Death by Meteorite on This Day in History

 

This day in history: At around 8:30 pm on this day in 1888, a shower of meteorites fell "like rain" on a village in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq (then part of the Ottoman Empire). One man died and another was paralyzed. The man's death is considered the only credible case of death-by-meteorite.

"However, if ancient scholars can be trusted, humans haven’t always been so lucky. Researchers mining ancient texts in recent decades have discovered that historical records are surprisingly rich with accounts of apparent deaths due to falling space rocks. In most cases, there’s no physical evidence to confirm these stories. Yet their presence in official histories and similarities to modern accounts lead some scientists to believe at least some of the events must have really occurred.

Chinese histories in particular are rich with accounts from government scholars and astronomers that document times when “a star fell.” These records were kept consistently across many provinces and passed from dynasty to dynasty, chronicling significant events spanning thousands of years. If these documents accurately portray meteor fireballs, then somewhere between hundreds to tens of thousands of people have been killed by falling space rocks." Read more here.

The History and Mystery of Alchemy is now available on Amazon...and it is only 99 cents.

Over 220 Books on the Occult and Astrology to Download

The Allende Meteorite on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: At 1:05am on this day in 1969, the Allende meteorite exploded as it entered the atmosphere over the village of Pueblito de Allende in Mexico's Chihuahua state. As the meteor exploded into two pieces which then fragmented into thousands, most of the stones fell in and around Pueblito Allende. Eventually, more than two tonnes — 4,400 lb — of fragments would be picked up; the Allende meteorite has become the most studied in the world, and is among the rarest because of its composition of carbonaceous chondrite.

It is estimated that 17 meteorites hit the earth's surface every day (about 6000 a year). Most of these go unseen.

The History and Mystery of Alchemy is now available on Amazon...and it is only 99 cents.