The spread of reports was very remarkable. Chant noted that the place farthest west from which a report has been received was Mortlach, about 105 kilometres west of Regina, Saskatchewan, where they were described as travelling from west to east. However, in Ontario, the meteors were described as travelling generally from northwest to southeast, and there were enough observations reported to allow triangulation and calculate their true path.
The Barringer meteor crater in Arizona was formed 50,000 years ago when a large chunk of rock hit the Earth, creating a hole more than 150 metres deep and over a kilometre wide.
DID YOU KNOW?
UFOs have been reported from every continent on Earth, including Antarctica.
From Campbellville, Ontario, the meteors passed directly overhead, travelling from northwest to southeast, and over Hespeler, they “seemed to go right over our heads,” in a line about 15 degrees to the west of the zenith.
Chant calculated that based on the elevation angles and triangulation that the meteors were at a height of about 40 kilometres, just within the Earth’s atmosphere, and travelling at a speed of somewhat less than 15 kilometres per second. However, these values were debated among the astronomical community and a much higher altitude of about 70 to 80 kilometres was later accepted.
The procession also made its presence known through noise. Chant noted that at Niagara-on-the-Lake the windows rattled, and at St. David’s, Rev. G. Munro heard the sound but looked in vain up in the sky to see the cause of it.
Similarly, near Sand Hill, Ontario, a witness reported, “Some had tails and some seemed to shoot a red vapor which threw a beautiful red glow. They came in bunches or groups. I counted 10 in one group and I think there were 20 groups. As they disappeared in the east there was a loud report like rolling thunder, and then another sound like thunder, and a tremor of the earth.”
And in Shelburne, Chant noted, “There must have been an earthquake the night before, that the vibration was quite perceptible, and the noise was like a series of blasts going off. In the Shelburne Economist it is stated that a man living 12 miles west of the town was awakened from sleep and thought that his horses were wrecking the stable. On investigating, however, he found the horses perfectly quiet.”
Other sample observations included:
Fort Frances, Ontario: “I saw them come slowly from the northwest; first, a string like candles, about forty of them; then, after 5 minutes, another string in the same line and about eight in number. They made the snow red quite a while after they had disappeared in the east. There was no sound, and they were lower than the stars. They went slow. A big one led the first string. I am sure you will hear something. It must be the end of the world. It was about 9 p.m. They did not pass overhead, but north of us.”
Peterborough, Ontario: “The appearance was like that of an express train lighted up at night. The elevation was about 25 degrees. Movement was slow and the duration about 3 minutes. In the first section there seemed to be from six to nine lights, with slightly spreading ends. Then, in succession, some three or four not so brilliant sections passed. The most striking feature to me was the regular movement in an even plane. There appeared to be no curve whatever. No noise was heard. It was the grandest display I have ever seen.”
Beyond the objects seen that night, there were also scores of other sightings recorded across North America on the days just before and just after the procession, and in some cases minutes or hours before or after. Chant also noted a daylight sighting that may or may not have had anything to do with the sightings on February 9:
I shall refer to a curious observation reported in The Toronto Daily Star for Monday, February 10. At about 2 p.m. on that date some of the occupants of a tall building near the lake front saw some strange objects moving out over the lake and passing to the east. They were not seen clearly enough to determine their nature, but they did not seem to be clouds, or birds, or smoke, and it was suggested at the time that, perhaps, they were airships cruising over the city. Afterwards it was surmised that they may have been of the nature of meteors moving in much the game path as these seen the night before.
Many years later, the identity of the meteors in the procession was still being debated. In the journal Popular Astronomy, Vol. XLVII, No. 6, June-July, 1939, astronomer C.C. Wylie argued that the procession was not a series of meteors in a long train. He stated that “the popular explanation of the phenomenon is that a cluster of fire balls travelled from Saskatchewan across North America, and over the Atlantic to the equator, a distance of some 5,700 miles. Several considerations, of which we will mention four, make this explanation untenable.”
Wylie’s chronology of events was that:
1. A detonating meteor fell over Ontario on February 9 at 9:06 p.m., Ontario time.
2. A shadow-casting meteor was observed from Ann Arbor, Michigan at 10:15 p.m., CST. (11:15 p.m. Ontario time.)
3. A spectacular fireball was observed from Bermuda at 10:00 p.m. Atlantic time (9:00 p.m., Ontario time.)
4. A shadow-casting meteor observed in Ontario on February 10 at 1:25 p.m.
In addition to these spectacular meteors, several groups of shooting stars were observed, among them the ones over Fort Frances at 9:00 p.m. CST. A string of 40 or so meteors, followed after five minutes by a string of eight, passed north overhead. Meteors were also observed over Pense and Morllach, Saskatchewan (“Must have been hundreds”) and even as far afield as Watchung, New Jersey.
UFOS AND ALIENS IN MOVIES
Earth Versus the Flying Saucers (1956) was one of the best saucer movies of the 50s, with excellent special effects for its time, including the now-classic but cliché stock footage of plastic model saucers flying over Washington, D.C. The malevolent aliens were clearly here to take over the planet, with displays of force such as blowing up buildings and automobiles. The film conveyed the fear and panic that many people expressed regarding the “invasion” of saucers over the U.S. in the 1950s, when a flurry of UFO sightings over Washington was actually reported, and the resultant military response to the alien menace.
Charles Fort, the chronicler and collector of news reports of unusual phenomena, and for whom the field of Fortean research is named, questioned the meteor explanation. Indeed, if he had still been active when Wylie disputed Chant’s conclusions, Fort would have certainly had some cynical comments to offer. In his book New Lands, Fort noted:
It is questionable that the same spectacle was seen in Bermuda, this night. The supposed long flight from the Saskatchewan to Bermuda might indicate something of a meteoric nature, but the meteor-explanation must take into consideration that these objects were so close to this earth that sounds from them were heard, and that, without succumbing to gravitation, they followed the curvature of this earth at a relatively low velocity that can not compare with the velocity of ordinary meteors.
Fort’s belief was that alien civilizations were possible, and that some observations of aerial objects were undoubtedly due to their appearance.