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<v Speaker 1>By Charles Lear read by AI written before audio blogs.

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<v Speaker 1>The history of UFO sightings and alien encounters as portrayed

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<v Speaker 1>in the popular media is mostly separated into distinct periods,

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<v Speaker 1>modern from the late eighteen nineties airship flap followed by

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<v Speaker 1>World War II FOO fighters, into post one nine hundred

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<v Speaker 1>forty seven after the Kenneth Arnold Report, and ancient interaction

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<v Speaker 1>pieced together using evidence from the time of cave dwelling

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<v Speaker 1>humans up to the time of the builders of cities

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<v Speaker 1>and megalithic structures. UFOs depicted in Byzantine paintings misinterpreting conventional symbols.

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<v Speaker 1>The fifteen sixty one report from Nuremberg, Germany and the

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen sixty six report from Basel, Switzerland are often thrown

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<v Speaker 1>in during reviews of UFO history. But what about the

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<v Speaker 1>time in between then in the eighteen nineties, It turns

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<v Speaker 1>out that there are quite a few reports from the

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<v Speaker 1>period in question, and they read like modern reports, although

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<v Speaker 1>they were written before the modern context of alien visitation.

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<v Speaker 1>Nuremberg fifteen sixty one, a sixteen thirty nine journal entry

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<v Speaker 1>by Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop, considered to be America's first

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<v Speaker 1>UFO report, was mentioned in last week's blog, which describes

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<v Speaker 1>a sighting by one James Everell and two companions while

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<v Speaker 1>in a boat on the Muddy River. They claim to

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<v Speaker 1>have seen a luminous mass that changed size and darted

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<v Speaker 1>back and forth over the water for three hours before

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<v Speaker 1>flying away. After the spectacle was over, they realized they

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<v Speaker 1>were a mile upstream, with no idea how they'd got there.

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<v Speaker 1>There are two more strange events in Winthrop's Journal, Volume two.

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<v Speaker 1>In the entry dated January eighteenth, sixteen forty four, Winthrop

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<v Speaker 1>described three men in a boat coming into Boston seeing

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<v Speaker 1>two lights in form like a man, rise up out

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<v Speaker 1>of the water, float towards the town, and then vanish.

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<v Speaker 1>The sighting lasted for a quarter of an hour. He

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<v Speaker 1>added that the light was seen by many a week later,

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<v Speaker 1>a rising about Castle Island. He later added details to

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<v Speaker 1>the last part, describing a light like the moon rise

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<v Speaker 1>up in the northeast of Boston and then meet the former,

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<v Speaker 1>which presumably refers to the two lights seen on the eighteenth.

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<v Speaker 1>The lights reportedly came together and separated several times while

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<v Speaker 1>periodically shooting out flames and sparkles. Then a voice was

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<v Speaker 1>heard calling out in a most dreadful manner. Boy, Boy,

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<v Speaker 1>come away, Come away. The voice was described as being

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<v Speaker 1>over the water and shifting location over a great distance.

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<v Speaker 1>More citizens reported hearing the same voice two weeks later

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<v Speaker 1>on the other side of town, and Winthrop speculated that

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<v Speaker 1>a man who confessed himself to have skill in necromancy

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<v Speaker 1>may have been the cause that Winthrop, a devout Puritan,

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<v Speaker 1>didn't go any further than that is remarkable. A siding

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<v Speaker 1>on August fifteenth, sixteen sixty three in robozierro Russia, comes

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<v Speaker 1>from a report from Saint Surreal Monastery by one Ivashko Ryevskoy.

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<v Speaker 1>It relates the account of a farmer, Lyevko Firdorov, of

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<v Speaker 1>a large ball of fire that flew south over a

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<v Speaker 1>lake and then disappeared. It reappeared an hour later, this

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<v Speaker 1>time flying from south to west, and then a third time.

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<v Speaker 1>It was increased in size and hovered over the lake

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<v Speaker 1>for an hour and a half, emitting intense heat and

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<v Speaker 1>illuminating the water to a depth of thirty feet before dissipating.

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<v Speaker 1>Rievskoy sent a letter to priests in the area, and

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<v Speaker 1>they confirmed that they'd had such a sign in that day.

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<v Speaker 1>In a letter to the President of the Royal Society,

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<v Speaker 1>astronomer Thomas Short describes seeing strange red streamers emanating from

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<v Speaker 1>blood red clouds in the west at five pm on

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<v Speaker 1>December fifth, seventeen thirty seven, over Sheffield, England. He wrote

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<v Speaker 1>that the streamers were unlike the Aurora borealis, as they

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<v Speaker 1>were waving as opposed to dancing with sudden occursions. The

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<v Speaker 1>same phenomenon then appeared in the north, and the streamers

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<v Speaker 1>from both the west and the North went towards and

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<v Speaker 1>passed each other. The streamers in the west stopped, while

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<v Speaker 1>the north weakened and activity shifted east between seven and

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<v Speaker 1>eight pm. Finally things moved to the southeast, where the

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<v Speaker 1>remainder of the activity occurred until ten thirty pm. In

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<v Speaker 1>a listing of the chief remarkables of this meteor, Short

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<v Speaker 1>wrote that the streamers came from deep red clouds which

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<v Speaker 1>hit a luminous body so bright he could have read

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<v Speaker 1>by it. A letter from a clergyman at the University

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<v Speaker 1>of Zamora in Spain printed in the July tenth, seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty eight London Times, source cited by Jacques Valet in

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<v Speaker 1>Wonders of the Sky case three hundred and sixty three

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<v Speaker 1>recounts a June twelfth, seventeen eighty eight sighting there. According

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<v Speaker 1>to the letter, two globes of fire moved horizontally, came

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<v Speaker 1>together violently, and then separated, with both having changed course.

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<v Speaker 1>One moved southeast and blew up with a loud report,

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<v Speaker 1>while the other, traveling northwest, continued until it was out

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<v Speaker 1>of sight. A description of a sighting in eighteen o

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<v Speaker 1>eight by a school teacher in Maine was found in

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<v Speaker 1>a diary by a woman in the course of Haari's

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<v Speaker 1>search into women's history. As reported in the March twenty eighth,

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen seventy eight edition of the Potsdam, New York paper

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<v Speaker 1>Courier Freeman historian doctor Judith Becker Ranlett was in the

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<v Speaker 1>process of transcribing the six hundred page diary of her

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<v Speaker 1>husband's great great grandmother, Cynthia Everett, who was a schoolteacher

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<v Speaker 1>in Maine, when she came across an entry that read

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<v Speaker 1>like a ufort. On July twenty second, eighteen o eight,

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<v Speaker 1>Everett wrote, about ten o'clock, I saw a very strange appearance.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a light which proceeded from the east. At

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<v Speaker 1>the first sight I thought it was a metier meteor,

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<v Speaker 1>but from its motion I soon perceived it was not.

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<v Speaker 1>It seemed to dart at first as quickly as light,

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<v Speaker 1>and appeared to be in the atmosphere, but lowered toward

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<v Speaker 1>the ground and kept on at an equal distance, sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>ascending and sometimes descending. In the July second, eighteen fifty

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<v Speaker 1>three edition of Scientific American an article titled Singular phenomenon begins.

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<v Speaker 1>We have received a letter from Professor A. C. Carnes

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<v Speaker 1>of Burrett College, Tenney, with the following account of a

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<v Speaker 1>singular phenomenon that was seen by a number of the

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<v Speaker 1>students on June first, at four and a half a

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<v Speaker 1>m just as the sun was rising. The letter tells

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<v Speaker 1>of two lights that were seen to dramatically change shape.

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<v Speaker 1>One got smaller and vanished, while the other appeared globular

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<v Speaker 1>and then elongated parallel with the horizon. Then the vanished

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<v Speaker 1>light reappeared and grew larger, while the other light diminished

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<v Speaker 1>and vanished. This continued for half an hour, with the

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<v Speaker 1>lights staying in their locations in the midst of considerable wind.

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<v Speaker 1>An article in the July third, eighteen ninety three Tacoma

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Ledger tells of a particularly strange and violent experience

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<v Speaker 1>had by five locals and two visitors from the East Coast.

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<v Speaker 1>The story is told by one of the Eastern gentlemen,

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<v Speaker 1>who declined to give his name, though the locals are

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<v Speaker 1>named in the article. According to the man's story, they

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<v Speaker 1>set sail at four thirty pm on July first, on

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<v Speaker 1>a fishing and hunting expedition aboard the sloop Marion into

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<v Speaker 1>the Sound. They dropped anchor and had some success with

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<v Speaker 1>the fishing, but the wind picked up and they weighed

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<v Speaker 1>anchor at eight o'clock and headed for Henderson Island, which

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<v Speaker 1>they reached at nine point thirty. They set up camp

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<v Speaker 1>on the island, next to the camp of a party

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<v Speaker 1>of surveyors who had already retired. The group turned in

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<v Speaker 1>at around eleven o'clock, but sometime after midnight, they and

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<v Speaker 1>their neighbors were awaked by a horrible noise. The air

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<v Speaker 1>was filled with a strong current of electricity that caused

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<v Speaker 1>every nerve in the body to sting with pain. There

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<v Speaker 1>was a blindingly bright light that flashed, and they saw

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<v Speaker 1>it was coming from the head of a monster fish

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred fifty feet long and thirty feet in diameter,

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<v Speaker 1>with copper bands all along its body, with a propeller

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<v Speaker 1>for a caudal fin. A man from the surveyor's group

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<v Speaker 1>approached and was blasted unconscious by a stream of water

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<v Speaker 1>from the fish, as was one from the Marian party,

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<v Speaker 1>who attempted to rescue him. As the others ran for

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<v Speaker 1>the safety of the woods, they turned and saw the

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<v Speaker 1>monster disappear beneath the water. They returned to revive the

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<v Speaker 1>fallen men, and later all noted that their watches had stopped.

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<v Speaker 1>There are many other cases. Valley's book is a good source,

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<v Speaker 1>but a lot of them could ease be misidentified natural

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<v Speaker 1>atmospheric or astronomical phenomena, or invented. Looking through the reports

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<v Speaker 1>is very much like reading through Project Blue Book or

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<v Speaker 1>the case files of Muffon. The absence of the idea

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<v Speaker 1>of alien visitation removes that sort of speculation, and the

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<v Speaker 1>reports tend to stick to presenting the observations in a

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<v Speaker 1>just the facts manner. The mystery has deep roots, and

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<v Speaker 1>the mystery endures