Wonders in the Sky (23 page)

1171, Teruel, Aragon, Spain
The King observes a mystery

Alfonso II and his men observed a wandering bull and a mysterious, star-like luminous object hovering above. As described in a current historical brochure about the town, “Tradition says that in the XII century, during the Reconquest of Spain, King Alfonso II, after taking several important positions, continued along the banks of the River Martin and upon reaching what is now Teruel, he split his army up, leaving part of his warriors in the Cella Plains with orders to remain on the defensive, and he then proceeded to confront the rebels in the mountains of Prades. This is the point where history and legend blend together. The warriors disobeyed the king's orders and ran after a bull that was being followed by a star from heaven because they had seen it in premonitory dreams: a sign, according to them, which marked the place where a new town was to be established. In this way they took the fortress of Teruel planting their banner in the conquered fortress.”

This fact is still represented today on the shield of Teruel, with a bull and a star above it.

 

Source: Javier Sierra and Jesus Callejo,
La España Extraña
(Madrid: Ediciones EDAF, 1997), 122-4.

101.

18 June 1178, Canterbury, England: cosmic catastrophe

Gervase of Canterbury wrote that about an hour after sunset five witnesses watched as the upper horn of the bright new moon suddenly split in two. From the midpoint of this division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out fire, hot coals and sparks. The moon “writhed [and] throbbed like a wounded snake.” This happened a dozen times or more, “turning the moon blackish along its whole length.”

When a geologist suggested in 1976 that Gervase's account referred to the meteor impact that created the 22 kilometer lunar crater called Giordano Bruno, the theory was widely accepted. However, as reported in several scientific journals in 2001, new calculations show that such an event would have resulted in a fierce, week-long meteor storm on Earth with 100 million of tons of ejecta raining down on our planet. Of course, this did not take place in the twelfth century AD, or archives all over the world would have recorded it! This begs the question “What did Gervase's contemporaries really see?” Did they observe the dramatic entrance of a comet into the Earth's atmosphere – or something even stranger? Were they even looking at the moon?

 

Source: University of Arizona news release dated 19 April 2001. The BBC website posted a report on May 1st, 2001: “Historic lunar impact questioned” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1304985.stm).

102.

27 October 1180, Kii Sanchi, Nara, Japan
Glowing vessel

A glowing “earthenware vessel” (a saucer?) maneuvers in the sky between the mountains of Kyushu, flies off to the northeast towards Mount Fukuhara. It changes course abruptly, turns south and disappears with a luminous trail.

 

Source: Sobeps (Société Belge pour l'Etude des Phénomènes Spatiaux),
Inforespace
23;
Brothers
III, 1 (1964).

103.

1182, Friesland, Holland
Four suns, armed men in the sky

The Chronicler Winsemius (1622) reports, in his
Croniek van Vriesland
that four Suns and a score of armed men were seen in the sky and a bloody rain fell.

 

Source: M.D. Teenstra,
Volksverhalen en Legenden van vroegere en latere dagen
(Geertsema: Groningen, 1843), 117.

104.

1185, Mount Nyoigadake, Japan
A luminous wheel enters the sea

First there were red beams behind the mountain, and then an object like a luminous wheel flew over, and entered the sea. The witnesses were fishermen.

 

Source:
Brothers Magazine
III, 1, 1964.

105.

9 August 1189, Dunstaple, Bedfordshire, England
Marvelous vision

Numerous amazed observers see the sky “open up” as a huge cross hovers till midnight.

The British monastic chronicler William of Newburgh (1136-1198) noted the sightings of several prodigies in the sky in his
Historia rerum anglicarum
, a philosophical commentary dealing with his own times. In chapter four of Book VI, we read:

“Nor ought I to pass over in silence a most amazing and fearful prodigy, which about this time was seen in England by many, who to this day are witnesses of it to those who did not see it. There is upon the public road which goes to London a town, by no means insignificant, called Dunstaple.

“There, as certain persons happened to be looking up at the sky in the afternoon, they saw in the clear atmosphere the form of the banner of the Lord, conspicuous by its milky whiteness, and joined to it the figure of a man crucified, such as is painted in the church in remembrance of the passion of the Lord, and for the devotion of the faithful (…)

“When this fearful sight had thus been visible for some time, and the countenances and minds of those who were curiously watching it were kept in suspense, the form of the cross was seen to recede from the person who seemed affixed to it, so that an intermediate space of air could be observed between them; and soon afterwards this marvelous vision disappeared; but the effect remained, after the cause of this prodigy was removed.”

Other sources: the case is also mentioned by writers Thomas Wykes (with a date of 1191), Wilhelmus Parvus, and Walther of Hermingford (the latter two give a year of 1189).

106.