Wonders in the Sky (95 page)

January 1319, Mozhcharyk, Russia
Fiery columns, pillars of fire

At the time when Prince Mikhail of Tver was murdered by his brother and a wicked Tatar, “many believers and even infidels at that time saw two clouds which came over the body of blessed Prince Mikhail, and they came together and parted and they shone as the sun. These people told us of it with tears, and giving many oaths. The body was sent to Mozhcharyk.

“At that time there were Russian merchants present who wanted to place the body in a church and cover it with a saintly cover; but they were not permitted to do so and the body was put in a barn, under guard. Then others living there saw at night a fiery column extending from the earth to the sky. Others saw a rainbow which bent over the barn in which the body lay.

“From thence the body was taken to the town of Bezdezh, and when they drew near the town, many people in the town saw a vision; around the sledge there was a multitude of people with candles and others on horseback with lanterns, riding in the air. And so they brought the body to the town, but the body was not placed in the church, but only in the yard. Two of the guards lay down in the sledge above the body but they were seized by great fear and were thrown out of the sledge and pushed afar off. When they arose and recovered, they went and confessed what had happened to the priests who were there. I heard it from them and I have written it exactly.”

Another source reports that during the course of January, at night over most areas of Russia numerous witnesses observed “fiery pillars,” similar to those sighted in 1111, which extended from the ground toward the sky. Some people also sighted a “heavenly arc.” Yet others saw horse-like flying entities, equipped with “lanterns.”

These descriptions suggest a widespread natural phenomenon such as an aurora borealis, which could be seen over large portions of Russia. The mechanism of the aurora's fantastic luminous displays was a mystery until the 20
^th
century, when physicists understood the behavior of charged particles from the Sun caught in the Earth's magnetic field. These particles emit light of vivid colors in wide, undulating curtain-like swatchs that can be likened to pillars, rainbows or arches.

 

Source:
The Nikonian Chronicle
, trans. S. A. Zenkovsky, vol. 3 (Princeton, NJ: Kingston Press, 1984-1989), 110-112

6 November 1331, Florence, Italy: Miraculous cross

An old chronicler records the following observation:

“That evenig a miraculous sign appeared in the sky: a vermilion cross over the palace of the Priors. Each bar was more than a palm and a half wide; one line appeared to be more than forty feet high, and the transverse was a little less. The cross remained for as long as it takes a horse to run two laps. The people who saw this – and I saw it clearly – could understand that God was firmly set against our tormented city.”

Here we have a clear example of a religious interpretation given to a natural phenomenon that puzzled observers of the time.

 

Source: Dino Compagni,
Chronicle of Florence
, trans. Daniel E. Bornstein (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1986), 47-48.

1503, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany: Flying spear

A painting illustrates an observation of a flying spear in the sky, watched by a monk in prayer. The Latin manuscript calls the object is “the Lance of Christ.” The description of flying spears is a common reference to meteors and bolides in the atmosphere.

Fig. 52: Freiburg meteor

The manuscript was never printed.

 

Source: Jakob Mennel,
Über Wunderzeichen
(
De Signis Portentis Prodigiis
) (1503). Current location: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

20 April 1535, Stockholm, Sweden: Five fiery disks

Five sun-like disks were seen in the sky. Swedish reformer and scholar Olaus Petri (1493-1552) had a painting made by Urban to memorialize the event. The object's trajectories were drawn up by Dutch painter Jacob Matham. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has a copper plate showing Matham at work on this drawing. Controversy about the event lasted for a century. The painting can be seen now in Stockholm Cathedral.

Our research indicates that the “controversy” in question didn't have to do with the sighting or its depiction but with its interpretation by the common people, who took it as a bad omen after the king converted to Protestantism. Perceiving the painting as a threat to his power, the king had Petri arrested.

The painting itself is beautiful. It clearly shows solar parhelia due to atmospheric effects.

 

Source: Christiane Piens,
Les Ovni du Passé
(Belgium: Marabout, 1977).

25 October 1593, Manila, Philippines Involuntary desertion

According to Father Gaspar de San Agustin, on the morning of Monday, October 25th 1593, a Spanish soldier suddenly appeared in the Main Square in Mexico City. He belonged to a regimental unit stationed in Manila in the Philippines, some 9,000 miles away. The soldier, whose name is not stated, was not merely lost: he was unable to explain how he had reached the other side of the Pacific Ocean! Following his arrest he was ordered by the Inquisition to return to Manila.

This story has been published in a number of versions since Father Gaspar de Agustin included it in his 1698 book
Conquista de las Islas Filipinas
. Here is the original paragraph, in English:

“It is worthy of reflection that on the same day that the tragedy of Gómez Pérez occurred, the art of Satan had already made it knowledge in Mexico. With [Satan's help] some women inclined to performing such acts transported a soldier, who was in the sentry box on the walls of Manila, to the main square in Mexico City. This was carried out without the soldier's even being aware of it, and in the morning he was found walking about the square in Mexico with his weapons, asking everyone who passed by to give him their name. But the Holy Inquisition of the city ordered him to return to these Islands, where many who knew him assured me of the truth of this event.”

Many details were added later. It is often claimed, for example, that to prove that he had actually been in Manila the night before, the soldier told Mexican authorities that His Excellency the Governor of the Philippines, Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, had just been assassinated with a blow to the head. In this version two months pass before a galleon arrives in Acapulco bringing an important message from Manila: Governor Dasmarinas has indeed been murdered by the Chinese during a military mission against the Molucas Islands. The date of the assassination is given as October 24th. However, no such incident is described in Father Gaspar's book.

The name of the soldier is sometimes said to be Gil Pérez and we are told he has been charged with desertion. These claims are also later accretions. The origin of the story is not known, and there are legitimate doubts about its authenticity. Father Gaspar cites Antonio de Morga's
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
as his source but the story does not appear there, so we are left wondering whether the priest invented it himself. The legend is mentioned by UFO writers (such as Morris Jessup) to support theories of abduction or teleportation.

Mid-17
^th
century, France: A controversial “jeton,” a flying disk?

The token shown below, which experts believe was struck around 1656, shows a disk with light or a beam emanating from it. This object (“jeton” in French) has been mentioned in numerous books and magazine articles as a commemoration of an event in which a flying object was observed in the clouds, passing over a wide landscape.

The object is the size of a U.S. quarter or a one-euro coin and similar to thousands of other tokens that were produced in Europe around that time for religious and educational purposes. Rather than a flying saucer, it is likely to represent the “Shield of Numa.” In fact jetons bearing very similar images have been found dating to mid-17
^th
century France.