same
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time, from Paris -- an indication that the object was not a sunspot, since it
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was visible only from certain angles. (Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on
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the Attack," pp. 211-212)
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The last year of the 18th century had its share of celestial phenomena. An
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issue of "Gentleman's Magazine" contained the following story:
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"On Sept. 19 [1799], all England saw, at 8:30 p.m., a beautiful ball
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blazing with white light, and which passed from N.W. to S.E. It moved
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rapidly with a gentle tremulous motion, and noiselessly. The light cast
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by it was very vivid, and few red sparks detached themselves from it...
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On Nov. 12, something like a large red pillar of fire passed north to
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south over Hereford, and alarmed people in the Forest of Dean, dome
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miles away. Flashes of extremely vivid electrical sort preceded its
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appearance, and at intervals of half an hour, several hours before.
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This was at 5:45 a.m.... On this night the moon shone with uncommon
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vividness, when between 5 and 6 a.m., bright lights in the sky became
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stationary. They then burst with not perceptible report, and passed
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north leaving behind them beautiful trains of floating fire. Some were
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pointed, some radiated. Some sparkled and some had large columns....
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Nov. 19, at 6 a.m., folk of Huncoates, Lincolnshire, were alarmed by
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vivid flashes lasting 30 seconds, from a ball of fire passing in the
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sky. [Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack," p211]
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=END=
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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