[meteorite-list] The large meteorite of 1859: anyone know if thishas a grain of truth?

From: chris aubeck <caubeck_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 21:10:04 +0100
Message-ID: <3a5693b30703061210s7aa75cbdifbf51354cf47cd3d_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Sterling,

Well, it wasn't because of the details but the date and place. I
believe I have traced the folkloric development of this story over
time, over the following thirty years in fact, until it became a UFO
tale. But I wanted to know whether it had grown out of some actual
fall report, as many of these stories did.

Still, you've answered my question, I think!

Cheers,

Chris

On 3/6/07, Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Hi, Chris
>
> You have to ask? An 80-foot high meteorite
> covering 0.5 acre (100' x 200')? Which was
> originally a 22 meter iron sphere?
> That object, at the slowest entry speed (12
> km/s), gets you a 1 MegaTon (TNT) impact
> and a 1650-foot crater, 352 feet deep!
> I think SOMEBODY would have noticed.
> Coshocton, Ohio, just LOVES meteorite
> stories! Last one in 02-15-07, another in 2004.
> Mark Bostick's site shows old ones in 1939, 1930,
> 1925, 1916. Meteoric Tall Tales seem to a strong
> Coshocton tradition... Or at least a tradition of
> Coshocton newspapers, a proven circulation
> booster, perhaps?
> Maybe they're jealous of the New Concord
> meteorite in the next county over.
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb
> ------------------------------------------------------
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "chris aubeck" <caubeck at gmail.com>
> To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 2:35 AM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] The large meteorite of 1859: anyone know if
> thishas a grain of truth?
>
>
> Was there a meteorite in this location, at that time?
>
> Best,
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>
> 1859 07 06 Coshocton Progressive Age [Ohio]
> July 6, 1859
>
> Great Natural Phenomenon.
>
> >From the Oswego Palladium.
>
> On Wednesday (yesterday) morning [June 29]
> the inhabitants of the towns of Boylston and
> Redfield, in this county, were startled by the
> occurrence of a most remarkable phenomenon
> -- the descent from the heavens of an immense
> meteoritic mass. The body struck the earth
> between the hours of three and four A.M.,
> with a crash that was truly terrific, and the
> shock was sensibly felt and people aroused
> from their sleep at a distance of five miles from
> the scene. The body fell upon the farm of
> Horace Sanger, situated on the line of Boylston
> and Redfield, striking in a meadow and partially
> on the highway. It is estimated by our informant
> to cover half an acre of land. The earth was
> torn up in a terrible manner, and large fragments
> were thrown a distance of two-thirds of a mile.
> The mass is very irregular in shape, and rises at
> some points to sixty to eighty feet in height, and
> is supposed to be imbedded in the earth many
> feet. The surface generally has the appearance
> of iron ore. The excitement occasioned by the
> event among the inhabitants was intense, and
> the crash is said to have been terrific beyond
> description. Many supposed that the final
> winding up of terrestrial affairs had truly arrived.
>
> MR. HADLEY'S STATEMENT.
>
> I was awakened about three o'clock on
> Wednesday morning, by the room in which I
> slept being filled with light, and immediately
> heard a rushing sound like the coming of a great
> wind. This did not last above a few seconds
> after I was awake, when an explosion followed
> of which I can give no description -- it was
> terrific. The whole house shook as if a hundred
> cannon had been fired under the windows;
> quite a number of panes of glass were broken
> out of the windows, and the plastering of the
> room I was in came tumbling about me. The
> light, which was so brilliant that I could plainly
> see every object in the room, was at once
> extinguished. The window of my room is on
> the opposite side of the house from the place
> where the meteor fell, so that I can only judge
> of its direction. The light seemed to come from
> some body moving very rapidly and from south
> to north, and seemed to increase rapidly during
> the brief space that preceded the explosion.
>
> The aerolite struck the earth in some timber
> land belonging to Mr. Sanger, in a thinly
> inhabited portion of the town. We believe Mr.
> Hadley's is the nearest dwelling. It seems to
> have been an almost spherical body of, as
> near as we can judge from the fragments
> remaining, about seventy-five feet in diameter.
> Its course was from southwest to northeast,
> and descended at an angle of not more than
> thirty degrees from the horizon, which is proved
> by its track through the heavy hemlock trees
> before it touched the earth.
>
> The trees are cut through as a cannon ball would
> cut through a hedge, leaving a clear track. The
> velocity must have been immense. The earth is
> torn up for several rods, and the huge trees are
> splintered and piled up like brush. One large
> hemlock, at least four feet in diameter, near whose
> roots the meteor struck, was thrown bodily for
> eighty yards, crushing the surrounding trees like
> pipe stems. Fragments of a huge sandstone
> boulder which lay in its course were thrown in
> all directions, and one weighing half a ton was
> found on the road three-fourths of a mile away.
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Received on Tue 06 Mar 2007 03:10:04 PM PST