London, Hatton Garden, England — 10 August 1809
Aerial ballet of dazzling lights
John Staveley reports he saw many objects moving around a black cloud: “They were like dazzling specks of light, dancing and traipsing thro’ the clouds. One increased in size until it became of the brilliance and magnitude of Venus on a clear evening. But I could see no body in the light. It moved with great rapidity, and coasted the edge of the cloud. Then it became stationary, dimmed its splendor, and vanished. I saw these strange lights for minutes, not seconds. For at least an hour, these lights, so strange, and in innumerable points, played in and out of this black cloud. No lightning came from the clouds where these lights were playing. As the meteors increased in size, they seemed to descend.”
Source: The Edinburgh Annual Register for 18092 (1811): 508. 385. Case: W337