from Glasgow Mechanics' Magazine, 1826

(page 255)

Luminous Meteor—On the 2d of January 1825, about 5 o'clock in the evening, M. Antonio Brucalassi, observed between S. Giovanni and Montevarchi, a singular electrical phenomenon. About an hundred paces off, and at the height of ten fathoms or less from the ground appeared, on a sudden, a luminous meteor of the form of a truncated cone. This meteor appeared to be formed by a globe of fire situated in its fore part, which was the narrower, and which, by its rapid motion, left behind a track of light, which gave it the appearance of a cone. This light became gradually less intense towards the base and seemed to be split into rays issuing from the opposite extremity. The whole of the surface was illuminated, an sent out brilliant sparks, like those of electricity, although in the effect shewn, they rather resembled the appearance of iron filings when thrown upon a flame. The whole length of the meteor appeared to be about two fathoms, and the diameter of its base half a fathom. It proceeded from East to West, rather inclining, from the horizontal position, towards the earth; it moved with great rapidity, in 5 seconds going over a space of about 350 paces;—and as it moved it shed a most brilliant light upon a considerable extent of land which it illuminated as in full day light. Its emanations were lost in the air; it did not produce any explosive or hissing noise, and it left no smell behind it; it occurred in a calm, cold night, during a clear sky, and a great number of shooting stars were observed before and after the appearance of this phenomenon.”

from Glasgow Mechanics' Magazine, 1826

(page 255)

Luminous Phenomenon observed between Paisley and Glasgow—It gives us much pleasure to observe, in Dr. Brewster's journal, that Mr. Murray has been gratified by the sight of a luminous globe, while he was going from Paisley to Glasgow. It was of an elliptical form, and somewhat stationary in its situation; after some time, it discharged sparks and this was subsequently repeated; from the re-action of the earth, Mr. Murray says it moved from north to south, maintaining the direction of the horizontal plane. The sparks were star-like, bright, silvery, and void of any chromatic tint. This Meteor, which was interesting and beautiful, Mr. Murray thinks was wholly dependent on an Electro-Magnetic principle; the night had been wet and tempestuous, and the whole day had discovered the clouds of the distant sky of a horizontal parallelism. It is a pity Mr. Murray has not published the exact day on which this Meteor appeared, in case it should have escaped the notice of the philosophers of the west, who think the “14th instant” of a Quarterly Journal not so precise as they could wish.

from Medical Times, 1842

(page 253)

Major Bonnycastle, in his Canadian Tour, gives an account of a very singular electrical phenomenon observed by him upon the ocean. He says: “About two in the morning the mate roused all the sleepers in their hammocks, by calling loudly for the master to come on deck, as he observed a most unusual appearance on the lee-bow. The weather had been cold, but there was a clear, starry firmament, when in a moment the heavens became overcast to the southward, and an instantaneous and intensely bright light, resembling a fiery aurora, shot out of the sea, and rendered everything minutely discernible, even to the masthead. The mate and his watch immediately put the helm down, calling up the whole crew, and awakened the captain; but before this was accomplished the light had spread more vividly than ever over the whole sea, and the waves, hitherto tranquil, became much agitated, while thick, dark clouds from the land seemed to threaten dreadful weather. The spectacle continued to increase in beauty; the whole sea, as far as could be seen, was at length one entire sheet of an awfully brilliant flame, above which shone along the base of the high, frowning, and dark land abreast of them, a long and magnificent line of fire. The fish, plentiful in these latitudes, and of a large size, seemed alarmed; long tortuous darting lines of light, in a contrary direction to the sea, showed immense numbers of large fish flying about as if they were lost. The wind, which had increased a little, had a peculiar hollow sound; and after a length of time passed in contemplating this splendid and extraordinary scene, day broke slowly, the sun rising very fiery and gloomily. To sail on a sea of fire,” the writer observes, “is the only similitude I can fancy to this really awful scene. I have frequently seen the waters of the ocean on fire, as it is vulgarly termed; but then only in small masses, and no more to be compared to what we there witnessed than a November day, when the sun passes murkily through the fog of England, is to the bright and glorious appearance of that luminary on a fine day in the tropics.”

from Nature, 1884

(page 360)

The following account I have received from a lady at Brühl near Cologne, July 26:—"8.22. A large fireball of scarlet fire almost as large as a harvest moon just sailed along and upwards, at a varying but mostly very rapid rate, until, at a great height, it remained for some minutes almost or quite stationary; then after some uncertain movements rose again, and rising, became smaller, until it finally disappeared. Every one who saw it seemed petrified with amazement.” This is of interest from the long time that the ball was visible, and its being seen by several people. 

from The Intellectual Observer, 1864

(page 160)

Now and then, however, the meteor lasts for a minute. Much more remarkable cases are, however, recorded. Thus, on the 7th January, 1856, at 4:50 p.m., a fire-ball appeared in the sky in the South of England, being seen at various places between Wiltshire and the east of Kent. The sky was clear, and the fire-ball appeared to burst out from the sky as a brilliant globe of light. It remained visible everywhere for more than ten minutes before it finally disappeared. In Wiltshire it was seen for twenty minutes, at Brighton for fifteen minutes, at Sevenoaks for ten minutes, and at Blackheath for the same time. Its size was estimated at four times the diameter of Jupiter. In most places it suddenly appeared from the clear sky, but at Blackheath it emerged from, and was lost behind clouds. This very remarkable meteor is one of the best and most distinctly recorded of those which have been seen at great distances apart, and which, being seen for some time, could be clearly identified. 

from Notes and Queries, 1875

(page 306) Strange Lights in Wales — A gentleman writes from Pwllheli, a coast town in Carnarvonshire, to the Field newspaper of Feb. 20, as follows:

“Some few days ago we witnessed here what we have never seen before—certain lights, eight in number, extending over, I should say, a distance of 8 miles; all seemed to keep their own ground, although moving in horizontal, perpendicular, and zig-zag directions. Sometimes they were of a light blue colour, then like the bright light of a carriage lamp, then almost like an electric light, and going out altogether, in a few minutes would appear again dimly, and come up as before. One of my keepers, who is nearly 70 years of age, has not, nor has any one else in this vicinity, seen the same before. Can any one of your numerous readers inform me whether they are will-o’-the-wisps, or what? We have seen three at a time afterwards on four or five occasions.”

from Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1855

(page 89) On an Appearance seen in the Moon, by Robert Hart, Esq. (Letter to the Astronomer Royal.)

“On the night of the 27th December, 1854, between 6 and 7 p.m., the moon was very bright. I had brought my 10-inch reflector to bear upon the moon; on the shaded side of the disk I observed a white spot, where I have marked it on the sketch. As it was of the colour of the light of the moon, and not like starlight, I thought it part of the moon; but as it disappeared in less than a minute after I first observed it, I concluded it was a star eclipsed by the moon. I now turned my attention to the light part of the disk, and my eye was at once attracted by an appearance I had never seen before on the surface of the moon, although I have observed her often during these last forty years. She was 8d 4h old at the time, and just on the edge of the light, where I have marked on the sketch, there were two luminous spots, on on either side of a small ridge, which ridge was in the light, and of the same colour as of the moon; but these spots were of a yellow flame colour, while all the rest of the enlightened part was of a snowy white, and the mountain-tops that were coming into the light, and just on the shadow side of the spots, were the same colour as the moon. The lights of these spots were like the light of the setting sun reflected from a window a mile or two off. I observed it for five hours. I thought them rather less bright than as first seen, but very little less; so bright were they, when the instrument was the least thing out of focus, they showed rays around them as a star would do.

“It appeared to me, from the brightness of the light and the contrast of colour, to be two active volcanoes or two mouths of one in action.”