A UFO in 19th-Century Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?

The subject of UFO's are of course nothing new, but continue to create controversy, debate and investigation, within the scientific community and public-at-large, as to their existence or fallacy. Yet most studies of 'Unidentified Flying Objects' are predominately concerned with sightings from the modern-era, particularly that of the 20th and now 21st centuries.

The same is true of Pennsylvania. Temple University's tenured Professor David M. Jacobs, in such works as The Threat: The Secret Agenda: What the Aliens Really Want..And How They Plan to Get It, has investigated the 'abductee phenomena,' while the mysterious falling object that swept over the southwestern sky of Pennsylvania in 1965, purportedly crashing in the woods near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh, also continues to elicit much discussion.

However, various newspapers within Pennsylvania, reported how on Saturday, August 14th, 1869, the following mysterious sighting or encounter, transpired in broad daylight near Adamstown, located in East Cocalico Township, Lancaster County:

"About two hundred yards north of the village is an open lot, and at 12 0'clock, while the villagers were taking dinner, a luminous body was seen to settle near the centre {sic} of this lot. It is represented by four or five different parties, who witnessed it from several points, to have assumed a square shape and shooting up into a column about three or four feet in height and about two feet in thickness.

The sun was shining brightly at the time, and under its rays, the object glittered like a column of burnished silver. The presence, after reaching its full effulgence, gradually faded away, and in ten minutes time it had entirely disappeared.

Those who saw it were unable to tell what it was. It seemed to inspire terror rather than admiration. After it had disappeared a number of persons visited the spot, but not a trace of anything unusual could be found. Similar objects have been seen in the neighborhood on several occasions during the night time, but none before in the day time, or so bright as this.

The land in the immediate vicinity is dry, there being no swamp about, otherwise the phenomenon might be accounted for. We do not know whether the Jack o' Lantern assumes such large proportions or whether it appears in midday under a bright sun. Perhaps some of our friends versed in the sciences can solve the mystery." -Lancaster Express.

It is interesting in this description, that even during the 19th century, as today, individuals were not 'gullible,' as many would believe, but sought first for a 'scientific' explanation, and were quite familiar with swamp gases to that of the 'will-of-the-wisp' or Jack o' Lanterns,' a wide-spread phenomenon of mysterious 'balls of light' seen throughout the world today.

Albert Einstein once remarked, how, 'Imagination is the true source of all science.' Thus, it is always best to keep an 'open-mind,' when it comes to the unknown, since far too often, what was once considered 'science-fiction,' has repeatedly become 'scientific fact.'

The above account is only ONE of MANY diverse records, available within the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, topics which are as pertinent today as they were in the past.

History often does indeed 'repeat itself,' not only as to the existence of unexplained phenomena, but in mankind's continual search to understand and solve such mysteries. 'Curiosity' may often 'kill the cat,' but such sacrifices into the unknown has resultingly given us most of our modern inventions and conveniences.

*Bold & italicized words in the above newspaper article are not emphasized as such in the original, but have been highlighted by this blog's author.

Original sources:

'Singular Phenomenon.'--The Oxford Press (Oxford, Chester Co. PA, August 18, 1869, p.3, col.2; The Lebanon (PA) Courier, August 19, 1869, p.2, col.4.

The 'Barbary Wars' and Their Philadelphia Connections

Twenty-first century news reports, are almost daily filled with accounts of piracy, occurring within the Gulf of Aden & Indian Ocean, off the Horn of Africa, by Somalian corsairs. Such acts of piracy or terror are nothing new within the world of Islamic jihad or 'holy war,' which has been carried on for centuries against the Western world, even to the present-day.

Either as the result of Ottoman Turkish invasions in Eastern Europe, to fleets of Barbary corsairs from North Africa journeying northwards into the Atlantic, attacks and enslavement were a frequent fear of communities, as well as ship's crews and would-be colonists to the New World. Between 1609 & 1616 alone, some 466 British vessels and their passengers were captured on the high seas and enslaved in the North African 'Barbary States' of Morocco, Tripoli (today's Libya), Algiers & Tunisia, creating a demand for what one recent author has referred to as 'White Gold,' or European slaves.

Not until the Presidencies of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams & James Madison, would the threat to American ships and shipping finally be dealt with and resolved, during the 'Barbary Wars' of the early 19th-century. However, prior to these events, literally thousands of individuals would rot, starve, die or experience years of servitude in North Africa, such as the crew of the Philadelphia ship, Dauphin, taken captive west of Lisbon, on the 30th of July, 1785.

The master of the Dauphin, Richard O'Brien (1758-1824), would be in bondage to the Muslims for some ten years, after which he would return as Consul-General to Algiers. An outbreak of the bubonic plague alone, would bring about the demise of 200 Christian slaves, from January to May of 1787, including crew members of the Dauphin. O'Brien's correspondence and journal, available here at the Society, written while a captive in North Africa, is both informative & essential, in understanding those trying times in American history. He would eventually return to Philadelphia, serve in the state legislature and die in Pennsylvania in 1824.

While a prisoner in Algiers, O'Brien would write the following entry in his journal, for February 19, 1790:

"Picture to yourself your Brother Citizens or Unfortunate Countrymen inthe Algerian State Prisons or Damned Castile, and starved 2/3rd's and Naked. ..The Chains of their Legs, and under the Lash...Beat in such a Manner as to Shock Humanity...No Prospects of ever being Redeemed or Restored to their Native Land & Never to See their Wives & Families...Viewing and Considering of their approaching Exit, where 6 of their Dear Country-man is buried with thousands of other Christian Slaves of all nations...Once a Citizen of the United States of America, but at present the Most Miserable Slave in Algiers."

O'Brien's, Remarks & Observations in Algiers: 1799

Just a few days prior to the seizure of the Dauphin, the Boston ship, the Maria, was also taken by Algierian pirates off the Cape of St. Vincent on July 25, 1785. On board this vessel was James Leander Cathcart (1767-1843), who would be enslaved in Algiers for eleven years, but would eventually become a clerk for the Dey, an important Islamic official, by which he was enabled to serve as a mediator along with Colonel David Humphreys, America's Minister to Portugal, thus creating the Treaty of Algiers in 1796, which would temporarily halt hostilities between the United States and that Muslim nation.

After being freed, James L. Cathcart would come to Philadelphia in 1796, along with twelve survivors of the crew of the Maria. He would marry Philadelphia resident, Jane B. Woodside in 1798, while their daughter, J. B. Newkirk, would write an account of her father's captivity entitled, The Captives, Eleven Years a Prisoner in Algiers.

On June 5, 1798, the Philadelphia brig Mary, with its cargoe and crew were captured by Algierian pirates, causing Richard O'Brien to write from Algiers and "forewarn all citizens of the United States of the danger they run in risqueing {sic} their liberty, vessels, and property..." (The Philadelphia True American & Commercial Advertiser, January 18, 1799).

Present-day Bainbridge Street in Philadelphia, is named after Commodore William Bainbridge (1774-1833), who ran aground the brig, Philadelphia, off Tripoli in 1803, after which he and his crew were held captive for 19 months. Long after his captivity he would die in Philadelphia of pneumonia, and was buried in Christ Church within the city limits.

Eventually the famed naval hero and officer, Stephen Decatur (1779-1820), would also be intregally involved in the Tripolitian War with the Barbary Pirates and is buried in St. Peter's churchyard in Philadelphia.

The No. African states of Tripoli, Algiers, Morocco, and Tunisia would cease their hostilities with the United States temporarily, with the assault on the Tripolitian city of Derna, taken by U.S. marines in 1805, since appeasement, ransom, tribute, and diplomacy had failed to stop the conflict.

Not till 1815, during the Presidency of James Madison, would the 'Barbary Pirates' and their 'acts of terror' against Americans finally come to end. But this did not transpire until some estimated one million Europeans & citizens of the United States, would endure abuse, incarceration, enslavement and even death, within North Africa, a systematic jihad that had been raging for over 200 years.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has a very large collection of both primary & secondary correspondence, publications, as well as graphic materials, pertaining to the 'Barbary Wars' or America's 'First War on Terror,' fought against Islamic jihadists attempting to carry out a 'Holy War,' then as today, against the West on the high seas.