Voltaire was an amazingly prolific writer, producing over 2,000 books and pamphlets in his lifetime - along with over 20,000 letters. In 1752 (or possibly earlier) he published Le Micromégas, a novella about a couple of aliens who visit Earth.

The story begins with a description of Micromegas, a gigantic character from a planet orbiting Sirius:

"On a planet revolving around the star Sirius there lived a young man of great intelligence, whose acquaintence I had the honor of making during his recent visit to our little anthill. He was called Micromegas, an appropriate name for great people. He had a stature of eight leagues, or 24,000 geometrical paces of five feet each, or 120,000 statute feet...

His mind rivals the most cultivated among us; he knows many things, some of which are his own inventions. He had not yet reached his 250th year, and was studying, as was customary at his age, at the most famous school on the planet, when he solved 50 propositions of Euclid--18 more than Blaise Pascal, who, after having, according to his sister's account, solved 32 for his own amusement, became a pretty fair geometer, and a very poor metaphysician. When Micromegas was about 450 years old, and already passing out of childhood, he dissected, with the aid of powerful microscopes, many little insects less than 100 feet in diameter; he wrote an interesting book about them, which got him into trouble.

The mufti of that country, much given to hair-splitting and very ignorant, found in his work statements they deemed suspicious, offensive, rash, and heretical, and they prosecuted him with bitter animosity. The question in dispute was whether the substantial form of which the fleas of Sirius consisted was of the same nature as that of the snails. Micromegas defended himself spiritedly, and had all the ladies on his side; the trial lasted 220 years. At last the mufti had the book condemned by judges who had never read it, and the author was forbidden to appear at court for 800 years."

Micromegas then decided to go space travelling 'sometimes by means of a sunbeam, and sometimes with the help of a comet':

"Micromegas, after plenty of turns and twists, arrived at the planet Saturn. Accustomed though he was to the sight of novelties, when he saw the insignificant size of the globe and its inhabitants, he could not at first refrain from that smile of superiority which sometimes escapes even the wisest; for in truth Saturn is scarcely 900 times greater than Earth, and the citizens of that country are mere dwarfs, only a thousand fathoms high, or thereabout. He laughed a little at first at these people, in much the same way an Italian musician, when he comes to France, derides Lulli's performances. But, being a sensible fellow, the Sirian was soon convinced that a thinking being need not be altogether ridiculous because he is only 6,000 feet high. He was soon on familiar terms with the Saturnians after their astonishment had somewhat subsided. He formed a close friendship with the secretary of the Academy of Saturn, a man of great intelligence, who had not indeed invented anything himself, but excelled at describing the inventions of others, and who could turn a little verse neatly enough or perform an elaborate calculation."

The two friends then go on a trip together:

"Meanwhile our two inquirers commenced their travels; they first jumped onto Saturn's ring, which they found pretty flat, as an illustrious inhabitant of our little globe has cleverly conjectured; thence they easily made their way from moon to moon. A comet passed near the last one, so they sprang upon it, along with their instruments. When they had gone about 150,000,000 leagues, they came across the satellites of Jupiter. They landed on Jupiter itself, and remained there a year, during which they learned some very remarkable secrets which would now be appearing in the press, were it not for certain censors who find them too hard to swallow.

Leaving Jupiter, our explorers crossed a space of about 100,000,000 leagues, and, coasting along the planet Mars, which, as is well known, is five times smaller than our own little globe, they saw two moons. These have escaped the observation of our astronomers. I am well aware that Father Castel will write, and pleasantly enough too, against the existence of these two moons, but I believe those who reason from analogy. Those excellent philosophers know how difficult it would be for Mars, which is so distant from the Sun, to get by with less than two moons. Be that as it may, our friends found the planet so small they were afraid of finding no room there to put up for the night, so they proceeded on their way, like a pair of travelers who disdain a humble village inn, and push on to the nearest town. But the Sirian and his companion soon repented this decision, for they went a long time without finding anything at all.

At last they perceived a faint glimmer; it came from our Earth, and created compassion in the minds of those who had so lately left Jupiter. However, for fear of repenting a second time, they decided to disembark. They passed over the tail of the comet, and with the aid with an aurora borealis close at hand, alighted on Earth by the northern shore of the Baltic Sea, July 5, 1737."

At first they think Earth uninhabited, simply because everything is to tiny to their gigantic selves!

"The dwarf hastily declared there was not a single creature on this planet. His first reason was that he had not seen one. But Micromegas politely explained that that was not a good argument:

"For," said he, "you, with your little eyes, cannot see certain stars of the 50th magnitude which I distinctly discern; do you conclude that those stars have no existence?"

"But," argued the dwarf, "this globe is so ill-constructed, so irregular, and so ridiculously shaped! All here appears chaotic; look at these little brooks, not one of which goes in a straight line, and these ponds, which are neither round, square, oval, nor of any regular form; and all these little bristles which have rubbed the skin off my feet!"--he alluded to the trees--"Observe too the shape of the globe as a whole, how it is flat at the poles, how it turns around the Sun in a clumsily slanting manner, so that the polar climes are mere wastes. In truth, what chiefly makes me think there is nobody here, is that I cannot suppose any sensible people should wish to occupy such a dwelling."

"Well," said Micromegas, "perhaps the people who inhabit it are not sensible. But there are in fact signs of its not having been made for nothing. Everything here seems irregular, you say; but you judge by the standards of Saturn and Jupiter. Have I not told you that in the course of my travels I have always found variety?"

They then go on to make contact with the tiny Earthlings, with Voltaire's typical wit. You can read the whole thing at Wondersmith.

The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon was published anonymously in 1705 and later attributed to Daniel Defoe of Robinson Crusoe fame. It's a satire on British politics and society, using the made-up lunar nations as a means through which to hold a mirror up to them. With tongue firmly in cheek, Defoe writes:

"If any Man shall now wickedly suggest, that this Relation has any retrospect to the Affairs of England, the Author declares them malitious Misconstruers of his honest Relation of Matters from this remote Country, and offers his positive Oath for their Satisfaction, that the very last Journy he made into those Lunar Regions, this Matter was upon the Stage, of which, if this Treatise was not so near its conclusion, the Reader might expect a more particular Account." As reading material it's, well, dire is the most charitable term I can think of! But, as a curiosity, it's an interesting early tale of alien life.

The narrator tells us that he has been in China, who "have many sorts of Learning which these Parts of the World never heard of, so all those useful Inventions which we admire ourselves so much for, are vulgar and common with them, and were in use long before our Parts of the World were Inhabited." One example of this, we're told, is a special chariot which has allowed Chinese cartographers to map the moon.

This chariot, the name of which translates to English as Consolidator, works like so:

"But above all his Inventions for making this Voyage, I saw none more pleasant or profitable, than a certain Engine formed in the shape of a Chariot, on the Backs of two vast Bodies with extended Wings, which spread about 50 Yards in Breadth, compos'd of Feathers so nicely put together, that no Air could pass; and as the Bodies were made of Lunar Earth which would bear the Fire, the Cavities were fill'd with an Ambient Flame, which fed on a certain Spirit deposited in a proper quantity, to last out the Voyage; and this Fire so order'd as to move about such Springs and Wheels as kept the Wings in a most exact and regular Motion, always ascendant; thus the Person being placed in this airy Chariot, drinks a certain dozing Draught, that throws him into a gentle Slumber, and Dreaming all the way, never wakes till he comes to his Journey's end." Defoe goes on (and on) about how the feathers to make the wings are sent by the various lunar provinces, and the longwinded history of the hows and whys of feather quality control. A couple of paragraphs will suffice...

"The Composition of this Engine is very admirable; for, as is before noted, 'tis all made up of Feathers, and the quality of the Feathers, is no less wonderful than their Composition; and therefore, I hope the Reader will bear with the Description for the sake of the Novelty, since I assure him such things as these are not to be seen in every Country.

The number of Feathers are just 513, they are all of a length and breadth exactly, which is absolutely necessary to the floating Figure, or else one side or any one part being wider or longer than the rest, it would interrupt the motion of the whole Engine; only there is one extraordinary Feather which, as there is an odd one in the number, is placed in the Center, and is the Handle, or rather Rudder to the whole Machine: This Feather is every way larger than its Fellows, 'tis almost as long and broad again; but above all, its Quill or Head is much larger, and it has as it were several small bushing Feathers round the bottom of it, which all make but one presiding or superintendent Feather, to guide, regulate, and pilot the whole Body.

Nor are these common Feathers, but they are pickt and cull'd out of all parts of the Lunar Country, by the Command of the Prince; and every Province sends up the best they can find, or ought to do so at least, or else they are very much to blame; for the Employment they are put to being of so great use to the Publick, and the Voyage or Flight so exceeding high, it would be very ill done if, when the King sends his Letters about the Nation, to pick him up the best Feathers they can lay their Hands on, they should send weak, decay'd, or half-grown Feathers, and yet sometimes it happens so; and once there was such rotten Feathers collected, whether it was a bad Year for Feathers, or whether the People that gather'd them had a mind to abuse their King; but the Feathers were so bad, the Engine was good for nothing, but broke before it was got half way; and by a double Misfortune, this happen'd to be at an unlucky time, when the King himself had resolv'd on a Voyage, or Flight to to the Moon; but being deceiv'd, by the unhappy Miscarriage of the deficient Feathers, he fell down from so great a height, that he struck himself against his own Palace, and beat his Head off."

As for the inhabitants of the moon, Defoe tells us simply:

"I shall not enter into the Customs, Geography, or History of the Place, only acquaint the Reader, That I found no manner of Difference in any thing Natural, except as hereafter excepted, but all was exactly as is here, an Elementary World, peopled with Folks, as like us as if they were only Inhabitants of the same Continent, but in a remote Climate.

The Inhabitants were Men, Women, Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Insects, of the same individual Species as Ours, the latter excepted: The Men no wiser, better, nor bigger than here; the Women no handsomer or honester than Ours: There were Knaves and honest Men, honest Women and Whores of all Sorts, Countries, Nations and Kindreds, as on this side the Skies."

If you want to read the whole thing, it's available over on Project Gutenberg.

The Grandaddy of the Unexplained, Charles Fort was born in New York in 1874. He began to collect accounts of anomalous events in 1906 and, following unsuccessful attempts to break into fiction publishing, started writing them up for the wider public after 1916. They went on to inspire a whole movement of people intrigued, though not necessarily convinced, by tales of the weird and wonderful, and provide a fantastic starting point for finding early cases.

In 1916 Fort published The Book of the Damned, dealing with strange rains (stones, coloured water, fish, etc) and other things dropping from the sky. There were a few mentions of Welsh phenomena:

"Thunderstone" said to have fallen at Cardiff, Sept. 26, 1916 (London Times, Sept. 28, 1916). According to Nature, 98-95, it was coincidence; only a lightning flash had been seen.

"Most extraordinary and singular phenomenon," North Wales, Aug. 26, 1894; a disk from which projected an orange-colored body that looked like "an elongated flatfish," reported by Admiral Ommanney (Nature, 50-524).

Notes and Queries, 5-3-306: About 8 lights that were seen in Wales, over an area of about 8 miles, all keeping their own ground, whether moving together perpendicularly, horizontally, or over a zigzag course. They looked like electric lights — disappearing, reappearing dimly, then shining as bright as ever. "We have seen them three or four at a time afterward, on four or five occasions."

London Times, Oct. 5, 1877: "From time to time the west coast of Wales seems to have been the scene of mysterious lights.... And now we have a statement from Towyn that within the last few weeks lights of various colors have been seen moving over the estuary of the Dysynni River, and out to sea. They are generally in a northerly direction, but sometimes they hug the shore, and move at high velocity for miles toward Aberdovey, and suddenly disappear."

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New Lands, 1923, focused on astronomical discoveries and oddities.

In the London Times, Nov. 9, 1858, a correspondent writes that, in Cardiganshire, Wales, he had, in the autumn of 1855, often heard sounds like the discharges of heavy artillery, two or three reports rapidly, and then an interval of perhaps 20 minutes, also with long intervals, sometimes of days and sometimes of weeks, continuing throughout the winter of 1855-56. Upon the 3rd of November, 1858, he had heard the sounds again, repeatedly, and louder than they had been three years before. In the Times, Nov. 12, someone else says that, at Dolgelly, he, too, had heard the "mysterious phenomenon," on the 3rd of November.

Someone else--that, upon Oct. 13, he had heard the sounds at Swansea. "The reports, as if of heavy artillery, came from the west, succeeding each other at apparently regular intervals, during the greater part of the afternoon of that day. My impression was that sounds might have proceeded from practicing at Milford, but I ascertained, the following day, that there had been no firing of any kind there." Correspondent to the Times, November 20--that, with little doubt, the sounds were from artillery practice at Milford. He does not mention the investigation as to the sounds of Oct. 13, but says that there had been cannon-firing, upon Nov. 3rd, at Milford.

Times, Dec. 1--that most of the sounds could be accounted for as sounds of blasting in quarries. Daily News, Nov. 16--that similar sounds had been heard, in 1848, in New Zealand, and were results of volcanic action. Standard, Nov. 16--that the "mysterious noise" must have been from Devonport, where a sunken rock had been blown up. So, with at least variety these sounds were explained. But we learn that the series began before October 13. Upon the evening of Sept. 28, in the Dartmoor District, at Crediton, a rumbling sound was heard. It was not supposed to be an earthquake, because no vibration of the ground was felt. It was thought that there had been an explosion of gunpowder. But there had been no such terrestrial explosion. About an hour later another explosive sound was heard. It was like all the other sounds, and in one place was thought to be distant cannonading - terrestrial cannonading. See Quar. Jour. Geolog. Soc. of London, vol. 15.

Sounds like those that were heard in Herefordshire, Sept. 24, 1854, were heard later. In the English Mechanic, 100-279, it is said that, upon Nov. 9, 1862, the Rev. T. Webb, the astronomer, of Hardwicke, fifteen miles west of Hereford, heard sounds that he attributed to gunfire at Milford Haven, about 85 miles from Hardwicke. Upon Aug. 1, 1865, Mr. Webb saw flashes upon the horizon, at Hardwicke, and attributed them to gunfire at Tenby, upon occasion of a visit by Prince Arthur. Tenby, too, is about 85 miles from Hardwicke.

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According to James G. Wood, writing in Symons' Met. Mag., 29-8, at 9.30 P.M., January 25, 1894, at Llanthomas and Clifford, towns less than 20 miles west of Hereford, a brilliant light was seen in the sky, an explosion was heard, and a quake was felt. Half an hour later, something else occurred: according to Denning (Nature, 49-325), it was in several places, near Hereford and Worcester, supposed to be an earthquake. But, at Stokesay Vicarage, Shropshire (Symons' Met. Mag., 29-8), was seen the same kind of an appearance as that which had been seen at Llanthomas and Clifford, half an hour before: an illumination so brilliant that for half a minute everything was almost as visible as by daylight.

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In the English Mechanic, 86-100, Col. Markwick writes that, according to the Cambrian Natural Observer, something was seen in the sky, at Llangollen, Wales, Sept. 2, 1905. It is described as an intensely black object, about two miles above the earth's surface, moving at the rate of about twenty miles an hour. Col. Markwick writes: "Could it have been a balloon?" We give Col. Markwick good rating as an extra-geographer, but of the early or differentiating type, a transitional, if not a sphinx: so he was not quite developed enough to publish the details of this object.

In the Cambrian Natural Observer, 1905-35- the journal of the Astronomical Society of Wales -- it is said that, according to accounts in the newspapers, an object had appeared in the sky, at Llangollen, Wales, Sept. 2, 1905. At the schoolhouse, in Vroncysylite -- I think that's it: with all my credulity, some of these Welsh names look incredible to me, in my notes -- the thing in the sky had been examined through powerful field glasses. We are told that it had short wings, and flew, or moved, in a way described as "casually inclining sideways." It seemed to have four legs and looked to be about ten feet long. According to several witnesses it looked like a huge, winged pig, with webbed feet. "Much speculation was rife as to what the mysterious object could be." Five days later, according to a member of the Astronomical Society of Wales--see Cambrian Observer, 1905-30--a purple-red substance fell from the sky, at Llanelly, Wales.

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In the English Mechanic, 81-220, Arthur Mee writes that several persons, in the neighborhood of Cardiff, had, upon the night of March 29, 1905, seen in the sky, "an appearance like a vertical beam of light, which was not due (they say) to a search light, or any such cause." There were other observations, and they remind us of the observations of Noble and Bradgate, Aug. 28-29, 1883: then upon an object that cast a light like a searchlight; this time an association between a light like a searchlight, and a luminosity of definite form. In the Cambrian Natural Observer, 1905-32, are several accounts of a more definite looking appearance that was seen, this night, in the sky of Wales--"like a long cluster of stars, obscured by a thin film or mist." It was seen at the time of the visibility of Venus, then an "evening star"--about 10 P.M. It grew brighter, and for about half an hour looked like an incandescent light. It was a conspicuous and definite object, according to another description--"like an iron bar, heated to an orange-colored glow, and suspended vertically."

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Nov. 25, 1916--about twenty-five bright flashes, in rapid succession, in the sky of Cardiff, Wales, according to Arthur Mee (Eng. Mec., 104-239).

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Lo!, published 1931, dedicated some space to the 1913 sighting of a strange airship in Cardiff.

It is said, in the Daily Mail, May 17th, that many other stories of unaccountable objects and lights in the sky had reached the office of the Mail. If so, these stories were not published. The newspapers are supposed to be avid for sensational news, but they have their conventions, and unaccountable lights and objects in the sky are not supposed to have sex, and it is likely that hosts of strange, but sexless, occurrences have been reported, but have not been told of in the newspapers. In the Daily Mail, it is said that no attention had been paid to the letters, because everything that was mentioned in them, as evidence, was unsatisfactory. It is said that the object reported at Peterborough was probably a kite with a lantern tied to it. On the 15th of May, a constable at Northampton had sent to headquarters a written report upon lights that he had seen in the sky at 9 p.m.; but Chief Constable Madlin had learned that a practical joker had sent up a fire balloon.

The practical joker of Northampton, amusing himself at 9 o'clock in the evening, is an understandable representative of his species; but some other representative of his species, flying a kite and lanterns, at Peterborough, at 5 o'clock in the morning, limiting his audience mostly to milkmen, though maybe a joker, could not have been a very practical joker. He must have been fond of travel. There were other reports from various places in England and in Wales. There were reports from places far apart.

Daily Mail, May 20 -- that a man, named Lithbridge, of 4 Roland Street, Cardiff, Wales, had, in the office of the Cardiff Evening Express, told a marvellous story. This story was that, upon the 18th of May, about 11 p.m., while walking along a road, near the Caerphilly Mountains, Wales, he had seen, on the grass, at a side of the road, a large, tube-shaped construction. In it were two men, in heavy fur-overcoats. When they saw Mr. Lithbridge, they spoke excitedly to each other, in a foreign language, and sailed away. Newspaper men visited the place, and found the grass trampled, and found a scattering of torn newspapers and other debris.

If anybody else wants to think that these foreigners were explorers from Mars or the moon, here is a story that of course can be reasoned out quite, or almost, satisfactorily.

At any rate, still more satisfactorily it may be said that no foreigners of this earth were sailing in the sky of Great Britain. In the Western Mail (Cardiff), May 21st, is published an interview with Mr. C.S. Rolls, the motorist, and the founder of the Aero Club, who gave his opinion that some of the stories of a strange object in the sky were hoaxes, but that not all of them could be explained so. Chiefly for the reason that there was no known airship of this earth, with such powers of flight, the reported observations were discredited, at least sometimes, in all newspapers that I have looked at. In the London Weekly Dispatch, May 23rd, the stories are so discredited, and it is argued that to be seen so often, without having been seen to cross the Channel, an airship would have to have a base in England, to which, in view of the general excitement, it would certainly have been traced: a base where it would be seen, "especially during the tedious preliminaries of ascent." Then, in the Weekly Dispatch, are listed reports from 22 places, in the week preceding the 23rd of May, and 19 reports earlier in May and in March.

Mr. Lithbridge was a Punch and Judy man. Perhaps his story was of some profit to him. Not much attention was paid to it. But then came another explanation.

Upon May 26th, it was told in the newspapers that the mystery of the lights in the sky had been solved. A large imitation-airship had "come down" in Dunstable, and the lights had been upon that. It was an advertising scheme. An automobile manufacturer had been dragging the thing around in England and Wales. There had been reports from Ireland, but Ireland was omitted in this explanation. We are told that this object, roped to an automobile, had been dragged along the roads, amusingly exciting persons who were not very far advanced mentally. With whatever degree of advancement mine may be, I suppose that such a thing could be dragged slowly, and for a short time, perhaps only a few minutes, because it was of hot-air-inflation, along a road, and conceivably through a city or two, with a policeman, who reported lights in the sky, not seeing a rope going up from an automobile: but, with whatever degree of advancement that of mine may be, I do not think of any such successful imposition in about forty large cities, some of them several hundred miles apart. No one at Dunstable saw or heard the imitation-airship come down from the sky. An object, to which was tied a card, upon which was a request to communicate with a London automobile manufacturer, "in case of accident," was found in a field, morning of May 26th.

The explanation, as I want to see it, is that probably the automobile manufacturer took advantage of the interest in lights in the sky, and at night dumped a contrivance into a field, having tied his card to it. If so this was only one of many occurrences that have been exploited by persons who had a liking, or a use, for publicity. Probably Mr. Cannell and his dead owl can be so explained; and, though I should very much like to accept Mr. Lithbridge's story, I fear me that we shall have to consider him one of these exploiters. Also, there was the case of the Press agent, who, taking advantage of stories of a prowling animal, tied tin wings and green whiskers to a kangaroo.

The range of the reported observations was from Ipswich, on the east coast of England, to Belfast, Ireland, a distance of 350 miles; and, in Great Britain, from Hull to Swansea, a distance of 200 miles. Perhaps a gas bag could be dragged around a little, but the imitation-airship that was found at Dunstable, was a flimsy contrivance, consisting of two hot-air balloons, and a frame about 20 feet long, connecting them.

The lights in the sky were frequently reported, upon the same night, from places far apart. Upon the night of May 9th, reports came from Northampton, Wisbech, Stamford, and Southend. In the Weekly Dispatch, May 23rd, it is pointed out that to be seen at Southend about 11 p.m., and then twenty minutes later, at Stamford, seventy miles away, the object in the sky must have travelled at a rate of 210 miles an hour.

The question that comes up is whether, after the finding of the object at Dunstable, or after a commonplace ending of a mystery, lights continued to be seen travelling in the sky.

The stoppage was abrupt. Or the stoppage of publication of reports was abrupt.

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In the London Daily Express, Sept. 11, 1922, it is said that, upon Sept. 9th, John Morris, coxswain of the Barmouth (Wales) Life Boat, and William James, looking out at sea, from the shore, at Barmouth, saw what they thought was an aeroplane falling into the ocean. They rushed out in a motor boat, but found nothing. In the Barmouth and County Advertiser, of the 14th, it is said that this object had fallen so slowly that features described as features of an aeroplane had been seen. In newspapers and aeronautical journals of the time, there is no findable record of an aeroplane of this earth reported missing.

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There are stories of wanton killings, or of bodies that were not fed upon. London Daily Express, Aug. 12, 1919 -- something that, at Llanelly, Wales, was killing rabbits, for the sake of killing -- entering hutches at night, never taking rabbits, killing them by breaking their backbones.

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There are elaborate accounts of the luminous things, or beings, in the Proc. S.P.R., vol. 19, and in the first volume of the Occult Review. We are told that, over the piously palpitating principality of Wales, shining things travelled, stopping and descending when they came to a revival meeting, associating in some unknown way with these centres of excitation, especially where Mrs. Mary Jones was the leader. There is a story of one shining thing that persistently followed Mrs. Jones' car, and was not shaken off, when the car turned abruptly from one road to another.

So far as acceptability is concerned, I prefer the accounts by newspaper men. It took considerable to convince them. Writers, sent to Wales, by London newspapers, set out with blithe incredulity. Almost everybody has a hankering for mysteries, but it is likely to be an abstract hankering, and when a mystery comes up in one's own experience, one is likely to treat it in a way that warns everybody else that one is not easily imposed upon. The first reports that were sent back by the Londoners were flippant; but, in the London Daily Mail, Feb. 13, 1905, one of these correspondents describes something like a ball of fire, which he saw in the sky, a brilliant object that was motionless for a while, then disappearing. Later he came upon such an appearance, near the ground, not 500 feet away. He ran toward it, but the thing disappeared. Then Bernard Redwood was sent, by the Daily Mail, to investigate. In the Mail, Feb. 13, he writes that there were probably will-o'-the-wisps, helped out by practical jokers. As we very well know, there are no more helpful creatures than practical jokers, but, as inquiry stoppers, will-o'-the-wisps have played out. A conventionalist, telling the story, to-day, would say that they were luminous bats from a chapel belfry, and that a sexton had shot one. Almost every writer who accepted that these things were, thought that in some unknown, or unknowable, way, they were associated with the revival. It is said that they were seen hovering over chapels.

According to my methods, I have often settled upon special periods, gathering data, with the idea of correlating, but I have never come upon any other time in which were reported so many uncanny occurrences.

There were teleportations in a butcher shop, or things were mysteriously flying about, in a butcher shop, in Portmadoc, Wales. The police were called in, and they accused a girl who was employed in the butcher shop. "She made a full confession" (News of the World, Feb. 26). A ghost in Barmouth: no details (Barmouth Advertiser, Jan. 12). Most of the records are mere paragraphs, but the newspapers gave considerable space to reported phenomena in the home of Mr. Howell, at Lampeter, Wales. As told in the London Daily News, Feb. 11, and 13, "mysterious knockings" were heard in this house, and crowds gathered outside. The Bishop of Swansea and Prof. Harris investigated, but could not explain. Crowds in the street became so great that extra police had to be called out to regulate traffic, but nothing was learned. There were youngsters in this house, but they did not confess. Mr. Howell had what is known as "standing," in his community. It's the housemaid, or the girl in the butcher shop, with parents who presumably haven't much "standing," who is knocked about, or more gently slugged, or perhaps only slapped on the face, who confesses, or is said to have confessed. Also, as told in the Liverpool Echo, Feb. 15, there was excitement at Rhymney, Wales, and investigations that came to nothing. Tapping sounds had been heard, and strange lights had been seen, in one of the revival-centres, the Salvation Army Barracks. Whether these lights were like the other lights that were appearing in Wales, I cannot say. It was the assertion of the Rev. J. Evans and other investigators, who had spent a night in the Barracks, that they had seen "very bright lights."

...

But the outstanding phenomenon of this period was the revival:

Liverpool Echo, Jan. 18 -- "Wales in the Grip of Supernatural Forces!"

This was in allusion to the developing frenzies of the revival, and the accompanying luminous things, or beings, that had been reported. "Supernatural" is a word that has no place in my vocabulary. In my view, it has no meaning, or distinguishment. If there never has been, finally, a natural explanation of anything, everything is, naturally enough, the supernatural.

The grip was a grab by the craze. The excitement was combustion, or psycho-electricity, or almost anything except what it was supposed to be, and perhaps when flowing from human batteries there was a force that was of use to the luminous things that hung around. Maybe they fed upon it, and grew, and glowed, brilliant with nourishing ecstasies. See data upon astonishing growths of plants, when receiving other kinds of radio-active nourishment, or stimulation. If a man can go drunk on God, he may usefully pass along his exhilarations to other manifestations of godness.

There were flares where they'd be least expected. In the big stores, in the midst of waiting on customers, shop girls would suddenly, or electrically, start clapping hands and singing. Very likely some of them cut up such capers for the sport of it, and enjoyed keeping hard customers waiting. I notice that, though playing upon widely different motives, popular excitements are recruited and kept going, as if they were homogeneous. There no understanding huge emotional revolts against sin, without considering all the fun there is in them. They are monotony-breakers. Drab, little personalities have a chance to scream themselves vivid. There were confession-addicts who, past possibility of being believed, proclaimed their own wickedness, and then turned to public confessions for their neighbours, until sinful neighbours appealed to the law for protection. In one town, a men went from store to store, "returning" things that he had not stolen. Bands of girls roved the streets, rushing earnestly and mischievously into the more sedate churches, where the excitation was not encouraged, singing and clapping their hands, all of them shouting, and some of them blubbering, and then some of the most sportive ones blubbering, compelled into a temporary uniformity. This clapping of hands, in time with the singing, was almost irresistible: some vibrational reason: power of the rhythm to harmonize diverse units; primitive power of the drum-beat. Special trains set out from Liverpool to Welsh meeting-places, with sightseers, who hadn't a concern for the good of their souls; vendors of things that might have a sale; some earnest ones. Handclapping started up, and emotional furies shot through Wales.

--

Wales in the grip of "supernatural forces." People in England paid little attention, at first, but then hysterias mobbed across the border. To those of us who have some failings, and now and then give a thought to correcting them, if possible, but are mostly too busy to bother much, cyclones of emotions relating to states that are vaguely known as good and evil, are most mysterious. In the Barmouth Advertiser, April 20, it is said that, in the first three months of this year 1905, there had been admitted to the Denbigh Insane Asylum, 16 patients, whose dementias were attributed to the revival. It is probable that many cases were not reported. In the Liverpool Echo, Nov. 25, are accounts of four insane revivalists, who were under restraint in their own homes. Three cases in one town are told of in this newspaper, of Jan. 10th.(27) The craze spread in England, and in some parts of England it was as intense as anywhere in Wales. At Bromley, a woman wrote a confession of sins, some of which, it was said, she could not have committed, and threw herself under a railroad train. In town after town, police stations were invaded by exhorters. In both England and Wales, bands stood outside theatres, calling upon people not to enter. In the same way they tried to prevent attendance at football games.

--

As told in the Cambria Daily Leader (Swansea, Wales), July 7, 1887, poltergeist phenomena were occurring in the home of the Rev. David Phillips, of Swansea. Sometime I am going to try to find out why so many of these disturbances have occurred in the homes of clergymen. Why have so many supposed spirits of the departed tormented clergymen? Perhaps going to heaven makes people atheists. However, I do not know that poltergeists can be considered spirits. It may be that many of our records -- see phenomena of the winter of 1904-05 -- relate not to occult beings, as independent creatures, but to projected mentalities of living human beings. A woman of Mr. Phillips' household had been transported over a wall, and toward a brook, where she arrived in a "semi-conscious condition." I note that, not in agreement with our notions upon teleportation, it was this woman's belief that an apparition had carried her. Mr. Phillips and his son, a Cambridge graduate, who had probably been brought up to believe in nothing of the kind, asserted that this transportation had occurred.

---

Wild Talents, 1932.

"LONDON Daily Chronicle, March 30, 1922 -- It is incredible, but nothing has been heard of Holding. For three weeks a search had been going on -- cyclists, police, farmers, people from villages. At half past ten o'clock, morning of the 7th of March, 1922, Flying Officer B. Holding had set out from an aerodrome, near Chester, England, upon what was intended by him to be a short flight in Wales. About eleven o'clock, he was seen, near Llangollen, Wales, turning back, heading back to Chester -- Holding disappeared far from the sea, and he disappeared over a densely populated land. One of my jobs was that of looking over six London newspapers for the years 1919-1926, and it is improbable that anything was learned of what became of Holding, later, without my knowing of it.

--

"After the death of the late Dean Vaughan, of Llandaff, there suddenly appeared on the wall of Llandaff Cathedral, a large blotch of dampness or minute fungi, formed into [193/194] a lifelike outline of the dean's face" (Notes and Queries, Feb. 8, 1902)

---

Sometimes cited as the very first work of science-fiction, Lucian of Samosata's 'A True Story' was written way back in the second century AD. Intended as a satire on the fantastical details regularly - and questionably - included in contemporary non-fiction, Lucian recounts a trip to the moon among other wonderous travels.

You can read the whole thing online at Sacred Texts.

After a few of their number are taken in by the amorous advances of plant women - setting down literal roots in the process - Lucian tells us how they inadvertently ended up travelling through the air:

"We left them there and hurried back to the ship, where we told our tale, including our friends' experiment in viticulture. Then after taking some casks ashore and filling them with wine and water we bivouacked near the beach, and next morning set sail before a gentle breeze. But about midday, when we were out of sight of the island, a waterspout suddenly came upon us, which swept the ship round and up to a height of some three hundred and fifty miles above the earth. She did not fall back into the sea, but was suspended aloft, and at the same time carried along by a wind which struck and filled the sails.

For a whole week we pursued our airy course, and on the eighth day descried land; it was an island with air for sea, glistening, spherical, and bathed in light. We reached it, cast anchor, and landed; inspection soon showed that it was inhabited and cultivated. In the daytime nothing could be discerned outside of it; but night revealed many neighbouring islands, some larger and some smaller than ours; there was also another land below us containing cities, rivers, seas, forests, and mountains; and this we concluded to be our Earth."

They intended to continue on in their travels, but were discovered by the Moon king's Horse-vultures. ("These are men mounted on huge vultures, which they ride like horses; the great birds have ordinarily three heads. It will give you some idea of their size if I state that each of their quill-feathers is longer and thicker than the mast of a large merchantman.")

On being brought before the king, Endymion, they learn that he too is a human who was somehow transported to the moon while asleep. Endymion tells them he is just about to launch a campaign against Phaethon, the king of the Sun, in retaliation for the latter refusing to allow Endymion to ship off all the Moon's poorest citizens to establish a colony on Lucifer, the Morning Star.

We can all relate, I'm sure!

Our adventurers naturally agree to be part of the charge but Phaethon still ends up besting the Moon's force, and punishes Endymion by building a wall to block the sun's rays. This forces Endymion into negotiations and the whole thing is settled before our adventurers take their leave and return to Earth a few days later.

As most of the relevant section is full of Lucian's imaginative descriptions of celestial life, I've simply copied and pasted it below for future reference. The most interesting bit for me, as ever, is the sketch of the Moonites...

There are no women on Mars; Endymion offers up his son's hand in marriage on account of this, though our adventurer's gallantly refuse. Baldness is a sign of great beauty, while 'a good crop of hair is an abomination' - the exact opposite of beauty standards on the comets. They do have beards though, falling just above the knee, one nail-less toe on each foot, and a tail made of a large evergreen cabbage.

Their ears are plane-leaves, their eyes can be put in and out as needed, and their belly acts as a kangaroo's pouch, being used to store all manner of things. The rich wear clothing made of glass, while the poor have to make do with brass which is used as wool. They feed on the fumes of roast frogs and, when they die, they simply dissolve into smoke in the air...

---

"That day we were entertained by the king; in the morning we took our place in the ranks as soon as we were up, our scouts having announced the approach of the enemy. Our army numbered 100,000 (exclusive of camp-followers, engineers, infantry, and allies), the Horse-vultures amounting to 80,000, and the remaining 20,000 being mounted on Salad-wings. These latter are also enormous birds, fledged with various herbs, and with quill-feathers resembling lettuce leaves. Next these were the Millet-throwers and the Garlic-men. Endymion had also a contingent from the North of 30,000 Flea-archers and 50,000 Wind-coursers. The former have their name from the great fleas, each of the bulk of a dozen elephants, which they ride. The Wind-coursers are infantry, moving through the air without wings; they effect this by so girding their shirts, which reach to the ankle, that they hold the wind like a sail and propel their wearers ship-fashion. These troops are usually employed as skirmishers. 70,000 Ostrich-slingers and 50,000 Horse-cranes were said to be on their way from the stars over Cappadocia. But as they failed to arrive I did not actually see them; and a description from hearsay I am not prepared to give, as the marvels related of them put some strain on belief.

Such was Endymion's force. They were all armed alike; their helmets were made of beans, which grow there of great size and hardness; the breastplates were of overlapping lupine-husks sewn together, these husks being as tough as horn; as to shields and swords, they were of the Greek type.

When the time came, the array was as follows: on the right were the Horse-vultures, and the King with the élite of his forces, including ourselves. The Salad-wings held the left, and in the centre were the various allies. The infantry were in round numbers 60,000,000; they were enabled to fall in thus: there are in the Moon great numbers of gigantic spiders, considerably larger than an average Aegean island; these were instructed to stretch webs across from the Moon to Lucifer; as soon as the work was done, the King drew up his infantry on this artificial plain, entrusting the command to Nightbat, son of Fairweather, with two lieutenants.

On the enemy's side, Phaethon occupied the left with his Horse-ants; they are great winged animals resembling our ants except in size; but the largest of them would measure a couple of acres. The fighting was done not only by their riders; they used their horns also; their numbers were stated at 50,000. On their right was about an equal force of Sky-gnats -- archers mounted on great gnats; and next them the Sky-pirouetters, light-armed infantry only, but of some military value; they slung monstrous radishes at long range, a wound from which was almost immediately fatal, turning to gangrene at once; they were supposed to anoint their missiles with mallow juice. Next came the Stalk-fungi, 10,000 heavy-armed troops for close quarters; the explanation of their name is that their shields are mushrooms, and their spears asparagus stalks. Their neighbours were the Dog-acorns, Phaethon's contingent from Sirius. These were 5,000 in number, dog-faced men fighting on winged acorns. It was reported that Phaethon too was disappointed of the slingers whom he had summoned from the Milky Way, and of the Cloud-centaurs. These latter, however, arrived, most unfortunately for us, after the battle was decided; the slingers failed altogether, and are said to have felt the resentment of Phaethon, who wasted their territory with fire. Such was the force brought by the enemy.

As soon as the standards were raised and the asses on both sides (their trumpeters) had brayed, the engagement commenced. The Sunite left at once broke without awaiting the onset of the Horse-vultures, and we pursued, slaying them. On the other hand, their right had the better of our left, the Sky-gnats pressing on right up to our infantry. When these joined in, however, they turned and fled, chiefly owing to the moral effect of our success on the other flank. The rout became decisive, great numbers were taken and slain, and blood flowed in great quantities on to the clouds, staining them as red as we see them at sunset; much of it also dropped earthwards, and suggested to me that it was possibly some ancient event of the same kind which persuaded Homer that Zeus had rained blood at the death of Sarpedon.

Relinquishing the pursuit, we set up two trophies, one for the infantry engagement on the spiders' webs, and one on the clouds for the air-battle. It was while we were thus engaged that our scouts announced the approach of the Cloud-centaurs, whom Phaethon had expected in time for the battle. They were indeed close upon us, and a strange sight, being compounded of winged horses and men; the human part, from the middle upwards, was as tall as the Colossus of Rhodes, and the equine the size of a large merchantman. Their number I cannot bring myself to write down, for fear of exciting incredulity. They were commanded by Sagittarius. Finding their friends defeated, they sent a messenger after Phaethon to bring him back, and, themselves in perfect order, charged the disarrayed Moonites, who had left their ranks and were scattered in pursuit or pillage; they routed the whole of them, chased the King home, and killed the greater part of his birds; they tore up the trophies, and overran the woven plain; I myself was taken, with two of my comrades. Phaethon now arrived, and trophies were erected on the enemy's part. We were taken off to the Sun the same day, our hands tied behind with a piece of the cobweb.

They decided not to lay siege to the city; but after their return they constructed a wall across the intervening space, cutting off the Sun's rays from the Moon. This wall was double, and built of clouds; the consequence was total eclipse of the Moon, which experienced a continuous night. This severity forced Endymion to negotiate. He entreated that the wall might be taken down, and his kingdom released from this life of darkness; he offered to pay tribute, conclude an alliance, abstain from hostilities in future, and give hostages for these engagements. The Sunites held two assemblies on the question, in the first of which they refused all concessions; on the second day, however, they relented, and peace was concluded on the following terms.

Articles of peace between the Sunites and their allies of the20 one part, and the Moonites and their allies of the other part.

1. The Sunites shall demolish the party-wall, shall make no further incursion into the Moon, and shall hold their captives to ransom at a fixed rate.

2. The Moonites shall restore to the other stars their autonomy, shall not bear arms against the Sunites, and shall conclude with them a mutual defensive alliance.

3. The King of the Moonites shall pay to the King of the Sunites, annually, a tribute of ten thousand jars of dew, and give ten thousand hostages of his subjects.

4. The high contracting parties shall found the colony of Lucifer in common, and shall permit persons of any other nationality to join the same.

5. These articles shall be engraved on a pillar of electrum, which shall be set up on the border in mid-air.

Sworn to on behalf of the Sun by Firebrace, Heaton, and Flashman; and on behalf of the Moon by Nightwell, Monday, and Shimmer.

Peace concluded, the removal of the wall and restoration of captives at once followed. As we reached the Moon, we were met and welcomed by our comrades and King Endymion, all weeping for joy. The King wished us to remain and take part in founding the colony, and, women not existing in the Moon, offered me his son in marriage. I refused, asking that we might be sent down to the sea again; and finding that he could not prevail, he entertained us for a week, and then sent us on our way.

I am now to put on record the novelties and singularities which attracted my notice during our stay in the Moon.

When a man becomes old, he does not die, but dissolves in smoke into the air. There is one universal diet; they light a fire, and in the embers roast frogs, great numbers of which are always flying in the air; they then sit round as at table, snuffing up the fumes which rise and serve them for food; their drink is air compressed in a cup till it gives off a moisture resembling dew. Beauty with them consists in a bald head and hairless body; a good crop of hair is an abomination. On the comets, as I was told by some of their inhabitants who were there on a visit, this is reversed. They have beards, however, just above the knee; no toe-nails, and but one toe on each foot. They are all tailed, the tail being a large cabbage of an evergreen kind, which does not break if they fall upon it.

Their mucus is a pungent honey; and after hard work or exercise they sweat milk all over, which a drop or two of the honey curdles into cheese. The oil which they make from onions is very rich, and as fragrant as balsam. They have an abundance of water-producing vines, the stones of which resemble hailstones; and my own belief is that it is the shaking of these vines by hurricanes, and the consequent bursting of the grapes, that results in our hailstorms. They use the belly as a pouch in which to keep necessaries, being able to open and shut it. It contains no intestines or liver, only a soft hairy lining; their young, indeed, creep into it for protection from cold.

The clothing of the wealthy is soft glass, and of the poor, woven brass; the land is very rich in brass, which they work like wool after steeping it in water. It is with some hesitation that I describe their eyes, the thing being incredible enough to bring doubt upon my veracity. But the fact is that these organs are removable; any one can take out his eyes and do without till he wants them; then he has merely to put them in; I have known many cases of people losing their own and borrowing at need; and some -- the rich, naturally -- keep a large stock. Their ears are plane-leaves, except with the breed raised from acorns; theirs being of wood.

Another marvel I saw in the palace. There is a large mirror suspended over a well of no great depth; any one going down the well can hear every word spoken on our Earth; and if he looks at the mirror, he sees every city and nation as plainly as though he were standing close above each. The time I was there, I surveyed my own people and the whole of my native country; whether they saw me also, I cannot say for certain. Any one who doubts the truth of this statement has only to go there himself, to be assured of my veracity.

When the time came, we took our leave of King and court, got on board, and weighed anchor. Endymion's parting gifts to me were two glass shirts, five of brass, and a suit of lupine armour, all of which, however, I afterwards left in the whale's belly; he also sent, as our escort for the first fifty miles, a thousand of his Horse-vultures.

We passed on our way many countries, and actually landed on Lucifer, now in process of settlement, to water. We then entered the Zodiac and passed the Sun on the left, coasting close by it. My crew were very desirous of landing, but the wind would not allow of this. We had a good view of the country, however, and found it covered with vegetation, rich, well-watered, and full of all good things. The Cloud-centaurs, now in Phaethon's pay, espied us and pounced upon the ship, but left us alone when they learned that we were parties to the treaty.

If you pick this up for earth shattering disclosure revelations, well, prepare to be disappointed. If you go in expecting greater details of the story Elizondo has already put on the record, this is an interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes within the US government.

Essentially, Elizondo recounts how he was head hunted to join AAWSAP, a project looking at military UFO sightings, potentially because of his past involvement in a remote viewing programme while serving in the US Army:

"As a measure of the program’s success that can be talked about, its psychics once located a Russian supersonic jet that crashed somewhere over Africa. Our best satellites couldn’t locate it, and neither could the Russians. One of our remote viewers “saw” and pinpointed the exact location of the downed aircraft in the Congo. The US was able to sweep in and salvage this valuable target, based on the remote viewer’s visions alone. President Jimmy Carter famously referenced the case to the media. Remote viewers also located Brigadier General James Lee Dozier, who had been kidnapped in Italy by the Red Brigade in 1981. In the Persian Gulf War, remote viewers identified and located storage facilities that housed deadly chemical war agents. The success stories of remote viewing were legion and seemed almost magical. The stories I can’t share are even more mind-blowing."

Initially skeptical, Elizondo details how the caliber of the other people involved and the information he was given access to changed his worldview. The skeptics among us might point to the remote viewing and claim Elizondo was simply a good candidate to feed disinformation to, like so many whistleblowers before him, but his position and rank within the Pentagon (i.e. GS-15, civillian equivalent of colonel) make such claims harder to stick.

Is he actively engaging in state sponsored disinformation? That's a whole other question and, ultimately, not one that can be answered either way at this point in time...

Anyway, back to the book, we're taken on a whistle stop tour of cases most people with an interest in the subject will already be familiar with. Operação Prato. The Lonnie Zamora Incident. Rendlesham. The now infamous Tic-Tac. All the while, Elizondo and his family see orbs of light in the family home:

"We had a long main hallway in the house, and one evening a green, glowing ball, probably about the size of a basketball, with soft edges that weren’t defined, floated down slowly from the kitchen to our bedroom door just below ceiling height, then disappeared into a wall. Hoping Jenn caught a glimpse of it, I turned to her, catching the perplexed look on her face. She indeed saw it the entire ten seconds it was in our house. Another time, the kids reported seeing an orb appear in the air, hover near them for a few seconds, and then float away. They described what they’d seen as best they could, first to my wife, and again to me when I asked. Their description made my blood run cold. The object had been three-dimensional but still translucent and suffused with an eerie green light. The object behaved as if guided by some intelligence. It parked itself in the air, then drifted off down the hall before disappearing entirely."

We learn that as time went on, and with growing official hostility, it was becoming ever more difficult for Elizondo to run AATIP alongside his day job - a significant portion of which was running military intelligence operations at Guantanamo Bay's notorious Camp 7. Reading this memoir left me feeling that perhaps Elizondo hasn't even conciously acknowleged it yet, but the vibe I got was that his work at AATIP and wanting to push disclosure provided an honourable out from a position he was finding untenable, and saw him dubbed a 'torture czar' into the bargain.

"My work with Guantanamo Bay brought endless rounds of drama and stress. An attorney for one of the 9/11 suspects labeled me in open court as the “US Czar of Torture.” From that moment, I would forever be branded by some as the nation’s Darth Vader. At one point I was informed that Europe had issued an open arrest warrant for me and anyone involved in the notorious Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation (RDI) program of high value detainees (HVDs). The International Court of Human Rights had decreed that any US intelligence officer involved in that effort would face trial if arrested. From my perspective, I was serving my country and my president, and preventing another 9/11."

The Nimitz video had already been leaked back in 2007, for example, so it was a major gamble to think that going public would substantially change anything. Plus, as Elizondo himself is at pains to point out, he had nothing to gain and a lot to lose. Sure, Tom DeLonge gave him a job at To The Stars, but it meant a pay cut and a costly relocation to California. Everyone is quick to yell grifter at the first sniff of a book or a podcast but, seriously, I doubt it stacks up against a government job, health plan, and pension.

(As an aside, Elizondo is way more gracious than I would be while recounting how To the Stars first cut his agreed salary in half, then sacked him with next to no notice...)

Still, whatever the motivation, it is this move that will now be Elizondo's legacy. The book does touch on some cool military cases, and puts in print Elizondo's assertion that one or more defense contractors involved with the old Legacy Program of the 1940s and 50s still has UAP materials in their possession. Perhaps today they're not even aware of it, with potential samples languishing in storage. The chief stumbling block to getting them back, according to Elizondo, is the upper brass of the USAF. Sadly, of course, it's his word against theirs...

For me, though, Imminent really shines when it's giving us a peek into how things work at the Pentagon. Slowly and with a lot of inadverdent duplication, by all accounts. Elizondo's claims of a group of religious conservatives - the 'Collins Elite' - working to prevent progress were also interesting because, well, it serves us all right for thinking the US had reached peak religious extremism years ago. They just went ahead and turned it up to 11. In relation to UFO/UAPs, apparently the belief is that they are demonic and putting funding into their investigation is basically akin to siding with the devil. Sounds like an average Tuesday for people who were taken in by Qanon.

There is also an intriguing bit about government surveillance when Elizondo goes to meet with journalist Leslie Keane:

"I met Leslie in a bar across from the train station, then we walked together to meet Ralph on the street. I noticed two individuals with tight military-style haircuts in different parts of the street as we strolled. I was certain we were being observed. They displayed the classic signs. They were most likely an AFOSI surveillance team, just not their A-Team. With a few more twists and turns (something I learned in countersurveillance school), we came across the lobby of a hotel that afforded a large window to view the street. “Let’s go in here,” I suggested. One of the surveillance guys walked into the lobby, only to discover that we were staring right at him and Leslie had just snapped his picture. He scurried away."

Makes you wonder just how many MIB stories can be directly attributed to agents who just aren't very good at their job!

Finally, there's a good overview of how detractors at the Pentagon did their best to discredit Elizondo after he went public. If they can do it to a 'team player' who had worked there years, it adds an awful lot of credence to the claims of other whistleblowers...

Probably written in the late 1620s by Bishop Francis Godwin, it was first published in 1638 - after Godwin's death in 1633 - under the pseudonym of Domingo Gonsales. The story is written in first person, from Gonsales' point of view, describing Gonsales' travels and life in trade after being forced to flee Spain as a result of killing a man in a duel.

Eventually he attempts to return to Spain, but falls seriously ill on the journey and ends up being dropped off at St Helena. There he encounters a swan like animal he names gansa, and trains 40 or so from birth to carry weights with the idea of using them to make his way off the island. As luck would have it though, Captain Alphonso de Xima eventually stopped off at St Helena and gave Gonsales passage - along with his birds and "engine".

Less lucky was the encounter with English ships off Tenerife that forces Gonsales to take to the air. He first thinks to land on Tenerife, but hostile natives compell him to head for the mountains, with unintended effects:

When I was set down there, my poor Gansas fell to panting, blowing, and gaping for Breath as if they would all have died, so I did not trouble them awhile, forbearing to draw them in, which they never used to endure without struggling, but little did I expect what followed. It was now the Season that these Birds take their Flight away, as our Cuckows and Swallows do in Spain towards Autumn, and as I afterwards found, being mindful of their usual Voyage, just when I began to settle myself to take them in, they with one Consent rose up, and having no other higher Place to make toward, to my unspeakable Fear and Amazement, struck bolt upright, and never left towring upward, still higher and higher, for the Space, as I guest, of an Hour, after which I thought they laboured less than before, till at length, ah wonderful! they remained immoveable, as steadily as if they had sat upon so many Perches; the Lines slacked, neither I, nor the Engine moved at all, but continued still, as having no Manner of Weight.

Above the clouds Gonsales encounters "the Illusions of Devils and wicked Spirits, who the first Day of my Arrival came about me in great Numbers in the Likeness of Men and Women, wondering at me like so many Birds about an Owl, and speaking several Languages which I understood not, till at last I met with some that spoke good Spanish, some Dutch, and others Italian". They offer to bring him back to Spain, if he joins their fraternity, but Gonsales turns them down and continues on to the moon.

"[The birds] set me on the Top of an high Hill in that Other World, where many wonderful Things were presented to my Sight. For I observed first, that though the Globe of the Earth appeared much greater there than the Moon doth to us even three Times bigger, yet all Things there were ten, twenty, yea thirty Times larger than ours; their Trees were thrice as high, and above five Times broader and thicker; so were their Herbs, Birds, and Beasts, though I cannot well compare them to ours, because I found not any kind of Beast or Bird there which any way resembled ours, except Swallows, Nightingales, Cuckoos, Woodcocks, Batts, and some kind of Wild Fowl: And likewise such Birds as my Gansas, all which, as I now perceived, spend their Time in their Absence from us, in that World, neither do they differ in any Thing from ours, but are the very same kind."

As ever, of most interest to me is the description of the martians:

"I saw myself surrounded with a strange kind of People both in Feature, Manners, and Apparel; their Stature was very different, but they were generally twice as high as ours; their Shape and Countenance pleasant, and their Habit hardly to be describe; for I never saw either Cloth, Silk, nor other Stuff, like that whereof their Cloths were made; neither can I possibly relate their Colour, they being in a manner all cloathed alike; it was neither Black, White, Yellow, Red nor Blue, nor any Colour composed of these: If you ask what was it then? I must tell you, it was a Colour never seen in our earthly World, and so neither to be described nor conceived by us; for as it is hard to make a Man born blind understand the Difference between Green and Blue, so neither can I decypher this Moon-colour, as having no Affinity with any I ever beheld; I can only say it was the most glorious and delightful that can be imagined, neither was any Thing more pleasant to me during my Stay there."

Surprised by their appearance, Gonsales crosses himself and crieds out 'Jesu Maria'. This lead to them greeting him kindly and providing him with accommodation. After a few days he is taken to meet the "Pylonas, which in their Language is First or Chief." We're told that:

"The first Ancestor of this great Monarch came out of the Earth, as they relate, and by marrying the Heiress of that vast Monarchy obtaining the Government, left it to his Posterity, who have enjoyed it ever since, even forty thousand Moons, which is 3077 Years: His Name was Irdonozur, whose Heirs to this Day assume the same Name; he, they say, having continued there about four hundred Moons, and begot divers Children, returned (though by what Means they know not) to the Earth again. I doubt they have their Fables as well as we, since our Historians never mention any earthly Man to have been in that World before myself, and much less to have returned again. I cannot therefore but condemn this Tradition as false and romantick, though I found Learning was in great Esteem among them, and they seem to detest Lying and Falshood, which is there severely punished, and which may yield some Credit to their historical Narrations.

Many of them live wonderful long, even beyond Belief, affirming to me, that some survived thirty thousand Moons, which is above a thousand Years, so that the Ages of three or four Men might easily reach to the Time of the first Irdonozur, and this is generally noted, that the taller People are of Stature, the more excellent are their Endowments of Mind, and the longer Time they live; for their Stature is very different, great Numbers not much exceeding ours, who seldom live above a thousand Moons, which is fourscore of our Years; these they account base, unworthy Creatures, but o»e Degree above brute Beasts, and employ in mean and servile Offices, calling them Bastards, Counterfeits or Changlings: Those whom they account true Natural Lunars or Moon Men, exceed ours generally thirty Times, both in Quantity of Body, and Length of Life, proportionable to the Quality of the Day in both Worlds, theirs containing almost thirty of our Days."

Gonsales gives us a bit more information about life and culture on the moon:

"You must understand, that of the true Lunars or Moon Men there are three Kinds, some a little taller than we, as perhaps ten or twelve Foot high, these can endure the Day of the Moon, when the Earth shines but little, but not the Beams of both, and so then must be laid asleep: Others are twenty Foot high or above, who can suffer all the Light both of the Earth and Sun. There are in a certain Island (the Mysteries whereof are carefully concealed) Men whose Stature is at lead twenty-seven Foot high: If any other come to land there in the Moon's Day time, they instantly fall asleep: This is called Insula Martini, and hath a particular Governor, who as they report is sixty five thousand Moons old, which makes five thousand of our Years; His Name is said to be Hiruch, and he in a manner commands lrdonozur himself, especially in that Island out of which he never removes: There is another comes often thither, who they say is not above half his Age, that is about thirty-three thousand Moons, or two thousand fix hundred of our Years, and he orders all Things through the Globe of the Moon in Matters or Religion, as absolutely as the Pope doth in any Part of Italy; I would fain have seen this Man, but was not permitted to come near him, his Name is Imozes.

Now let me settle myself to a long Night's Sleep, to which End my Attendants take Charge of my Birds, prepare my Lodging, and signify to me by Signs how I must order myself. It was then about the Middle of September, when I perceived the Air more clear than ordinary, and with the Increase of the Light I began to feel myself first dull and then heavy to Sleep, though I had not been lately disturbed of my Rest: At length I delivered myself into the Custody of this Sister of Death, whose Prisoner I was for almost a Fortnight after, and then awaking, it is not to be believed how brisk and vigorous I found the Faculties both of my Body and Mind; I then applied myself to learning the Language, which is the same throughout all the Regions of the Moon, yet not so wonderful, since I believe all the Earth of the Moon does not amount to the fortieth Part of our inhabited Earth, partly because the Globe of the Moon is far less, and besides the Sea or Ocean covers very nigh three Parts of four, whereas the Land and Sea in our World may be judged of an equal Measure.

Their Language is very difficult, since it hath no Affinity with any other I ever heard, and consists not so much of Words and Letters, as Tunes and strange Sounds which no Letters can express, for there are few Words but signify several Things, and are distinguished only by their Sounds, which are sung as it were in uttering; yea many Words consist of Tunes only, without Words: By Occasion whereof I find a Language may be framed, and easily learned, as copious as any other in the World only of Tunes, which is an Experiment worth searching after: Notwithstanding these Difficulties, within two Months I attained to such Knowledge therein, that I understood most Questions demanded of me, and with Signs and Words made reasonable Shift to utter my Mind; which Pylonas having Notice of, he oft-times sent for me, and was pleased to inform me of many Things my Guardians durst not disclose, though I must needs say I never found they abused me with an Untruth, but if I asked a Question they were unwilling to resolve, they would shake their Heads, and with a Spanish Shrug divert to some other Discourse."

On work and justice:

"In a thousand Years there is found neither Thief nor Whore-monger, for first there is no want of any thing necessary for the Use of Man, Food growing every where without Labour, of all Sorts that can be desired. As for Cloths, Houses, or whatever else a Man may be supposed to want, it is provided by their Superiors, though not without some Labour, but yet so easy as if they did it for Pleasure: Again, their Females are all absolute Beauties, and by a secret Disposition of Nature, a Man there having once known a Woman never desires any other: Murther was never heard of amongst them, neither is it hardly possible to be committed, for there can be no Wound made but what is curable; yea they assured me, and for my Part I believe it, that though a Man’s Head be cut off, yet if within three Moons it be joined to the Carcase again, and the Juice of a certain Herb there growing applied, it will be so consolidated, as the wounded Party shall be perfectly cured.

But the chief Cause of their good Government is an excellent Disposition in the Nature of the People, so that all both Old and Young have all manner of Vice, and live in such Love, Peace, and Amity, as it seems to be another Paradise: Though it is true likewise that some are of a better Disposition than others, which they discern immediately at their Birth; and because it is an inviolable Law amongst them that none shall be put to Death; therefore perceiving by their Stature or some other Signs, who are like to be of a wicked and debauched Humour, they send them, I know not by what Means, into the Earth, and change them for other Children, before they have either Opportunity or Ability to do amiss among them; but first, they say, they are fain to keep them there for some Time, till the Air of the Earth alters their Colour like ours.

Their ordinary Vent for them is a certain high Hill in the North of America, whose People, I am apt to believe, are wholly descended from them, both in regard of their Colour, and their continual use of Tobacco, which the Lunars or Moon Men smoak exceedingly, the Place abounding much with Moisture, together with the Pleasure they take therein, and some other Respects too long to rehearse: Sometimes, though but seldom, they mistake their Aim, and fall upon Europe, Asia, or Africa. I remember some Years since I read certain Stories tending to confirm what is related by these Lunars, and especially one Chapter of Neubrigensis. Inigo Mondejar, in his Description of Nova Granata. Also Joseph Defia de Carana, in his History of Mexico, if my Memory fail not, recount what will make my Report more creditable; but I value not Testimonies."

Eventually, moved by his homesickness, Gonsales is given leave to return to Earth. He was taken into custody after being spotted in the skies of China. In time Gonsales learnt that language and the favour of the Mandarin, and eventually wrote up his story and gave it to Jesuit missionaries to dispense for the benefit of Spain...

You can read the full thing HERE.

Stalking the Herd: Unraveling the Cattle Mutilation Mystery - Christopher O'Brien, 2014.

Stalking the Herd is kind of the go-to encyclopedia of cattle mutilation cases. Before reading it I had a passing knowledge of the phenomena, and had seen Linda Moulton Howe's 1980 documentary on the subject, but that was about it.

After reading it all I can say is, yep, there is something seriously weird going on. Even if you discounted, say, 90% of cases as predation or other explained causes, that still leaves hundreds, if not thousands, of unexplained weirdness. The biggest question for me is WHY? Because whether it's the work of aliens, or satanists, or some shady conglomorate desperate to push small ranchers out of business, why do it in this way?

If the perpetrators are human, there are surely cheaper and easier ways to acheive their aims. If the perps are alien, well, much the same argument stands...

Whatever the truth, Wales does get a few mentions throughout the 1,000+ pages.

"The inexplicable wave of identical sheep slayings in western Wales began in May 1984, and by October upwards of 120 lambs had been reported mysteriously killed. Law enforcement officials were genuinely baffled, especially when in the mid-fall, the wave of unexplained deaths ceased as mysteriously as it had begun. There were few if any leads and investigators must have drawn a sigh of relief that it was over before the first of November. The relieved Welsh sheepherder community probably thought it was over as well. I am not aware of any additional UK reports from October 1984 to May 1985."

Then there's a casefrom the Sunday Express (5/12/1985):

"In the second week of May 1985, Welsh sheep farmer Major Norman Corbett discovered three of his snowy-white lambs dead—each from an apparent deep puncture wound “the size of a 10p piece” drilled into its side. There was no blood, and the puncture wound was the only evidence of trauma on the animals.

As the sun arose the following morning, 21 lambs on two nearby farms were discovered dead in the same condition as the Corbett sheep. All 21 had the same type of wound, and none were outwardly marked in any other way. The Sunday Express had covered the 1984 wave that bloomed on the Welsh coast, and the reporters were back to take stock of this latest deluge of springtime 1985 reports:

Major Corbett has seen it all before. Last year, he and other farmers in the area became used to finding dead lambs with identical wounds and severe internal injuries. Although police, vets and farmers mounted a major investigation, they could find no explanation for the mystery puncture-marks. Investigators considered many theories, but one by one, they ruled out attacks by crossbow, shotgun, and other animals, such as dogs.

The killings have also concentrated almost exclusively on one type of lamb, pure-white Welsh ewes. Brown and oil-white lambs, and male lambs, have almost always been ignored. And most of the attacks have been directed at only two farms, Major Corbett’s, and that of his neighbour Mr Richard Lewis at Tywyn, South Gwynedd. Major Corbett, who has more than 1,000 sheep, has lost 35 lambs, worth £l,000. Mr Lewis has lost more than 70. [my emphasis] Superintendent Elwyn Davies, of Dolgellau Police, South Gwynedd, said: “It is made worse because, in this area, sheep are peop1e’s livelihood."

Also, Tony Dodd reported there were continued Welsh cases in 1997:

"From Wales I have also received several reports of the dead bodies of sheep being found, with their thyroid glands cut out. In April 1997, 40 pigs mysteriously died in one night on a farm near the coast of England. Every one had a neat hole on the forehead, but there were no other obvious signs of injury. The vet who was called ordered their immediate burial, although the farmer was not told that he had an infectious disease problem. The animals were buried that same day."

Somnium (The Dream) was written in 1608 by Johannes Kepler, considered one of the founding fathers of mordern science. The novel was eventually published by Kepler's son in 1634, some four years after his death. The English translation I've quoted here is mostly from The Somnium Project.

The bulk of the story is told from the point of view of Duracotus, an Icelandic boy aged 14 at his introduction. His mother, Fiolxhilde, angry with him for ruining a potential sale of one of her herb mixtures, leaves him with the skipper of a ship until she can replace the product. She doesn't get chance before the ship sets sail... Duracotus ends up living in Denmark and studying astronomy for years.

Eventually, aged 19, Duracotus travels back to Iceland and is reunited with his overjoyed mother. She tells him in turns how she came to learn about astronomy herself:

"At our service are wise spirits, who detest the light of other lands and the uproar of their peoples. They seek out our shadows, and converse with us on friendly terms. Among them, nine are foremost; of these, one is best known to me – the most gentle and kindest of all. He is summoned by 21 symbols. Through his power I am often transported, in an instant of time, to other shores – anywhere I ask, but if I be frightened by the distance, I learn as much by asking questions as if I were present there. Many of the things that you have seen with your own eyes, or heard reported, or taken from books, he recounted to me just as you have."

Duracotus asks her to summon this spirit, so he might hear about the region of Levania. This she does, and the spirit tells them:

"The island of Levania is located fifty thousand German miles high up in the sky. The route to get to there from here, or back to this Earth, is rarely open. When it is open, it is easy for our kind, at least, to travel. But transporting humans is truly difficult, and risks the greatest dangers to life.

We do not admit desk-bound humans into these ranks, nor the fat, nor the foppish. But we choose those who regularly spend their time hunting with swift horses, or those who voyage in ships to the Indies, and are accustomed to living on hard bread, garlic, dried fish and other abhorrent foods.

The best adapted for the journey are dried-out old women, since from youth they are accustomed to riding goats at night, or pitchforks, or travelling the wide expanses of the earth in worn-out clothes. There are none in Germany who are suitable, but the dry bodies of Spaniards are not rejected."

It goes on to tell them that the journey is completed in four hours at most, but it has to be completed before the moon regains its full light. Few humans ever make the trip, not least because of the hardships associated with it:

"First of all he experiences a strong pressure, not unlike an explosion of gunpowder, as he is hurled above the mountains and the seas. For this reason, drugs and opium are consumed at the start, so that he falls asleep, and each of his limbs disentangled, so that his body is not torn from his legs, nor his head driven from his body, but so the shock will be distributed across all his limbs.

Next he experiences new difficulties: it is intensely cold and he cannot breath. All of us are born with a power to relieve the cold; for his breathing, we push damp sponges up his nose to block the flow. With this first part of the journey accomplished, it is easy to set his trajectory. When we reach the open sky, we remove our hands from his body so that he balls himself up like a spider, which we transport almost by our will alone, so that finally the mass of the body falls towards the intended destination of its own accord."

After some more monologuing on the difficulties of the journey, we're told a little about life on Levania:

"Therefore, as geographers divide our sphere of the earth into five zones according to their celestial phenomena so is Levania divided into two hemispheres: one of these is the Subvolvan, the other is the Privolvan. The Subvolvans are forever blessed by the light from Volva [our Earth] which for them takes the place of our Moon. But the Privolvans are eternally deprived any sight of the Earth. The circle dividing their hemispheres, named the divisor, resembles the meridian passing through the solstices and the poles of our world."

The text goes on to give us information about the length of Levonian days, how eclipses look, and other astronomical titbits:

"From the intersections of the equatorial and zodiacal circles arise four cardinal points just like our equinoxes and solstices, and the zodiacal cycle commences at these intersections. But as a consequence of this, the movement of the fixed stars is very swift, since in 20 tropical years – which are defined as one summer and one winter – the entire zodiac passes by, which happens with us once in nearly 26000 years. So much for the first motion."

Of more interest for this blog is the section where the inhabitants of Levania are described:

"The whole of Levania stretches out no further than 1400 German miles in circumference, a fourth part of our Earth. It possesses very high mountains, very deep and wide valleys and in consequence yields much to our Earth in perfect roundness. The entire surface is porous, as it were pierced through with hollow caverns and continuous caves, especially prolonged through the Privolvans. These hollow places are the principal means that the Privolvans have to ward off the heat and cold.

Whatever springs from the land or walks upon the land is of a monstrous size. Increases in size are very rapid. Life is of short duration because all living things grow to such an enormous bodily mass. The Privolvans have no fixed dwelling place. In the space of a single day, they traverse the whole of their world in hordes, following the receding waters either on legs that are longer than those of our camels, on wings, or in boats. If a delay of very many days is necessary, they crawl through the caves according to each one's nature.

There are many divers among them and all their living creatures breathe very slowly. By combining nature with art, they can take refuge at the bottom of the deep waters. They say that those in the very depths of the water endure the cold, while the upper waves are boiling hot from the Sun. Those that remain on the surface are boiled by the midday Sun and serve as nourishment for wandering colonists. In general, the Subvolvan hemisphere compares favorably with our cantons, towns and gardens while the Privolvan resembles our fields, forests and deserts.

Other creatures who find breathing more necessary, retreat into caves which are supplied with water by narrow canals so that the water may gradually cool on its long way; but when evening comes, they go out for food. The bark on trees, the skin on living creatures, or if anything else takes their place, takes up the greater part of the corporeal mass because it is spongy and porous. If any creature is taken by surprise in the heat of the day, his skin becomes hard and scorched and falls off in the evening. Plants in the earth, and there are a few on the mountain tops, spring up and die on the same day, daily making room for new growing things.

Their nature is generally like a snake's. They have a strange love for basking in the noonday Sun, but only close to their caves, so that they can make a swift and safe retreat.

Others whose spirits have been exhausted by the heat of the day lose their life, but return through the night, on account of some paradoxical cause like the production of flies here on Earth. Here and there all over the ground are scattered masses in the shape of pine cones. Their rinds are sun-burnt through the day and die, but in the evening produce living creatures when the hiding places are opened."

Kepler - as narrator - then awakens from his dream about Duracotus and there, rather abruptly, ends the story.

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