Post by skywalker on May 6, 2012 13:06:38 GMT -6
I found the full text of an article originally printed in the St. Louis Democrat, October 19 1865 and reprinted in The Cincinnati Commercial, October 30, 1865. It tells a story about a UFO that may have crashed in Cadotte Pass, Montana back in September of either 1864 or 1865.
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A Strange Story--Remarkable Discovery--
Mr. James Lumley, an old Rocky Mountain trapper, who has been stopping at the Everett House for several days, makes a most remarkable statement to us, and one, which if authenticated, will produce the greatest excitement in the scientific world.
Mr. Lumley states that about the middle of last September, he was engaged in trapping in the mountains, about seventy-five or one hundred miles above the great falls of the Upper Missouri, and in the neighborhood of what is known as Cadotte Pass. Just after sunset one evening he beheld a bright, luminous body in the heavens, which was moving with a great rapidity in an easterly direction. It was plainly visible for at least five seconds, when it suddenly separated into particles, resembling, as Mr. Lumley described it, the bursting of a skyrocket in the air. A few minutes later he heard a heavy explosion, which jarred the earth very perceptibly, and this was shortly after followed by a rumbling sound, like a tornado sweeping through the forest. A strong wind sprang up about the same time, but as suddenly subsided. The air was also filled with a peculiar odor of a sulphurous character.
These incidents would have made but slight impression on the mind of Mr. Lumley, but for the fact that on the ensuing day he discovered, at a distance of about two miles from his camping place, that, as far as he could see in either direction, a path had been cut through the forest, several rods wide - giant trees uprooted or broken off near the ground - the tops of hills shaved off, and the earth plowed up in many places. Great and wide-spread havoc was every-where visible. Following up this track of desolation, he soon ascertained the cause of it in the shape of an immense stone that had been driven into the side of a mountain. But now comes the most remarkable part of the story. An examination of this stone, or so much of it as was visible, showed that it had been divided into compartments, and that, in various places, it was carved with curious hieroglyphics. More than this, Mr. Lumley also discovered fragments of a substance resembling glass, and here and there dark stains, as though caused by a liquid. He is confident that the hieroglyphics were the work of human hands, and that the stone itself, although but a fragment of an immense body, must have been used for some purpose by animated beings.
Strange as this story appears, Mr. Lumley relates it with so much sincerity that we are forced to accept it as true. It was evident that the stone which he discovered was a fragment of the meteor which was visible in this section in September last. It will be remembered that it was seen in Leavenworth, in Galena, and in this city by Colonel Bonneville. At Leavenworth, it was seen to separate in particles or explode.
Astronomers have long said that it is probable that the heavenly bodies are inhabited--even the comets--and it may be that the meteors are also. Possibly meteors are used as a means of conveyance by the inhabitants of other planets, in exploring space, and it may be that hereafter some future Columbus,, from Mercury or Uranus may land on this planet, by means of a meteoric conveyance, and take full possession thereof--as did the Spanish navigators of the new world in 1492, and eventually drive what is known as the "human race" into a condition of the most abject servitude. It has always been a favorite theory with many that there must be a race superior to us, and this may at some time be demonstrated in the manner indicated.
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I remember reading about this story a long time ago and the first conclusion I came to was that it was probably a hoax. Old newspapers had a habit of creating sensationalistic fictional stories about living dinosaurs, monsters or "flying machines" in order to fill empty space and attract attention to their papers. However, a closer look at this story brings up some interesting details.
The idea that there would be "Egyptian heiroglyphics" and material that resembled glass sound very similar to what was described later on in the reported crashes of Roswell and Kecksburg.
The description of the crash as being "a heavy explosion, which jarred the earth very perceptibly" followed by "a rumbling sound, like a tornado sweeping through the forest" and a strong wind that had "a peculiar odor of a sulphurous character" very closely matches the description of a possible meteor explosion that occurred in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on April 5, 1800 and which was later reported by William Dunbar and Thomas Jefferson in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.
Either this is an accurate description of a meteor impact event or people as far back as 1800 had very good imaginations and were able to vividly describe what a meteoric impact would be like.
I also thought it was interesting that the newspaper editor was already speculating about alien invasions as far back as 1865. I didn't realize that they were already imagining visitations by alien beings at that early of a date but according to the author astronomers had been invisioning such a possibility for a long time. I wonder when the earliest recorded mention of a possible alien invasion took place?
************************************************
A Strange Story--Remarkable Discovery--
Mr. James Lumley, an old Rocky Mountain trapper, who has been stopping at the Everett House for several days, makes a most remarkable statement to us, and one, which if authenticated, will produce the greatest excitement in the scientific world.
Mr. Lumley states that about the middle of last September, he was engaged in trapping in the mountains, about seventy-five or one hundred miles above the great falls of the Upper Missouri, and in the neighborhood of what is known as Cadotte Pass. Just after sunset one evening he beheld a bright, luminous body in the heavens, which was moving with a great rapidity in an easterly direction. It was plainly visible for at least five seconds, when it suddenly separated into particles, resembling, as Mr. Lumley described it, the bursting of a skyrocket in the air. A few minutes later he heard a heavy explosion, which jarred the earth very perceptibly, and this was shortly after followed by a rumbling sound, like a tornado sweeping through the forest. A strong wind sprang up about the same time, but as suddenly subsided. The air was also filled with a peculiar odor of a sulphurous character.
These incidents would have made but slight impression on the mind of Mr. Lumley, but for the fact that on the ensuing day he discovered, at a distance of about two miles from his camping place, that, as far as he could see in either direction, a path had been cut through the forest, several rods wide - giant trees uprooted or broken off near the ground - the tops of hills shaved off, and the earth plowed up in many places. Great and wide-spread havoc was every-where visible. Following up this track of desolation, he soon ascertained the cause of it in the shape of an immense stone that had been driven into the side of a mountain. But now comes the most remarkable part of the story. An examination of this stone, or so much of it as was visible, showed that it had been divided into compartments, and that, in various places, it was carved with curious hieroglyphics. More than this, Mr. Lumley also discovered fragments of a substance resembling glass, and here and there dark stains, as though caused by a liquid. He is confident that the hieroglyphics were the work of human hands, and that the stone itself, although but a fragment of an immense body, must have been used for some purpose by animated beings.
Strange as this story appears, Mr. Lumley relates it with so much sincerity that we are forced to accept it as true. It was evident that the stone which he discovered was a fragment of the meteor which was visible in this section in September last. It will be remembered that it was seen in Leavenworth, in Galena, and in this city by Colonel Bonneville. At Leavenworth, it was seen to separate in particles or explode.
Astronomers have long said that it is probable that the heavenly bodies are inhabited--even the comets--and it may be that the meteors are also. Possibly meteors are used as a means of conveyance by the inhabitants of other planets, in exploring space, and it may be that hereafter some future Columbus,, from Mercury or Uranus may land on this planet, by means of a meteoric conveyance, and take full possession thereof--as did the Spanish navigators of the new world in 1492, and eventually drive what is known as the "human race" into a condition of the most abject servitude. It has always been a favorite theory with many that there must be a race superior to us, and this may at some time be demonstrated in the manner indicated.
************************************************
I remember reading about this story a long time ago and the first conclusion I came to was that it was probably a hoax. Old newspapers had a habit of creating sensationalistic fictional stories about living dinosaurs, monsters or "flying machines" in order to fill empty space and attract attention to their papers. However, a closer look at this story brings up some interesting details.
The idea that there would be "Egyptian heiroglyphics" and material that resembled glass sound very similar to what was described later on in the reported crashes of Roswell and Kecksburg.
The description of the crash as being "a heavy explosion, which jarred the earth very perceptibly" followed by "a rumbling sound, like a tornado sweeping through the forest" and a strong wind that had "a peculiar odor of a sulphurous character" very closely matches the description of a possible meteor explosion that occurred in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on April 5, 1800 and which was later reported by William Dunbar and Thomas Jefferson in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.
Either this is an accurate description of a meteor impact event or people as far back as 1800 had very good imaginations and were able to vividly describe what a meteoric impact would be like.
I also thought it was interesting that the newspaper editor was already speculating about alien invasions as far back as 1865. I didn't realize that they were already imagining visitations by alien beings at that early of a date but according to the author astronomers had been invisioning such a possibility for a long time. I wonder when the earliest recorded mention of a possible alien invasion took place?