Brezeau, Holland — 19 September 1810
Strange globe absorbs water
- A remarkable incident occurred in the Dutch village of Brezeau. The 36th volume of the Philosophical Magazine reported that between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M., “a luminous meteor appeared to the south, and about the distance of a quarter of a league from the small commune of Brezeau: persons who attentively examined it assert that it was nearly a quarter of an hour in collecting, floating over the place where it was first seen; and that when all its parts had united, it appeared all at once as a very considerable globe of fire, taking a northerly direction.” The phenomenon “spread terror among the inhabitants of the village, who believed their houses would be burnt, and they themselves perish.” It was followed by thick fog. Curiously, “in crossing a river it absorbed water, of which some afterwards fell as rain.” It is difficult to imagine a natural phenomenon with these characteristics. Its duration is also an anomaly, as it lasted forty-five minutes before turning into a column of fire and rising towards the sky.
Source: “Meteor seen in Holland”, The Philosophical Magazine 36 (1810): 395-396. 388. Case: W340