Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, 1863

(page 105)

According the account of Mr. W. G. Drysdale, at Liverpool, before mentioned, "the meteor at first assumed the form of a large bright star and fell rapidly some distance through the atmosphere. Its motion was then suddenly arrested, and it burst forth into a dazzling pale blue light, so large and intense as to cast a strong shadow from objects on the earth. From this magnificent centre a pendant ran down, terminating in a ball of lurid red, like an ear-ring of fire. The meteor appears, therefore, to have been diverted from its original course as a falling star, at the moment of its brilliant expansion into a ball of pale blue light, and from this instant to have directed its course directly upon Liverpool, until at the final explosion and fading of the blue light, the lurid portions of the meteor again assumed a course parallel to their original direction.

An observer in the open country, about eight miles from Manchester, informed Mr. Brothers that "at first the meteor appeared stationary, and his first thought was 'that's a strange place for Venus to be in,' when the meteor immediately darted downwards diagonally."