| In Crawfordsville, Indiana, in the month of September 1891, a strange luminous creature was seen hovering in the skies as reported by Larry Arnold and Constable. From Constable’s book, They Live in the Sky: “Vincent Gaddis had the opportunity to read the original on-the-scene newspaper articles and to interview witnesses of a “sky-monster.” This self-luminous “thing” was 18-20 feet long, 8 feet wide, with neither head not tail; It emitted ‘a wheezing, plaintive sound’ while moving ‘like a fish in water’ 100 to 300 feet above the ground, Gaddis condensed his notes to these facts: ‘All the reports refer to this object as a living thing. A flaming, red ‘eye’ was noticeable. At times it ‘squirmed as if in agony.’ Once it swooped low over a group of witnesses who said that it radiated ‘a hot breath.’ “This visitor from the void made its appearance on two successive nights, Sept 4-5, 1891, first coming into view about midnight on both nights, and disappearing about 2 A.M. On the first night witnesses included the rev. G.W. Switzer, pastor of the local Methodist Church, and his wife, who watched the sky phantom for more than an hour. “On the second night hundreds of residents watched the monster as it moved slowly over various parts of the business district for two hours. On the third night, almost every adult in the town waited for its appearance, but it never came. Many remained up all night. Only to be disappointed. It appears that the monster’s appearance was strictly localized to the sky over Crawfordsville.” (32) Another interesting aerial phenomena occurred in the year 1819, as Arnold reported: “between the hours of eight and nine o’clock, was seen in the atmosphere, at Amherst, Massachusetts, a falling meteor or fireball…of a brilliant white light resembling burnished silver…Its altitude at its first discovery, was two or three times the height of the houses; it fell slowly in a perpendicular direction, emitting great light, till it appeared to strike the earth in front of the buildings, and was instantly extinguished.” … “…Early in the ensuing morning, was discovered… a circular form… about eight inches in diameter, and something more than one-inch thickness, of a bright buff color, with a fine nap upon it similar to that on milled cloth, which seemed to defend it from the action of the air.” … “On removing the villous coat, a buff colored pulpy substance of the consistence of good soft soap, of an offensive, suffocating smell appeared”, the Massachusetts investigators sensed. “A few minutes exposure to the atmosphere changed the buff into a livid colour resembling blood. It was observed to attract moisture very readily from the air. Later the material all but ‘evaporated’.” (33) In the end of his book, Constable brings the reader’s attention to several quotes by poets or writers from the 17th century, such as Henry More, who wrote, in 1656: “That the stares eat… that those falling stares, as some call them, which are found on the earth in the form of a trembling jelly, are their excrement.” And Dryden and Lee (1678) wrote: “The shooting stars end all in purple jellies,” although they proceed to mention cases of “white jelly-like matter.” (34) |
While doing a little follow up investigation on a piece in the back of Constable’s book, regarding Denison Olmstead, from the 1800’s, I ran across two important pieces of information concerning gelatinous substances associated with meteors and wild meteor showers accompanied by major earthquakes. Taken from a book on folklore titled, Between the Cracks, we read the following concerning Olmsted: “Professor Denison Olmsted at Yale was an eyewitness to the meteor shower of November 12, 1833. He described the display as comprising three varieties of meteors: First, those consisting of phosphoric lines, apparently described by a point. This variety was the most numerous, every-where filling the atmosphere, and resembling a shower of fiery snow driven with inconceivable velocity to the north of west and transfixing the beholder with wondering awe. Second, those consisting of large fireballs, which at intervals darted along the sky, leaving luminous trains which occasionally remained in view for a number of minutes, and, in some cases, for half an hour or more. Third, those undefined luminous bodies which remained nearly stationary in the heavens for a considerable period of time; these were of various size and form.” (Devens 331) “Most observers reported no sound accompanying the meteor shower, but several reported a noise like the explosion of a sky-rocket. (Olmsted c. 392-93 and Devens c. 332). In Richmond, Virginia, a crackling sound was reported. Some other events coincided with the meteor shower. At Harvard, there was supposedly rainfall without clouds. Several people in various locations reported a precipitation of a jelly-like material. What appeared to be Aurora Borealis was observed in Connecticut and New Hampshire. There was an earthquake in England (Milne 120). Ironically, the Leonid meteor shower of 1799 in Cumana, Venezuela, had been accompanied by a severe earthquake (Packer 155). The trails of the 1833 meteors were predominately white, but a number were other colors. Olmsted said, “The trains left by the exploding balls, were usually of a yellowish hue, but sometimes [they were] reddish.” (32) Cosmic Pulse, p. 319; (They live in the Sky, p. 43) (33) ibid, p. 320 (34) ibid, p. 321 |