Existing comment:
Strange Event at Friendship Hill:
January 8, 1801 -- A meteor passes over the area, terribly frightening all at Friendship Hill. Hannah writes to Gallatin, seeking explanation and comfort:
"New Geneva Januar 8, 1801
... but last night we had a great fright, there was a large ball of fire passed by, and made such a luminous appearance that the Girls in the kitchen came screaming into the house, thinking the world was at an end, it was accompanied with the most tremendous noise resembling the firing of the heaviest cannon I ever heard and appeared to shake the house to the very foundation. You can readily judge how much your poor weak wife was terrified..."
Albert, sent this reply to his worried wife:
"City of Washington, 29th Jan 1801
The meteor which frightened you must have been at a very great height. The light which it caused at Williamsport where I was that evening (140 miles from you) was such that although the weather was extremely cloudy, the sky seemed to open and a ___ might have been ___ on the ground, but no explosion was heard... In order to know how it was from you, you must let us know, if your fright permitted you, what interval elapsed between the first appearance of the light and the explosion, how long the light lasted, and in what quarter it appeared." |