Wonders in the Sky (44 page)

28 May 1637, Between Chartres and Paris, France
Three unexplained “stars”

Travelers marveled at three large ‘stars' surrounded by smaller ones, with a long streak of other ‘stars.' In the absence of a better description, including the duration and trajectory of the phenomena, the skeptic may well decide that the travelers in question simply saw a series of bright meteors.

 

Source:
Les prodigieux Signes nouvellement apparus au ciel en plusieurs lieux et notamment aux environs de la ville de Paris. Avec l'explication d'iceux, lesquels sont très-favorables pour la France
(Paris: C. Morlot, 1637), BN 8-LK7-7793.

233.

March 1638, Muddy River near Charlton,
Massachusetts: Missing time among the Puritans

Puritan James Everell and two others were stunned as they saw a luminous mass that hovered and returned over a three-hour period. Their boat was pulled upstream by the phenomenon.

The settling of the first Puritan colony in Boston was chronicled by Governor John Winthrop, who arrived in Massachusetts Bay in 1630 with one thousand English emigrants. A historian himself, Winthrop kept a record of the colony's first years in the New World. His journal is far from being a mere collection of unlikely anecdotes or village gossip. It is quite significant, therefore, that he regarded two spectacular sightings of unexplained phenomena as being sufficiently important to be recorded for posterity.

The first sighting took place in March 1638. A member of the Puritan Church, James Everell, “a sober, discreet man,” was crossing the Muddy River one evening in a small boat with two companions. Suddenly a great luminous mass appeared in the sky above the river. It seemed to dart back and forth over the water. When it remained motionless, it “flamed up” and seemed to measure three yards square. When it moved, it “contracted into the figure of a swine” and flew away towards Charlton.

It did this repeatedly over a period of two or three hours, always returning briefly to the same spot above the water before shooting off again.

When the light had finally vanished, Everell and his friends stood up and were surprised to learn that the boat was now further upstream than it should have been, as if it had been pushed, pulled or carried by an unknown force. In fact they had been carried against the tide to their original starting point, one mile away.

Why the light would be swine-shaped is a mystery not even the Puritan colonists could interpret, though it should be noted Everell was a leather dresser by trade, and he could have sought a familiar shape in an otherwise amorphous light.

It is curious that the men observed that “two or three hours” passed during the spectacle. Can we believe they sat watching the phenomenon for such a long time?

The mysterious repositioning of the boat could suggest that they were unaware of part of their experience. Some researchers would interpret this as a possible alien abduction if it happened today.

Any speculation at this late date is merely conjecture, but it is interesting to note that at least a superficial resemblance exists between this case and recent claims in the American abduction literature.

 

Source: John Winthrop,
The History of New England from 1630 to 1649
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853), 349-350.

234.

April 1639, Yuan, Fengxian, Shansi province, China Flying star at funeral

A red, white, yellow and blue “star” flew over a funeral, circling the village for a long time. The villagers were presenting their condolences to the family of Yuan Yingta, a minister of war under the Ming dynasty who had sacrificed himself on the battlefield while resisting the Man army. Suddenly a luminous object like a star, red, white, yellow and blue in color, flew over the funeral procession. This brilliant thing did not touch the ground, but it flew around the village for a long time, then rose up in the sky again. Its light was visible five kilometers away.

 

Source: Shi Bo,
La Chine et les Extraterrestres
, op.cit., 45, citing scholar Lou Ao,
Histoire Locale du District Fengxian.

235.

July 1639, Santiago, Spain: ships in the sky

A short pamphlet published in Seville in 1639 titled
An Account of the Prodigious Visions of Armies of Men, Standards, Flags, Vessels, and Other Things, that Visibly have been Seen over a Long Time, near the Town of Santiago in Galicia, in the Fields of Lerida, since June 24
^th
to this Present Year of 1639
, reported that “in Santiago three ships appeared in the air with the sound of drums and many people.” Unfortunately no more details are given.

 

Source:
Relacion certissima de las prodigiosas visiones…que visiblemente se han visto largo tiempo, cerca de la ciudad de Santiago de Galizia…
(Seville, 1639).

236.

9 May 1641, Braga, Portugal: Flying disk, entities

A flat disk (“wafer”) appeared in the sky along with two human figures designated as “angels.” There were numerous witnesses, and the original text makes fascinating reading:

“Year of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1641, May 9th, in this city of Braga, in the lodgings of Reverend Doctor Jao d'Abreda Rocha, ecclesiastic judge and general vicar of this court, the archbishop of Braga: there the Reverend Judge was alerted by D. Gastao Coutinho, general of the province of Entre Douro e Minho, of the fact that many people going towards the area of Porto acting upon a warning given in this city that the enemies were approaching in that area, saw some signs on the moon, in which there appeared a Wafer and two human figures that looked like Angels; and that the said judge know the truth of it: about which the Reverend Doctor ordered this writ to be made, that I sign; and he asked the following witnesses. Father Simao Alvares, apostolic notary, wrote it.”

 

Source: Francisco Lopez Liureyro,
Favores do Ceo. Do braço do Christo que se despregou da cruz, & de outras marauilias dignas de notar. Dedicados ao III. me Senhor D. Rodrigo da Cunha…
(Lisbon: Antonio Alvarez, 1642); reprinted as
Favores do ceo a Portugal na acclamação do rei D. João IV e acabamento da oppressão dos reis Filippes…, por Francisco Lopes, livreiro lisbonense. Precedidos d'una noticia bibliographica do auctor, escripta pelo Professor Pereira-Caldas
(Porto: Ernesto Chadron and Braga: Eugenio Chadron, 1642, 1871).

237.

13 April 1641, Aragón, Spain: Apparitions

Domingo Sánchez, gardener at the Monastery of María de Aragón, who was sworn to chastity, requested permission to marry. On the night of April 13th, in bed with these thoughts, he saw a demon that pulled him out and dragged him for a long time around his lodgings, hitting him. The man sought help from the Virgin, who appeared, surrounded by lights and “aided him until dawn.”

 

Source: José Pellicer de Salas y Tobar, in his
Avisos históricos
, a compilation of historical reports spanning the period May 24th 1639 to November 29th 1644.

238.

4 May 1641, Madrid, Spain: Unexplained black cloud

At 9:00 P.M., “the sky being very calm, without there being a single cloud in it, (Jose Pellicer reported) an extremely black and dark cloud, that approached from somewhere between the east and the north, dilated and narrow, crossing between the west and Midday, that was stationary for some time” – giving the impression that Pellicer
may
have seen something resembling the ‘cloud cigars' dealt with in modern reports.

Pellicer goes on to mention a burst of sound of unknown origin in the sky over Molina de Aragón. The people there heard “loud noises, bugles, drums, as if an invisible ferocious battle were happening but without anything to be seen.”

 

Source: José Pellicer de Salas y Tobar,
Avisos históricos
, op. cit.

239.