On today’s date 157 years ago, Thursday, October 19, 1865, the following curiously-interesting article regarding a “Close Encounter of the Second Kind” appeared in the “Missouri Democrat” newspaper:

 On today’s date 157 years ago, Thursday, October 19, 1865, the following curiously-interesting article regarding a “Close Encounter of the Second Kind” appeared in the “Missouri Democrat” newspaper:

☞A Strange Story -- Remarkable Discovery 

Missouri Democrat -- October 19, 1865

Mr. James Lumley, an old Rocky Mountain trapper, who has been stopping at the Everett House for several days, makes a most remarkable statement to us, & one which, if authenticated, will produce the greatest excitement in the scientific world.

Mr. Lumley states that about the middle of last September, he was engaged in trapping in the mountains about seventy-five or one hundred miles above the Great Falls of the Upper Missouri, & in the neighborhood of what is known as Cadotte Pass. Just after sunset one evening, he beheld a bright luminous body in the heavens, which moved with great rapidity in an easterly direction. It was plainly visible for at least five seconds, when it suddenly separated into particles, resembling, as Mr. Lumley describes it, the bursting of a sky-rocket in the air. A few minutes later, he heard a heavy explosion, which jarred the earth very perceptibly, & this was shortly after followed by a rushing sound, like a tornado sweeping through the forest. A strong wind sprang up about the same time, but suddenly subsided. The air was also filled with a peculiar odor of a sulphurous character.

These incidents would have made a slight impression on the mind of Mr. Lumley, but for the fact that on the ensuing day he discovered, at the distance of about two miles from his camping place, that, as far as he could see in either direction a path had been cut through the forest, several rods wide -- giant trees uprooted or broken off near the ground -- the tops of hills shaved off & the earth plowed up in many places. Great & widespread havoc was everywhere visible. Following up this track of desolation, he soon ascertained the cause of it in the shape of an immense stone driven into the side of a mountain. An examination of this stone, or so much of it as was visible, showed that it was divided into compartments that in various places it was carved with curious hieroglyphics. More than this, Mr. Lumley also discovered fragments of a substance resembling glass, & here & there, dark stains, as though caused by a liquid. He is confident that the hieroglyphics are the work of human hands, & that the stone itself, although but a fragment of an immense body, must have been used for some purpose by animated beings.

Strange as this story appears, Mr. Lumley relates it with so much sincerity that we are forced to accept it as true. It is evident that the stone which he discovered, was a fragment of the meteor which was visible in this section in September last. It will be remembered that it was seen in Leavenworth, Galena, & in this city by Col. Bonneville. At Leavenworth, it was seen to separate into particles or explode.

Astronomers have long held that it is probable that the heavenly bodies are inhabited -- even the comets -- & it may be that the meteors are also. Possibly, meteors could be used as a means of conveyance by the inhabitants of other planets, in exploring space, & it may be that hereafter some future Columbus, from Mercury or Uranus, may land on this planet by means of a meteoric conveyance, & take full possession thereof -- as did the Spanish navigators of the New World in 1492, & eventually drive what is known as the “human race” into a condition of the most abject servitude. It has always been a favorite theory with many that there must be a race superior to us, & this may at some future time be demonstrated in the manner we have indicated.

☞Note: the unidentified-flying-object Close-Encounter classification system devised in 1972 by noted astronomer, professor, & ufologist Dr. Josef Allen Hynek (1910-1986) lists three types of UFO encounters.

 

☞First kind: Visual sightings of an Unidentified Flying Object.

☞Second kind: Visual sightings plus the accompanying of physical evidence.

☞Third kind: Sightings of “occupants” in & around the UFO.

☞Although unconfirmed, the undated photograph is purported to be an image of the above-referenced “Rocky Mountain trapper,” Mr. James Lumley.