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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
NOTES and Queries, 5-3-306:
About 8 lights that were seen in Wales, over an area of about
8 miles, all keeping their own ground, whether moving together perpendicularly,
horizontally, or over a zigzag course. They looked like electric lights --
disappearing, reappearing dimly, then shining as bright as ever.
"We have seen them three or four at a time afterward, on four or five
occasions."
London Times, Oct. 5, 1877:
"From time to time the West Coast of Wales seems to have
been the scene of mysterious lights....And now we have a statement from Towyn
that within the last few weeks lights of various colors have frequently been
seen moving over the estuary of the Dysynni river, and out to sea. They are
generally in a northerly direction, but sometimes they hug the shore, and move
at a high velocity for miles toward Aberdovey, and suddenly disappear."
L'Année Scientifique, 1877-45:
Lights that appeared in the sky, above Vence, France, March
23, 1877; described as balls of fire of dazzling brightness; appeared from a
cloud about a degree in diameter; moved relatively slowly. They were visible
more than an hour, moving northward. It is said that eight or ten years before
similar lights or objects had been seen in the sky, at Vence.
London Times, Sept. 19, 1848:
That, at Inverness, Scotland, two large, bright lights that
looked like stars had been seen in the sky: sometimes stationary, but
occasionally moving at high velocity.
L'Année Scientifique, 1888-66:
Observed near St. Petersburg, July 30, 1880, in the evening: a
large spherical light and two smaller ones, moving along a ravine: visible three
minutes; disappearing without noise.
Nature, 35-173:
That, at Yloilo, Sept. 30, 1886, was seen a luminous object
the size of the full moon. It "floated" slowly "northward,"
followed by smaller ones close to it.
"The False Lights of Durham."
Every now and then in the English newspapers, in the middle of
the nineteenth century, there is something about lights that were seen against
the sky, but as if not far above land, oftenest upon the coast of Durham. They
were mistaken for beacons by sailors. Wreck after wreck occurred. The fishermen
were accused of displaying false lights and profiting by wreckage. The fishermen
answered that mostly only old vessels, worthless except for insurance, were so
wrecked.
In 1866 (London Times, Jan. 9, 1866) popular
excitement became intense. There was an investigation. Before a commission,
headed by Admiral Collinson, testimony was taken. One witness described the
light that had deceived him as "considerably elevated above ground."
No conclusion was reached: the lights were called "the mysterious
lights." But whatever the "false lights of Durham" may have been,
they were unaffected by the investigation. In 1867, the Tyne Pilotage Board took
the matter up. Opinion of the Mayor of Tyne -- "a mysterious affair."
In the Report of the British Association, 1877-152,
there is a description of a group of "meteors" that traveled with
"remarkable slowness." They were in sight about three minutes.
"Remarkable," it seems is scarcely strong enough: one reads of
"remarkable" as applied to a duration of three seconds. These
"meteors" had another peculiarity; they left no train. They are
described as "seemingly huddled together like a flock of wild geese, and
moving with the same velocity and grace of regularity."
Jour. Roy. Astro. Soc. of Canada,
Nov. and Dec., 1913:
That, according to many observations collected by Prof. Chant,
of Toronto, there appeared, upon the night of Feb. 9, 1913, a spectacle that was
seen in Canada, the United States, and at sea, and in Bermuda. A luminous body
was seen. To it there was a long tail. The body grew rapidly larger.
"Observers differ as to whether the body was single, or was composed of
three or four parts, with a tail to each part." The group, or complex
structure, moved with a "peculiar, majestic dignified deliberation."
"It disappeared in the distance, and another group emerged from its place
of origin. Onward they moved, at the same deliberate pace, in twos or threes or
fours." They disappeared. A third group, or a third structure, followed.
Some observers compared the spectacle to a fleet of airships:
others to battleships attended by cruisers and destroyers.
According to one writer:
"There were probably 30 or 32 bodies, and the peculiar
thing about them was their moving in fours and threes and twos, abreast of one
another; and so perfect was the lining up that you would have thought it was an
aerial fleet maneuvering after rigid drilling."
Nature, May 25, 1893:
A letter from Capt. Charles J. Norcock, of the H. M. S. Caroline:
That, upon the 24th of February, 1893, at 10 p. m., between
Shanghai and Japan, the officer of the watch had reported "some unusual
lights."
They were between the ship and a mountain. The mountain was
about 6,000 feet high. The lights seemed to be globular. They moved sometimes
massed, but sometimes strung out in an irregular line. They bore
"northward," until lost to sight. Duration two hours.
The next night the lights were seen again.
They were, for a time, eclipsed by a small island. They bore
north at about the same speed and in about the same direction as the speed and
direction of the Caroline. But they were lights that cast a reflection:
there was a glare upon the horizon under them. A telescope brought out but few
details: that they were reddish, and seemed to emit a faint smoke. This time the
duration was seven and a half hours.
Then Capt. Norcock says that, in the same general locality,
and at about the same time, Capt. Castle, of the H. M. S. Leander, had
seen lights. He altered his course and had made toward them. The lights had fled
from him. At least, they had moved higher in the sky.
Monthly Weather Review, March,
1904-115:
Report from the observations of three members of his crew by
Lieut. Frank H. Schofield, U. S. N., of the U. S. S. Supply:
Feb. 28, 1904. Three luminous objects, of different sizes, the
largest having an apparent area of about six suns. When first sighted, they were
not very high. They were below clouds of an estimated height of about one mile.
They fled, or they evaded, or they turned.
They went up into the clouds below which they had, at first,
been sighted.
Their unison of movement.
But they were of different sizes, and of different
susceptibilities to all forces of this earth and of the air.
Monthly Weather Review, Aug.,
1898-358:
Two letters from C. N. Crotsenburg, Crow Agency, Montana:
That, in the summer of 1896, when this writer was a railroad
postal clerk -- or one who was experienced in train-phenomena -- while his train was
going "northward," from Trenton, Mo., he and another clerk saw, in the
darkness of a heavy rain, a light that appeared to be round, and of a dull-rose
color, and seemed to be about a foot in diameter. It seemed to float within a
hundred feet of the earth, but soon rose high, or "midway between horizon
and zenith." The wind was quite strong from the east, but the light held a
course almost due north.
Its speed varied. Sometimes it seemed to outrun the train
"considerably." At other times it seemed to fall behind. The mail
clerks watched until the town of Linville, Iowa, was reached. Behind the depot
of this town, the light disappeared, and was not seen again. All this time there
had been rain, but very little lightning, but Mr. Crotsenburg offers the
explanation that it was "ball lightning."
The Editor of the Review disagrees. He thinks that
the light may have been a reflection from the rain, or fog, or from leaves of
trees, glistening with rain, or the train's light -- not lights.
In the December number of the Review is a letter from
Edward M. Boggs -- that the light was a reflection, perhaps, from the glare --
one
light, this time -- from the locomotive's fire box, upon wet telegraph wires --
an
appearance that might not be striated by the wires, but consolidated into one
rotundity -- that it had seemed to oscillate with the undulations of the wires,
and had seemed to change horizontal distance with the varying angles of
reflection, and had seemed to advance or fall behind, when the train rounded
curves.
All of which is typical of the best quasi-reasoning. It
includes and assimilates diverse data: but it excludes that which will destroy
it:
That, acceptably, the telegraph wires were alongside the track
beyond, as well as leading to Linville.
Mr. Crotsenburg thinks of "ball lightning," which,
though a sore bewilderment to most speculation, is usually supposed to be a
correlate with the old system of thought: but his awareness of "something
else" is expressed in other parts of his letters, when he says that he has
something to tell that is "so strange that I should never have mentioned
it, even to my friends, had it not been corroborated...so unreal that I
hesitated to speak of it, fearing that it was some freak of the
imagination."
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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