Wonders in the Sky (37 page)

The death of the great Apuc followed that of Francisco Hernández Girón, who, with the income from his villages, was to appear like the Sun three times in the bloody victories he had; and twice like the Moon, in the waning of his fortune with his imprisonment and death.”

The complex phenomena described here could only be accounted for by a combination of very unusual atmospheric circumstances.

191.

1 February 1554, Salon de Provence, France
Sighting report by Nostradamus

Dr. Nostradamus and a thousand other witnesses have seen a big “bright burning rod” that changed its flight path, between 7 and 8 P.M. It was in the sky for two hours, displaying a swinging motion. Here is the actual report:

 

TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS, HIGH-BORN AND ALMIGHTY LORD CLAUDE, DUKE OF TENDE,

 

Knight of the order of Regents and of the King and Honorary Citizen of Provence, Michael de Nostre Dame, his humble and obedient Servant bids greeting and good fortune.

“Gracious Lord,

“According to reports received, on the first day of February in this year of 1554, a most terrifying and horrible sight was seen on [….] towards evening, apparently between 7 and 8, which I am told was seen as far as Marseille. Then it was also seen at nearby St. Chamas by the sea, such that near the moon (which at that time was near its first quarter) a great fire did come from the east and make its way towards the west. This fire, being very great, did by all accounts look like a great burning staff or torch, gave out from itself a wondrous brightness, and flames did spurt from it like a glowing iron being worked by a smith. And such fire did sparkle greatly, glowing aloft like silver over an immense distance like Jacob's road in the sky, known as the ‘Galaxy' [i.e., the Milky Way], and raced overhead very fast like an arrow with a great roaring and crackling thunderous din' and as though it were being blown hither and thither by the [raging and roaring?] of a mighty wind.

“Then slowly, over the course of 20 minutes, it turned until we saw it passing over the region of Arles via that we call the ‘stony road' which the poets do call immensum fragorem [i.e. the Crau]. Then it turned towards the south, high over the sea, and the fiery stream that it created retained its fiery color for a long time, and cast fiery sparks all around it, like rain falling from heaven.

“This sight was much more terrifying than human tongue could say or describe. And I thought that it might have come from a mountain known as a volcano. But on the 14th of this month I was called to [Bry?], where I asked diligently of many people whether they also had seen it, but not all of them had experienced it. But it did appear only seven miles from there, and the Lord of that same place had seen it, and desired that I should be his witness that he had seen and wished to record it. Two days after the fire had been seen, the Prefect of St. Chamas came to me and indicated that he and other townspeople had seen the same thing, and that it had taken the shape of a half-rainbow stretching as far as the Spanish Main. And if it had been low down rather than high up, it would have burnt up everything and reduced it to ashes as it went by.

Fig. 15: Object seen in Salon de Provence

“They also said that its breadth in the sky was around a [Pisan?] running distance or stadium [about 200 yards], from which the fire sprayed and fell. And so far as I can judge in the circumstances, it is […] very strange to hear, and it would be much better had it not appeared. For this apparition or comet gives certain indication that this Ruler of Provence and other stretches by the sea shall encounter unexpected and unforeseen calamity through war, fire, famine, pestilence or other strange diseases, or otherwise shall be attacked and subjugated by foreign nations.

“This omen was seen by more than a thousand people, and I have been bidden to confirm this and write to your Eminence about it, insofar as I have in my own estimation seen and heard how it happened. And I pray Jesus Our Lord that he may grant Your High Eminence long life, and that he may richly multiply and extend your good fortune.

“Given in France, at Salon-de-Provence, this 19th of March in the year 1554. Your Eminence's most humble and obedient servant, Michael de Nostre Dame.”

 

Source: Translated from the French and printed in Nuremberg by M. Joachim Heller (with the illustration given here), cited in Mathias Miles,
Siebenbürgischer Würgengel
(1670). The above translation is from: www.propheties.it/Nostradamus/inedites/inedites3.htm.

192.

13 June 1554, Iena, Germany
Spheres and disks

A large number of spheres and disks flew over the city of Iena. They had sudden variations of speed and turned to a red color as they flew north.

 

Source: Mathias Miles,
Siebenbürgischer Würgenengel
(Hermannstadt, 1670).

193.

5 March 1555, Buendía, Cuenca, Spain
Hovering cross

On Tuesday March 5th 1555, in Buendía, in the Spanish province of Cuenca, many people saw an enormous object in the shape of a cross in the sky. It was stationary, floating next to a new calvary (a life-size representation of a crucifix on raised ground) erected by the Brotherhood of the True Cross.

Seven other women saw it there. The Inquisition of Cuenca dispatched somebody to investigate the occurrence, but nineteen people described the sighting to notaries.

We include this case because of its interest as an unidentified aerial phenomenon, though the religious significance of the case should not be ignored.

 

Source: William A. Christian,
Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain
(Princeton University Press, 1989), 186-7.

194.

14 April 1561, Nuremberg, Germany
Vertical cylinders

At sunrise many spheres and disks, red, blue and black were seen to come out of two vertical cylinders. They flew across the face of the Sun in an apparent “aerial fight”. In a contemporary engraving some of the spheres appear to have landed on a hill to the right of the city, where much smoke is rising, while an elongated shape resembling a great black spear is seen in a horizontal position.

Fig. 16: The sighting at Nuremberg

“Beyond balls of a red color, bluish or black, and circular disks, two large pipes were seen…within which small and big pipes were found three balls, also four and more.

“All these elements started fighting against one another.” The fight seems to have lasted about an hour, then “as mentioned above, from the Sun and the sky, it fell onto the earth as if everything was burning, and with great smoke everything got consumed.”

 

Source: This pamphlet is preserved in the Wickiana collection of the Central Library in Zurich:
Erscheinung am Himmel über Nürnberg am 14. April 1561.
Zürich Zentralbibliothek [ZB PAS II 12:60].

195.