CHAPTER ONE
JUNE, 1801—a mirage of an unknown city. It was seen, for more than an hour, at Youghal, Co. Cork, Ireland—a representation of mansions, surrounded by shrubbery and white palings forests behind. In October, 1796, a mirage of a walled town had been seen distinctly for half an hour at Youghal. Upon March 9, 1797, had been seen a mirage of a walled town.
Feb. 7, 1802 an unknown body that was seen, by Fritsch, of Magdeburg, to cross the sun (Observatory, 3-136).
Oct. 10, 1802—an unknown dark body was seen, by Fritsch, rapidly crossing the sun (Comptes Rendus, 83-587).
Between 10 and 11 o’clock, morning of Oct. 8, 1803, a stone fell from the sky, at the town of Apt, France. About eight hours later, “some persons believed that they felt an earthquake” (Kept. B. A., 1854-53).
Upon August 11, 1805, an explosive sound was heard at East Haddam, Connecticut. There are records of six prior sounds, as if of explosions, that were heard at East Haddam, beginning with the year 1791, but, unrecorded, the sounds had attracted attention for a century, and had been called the “Moodus” sounds, by the Indians. For the best account of the “Moodus sounds, see the Amer. Jour. Sci., 39—339. Here a writer tries to show the phenomena were subterranean, but says that there was no satisfactory explanation.
Upon the 2nd of April, 1808, over the town of Pignerol, Piedmont, Italy, a loud sound was heard: in many places in Piedmont an earthquake was felt. In the Rept. B. A., 1854-68, it is said that aerial phenomena did occur; that, before the explosion, luminous objects had been seen in the sky over Pignerol, and that in several of the communes in the Alps aerial sounds, as if of innumerable stones colliding, had been heard, and that quakes had been felt. From April 2 to April 8, forty shocks
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