When were UFOs first sighted? The answer to this question depends on what is meant by a ‘sighting.’
It is certain that some cuneiform literature deals with celestial anomalies of various kinds, not all of which have been completely understood. Assyrilogists have recognised these writings to be astromantic in nature, that is, texts explaining how to forecast the future by watching meteoric phenomena (as opposed to astrology, which deals with the movements of the planets). Some of these records are from 1200 BC or earlier, and were written in Hittite, but it is thought that they were copied from older Akkadian originals, not yet located. The vast majority of these texts described phenomena that can be explained as the perfectly natural observation of meteorites, fireballs and comets. The scribes did not generally report on specific incidents that had occurred but rather provided meanings to particular kinds of phenomena. For example:
If a shooting star flashes (as bright) as a light or as a torch from east to west and disappears (on the horizon): the army of the enemy will be slain in its onslaught.
Evidently such ideas did not involve anomalous flying objects, what we would call “UFOs” today. There is no evidence that Mesopotamian cultures were particularly astonished by such phenomena or considered them worthy of deification. However, a handful of cuneiform references to sky phenomena have puzzled archaeologists and astronomers alike. For example, texts exist which seem to describe ‘meteorites’ that stay motionless in the sky, such as in this case:
If a fireball moves across the Wagon-Star and stands [text missing]
Here the word sallummu has been translated as ‘fireball’ but it very literally could have been anything bright passing through the sky that stood still. One possibility is that sallummu was a meteor train that remained visible for some time across the face of the Wagon Star (Ursa Major), but the original text is not clear enough to reach a definite conclusion. In the following example the translator forces his own interpretation on the text, but it seems likely enough:
If a train (of a fireball) occurs in the south and It moves along(?), then it stands(?), and (then) It breaks up(?), and the day (light) is scattered (?): The prince that has gone on a campaign will acquire all kinds of wealth.
Here we can suppose that the unmoving part is the train of a fireball and that it lingers on until it disappears. Other texts mention more than one ‘star’ appearing together:
Two great stars flashed one after the other in the middle watch. If three or four bibbu’s rise one after the other at sunrise…
The word bibbu is mysterious but usually refers to comets or similar phenomena. The bibbus in the latter quote may therefore refer to a comet that breaks up into three or four separate bodies under the gravitational influence of the sun. Alternatively, they may have been truly anomalous. Another mysterious object described in cuneiform were the ‘dark meteorites.’ For example:
If a meteor comes from above the Wagon Star and is dark and passes at the right of the man: that man will see injury.
The meaning of this is obscure, as meteorites and similar matter passing overhead are necessarily luminous or fiery. The Akkadian word for ‘meteor’ is kakkabu, ‘star.’ It was often used with the verbs sarāru (to flash) and maqātu (to fall). Dark meteors may have been UFOs, but again, it is ultimately anyone’s guess.
Two Mesopotamian texts give the impression that stars were sometimes observed in anomalous forms that reminded the observers of common objects, animals and materials. The first of these reads as follows:
If a star [turns] into leather: [ ]. If a star turns into bitumen: in the house of the ma[n ]. If a star turns into a plant: divine wrath against [the man .] If a star turns into a ‘dust-fly’: [hi]s posse[ssions will ]. If a star turns into clay (?):he will experience losses. If a star turns into faeces/flour: the owner of the house will become poor. If a star turns into a locust: ev[il ]. If a star turns into beans: [ ]. If a star turns into peas: [ ]. If a star turns into emmer-wheat: [ ]. If a star turns into ‘bitter-barley’: [ ].
The second text is more of the same, describing the transformation of stars into a lion, a wolf, a dog, a pig, a fish, the crescent of the moon, precious stones, silver, gold, copper, and so on. What did these enigmatic lines mean? The question is open to debate but is likely to remain unanswered. As far as Mesopotamian UFOs are concerned, therefore, it is not possible to draw any conclusions from the fragmentary clay tablets in our possession, though the few references that do puzzle the experts may be regarded as ‘ufological’ in the strictest sense.
When was the connection between UFOs and extraterrestrials first made?
William Earl, M.D., posed the question "Do the Inhabitants of other Planets ever Visit this Earth?" in his non-fiction bookThe Illustrated Silent Friend, and not only provided one clear example of a daylight sighting, but also made the wonderful statement "There are thousands of such cases on record." He does not clarify what those hundreds of cases referred to, but no older non-fiction document has been found which links strange vessels and visitors from space.
Earl's book was published in 1858, the sighting was said to have been recounted "recently," so the answer to the question stands at c.1858.
The sighting Earl described concerned a "Mr. Henry Wallace and other persons of Jay, Ohio," who had watched as "a large and curiously constructed vessel" passed over the earth. The crew seemed to be twelve feet tall and the ship itself "was evidently worked by wheels and other mechanical appendages, all of which worked with a precision and a degree of beauty never yet attained by any mechanical skill upon this planet."
Dr. Earl strongly believed
that this ship which Mr. Wallace and others saw, was a vessel from Venus, Mercury, or the planet Mars, on a visit of pleasure or exploration, or some other cause…
A poet named Jesse Glass rediscovered the account in 1999, and attempted to show that both Wallace and Jay had existed in Ohio just as Earl had written. Glass discussed his research in a light-hearted article posted on the internet. Owing to numerous errors contained in his report I carried out my own investigation.
First I contacted the Ohio Historical Society to see what they knew about Jay. Unfortunately it turned out they had no idea where Jay had been located, only that it operated a mail service. Officially there was a Post Office at Jay from March 14th 1839 to March 23rd 1842, but its whereabouts had become NN (“not known”) shortly afterwards. Indeed, the town did not figure in any gazetteer or Erie County history. I did finally manage to pinpoint the exact location of Jay from comments made by the historian Henry Timman in his popular weekly column, Just Like Old Times. It was, he said, “on the township line between Milan and Huron.” Meanwhile the post office was either “near where Route 13 intersects Scheid Road, or else where Scheid Road intersects the Huron-Avery Road.” Of course, nothing marks the spot today.
It was common for small rural communities to merge and create larger municipalities, or simply disappear when stronger towns drew populations away like magnets. Indeed at that time the word town could refer to anything from a crossroads to a tiny hamlet. If a town prospered, it could become a village or even a township, but otherwise it was often very short-lived. In the case of Jay, the fact that its post office closed after just three years strongly suggests the “town” died very young. Every historical organization and library I approached either shrugged in disinterest or gave me the same answer: Jay had been a post office and any dwellings nearby ceased to exist in 1842.
At least this allowed me to place Jay on the map. I next checked the US federal census records for signs of the witness. According to this source, a man named Henry Wallace lived in nearby Erie County in 1850. This was Henry C. Wallace, a fifteen year old lad from New York. By 1860 he must have either died or moved on, because he is not listed again in the state of Ohio. This Mr. Wallace was too young to have lived in Jay and in fact was registered as a resident of Florence, a different township.
The only other Henry Wallace living in Black River, Lorain County, was an Irish sailor who came to settle in Ohio around eight years after Jay had vanished. This is clear from the 1900 census, where we learn he entered the country in 1850, aged around twenty.
The implication is clear. William Earl’s claim rests on the veracity of two names, and neither stand up to scrutiny. Therefore, the first known UFO account associated with aliens from space is, unfortunately, groundless.
Unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrials were connected again in the 1890s, but that's another story...
