SUBJECT: UFO'S THROUGHOUT HISTORY FILE: UFO2714
MUFONET-BBS NETWORK - MUTUAL UFO NETWORK
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Contributed by: Georgia MUFON
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A PRIMER: UFO'S THROUGHOUT HISTORY
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Millions of people have seen objects in the sky that they could not
identify, and many thousands have taken the time and trouble to submit
written reports about them. The vast majority of these sightings could
well be of such things as meteors, planets, stars, weather balloons,
swamp gas, and atmospheric disturbances. There remains however, a
significant body of experiences that are truly inexplicable.
There is no doubt that disk shaped objects have been seen by a great
many honest, sober, and mystified men and women. The objects have been
tracked by ground-based and airborne radar and have been photographed
by still and movie cameras in black and white and color. The craft have
been observed to hover, move straight up or down, and accelerate and
maneuver at speeds far beyond the capability of any known airplane.
The sighting of strange objects in the sky may actually predate the
emergence of modern man. Perhaps the earliest depiction of cylindrical
objects resembling spacecraft, with what might be their
extraterrestrial occupants, are those carved on a granite mountain and
on rocks on an island in Hunan Province, China. They have been assigned
a tentative age of 47,000 years, which puts them within the time-span
of Neanderthal man, predating modern Homo sapiens.
One of the first written accounts of a UFO sighting -- a fleet of
flying saucers, perhaps -- is the following excerpt from an Egyptian
papyrus -- part of the annals of Thutmose III, who reigned around 1504-
1450 B.C.:
"In the year 22 of the 3rd month of winter, sixth hour of the day...
the scribes of the House of Life found it was a circle of fire that
was coming in the sky... It had no head, the breath of its mouth had
a foul odor. Its body one rod long and one rod wide. It had no
voice. Their hearts became confused through it; then they laid
themselves on their bellies... they went to the Pharaoh... to
report it. His Majesty ordered... [an examination of] all which is
written in the papyrus rolls of the House of life. His majesty was
meditating upon what happened. Now after some days had passed, these
things became more numerous in the skies than ever. They shone more
in the sky than the brightness of the sun, and extended to the limits
of four supports of the heavens... Powerful was the position of the
fire circles. The army of the Pharaoh looked on with him in their
midst. It was after supper. Thereupon, these fire circles ascended
higher in the sky towards the south... The Pharaoh caused incense to
be brought to make peace on the hearth... and what happened was
ordered by the Pharaoh to be written in the annals of the House of
life... so that it be remembered for ever." [Brinsley Le Poer
Trench, "The Flying Saucer Story", pp. 81-82.]
The prophet Ezekiel's "vision", recorded in the bible, is thought by
some to be a UFO sighting. His description is of a strange "vehicle"
coming from the sky and landing near the Chebar River (or canal) in
Chaldea (now Iraq) in the fifth year of the Judean captivity (592 B.C.)
under Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon:
"What kind of 'machine' was this?" Ezekiel continues: And from the
midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And from this
was their appearance: they had the form of men, but each had four
faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight,
and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot; and
they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four
sides they had human hands... each had the face of a man in front;
the four had the face of a lion on the right side... the face of an
ox on the left side, and... the face of an eagle at the back... and
their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each
of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.
And each [creature] went straight forward... without turning as they
went... And the living creatures darted to and fro, like a flash of
lightning."
Who were these humanoid "occupants"? Space-helmeted, space-suited
astronauts with a strapped-on flying device? Or, perhaps,
extraterrestrial flying robots? The account continues:
"Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel upon the
earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.
As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their
appearance was like the gleaming of a chrysolite... being as it were
a wheel within a wheel... The four wheels had rims and they had
spokes; and their rims were full of eyes round about. And when the
living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the
living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose."
Were these humanoids going back and forth into a green-glowing
spacecraft surrounded by a ring of portholes? But there is more:
"...there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire;
and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were
of a human form. And upward from... his loins I saw as it were
gleaming bronze... and there was brightness... like the appearance
of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of the rain, so was the
appearance of the brightness round about... And when I saw it... I
heard the voice of one speaking."
Ezekiel is told that the Israelites have transgressed and are to be
punished unless they obey the Lord's commandments. Ezekiel is selected
as the messenger to his people and is taken on board ("the spirit
lifted me up"). The spacecraft takes off ("I heard... the sound of the
wheels... that sounded like a great earthquake"), and Ezekiel is
carried to Tel-abib where his fellow exiles are and where he sits
"overwhelmed among them seven days," traumatized by his experience.
(Ezekiel 1-3) (As we can see from contemporary UFO encounters, this
could be interpreted as an almost classic report of the abduction and
return of humans.)
The roman author Julius Obsequens, believed to have lived in the fourth
century A.D., drew on Livy as well as other sources of his time to
compile his book "Prodigorium liber", which describes many peculiar
phenomena, some of which could be interpreted as UFO sightings. here
are just a few examples:
"[216 B.C.] Things like ships were seen in the sky over Italy... At
Arpi (180 Roman miles, east of Rome, in Apulia) a 'round shield' was
seen in the sky... At Capua, the sky was all on fire, and one saw
figures like ships... [99 B.C.] When C. Murius and L. Valerius were
consuls, in Tarquinia, there fell in different places... a thing like
a flaming torch, and it came suddenly from the sky. Towards sunset,
a round object like a globe, or round or circular shield took its
path in the sky, from west to east. [90 B.C.] In the territory of
Spoletium (65 Roman miles north of Rome, in Umbria) a globe of fire,
of golden colour, fell to the earth, gyrating. It then seemed to
increase in size, rose from the earth, and ascended into the sky,
where it obscured the disc of the sun, with its brilliance. It
revolved towards the eastern quadrant of the sky. [Harold T. wilkins,
"Flying Saucers on the Attack", pp. 164-69]
A later chronicler of inexplicable phenomena, one Conrad Wolffhart (a
professor of grammer and dielectrics who under the pen name of
Lycosthenes wrote the compendium "Prodigiorium ac Ostentorum
Chronicon", published in 1567), mentions the following events:
"[A.D 393] Strange lights were seen in the sky in the days of the
Emperor Theodosius. On a sudden, a bright globe appeared at
midnight. It shown brilliantly near the day star (planet, Venus),
about the circle of the zodiac. This globe shown little less
brilliantly than the planet, and little by little, a great number of
other glowing orbs drew near the first globe. The spectacle was like
a swarm of bees flying round the bee-keeper, and the light of these
orbs was as if they were dashing violently against each other. Soon,
they blended together into one awful flame, and bodied forth to the
eye as a horrible two-edged sword. The strange globe which was first
seen now appeared like the pommel to a handle, and all the little
orbs, fused with the first, shone as brilliantly as the first globe."
[This report is similar to modern accounts of UFO formations.]
[Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack, pp. 174, 177]
A rare typeset book from 1493, now preserved in a museum at Verdun,
France, contains what may be the earliest pictorial representation of a
UFO in Europe. Hartmann Schedel, author of the book "Liber
Chronicarum", describes a strange fiery sphere --- seen in 1034 ---
soaring through the sky in a straight course from south to east and
then veering towards the setting sun. The illustration accompanying
the account shows a cigar-shaped form haloed by flames, sailing through
a blue sky over a green, rolling countryside. (Jacque Vallee, "UFO's
in Space: Anatomy of a Phenomenon", p.9)
A term equivalent to our "flying saucer" was actually used by the
Japanese approximately 700 years before it came into use in the West.
Ancient documents describe an unusual shining object seen the night of
October 27, 1180, as a flying "earthenware vessel." After a while the
object, which had been heading northeast from a mountain in Kii
province, changed its direction and vanished below the horizon, leaving
a luminous trail. (Jacques Vallee, "Passport to Magonia", pp. 4-5)
Here is a classical description from "William of Newburgh's Chronicle"
of a flying saucer seen in England toward the end of the 12th century:
"At Byland, or Begeland Abbey (the largest Cistercian abbey in
England), in the North Yorkshire Riding, while the abbot and monks
were in the refectorium, a flat, round, shining, silvery object
["discus" is the word used in the Latin account] flew over the abbey
and caused the utmost terror." [Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers
on the Attack", p. 185]
The first official investigation of a UFO sighting occurred in Japan in
1235. During the night of September 24, while General Yoritsume and his
army were encamped, they observed mysterious lights in the heavens.
The lights were seen in the southwest for many hours, swinging,
circling, and moving in loops. The general ordered a "full-scale
scientific investigation" of these strange events. The report finally
submitted to him as the "soothing" ring of many contemporary
explanations offered for UFO phenomena. In essence it read: "The whole
thing is completely natural, General. It is... only the wind making
the stars sway." (Jacques Vallee, "Passport to Magonia", p.5)
Many unusual celestial events were recorded in Japanese chronicles
during the Middle Ages. As in Western society, such occurrences were
usually considered "portents," often resulting in panics and other
social disturbances. Here are some examples:
"...on September 12, 1271, the famous priest Nichiren was about to be
beheaded at Tatsunokuchi, Kamakura, when there appeared in the sky an
object like a full moon, shiny and bright. Needless to say, the
officials panicked and the execution was not carried out. In 1361, a
flying object described as being 'shaped like a drum, about twenty
feet in diameter' emerged from the inland sea off Western Japan...
...on March 8, 1468, a dark object, which made a 'sound like a
wheel,' flew from Mt. Kasuga toward the west at midnight." [Jacgues
Vallee, "Passport to Magonia", pp. 5-6]
The Eurpoean recoed of possible UFO sightings continued through the
14th and 15th centuries:
"[A.D. 1322] In the first hour of the night of Novr. 4... there was
seen in the sky over Uxbridge, Enfland, a pile (pillar) of fire the
size of a small boat, pallid and livid in colour. It rose from the
south, crossed the sky wirh a slow and grave motion and went north.
Out of the front of the pile, a fervent red flame burst forth with
great beams of light. Its speed increased, and it flew thro' the
air... [A.D. 1387] In Novr. and Decr. of this year, a fire in the
sky, like a burning and revolving wheel, or round barrel of flame,
emitting fire from above, and others in the shape of long fiery beam,
were seen through a great deal of the winter, in the county of
Leicester, Eng., and in Northhamptonshire. [A.D. 1461] On November
1, a fiery thing like an iron rod of good length and as large as one
half of the moon was seen in the sky, over... Arras, France for less
than a quarter of an hour. This object was also described as being
"shaped like a ship, from which fire was seen flowing." [Jacques
Vallee, "UFO's in Space: Anatomy of a Phenomenon", p. 9; Harold T.
Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack", pp. 187, 188]
From 1773 another classic account of one of those gleaming, silvery
bodies today referred to as flying saucers:
"Something in the sky which appeared in the north, but vanished from
my sight, as it was intercepted by trees, from my vision. I was
standing in a valley. The weather was warm, the sun shone brightly.
On a sudden it re-appeared, darting in and out of my sight with an
amazing coruscation. The colour of this phenomenon was like
burnished, or new washed silver. It shot with speed like a star
falling in the night. But it has a body much larger and a train
longer than any shooting star I have seen... Next day, Mr. Edgecombe
informed me that he and another gentleman had seen this strange
phenomenon at the same time as I had. It was about 15 miles from
where I saw it, and steering a course from E. to N."
The witness of this event was a Mr. Cracker of Fleet, a small township
in Dorset, England. Mr. Cracker said that he saw this "flying saucer"
in broad daylight on December 8, 1773. ("Fate", April 1951, p. 24).
A Fellow of the Royal Society in London was about to cross St. Jame's
Park on his way home from a meeting on December 16, 1742, when he was
startled by the appearance of a remarkable celestial object:
"...a light arose from behind the trees and houses, to the south and
west, which at first I thought was a rocket, of large size. But when
it rose 20 degrees, it moved parallel to the horizon, and waved like
this -- he draws an undulating line -- and went on in the direction
of north by east. It seemed very near, its motion was very slow. I
had it for about half a mile in view. A light flame was turned
backward by the resistance the air made to it. From, one end, it
emitted a bright glare and fire like that of a burning charcoal.
That end was a flame like bars of iron, and quite opaque to my sight.
At one point, on the longitudinal frame, or cylinder, issued a train
in the shape of a tail of light more bright at one point on the rod
or cylinder; so that it was transparent for more than half of its
length. The head of this strange object seemed about half a degree
in diameter, and the tail near three degrees in length."
The observer signed himself "C.M.," probably preferring to remain
anonymous to avoid the expected skepticism and scoffing of his fellow
members. (Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack," p. 206)
First UFO photograph and a most unusual sighting was reported by
Monsieur de Rostan, an amateur astronomer and member of the
Medicophysical Society of Basel, Switzerland. On August 9, 1762, at
Lausanne, Switzerland, he observed through a telescope a spindle-shaped
object crossing and eclipsing the sun. Monsieur de Rostan was able to
observe this object almost daily for close to a month. He also
managed to trace its outline with a camera obscure and sent the picture
to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris. Unfortunately, his image --
probably the first one ever obtained of a UFO -- no longer exists.
A friend of Monsieur de Rostan, living at Sole near Basel, also
observed the spindle-shaped object against the sun, but it seemed to
present more of an edge and was not quite as broad. Oddly enough, the
UFO was not visible to a third astronomer, a Monsieur Messier who
studied the sun, during the same time, from Paris -- an indication that
the object was not a sunspot, since it was visible only from certain
angles. (Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack," pp. 211-
212)
The last year of the 18th century had its share of celestial phenomena.
An issue of "Gentleman's Magazine" contained the following story:
"On Sept. 19 [1799], all England saw, at 8:30 p.m., a beautiful ball
blazing with white light, and which passed from N.W. to S.E. It
moved rapidly with a gentle tremulous motion, and noiselessly. The
light cast by it was very vivid, and few red sparks detached
themselves from it... On Nov. 12, something like a large red pillar
of fire passed north to south over Hereford, and alarmed people in
the Forest of Dean, dome miles away. Flashes of extremely vivid
electrical sort preceded its appearance, and at intervals of half an
hour, several hours before. This was at 5:45 a.m.... On this night
the moon shone with uncommon vividness, when between 5 and 6 a.m.,
bright lights in the sky became stationary. They then burst with not
perceptible report, and passed north leaving behind them beautiful
trains of floating fire. Some were pointed, some radiated. Some
sparkled and some had large columns.... Nov. 19, at 6 a.m., folk of
Huncoates, Lincolnshire, were alarmed by vivid flashes lasting 30
seconds, from a ball of fire passing in the sky. [Harold T. Wilkins,
"Flying Saucers on the Attack," p211]
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