"s" to make it easier to read.

"An extraordinary appearance in the sky was observed by several people between five and six o'clock in the evening of Friday the 12th of the month. It was noticed in the north-west, and appeared as if a ray of forked lightning had been stationary in that quarter of the sky for about fifteen minutes, which was the time it was visible. It was not to be discerned, however, after the sun had quitted the horizon."

The date of observation was 12 April 1793.

I also checked two later editions of the book. The same description appeared on page 211 of the 1804 edition, and on pages 181-182 in the 1910 edition.

After completing my last post about Howell McConnell from the NSA, and being unableto find out anything about his UFO interests post 1974, imagine my surprise when I picked up John B Alexander's new book "UFOs:myth, conspiracies, and realities," and who should be in there but Howell McConnell.

The ATP:

Alexander tells of setting up an "Advanced Theoretical Physics Project (ATP.) "This was a small internal group drawn from the government and aerospace industry, all of whom were interested in the topic." (p.6.) "Membership was highly restricted and it was literally an old boy network." (p.16.) "Membership included people from the Army, Navy,and Air Force plus several from defense aerospace industries and some members from the Intelligence community." (p.17.) "The first set of meetings and briefings were conducted from 1984 through 1988." (p.21.)

Howell McConnell:

"Howell McConnell had been participating in the ATP from the