Jacques Vallee - Dimensions - A Casebook of Alien

Page 47 of 151

Page 47 of 151
Jacques Vallee - Dimensions - A Casebook of Alien

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was up. Of course, there was nothing left to be seen. We have already been told of the traveling habits of the Good People. What has not yet been mentioned is the belief, especially in Ireland, that human conditions are related to the travels of the Good People. Evans-Wentz says that, according to John Glynn, town clerk of Tuam: During 1846-47 the potato crop in Ireland was a failure and very much suffering resulted. At the time, the country people in these parts attributed the famine to disturbed conditions in the fairy-world. Old Tedhy Stead once told me about the conditions then prevailing, "Sure, we couldn't be any other way; and I saw the Good People and hundreds besides me saw them fighting in the sky over Knock Magh and on towards Galway." And I heard others say they saw the fighting too. According to another popular Irish belief, the elves have two great feasts each year. The first one takes place at the beginning of spring, when the hero O'Donoghue, who used to reign over the earth, rises through the sky on a white horse, surrounded by the brilliant company of the elves. Lucky is he, indeed, the Irishman who sees him rise from the depths of the Lake of Killarney! In another part of Europe, in January 1537, the people of Franconia, between Pabenberp and the forest of Thuringia, saw a star of marvelous size. It came lower and lower and appeared as a large white circle from which whirlwinds and patches of fire came forth. Falling to earth, the pieces of fire melted spear heads and ironwork, without causing harm to human beings or their houses. The favorite abode of the Gentry, however, was not always an aerial one. In many tales related by the students of folklore, as in the modern literature of UFOs, the strange beings often come from the sea. Thus Evans-Wentz learned: There is an invisible island... between Innismurray and the coast opposite Grange, on which part of the Gentry is supposed to reside. When it is visible it is only visible for a short time. In the legends of Europe, it is between the eight and the tenth centuries that celestial prodigies were most often visible. But the books on magic and demonology associate supernatural beings with celestial signs. A strange category of devils called "Friday Demons" is thus described in The Magical Works of Henri-Corneille Agrippa. These devils are of medium height, rather handsome. Their arrival is preceded by a brilliant star. According to the Western cabalists, the sylphs flew through the air with the speed of lightning, riding a "peculiar cloud." It is noteworthy, too, that in France some fairies are supposed to bear a luminous stone, an object that is often part of the equipment of flying saucer occupants. Many a "little man" has a light on either his belt, chest, or helmet. In a French tradition that survives in modern novels, the fortunate mortal who can steal the fairy's luminous stone is sure of lifelong happiness. On June 17, 1790, near Alencon, France, there was an apparition so strange and so disturbing that Police Inspector Liabeuf, who witnessed the events in the presence of a doctor, the mayors of two nearby towns, and three other officials, was instructed to make a thorough investigation. His report reads, in part: At 5:00 A.M. on June 12", several farmers caught sight of an enormous globe which seemed surrounded with flames. First they thought it was perhaps a balloon that had caught fire, but the great velocity and the whistling sound which came from that body intrigued them. The globe slowed down, made some oscillations and precipitated itself towards the top of a hill, unearthing plants along the slope. The heat which emanated from it was so intense that soon the grass and the small trees started burning. The peasants succeeded in controlling the fire which threatened to spread to the whole area. This sphere, which would have been large enough to contain a carriage, had not suffered from the flight. It excited so much curiosity that people came from all parts to see it. Then all of a sudden a kind of door opened and, there is the interesting thing, a person like us