Page Content (OCR)
By The year was 1239 A.D., the place England, and the reporter a chronicler known as Matthew of Paris. On July 24, 1239, at the vigil of St. James, in the dusk, but not when the stars came out, but while the air was clear, serene and shining, a great star appeared. It was like a torch, rising from the south, and flying on both sides of it, there was emitted in the height of the sky a very great light. It turned towards the north in the aery region, not quickly, nor, indeed, with speed, but exactly as it wished to ascend to a place high in the air." A modern-times astronomer or meteorologist who chanced upon Matthew's report would probably conclude: "It was a bolide, a fireball." And, bending over the manuscript, might think: "How terrified our medieval ancestors must have been by such natural phenomena. A chunk of rock or iron, wandering around in the solar system, enters the earth's atmosphere, and friction causes it to incandesce and disintegrate. But the monks, barons and commoners of the day thought such things The scientist again bends over the manuscript: Not quickly, nor, indeed, with speed." He ponders again for a moment, "Yes, undoubtedly, a bolide. Some of them have been reported with remarkably slow velocities. Apparently they approach the earth in the same direction as its orbit around the sun, with speeds not much greater than our planet's orbital one." He looks again: "It turned towards the north in the aery region ..." The scientist's brow furrows, but only for a moment. "Curious. A bolide could not change direction, at least not abruptly, and that's what is implied. Oh, it must be an error. After all, this is undoubtedly a second-hand account." He closes the book. But some of these old accounts - and this of 1239 is only one of many - bear a striking resemblance to modern UFO reports. Their language is archaic and often they are phrased in terms of the religious symbols of the time in which they were written. But their basic observations are remarkably similar to today's sightings. You have read reports on many of these sightings in recent issues of Science and Mechanics. Let's compare them with a few of the reports from the Middle Ages. The examples here I owe to Harold T. Wilkins who, some years ago, conducted remarkable research into the history of UFOs. In 1254 A.D., on January 1st, Matthew of Paris tells us in his Historia Anglorum that "... at midnight, in serene and clear sky, with the stars shining and the moon eight days old, there suddenly appeared in the sky a kind of large ship, elegantly shaped, and well-equipped and of marvelous color. Certain monks at St. Albans saw it ... for a long time, as if it were painted, and a ship made of planks; but Something very like a modern "flying saucer" appeared in 1290: "At Byland or Begeland Abby, in the North Yorkshire riding, while the abbot and monks were in the refectorium, a flat, round, shining, silvery object (discus) flew over the abbey and caused the utmost terror." This account was taken from 6 - UFOs In History And Myth Gordon H. Evans were mysterious, supernatural events. How far we have progressed." finally it began to disappear."