April 13

The Hailstorm That Changed History

Edward III, with the storm in background
via College of St. George

In April 1360 everything seemed to be going King Edward's way. Edward III of England was trying hard to conquer France. He claimed the throne of France, and to enforce that claim he crossed the channel in October 1359 with a large army. The French, for their part, refused battle, preferring to shelter behind their fortifications, leaving Edward to ransack the countryside.

Edward proceded to do just that, advancing on Paris and burning the suburbs. The skirmishes in the suburbs proved inconclusive, however, and attrition from French raids and disease was high. Edward decided to retreat to Chartres. Laying siege to the city, his troops camped outside the town, and on April 13 it happened. 'It' was a sudden and severe hailstorm accompanied by lightning.

There was little shelter anywhere close. The temperature fell dramatically and lightning strikes killed several people. Huge hailstones along with freezing rain pelted the troops, the hailstones killing an estimated 1,000 soldiers, as well as nearly 6,000 horses. Panic set in amongst the English, especially after two of their leaders were killed. The freak storm was taken as a sign from God against Edward's endeavor. Monday, April 13, 1360 was ever after known as "Black Monday".

Shortly thereafter the Abbot of Cluny arrived with peace proposals. Edward III gave up his claim to the French throne and, in return, was given appreciable chunks of territory.

 

April 12

Fiery UFOs Filmed in France 

This is a video of UFOs over France on April 12, 2012. The few details of the story are under the video. I offer this with no comment.

April 11

Anna Monaro, the Glowing Woman

Anna Monaro via Kurioso

On this day in 1934, Dr. Giocondo Protti kept vigil, along with a team of four other medical specialists, at the bedside of a very sick woman. The patient was Anna Monaro, 42, who had fasted for lent and weakened her system sufficiently that her asthma had flared up in a very severe attack. But the doctors weren't attending because of that. They were there to witness, analyze and explain the bright blue glow that emanated from her breasts as she slept. It appeared for several seconds at a time, usually when she was sleeping most deeply. This had begun at the same time as her illness and now happened several times each night over a period of several weeks.

During and after each incident Anna's breathing and heart rate would double for a short time. She would groan and sweat heavily after the glow left her. According to some sources the glow was caught on film, though I cannot find any reference to the film's current whereabouts. Among the many witnesses to testify to the reality of this phenomenon was Guglielmo Marconi.

A contemporary account via Kurioso

A similar case of luminescence was mentioned issuing from a woman with breast cancer in Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Gould and Pyle. In that case the glow issued from the sore and was bright enough to read the face of a watch several feet away. In Anna's case, however, the glow appeared to emanate from beneath the unbroken skin, and was strong enough to light the entire room.

Curiously, Japanese scientists were able to photograph a faint natural bioluminescence in the human body, caused by energy released as light through changes in energy metabolism. The 2009 study discovered that the light varied according to the time of day, and did not correspond to the brightest areas on thermal images of the body. Ultra-sensitive cameras were used because the light emitted was a thousand times weaker than the human eye can perceive. Was Anna's glow simply an extreme intensification of the same processes?

A number of theories were put forward, none of them completely fitting the facts of the case. After she had fully recovered from her hospitalization the glow left her and, as far as I can determine, never troubled her again.

April 10

Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer

Mount Tambora as it appears today via Volcano Weather

Today marks the anniversary of of the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia. It was one of the most powerful in recorded history, classified a a VEI-7 event, with four times the energy of the Krakatoa explosion. A moderate eruption had occurred on April 5, but intensified at around 7pm on the tenth turning the entire mountain into liquid fire. Sometime that evening the pyroclastic flow wiped out the village of Tambora. Eleven to twelve thousand were killed directly by the explosion, with another seventy to ninety thousand dying from the destruction of agriculture in the area by the fallout of volcanic ash. The eruption continued until July 15.

There were a number of odd effects. Prolonged and brilliantly colored sunsets were observed in England. In the eastern U. S. a frequent and long lasting fog that would not disperse with wind or rain was experienced. Hungary experienced brown snow, Italy red. But the strangest effect of the eruption was the Year Without a Summer, as 1816 became known.

Frosts occurred every month throughout the year. It snowed in June. Lake and river ice persisted as far south as Pennsylvania through July and August. Temperatures in the northeast fluctuated from normal (90s in the summer) to freezing within hours. Because of the weather's effect on crops, severe food shortages were common. Grain prices increased seven-fold.

The volcanic winter's effects were widespread in Europe, causing the worst famine of the 19th century there. The famine in Ireland precipitated a major typhus epidemic. In China the eruption disrupted the monsoon season, causing disastrous floods. In India the delayed summer rains aggravated the spread of cholera, which reached epidemic proportions as far afield as Moscow.

April 9

German de Argumosa and the Belmez Faces

German de Argumosa, via La Exuberancia de Hades

On this date in 1974 German de Argumosa, Spanish Carlist and parapsychologist watched as a face materialized on the hearth of a kitchen fireplace before his astonished gaze. The fireplace was in the home of the  Pereira family in Belmez, Spain. This had been going on since August of 1971, with faces spontaneously appearing on the concrete kitchen floor. 

The first face that appeared was destroyed and fresh concrete put down, but another appeared shortly after. This time the mayor of Belmez didn't allow the face's destruction, having the concrete removed for study instead. The faces continued to appear in the concrete for the next thirty years; the house at Calle Real 5, Belmez de la Moraleda eventually being advertised to the tourist trade as the House of the Faces.

One of the Belmez faces, via Wikipedia

The faces themselves were both male and female and of differing sizes and expressions. Their appearance was not very lifelike but similar to a drawing or painting of a face. Researchers have claimed it to be a most astonishing case of paranormal phenomena, or an outright hoax, depending on their individual preferences.

Argumosa collaborated with parapsychologist Hans Bender throughout the seventies studying the faces, though curiously neither man ever issued an official report on them. Bender did make passing reference to them in various lectures, primarily concerning the use of plastic sheets to seal areas of the floor where faces were developing. No mention was made, that I can find, referring to any 24 hour safeguards against tampering with the plastic sheeting.

The Institute of Ceramics and Glass analyzed samples taken from two of the faces with the following result: sample one consisted of .96% zinc, .02% barium, .01% copper, .09% phosphorus, and .21% lead. Sample two presented at .40% zinc, .15% barium, .16% copper, .02% copper, .30% phosphorus, and .06% lead. All of which is interesting enough, but doesn't prove much, especially since no information was given concerning how the samples were taken or of which faces, or what tests, exactly, were done. It is interesting to note that that zinc, lead and chromium are common elements in paint.

Maria Gomez Camara, via The Horror Tree

Proponents of the hoax theory note that there are several ways the faces could have been faked. There could have been various acids used. Since all cements are of an alkaline nature, acid could provide various changes in the chemical structure of the cement. Also, there are agents such as silver nitrate that darken when exposed to sunlight. And then, of course, there are various paints, enamels or stains that could have been used to create the faces.

But then what are we to make of Argumosa's claim that he watched as a face developed on the kitchen hearth? Supporting the believer's side are the parapsychologists like Argumosa, who was unlikely to have lied (or been fooled), as well as the controls (plastic sheeting) that were in place. But were they tamper-proof controls? There was a motive in the village economy, which was certainly helped a great deal by the faces of Belmez.

Maria Gomez died in February 2004, age 85. After her death popular psychic Pedro Amoros looked for, and found, a new wave of 'Belmez faces'. However, in November of that year the newspaper El Mundo published an article claiming that the municipal government was in league with the new crop of parapsychologists in faking the faces, trying to restore the village's profitable attraction.

In May, 2007, Javier Cavanilles and Francico Manez published a book titled The Faces of Belmez in which they give their theory of the scam, and point to Maria's son Diego Pereira as the perpetrator. And there the matter rests.

Were the original faces a hoax, as the second crop surely were? Or a legitimate phenomena? Nobody knows for certain.

April 8

April 8

Aleister Crowley begins work on Liber Al Vel Legis

Aleister Crowley, via DeathandTaxes

or as it's otherwise known The Book of the Law, in 1904. Crowley was a ritual magician, occultist, novelist, and founder of the religion Thelema, but, no matter what you've been told, was not a Satanist. Though raised by ultra-conservative Exclusive Brethren parents, he rejected his faith in it's entirety, and therefore did not believe in Satan. He was also a poet, libertine, mountaineer and, most likely, a government spy. When he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn some claim it was to keep tabs on the Order's Carlist founder, S. L. MacGregor Mathers.

He was a prolific writer on a wide variety of subjects, but The Book of the Law was his magnum opus, the holy book of his religion and philosophy of Thelema, which is sometimes summarized as "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, love under will."

The Stele of Revealing via Wikipedia

The account Crowley gives details how his wife Rose, who had no prior interest in or knowledge of occultism, began channeling the god Horus. As part of a test of his wife, he took her to the Bulaq Museum and asked her to point out any representation of the god. She bypassed several common images of Horus but correctly identified the god on the stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, held at that time as inventory item number 666! This stele became known to adherents of Thelema as the Stele of Revealing.

Rose passed on Horus' instructions for her husband to enter the temple they had created in a room of their apartment and write down everything he heard between noon and one, for three days beginning April 8. When he finished he had the central philosophy for Thelema.

A BBC poll listed Aleister Crowley as the 73rd greatest Briton of all time. Even today his influence on popular culture is evident. On the tv series Supernatural, the king of hell is named Crowley, and shares a number of traits of the original.

April 7

UFO Over Pretoria

Artist's conception of a black triangle ufo similar
to the one seen over Pretoria, via Wikipedia

On this date in 1991 at 11:15 pm Mrs. Annatjie Visagie, 36, was about ready for bed at her home in Baviaanspoort, a suburb of Pretoria. She went to check on her son, who was ill with a fever. She saw a bright light shining into the room and when she pulled back the curtains to see what it was she could only see a "terrible glare" on a hill near the house. She went outside with her other son, to try and get a better view. What they saw was a triangular UFO with lights at each corner and a red light in the center. "We got off the porch for a better look", she said. She described the object as "large" and being at an altitude of about 300 feet. It made   "a strange hissing noise." After hovering over the house it moved quickly away. Mrs. Visagie stated that she was so shocked and appalled that she never even thought of taking a photograph. Ryno Swanepoel of the physics department of the Rand Afrikaans University said he could give no scientific explanation of the object. Some had suggested ball lightning as a solution, but Professor Swanepoel said he doubted that was what she saw, since it appears only for a few moments and is not very large.

For the next few nights the same or a similar object was seen over Eersterust, west of Baviaanspoort. One witness, Lucas Marobie, described the objects lights as "Sharper than a star's light." He first saw it from the gate of his home when his sister left for church. It moved faster than a plane can fly, hovering for a time over the Magaliesburg. One evening his family and neighbors observed it for about seven hours after which it became fainter and disappeared to the north.