1882
England: A huge UFO, the first such phenomenon which was characteristically
saucer-shaped in Europe, was plainly observed by numerous people in England and
other parts of Europe during the night. It was seen to travel in the sky at an
approximate altitude of 130 miles in an east-west direction. A number of eminent
scientists witnessed the object, among them being Dr E Walter Maunder, Greenwich
astronomer; English spectroscopist, J Rand Capron; Dutch astronomers Audemans
and Zeeman. The Royal Observatory, Greenwich published a report of the
conclusions reached by scientists, following the appearance of what had been
termed, "The Great Saucer". The report had this to say: "It appeared to be well
defined in body and the inference drawn was that it was a meteor, not in the old
vague sense of some object high in the Earth's atmosphere, but in the sense of a
solid cosmological substance, disc-like in appearance, the orbit of which
brought it within the terrestrial atmosphere. But nothing could be more unlike
the rush of a great meteor or fireball, with intense radiance and fiery train.
The advance of this object, though swift, appeared to be orderly and controlled.
There was no sign of the compression of the atmosphere before it, no hint that
the matter composing its front part, was in anyway more strongly heated than the
rest of its substance, if substance, indeed it possessed."
1883 • Germany, Segeberg: A teacher and children at
a school all saw two fiery balls in a clear sky one day. The size of two full
moons, the objects traveled slowly together from north to south.
• Mexico, Zacatecas: An astronomer at the
Zacatecas Observatory saw 143 circular objects cross in front of the sun. The
astronomer, Professor Jose' Bonilla, managed to take a photograph of one of the
objects. He wrote up his finding, which were sent to the French journal
L'Astronomie.
1884
USA, Dundy County, Nebraska: Four cowboys heard a whirring noise overhead then
saw a cylindrical object crash into the ground. Researcher Kevin Randle believes
this case to have been a hoax.
1885 Turkey, Constantinople: From ‘L’Astronomie’: M. Mavrogordato,
calls our attention to the following strange observations which have been
communicated to him. "On November 1, at 9:30pm, there was seen, west of
Adrianople, an elongated object giving off a strong luminosity. It seemed to
float in the air and its apparent disk was four or five times larger than the
full moon. It traveled slowly and cast light on the whole camp behind the
station with a brightness about ten times greater than a large electric bulb.
In the morning, at dawn, a very luminous flame, first bluish, then greenish, and
moving at a height of five to six meters, made a series of turns around the
ferryboat pier at Scutari. Its blinding luminosity lighted the street and
flooded the inside of the houses with light."
1886
Venezuela: During the night of the 24th of October last, which was rainy and
tempestuous, a family of nine persons, sleeping in a hut a few leagues from
Maracaibo, were awakened by a loud humming noise and a vivid, dazzling light,
which brilliantly illuminated the interior of the house. The occupants
completely terror stricken, and believing, as they relate, that the end of the
world had come, threw themselves on their knees and commenced to pray, but their
devotions were almost immediately interrupted by violent vomiting, and extensive
swellings commenced to appear in the upper part of their bodies, this being
particularly noticeable about the face and lips. It is to be noted that the
brilliant lights was not accompanied by a sensation of heat, although there was
a smoky appearance and a peculiar smell. The next morning, the swellings had
subsided, leaving upon the face and body large black blotches. No trace of
lightning could afterward by observed in any part of the building, and all the
sufferers unite in saying that there was no detonation, but only the loud
humming already mentioned. Another curious attendant circumstance is that the
trees around the house showed no signs of injury until the ninth day, when they
suddenly withered. From Warner Cowgill, U. S. Consulate, Maracaibo, Venezuela
in a letter posted in Scientific American, Dec 18.
1887 Nova Scotia, Cape Race: From L’Astronomie, "On November 12, 1887,
at midnight, near, a huge ball of fire appeared, slowly emerging from the ocean
to an altitude of sixteen to seventeen meters. This sphere started moving
against the wind and stopped close to the ship from which it was observed. Then
it rushed away in the sky and disappeared in the southeast. The whole
observation had lasted five minutes."
1888
Italy, Ragusa: From the ‘Memoirs’ of the Minor Brothers, “Luminous bodies were
seen flying through the sky in lines for one hour.”
1891
USA, Indiana, Crawfordsville: As reported in the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper on
September 10, 1891, two icemen were working outside in Crawfordsville at about
2:00am five nights previously, when a bizarre object sailed overhead. The icemen
described the UFO as a 'seemingly headless monster', although there is no reason
to believe that it was an animal of any kind. It was about 20ft long, and 8ft
wide, moving in the sky toward the two men, and 'seemingly propelled by fin like
attachments.' The men moved, and the UFO flew off. The noise awoke Methodist
pastor G.W. Swittze, who saw it circling in the sky.
1892
• Netherlands: An astronomer called Muller was
observing the moon through his telescope when a black disk moved across his
field of view.
• Poland: A phantom airship scare began appearing. As in later 'flaps' of this
sort, the craft often appeared at night and were usually equipped with powerful
searchlights.
1893
China, North China Sea: The ship, H.M.S. Carolina was sailing in
the North China Sea, when a report from an officer of unusual light activity in
the sky came to the attention of Captain J.N. Norcross. The officer told Captain
Norcross that the lights appeared sometimes in a huge mass, others spread out in
unusual patterns. He said that they resembled Chinese lanterns set between the
masts of a ship. The next night these strange lights reappeared but with a
reddish glow and emanating small amounts of smoke.
1895 England, Oxford: A disk was seen rising above some trees and
disappearing into the east
1896 • USA, California, Sacramento: On November 25,
a mysterious light was seen moving rapidly from the Northeast and heading in a
southwesterly direction. As it neared the southern boundary of the city of
Sacramento it turned directly toward the west and after passing the city went
south, being distinctly visible for upward of 20 minutes.
• USA, California, Lorin: On November 26, an
airship that looked like a great black cigar with a fishlike tail neared Lorin
tremendous speed. It turned quickly and disappeared in the direction of San
Francisco. The body was at least 100 feet long and attached to it was a
triangular tail, one apex being attached to the main body. The surface of the
airship looked as if it were made of aluminum, which exposure to wind and
weather had turned dark. At half past 8 we saw it again, when it took about the
same direction and disappeared." From the Oakland Tribune, Dec 1.
• USA, California, San Francisco: The great Airship Flap of 1897 actually
started in late 1896 in San Francisco. Hundreds saw a large, cigar-shaped
object, shining brilliant beams of light, and moving northwest passing over
Oakland. Later reports came from other northern
• USA, California, San Francisco: A light was
observed by many prominent individuals including Deputy Secretary of State
George A. McCalvy, District Attorney Frank D. Ryan, and E. D. McCabe, the
governor's personal secretary. From the San Francisco Call, Nov 26. •
Switzerland, Arolla: Author Aleister Crowley was walking in the mountains when
he suddenly saw two little men. He made a gesture to them, but they did not seem
to pay attention and disappeared among the rocks.
