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October 24th: To the editors of Scientific American. The brief report that follows, concerning a recent and strange meteorological phenomenon, may interest your readers as a new example to add to the list of electrical eccentricities. During the night of October 24th last, marked by rain and even a storm, a family of 9 people sleeping in a cabin a few kilometers from Maracaibo was awakened by a dull buzzing and a dazzling light that brightly illuminated the inside of the house. Completely terrified and believing --- as they said --- that the end of the world had come, its occupants threw themselves to their knees to pray, but their devotion was almost immediately interrupted by violent nausea, while swellings spread over the upper parts of their body, mainly the face and lips. It should be noted that the bright light was not accompanied by any sensation of heat, although the air was apparently charged with smoke with a particular smell. The next morning, the swellings had decreased, leaving large blackish patches on the face and body.
No particular pain was felt, until the 9th day when, the skin beginning to peel, the pustules transformed into painful raw wounds. Hair fell out on the side that had been directly exposed to the phenomenon, the body being most affected on that side. What is remarkable about this phenomenon is that the house was absolutely intact, all doors and windows being closed at the time of the facts. No trace of lightning was observed in the rest of the dwelling and all the victims declare that there was no detonation, but only this already mentioned low buzzing. Another strange circumstance is that the trees around the house showed no particular sign before the 9th day, the date on which they withered quickly, almost all, while the wounds appeared on the occupants of the house. There may be a coincidence there, but it is still surprising to observe that animal and vegetable organisms react in the same way, and in the same time frame, to electrical effects.
I went to visit the victims in one of the hospitals of this city; although their appearance is really horrible, it is to be hoped that these wounds will not be fatal to them. Signed: Walter Cogwill, Consulate of the United States, Maracaibo, Venezuela, November 7, 1886.
What these 9 people are experiencing resembles strong radiation and is closer to the effects of nuclear power than to the "mysteries" of electricity. [[Letter from the American Consul in Maracaibo - Venezuela - published in Scientific American of December 18th, 1886]]{.source} -
November 3, from 8-9 PM: In Hamar, Norway, it is pitch black when suddenly a bright white cloud appears in the sky, moving towards the Northeast and occasionally emitting bright beams of light in various directions. During the observation the cloud always maintains its original shape, then disappears into the darkness. Nature, December 16, 1886, 159] [Bullard: Mysteries in the Eye of the Beholder, 1982, 191] [The Airship File, 1982, 379{.source}