Topic ยท 28 rabbit holes
Strange Skies and Disasters: What People Saw and Wrote Down
Sky events and sudden disasters recorded by people who could not explain them: comets, supernovas, a year without summer and blasts with no crater.
The people who recorded these events could not explain them. Most now have a scientific explanation, from volcanic dust veils to solar storms, and each page gives both the old record and the modern view.
Records 6
US Department of Defense (AARO)AARO Historical Record Report, Volume IThe Pentagon's UAP office reviewed US government UFO history back to 1945 and found no evidence of alien technology, or of a program hiding it.Office of the Director of National IntelligenceODNI Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (2021)A 2021 US intelligence report reviewed 144 military UAP reports and could explain just one: a large, deflating balloon.US Air ForceProject Blue BookThe Air Force logged 12,618 UFO reports between 1947 and 1969. When it closed the files, 701 were still labeled "unidentified."US Air Force / University of ColoradoThe Condon ReportAn Air Force-funded study at the University of Colorado concluded in 1968 that 21 years of UFO study had added nothing to scientific knowledge.FBI VaultThe Guy Hottel Memo (FBI Vault UFO File)A one-page 1950 FBI memo about three "flying saucers" in New Mexico became the most viewed document in the FBI's online Vault.CIAThe Robertson PanelIn 1953 a CIA-sponsored panel of scientists reviewed UFO reports and proposed a public campaign to debunk them, possibly with help from Disney.
Events 19
Greece and RomeArmies in the clouds over Jerusalem (66 CE)Before the war with Rome, Josephus says chariots and armed troops were seen running through the clouds around Judean cities.Other traditionsBronze Age collapseAround 1200 BCE the great kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean fell within a few decades, and the Egyptians blamed the Sea Peoples.IndiaKali YugaThe last and darkest of the four Hindu ages, 432,000 years long, which by tradition began in 3102 BCE, the year Krishna left the earth.Greece and RomeLivy's ships in the skyIn the winter of 218 BCE, with Hannibal in Italy, Rome logged phantom ships gleaming in the sky and figures in shining clothes.IndiaManu and Matsya (the fish)India's flood story: a tiny fish begs Manu to save it, grows enormous, and tows his ship through the deluge to a northern mountain.Greece and RomePliny's burning shieldPliny the Elder records a burning, sparking shield that crossed the sky at sunset from west to east in 100 BCE.UK Ministry of Defence / US Air ForceRendlesham Forest and the Halt MemoA US Air Force deputy base commander in Suffolk sent Britain's Ministry of Defence a memo headed "Unexplained Lights." It is now in the UK National Archives.Greece and RomeSolon and the priests of SaisAn Egyptian priest tells the Athenian sage Solon that Greeks are children who have forgotten the world's repeated destructions.Other traditionsSupernova of 1006The brightest star in recorded history: a new light in 1006 bright enough to cast shadows, logged from Egypt to China.US Air Force / CIAThe 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO SightingsOn two July weekends in 1952, radar at Washington's airports tracked unexplained targets, and fighter jets were sent over the capital.Imperial Iranian Air Force / US Air Force / NSAThe 1976 Tehran UFO IncidentTwo Iranian F-4 jets chased a bright light over Tehran in 1976. A US military account says one lost its instruments and the other its weapons panel.US House of Representatives, Committee on OversightThe 2023 House UAP HearingIn July 2023 three witnesses testified to Congress about UAP. One described a secret crash-retrieval program he said he had learned about secondhand.Other traditionsThe 774 CE red cross and radiation spikeA sudden spike of radiation locked into tree rings in 774 CE, and an English chronicle's red cross in the sky that same year.Greece and RomeThe silver jar at Lucullus' battleAs Roman and Pontic armies prepared to fight in Phrygia, a flaming silver object shaped like a wine jar fell between them.US Navy / Department of DefenseThe USS Nimitz "Tic Tac" and the Navy UAP VideosA 2004 Navy encounter off California produced the "Tic Tac" video, one of three clips the Pentagon officially released in April 2020.Other traditionsThe year without a sun (536 CE)In 536 a mysterious dust veil dimmed the sun for over a year, bringing summer frost, crop failures and a century of cold.Other traditionsThe Younger Dryas freezeAn abrupt return to near-Ice Age cold about 12,900 years ago, and one of the most debated events in prehistory.Other traditionsTunguska eventIn 1908 an explosion over Siberia flattened some 80 million trees across 2,000 square kilometers and left no crater.JapanUtsuro-bune (the hollow ship)In 1803, Japanese fishermen reportedly found a round vessel with windows and a woman inside who clutched a box no one could touch.
Places 1
Objects 2
Egypt and geologyLibyan desert glass (Tutankhamun's scarab)Yellow glass scattered in the Sahara, formed by a cosmic event 29 million years ago, carved into the scarab on Tutankhamun's pectoral.The AmericasMaya Long CountThe Maya day-count that starts in 3114 BCE, turned over a great cycle on December 21, 2012, and reaches numbers far larger than that.
Features
Questions people ask about Strange Skies and Disasters
What caused the Tunguska event?
On June 30, 1908, an explosion in the air over Siberia flattened some 80 million trees and left no crater. The accepted explanation is an airburst of a small asteroid or comet fragment, which accounts for both the flattened forest and the missing crater. There is no evidence of anything artificial.
What happened in 536 CE?
In 536 a dust veil dimmed the sun for over a year. Procopius wrote that the sun gave its light 'without brightness, like the moon', and summer frost and crop failures followed. The likely cause was a volcano, though the exact one is still unidentified.
What was the brightest star ever recorded?
The supernova of 1006. A new star appeared in the constellation Lupus in late April or early May of that year, bright enough to cast shadows at night and visible for a time in daylight. It was written down from Egypt to China.
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