against the sky, but as if not far above land, oftenest upon the coast
of Durham. They were mistaken for beacons by sailors. Wreck after wreck
occurred. The fishermen were accused of displaying false lights and
profiting by wreckage. The fishermen answered that mostly only old
vessels, worthless except for insurance, were so wrecked.

In 1866 (London _Times_, Jan. 9, 1866) popular excitement became
intense. There was an investigation. Before a commission, headed by
Admiral Collinson, testimony was taken. One witness described the light
that had deceived him as "considerably elevated above ground." No
conclusion was reached: the lights were called "the mysterious lights."
But whatever the "false lights of Durham" may have been, they were
unaffected by the investigation. In 1867, the Tyne Pilotage Board took
the matter up. Opinion of the Mayor of Tyne--"a mysterious affair."

In the _Report of the British Association_, 1877-152, there is a
description of a group of "meteors" that traveled with "remarkable
slowness." They were in sight about three minutes. "Remarkable," it
seems, is scarcely strong enough: one reads of "remarkable" as applied
to a duration of three seconds. These "meteors" had another peculiarity;
they left no train. They are described as "seemingly huddled together
like a flock of wild geese, and moving with the same velocity and grace
of regularity."

_Jour. Roy. Astro. Soc. of Canada_, November and December, 1913:

That, according to many observations collected by Prof. Chant, of
Toronto, there appeared, upon the night of Feb. 9, 1913, a spectacle
that was seen in Canada, the United States, and at sea, and in Bermuda.
A luminous body was seen. To it there was a long tail. The body grew
rapidly larger. "Observers differ as to whether the body was single, or
was composed of three or four parts, with a tail to each part." The
group, or complex structure, moved with "a peculiar, majestic
deliberation." "It disappeared in the distance, and another group
emerged from its place of origin. Onward they moved, at the same
deliberate pace, in twos or threes or fours." They disappeared. A third
group, or a third structure, followed.

Some observers compared the spectacle to a fleet of airships: others to
battleships attended by cruisers and destroyers.

According to one writer:

"There were probably 30 or 32 bodies, and the peculiar thing about them
was their moving in fours and threes and twos, abreast of