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BOOK OF THE DAMNED
By Charles Fort
CHAPTER: 01,
02, 03,
04, 05,
06, 07,
08, 09,
10, 11,
12, 13,
14, 15, 16,
17, 18,
19, 20,
21,
22, 23,
24, 25,
26, 27,
28
Knowledge, Dec. 28, 1883:
"SEEING so many meteorological phenomena in your
excellent paper, Knowledge, I am tempted to ask for an explanation of
the following, which I saw when on board the British India Company's steamer Patna
while on a voyage up the Persian Gulf. In May, 1880, on a dark night, about
11:30 p. m., there suddenly appeared on each side of the ship an enormous
luminous wheel whirling round, the spokes of which seemed to brush the ship
along. The spokes would be 200 or 300 yards long, and resembled the birch rods
of the dames' schools. Each wheel contained about sixteen spokes and, although
the wheels must have been some 500 or 600 yards in diameter, the spokes could be
distinctly seen all the way round. The phosphorescent gleam seemed to glide
along flat on the surface of the sea, no light being visible in the air above
the water. The appearance of the spokes could be almost exactly represented by
standing in a boat and flashing a bull's-eye lantern horizontally along the
surface of the water, round and round. I may mention that the phenomenon was
also seen by Captain Avern, commander of the Patna, and Mr. Manning,
third officer.
"Lee Fore Brace.
"P.S. -- The wheels advanced along with the ship for
about twenty minutes. -- L. F. B."
Knowledge, Jan. 11, 1884:
Letter from "A. Mc. D.":
That "Lee Fore Brace," "who sees 'so many
meteorological phenomena in your excellent paper,' should have signed himself
'The Modern Ezekiel,' for his vision of wheels is quite as wonderful as the
prophet's." The writer then takes up the measurements that were given, and
calculates the velocity at the circumference of a wheel, of about 166 yards per
second, apparently considering that especially incredible. He then says:
"From the nom de plume he assumes, it might be inferred that your
correspondent is in the habit of 'sailing close to the wind.'" He asks
permission to suggest an explanation of his own. It is that before 11:30 p. m.
there had been numerous accidents to the "main brace," and that it had
required splicing so often that almost any ray of light would have taken on a
rotary motion.
In Knowledge, Jan. 25, 1884, Mr. "Brace"
answers and signs himself "J. W. Robertson":
"I don't suppose 'A. Mc. D.' means any harm, but I do
think it's rather unjust to say a man is drunk because he sees something out of
the common. If there's one thing I pride myself upon, it's being able to say
that never in my life have I indulged in anything stronger than water."
From this curiosity of pride, he goes on to say that he had not intended to be
exact, but to give his impressions of dimensions and velocity. He ends amiably:
"However, 'no offence taken, where I suppose none is meant.'"
To this letter Mr. Proctor adds a note, apologizing for the
publication of "A. Mc. D's." letter, which had come about by a
misunderstood instruction. Then Mr. Proctor wrote disagreeable letters, himself,
about other persons -- what else would you expect in a quasi-existence?
The obvious explanation of this phenomenon is that, under the
surface of the sea, in the Persian Gulf, was a vast luminous wheel: that it was
the light from its submerged spokes that Mr. Robertson saw, shining upward. It
seems clear that this light did shine upward from origin below the surface of
the sea. But at first it is not so clear how vast luminous wheels, each the size
of a village, ever got under the surface of the Persian Gulf: also there may be
some misunderstanding as to what they were doing there.
A deep-sea fish, and its adaptation to a dense medium --
That, at least in some regions aloft, there is a medium dense
even to gelatinousness --
A deep-sea fish, brought to the surface of the ocean: in a
relatively attenuated medium, it disintegrates --
Super-constructions adapted to a dense medium in
inter-planetary space -- sometimes, by stresses of various kinds, they are
driven into this earth's thin atmosphere --
Later we shall have data to support just this: that things
entering this earth's atmosphere disintegrate and shine with a light that is not
the light of incandescence: shine brilliantly, even if cold --
Vast wheel-like super-constructions -- they enter this earth's
atmosphere, and, threatened with disintegration, plunge for relief into an
ocean, or into a denser medium.
Of course the requirements now facing us are:
Not only data of vast wheel-like super-constructions that have
relieved their distresses in the ocean, but data of enormous wheels that have
been see in the air, or entering the ocean, or rising from the ocean and
continuing their voyages.
Very largely we shall concern ourselves with enormous fiery
objects that have either plunged into the ocean or risen from the ocean. Our
acceptance is that, though disruption may intensify into incandescence, apart
from disruption and its probable fieriness, things that enter this earth's
atmosphere have a cold light which would not, like light from molten matter, be
instantly quenched by water. Also it seems acceptable that a revolving wheel
would, from a distance, look like a globe; that a revolving wheel, seen
relatively close by, looks like a wheel in few aspects. The mergers of
ball-lightning and meteorites are not resistances to us: our data are of
enormous bodies.
So we shall interpret -- and what does it matter?
Our attitude throughout this book:
That here are extraordinary data -- that they never would be
exhumed, and never would be massed together, unless --
Here are the data:
Our first datum is of something that was once seen to enter an
ocean. It's from a puritanic publication, Science, which has yielded us
little material, or which, like most puritans, does not go upon a spree very
often. Whatever the thing could have been, my impression is of tremendousness,
or of bulk many times that of all meteorites in all museums combined: also of
relative slowness, or of long warning of approach. The story, in Science,
5-242, is from an account sent to the Hydrographic Office, at Washington, from
the branch office, at San Francisco:
That, at midnight, Feb. 24, 1885, Lat. 37 N., and Long. 170
E., or somewhere between Yokohama and Victoria, the captain of the bark Innerwich
was aroused by his mate, who had seen something unusual in the sky. This must
have taken appreciable time. The captain went on deck and saw the sky turning
fiery red. "All at once, a large mass of fire appeared over the vessel,
completely blinding the spectators." The fiery mass fell into the sea. Its
size may be judged by the volume of water cast up by it, said to have rushed
toward the vessel with a noise that was "deafening." The bark was
struck flat aback, and "a roaring white sea passed ahead." "The
master, an old, experienced mariner, declared that the awfulness of the sight
was beyond description."
In Nature, 37-187, and L'Astronomie,
1887-76, we are told that an object, described as "a large ball of
fire," was seen to rise from the sea, near Cape Race. We are told that it
rose to a height of fifty feet, and then advanced close to the ship, then moving
away, remaining visible about five minutes. The supposition in Nature
is that it was "ball lightning," but Flammarion, "Thunder and
Lightning," p. 68, says that it was enormous. Details in the American
Meteorological Journal, 6-443 -- Nov. 12, 1887 -- British steamer Siberian
-- that the object had moved "against the wind" before retreating --
that Captain Moore said that at about the same place he had seen such
appearances before.
Rept. Brit. Assoc., 1861-30:
That, upon June 18, 1845, according to the Malta Times,
from the brig Victoria, about 900 miles east of Adalia, Asia Minor (36
40' 56", N. Lat: 13 44' 36" E. Long.) three luminous bodies were seen
to issue from the sea, at about half a mile from the vessel. They were visible
about ten minutes.
The story was never investigated, but other accounts that seem
acceptably to be other observations upon this same sensational spectacle came
in, as if of their own accord, and were published by Prof. Baden-Powell. One is
a letter from a correspondent at Mt. Lebanon. He describes only two luminous
bodies. Apparently they were five times the size of the moon: each had
appendages, or they were connected by parts that are described as sail-like or
streamer-like, looking like "large flags blown out by a gentle
breeze." The important point here is not only suggestion of structure, but
duration. The duration of meteors is a few seconds: duration of fifteen seconds
is remarkable, but I think there are records up to half a minute. This object,
if it were all one object, was visible at Mt. Lebanon about one hour. An
interesting circumstance is that the appendages did not look like trains of
meteors, which shine by their own light, but "seemed to shine by light from
the main bodies."
About 900 miles west of the position of the Victoria
is the town of Adalia, Asia Minor. At about the time of the observation reported
by the captain of the Victoria, the Rev. F. Hawlett, F. R. A. S., was
in Adalia. He, too, saw this spectacle, and sent an account to Prof.
Baden-Powell. In his view it was a body that appeared and then broke up. He
places duration at twenty minutes to half an hour.
In the Report of the British Association, 1860-82,
the phenomenon was reported from Syria and Malta, as two very large bodies
"nearly joined."
Rept. Brit. Assoc., 1860-77:
That, at Cherbourg, France, Jan. 12, 1836, was seen a luminous
body, seemingly two-thirds the size of the moon. It seemed to rotate on an
axis.
Central to it there seemed to be a dark cavity.
For other accounts, all indefinite, but distortable into data
of wheel-like objects in the sky, see Nature, 22-617; London Times,
Oct. 15, 1859; Nature, 21-225; Monthly Weather Review,
1883-264.
L'Astronomie, 1894-157:
That, upon the morning of Dec. 20, 1893, an appearance in the
sky was seen by many persons in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. A
luminous body passed overhead, from west to east, until at about fifteen degrees
in the eastern horizon, it appeared to stand still for fifteen or twenty
minutes. According to some descriptions it was the size of a table. To some
observers it looked like an enormous wheel. The light was a brilliant white.
Acceptably it was not an optical illusion -- the noise of its passage through
the air was heard. Having been stationary, or having seemed to stand still
fifteen or twenty minutes, it disappeared, or exploded. No sound of explosion
was heard.
Vast wheel-like constructions. They're especially adapted to
roll through a gelatinous medium from planet to planet. Sometimes, because of
miscalculations, or because of stresses of various kinds, they enter this
earth's atmosphere. They're likely to explode. They have to submerge in the sea.
They stay in the sea awhile, revolving with relative leisureliness, until
relieved, and then emerge, sometimes close to vessels. Seamen tell of what they
see: their reports are interred in scientific morgues. I should say that the
general route of these constructions is along latitudes not far from the
latitudes of the Persian Gulf.
Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society,
28-29:
That, upon April 4, 1901, about 8:30, in the Persian Gulf,
Captain Hoseason, of the steamship Kilwa, according to a paper read
before the Society by Captain Hoseason, was sailing in a sea in which there was
no phosphorescence -- "there being no phosphorescence in the water."
I suppose I'll have to repeat that:
"...there being no phosphorescence in the water."
Vast shafts of light -- though the captain uses the word
"ripples" -- suddenly appeared. Shaft followed shaft, upon the surface
of the sea. But it was only a faint light, and, in about fifteen minutes, died
out: having appeared suddenly; having died out gradually. The shafts revolved at
a velocity of about 60 miles an hour.
Phosphorescent jelly fish correlate with the Old Dominant: in
one of the most heroic compositions of disregards in our experience, it was
agreed, in the discussion of Capt. Hoseason's paper, that the phenomenon was
probably pulsations of long strings of jelly fish.
Nature, 21-410:
Reprint of a letter from R. E. Harris, Commander of the A.H.N.
Co.'s steamship Shahjehan, to the Calcutta Englishman, Jan.
21, 1880.
That upon the 5th of June, 1880, off the coast of Malabar, at
10 p. m., water calm, sky cloudless, he had seen something that was so foreign
to anything that he had ever seen before, that he stopped his ship. He saw what
he describes as waves of brilliant light, with spaces between. Upon the water
were floating patches of a substance that was not identified. Thinking in terms
of the conventional explanation of all phosphorescence at sea, the captain at
first suspected this substance. However, he gives his opinion that it did no
illuminating but was, with the rest of the sea, illuminated by tremendous shafts
of light. Whether it was a thick and oily discharge from the engine of a
submerged construction or not, I think that I shall have to accept this
substance as a concomitant, because of another note. "As wave succeeded
wave, one of the most grand and brilliant, yet solemn, spectacles that one could
think of, was here witnessed."
Jour. Roy. Met. Soc., 32-280:
Extract from a letter from Mr. Douglas Carnegie, Blackheath,
England. Date some time in 1906 --
"This last voyage we witnessed a weird and most
extraordinary electric display." In the Gulf of Oman, he saw a bank of
apparently quiescent phosphorescence: but, when within twenty yards of it,
"shafts of brilliant light came sweeping across the ship's bow at a
prodigious speed, which might be put down as anything between 60 and 200 miles
an hour." "These light bars were about 20 feet apart and most
regular." As to phosphorescence -- "I collected a bucketful of water,
and examined it under the microscope, but could not detect anything
abnormal." That the shafts of light came up from something beneath the
surface -- "They first struck us on our broadside, and I noticed that an
intervening ship had no effect on the light beams: they started away from the
lee side of the ship, just as if they had travelled right through it."
The Gulf of Oman is at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.
Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society,
33-294:
Extract from a letter by Mr. S.C. Patterson, second officer of
the P. and O. steamship Delta: a spectacle which the Journal
continues to call phosphorescent:
Malacca Strait, 2 a. m., March 14, 1907:
"...shafts which seemed to move round a center --
like the spokes of a wheel -- and appeared to be about 300 yards long." The
phenomenon lasted about half an hour, during which time the ship had travelled
six of seven miles. It stopped suddenly."
L'Astronomie, 1891-312:
A correspondent writes that, in October, 1891, in the China
Sea, he had seen shafts or lances of light that had had the appearance of rays
of a searchlight, and that had moved like such rays.
Nature, 20-291:
Report to the Admiralty by Capt. Evans, the Hydrographer of
the British Navy:
That Commander J. E. Pringle, of the H. M. S. Vulture,
had reported that, at Lat. 26 26' N., and Long. 53 11' E. -- in the Persian Gulf
-- May 15, 1879, he had noticed luminous waves or pulsations in the water,
moving at great speed. This time we have a definite datum upon origin somewhere
below the surface. It is said that these waves of light passed under the Vulture.
"On looking toward the east, the appearance was that of a revolving wheel
with a center on that bearing, and whose spokes were illuminated, and, looking
toward the west, a similar wheel appeared to be revolving, but in the opposite
direction. Of finally as to submergence -- "These waves of light extended
from the surface well under the water." It is Commander Pringle's opinion
that the shafts constituted one wheel, and that doubling was an illusion. He
judges the shafts to have been about 25 feet broad, and the spaces about 100
feet. Velocity about 84 miles an hour. Duration about 35 minutes. Time 9:40 p.
m. Before and after this display the ship had passed through patches of floating
substance described as "oily-looking fish spawn."
Upon page 428 of this number of Nature, E. L. Moss
says that, in April, 1875, when upon the H. M. S. Bulldog, a few miles
north of Vera Cruz, he had seen a series of swift lines of light. He had dipped
up some of the water, finding in it animalcule, which would, however, not
account for phenomena of geometric formation and high velocity. If he means Vera
Cruz, Mexico, this is the only instance we have out of oriental waters.
Scientific American, 106-51:
That, in the Nautical Meteorological Annual,
published by the Danish Meteorological Institute, appears a report upon a
"singular phenomenon" that was seen by Capt. Gabe, of the Danish East
Asiatic Co.'s steamship Bintang. At 3 a.m., June 10, 1909, while
sailing through the Straits of Malacca, Captain Gabe saw a vast revolving wheel
of light, flat upon the water -- "long arms issuing from the center around
which the whole system appeared to rotate." So vast was the appearance that
only half of it could be seen at a time, the center lying near the horizon. This
display lasted about fifteen minutes. Heretofore we have not been clear upon the
important point that forward motions of these wheels do not synchronize with a
vessel's motions, and freaks of disregard, or rather, commonplaces of disregard,
might attempt to assimilate with lights of a vessel. This time we are told that
the vast wheel moved forward, decreasing in brilliancy, and also in speed of
rotation, disappearing when the center was right ahead of the vessel -- or my
own interpretation would be that the source of light was submerging deeper and
deeper and slowing down because meeting more and more resistance.
The Danish Meteorological Institute reports another instance:
That, when Capt. Breyer, of the Dutch steamer Valentijn,
was in the South China Sea, midnight, Aug. 12, 1910, he saw a rotation in
flashes. "It looked like a horizontal wheel, turning rapidly." This
time it is said that the appearance was above water. "The phenomenon was
observed by the captain, the first and second mates, and the first engineer, and
upon all of them it made a somewhat uncomfortable impression."
In general, if our expression be not immediately acceptable,
we recommend to rival interpreters that they consider the localization -- with
one exception -- of this phenomena, to the Indian Ocean and adjacent waters, or
Persian Gulf on one side and China Sea on the other side. Though we're
Intermediatists, the call of attempted Positivism, in the aspect of
Completeness, is irresistible. We have expressed that from few aspects would
wheels of fire in the air look like wheels of fire, but, if we can get it, we
must have observation upon vast luminous wheels, not interpretable as optical
illusions, but enormous, substantial things that have smashed down material
resistances, and have been seen to plunge into the ocean:
Athenum, 1848-833:
That at the meeting of the British Association, 1848, Sir W.S.
Harris said that he had recorded an account sent to him of a vessel toward which
had whirled "two wheels of fire, which the men described as rolling
millstones of fire." "When they came near, an awful crash took place,
the topmasts were shivered to pieces." It is said that there was a strong
sulphurous odor.
CHAPTER: 01,
02, 03,
04, 05,
06, 07,
08, 09,
10, 11,
12, 13,
14, 15, 16,
17, 18,
19, 20,
21,
22, 23,
24, 25,
26, 27,
28
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