Ivan Seeking
Valued Senior Member
UAP Encounter from 1886 Scientific American
The text from the original letter to the editor is shown after the data and analysis: The key points are highlighted first. Over twenty years ago I contacted Scientific American and confirmed that the original report was in fact published in 1886. Recently I was reviewing this and realized the victims must have received fantastically high levels of radiation; far beyond what is produced by any natural source. All of the data provided is easily confirmed with a quick search.
Being nine years before radiation was discovered, the report far too accurately describes acute radiation poisoning and other effects, to be coincidence. The report must be genuine. Next, the linked chart shows a graph of the time-to-vomiting based on dose of ionizing radiation. The victims reported that they started vomiting almost immediately. That indicates they received a dose over 10 and approaching 100 Joules of ionizing radiation per Kg of body mass, in a matter of a minute or so. The victims certainly all died.
https://remm.hhs.gov/aboutvomiting.htm
There is no known natural phenomenon or any even imagined that could produce the level of radiation required to explain this event as natural in origin. This level of radiation can only be produced using technology. So, we have a report that must be genuine, that describes events due to something that must have been an unknown, advanced technology, in 1886. And there was certainly no such human technology at that time. The only remaining explanation is that this was due to a non-human or future-human technology.
Here’s the standard radiation-biology ballpark, expressed in gray (Gy = J/kg) to the skin:
The report indicated their skin began to blister almost immediately and was necrotized the next day; again suggesting exposure levels of at least 25 grays
A whole‑body dose of:
• 1–2 Gy → causes radiation sickness
• 4–6 Gy → often fatal without aggressive medical care
• >10 Gy → universally fatal
• 30 Gy → causes immediate, catastrophic biological damage
What can produce this level of radiation?
To deliver 30 Gy at 50 feet to a 100 kg person, the source must be something on the scale of:
An accidental, uncontrolled fission chain reaction can produce a burst of neutrons and gamma rays.
Historical criticality events have delivered 20–40 Gy to workers several meters away.
Letter to Scientific American December 18, 1886:
CURIOUS PHENOMENON IN VENEZUELA
To the Editor of the Scientific American: The following brief account of a recent strange meteorological occurrence may be of interest to your readers as an addition to the list of electrical eccentricities: During the night of the 24th of October last, which was rainy and tempestuous, a family of nine persons, sleeping in a hut a few leagues from Maracaibo, were awakened by a loud humming noise and a vivid, dazzling light, which brilliantly illuminated the interior of the house. The occupants completely terror stricken, and believing, as they relate, that the end of the world had come, threw themselves on their knees and commenced to pray, but their devotions were almost immediately interrupted by violent vomitings, and extensive swellings commenced to appear in the upper part of their bodies, this being particularly noticeable about the face and lips. It is to be noted that the brilliant lights was not accompanied by a sensation of heat, although there was a smoky appearance and a peculiar smell. The next morning, the swellings had subsided, leaving upon the face and body large black blotches. No special pain was felt until the ninth day, when the skin peeled off, and these blotches were transformed into virulent raw sores. The hair of the head fell off upon the side which happened to be underneath when the phenomenon occurred, the same side of the body being , in all nine cases, the more seriously injured. The remarkable part of the occurrence is that the house was uninjured, all doors and windows being closed at the time. No trace of lightning could afterward by observed in any part of the building, and all the sufferers unite in saying that there was no detonation, but only the loud humming already mentioned. Another curious attendant circumstance is that the trees around the house showed no signs of injury until the ninth day, when they suddenly withered, almost simultaneously with the development of the sores upon the bodies of the occupants of the house. This is perhaps a mere coincidence, but it is remarkable that the same susceptibility to electrical effects, with the same lapse of time, should be observed in both animal and vegetable organisms. I have visited the sufferers, who are now in one of the hospitals of this city; and although their appearance is truly horrible, yet it is hoped that in no case will the injuries prove fatal.
Warner Cowgill. U. S. Consulate, Maracaibo, Venezuela November 17, 1886
The text from the original letter to the editor is shown after the data and analysis: The key points are highlighted first. Over twenty years ago I contacted Scientific American and confirmed that the original report was in fact published in 1886. Recently I was reviewing this and realized the victims must have received fantastically high levels of radiation; far beyond what is produced by any natural source. All of the data provided is easily confirmed with a quick search.
Being nine years before radiation was discovered, the report far too accurately describes acute radiation poisoning and other effects, to be coincidence. The report must be genuine. Next, the linked chart shows a graph of the time-to-vomiting based on dose of ionizing radiation. The victims reported that they started vomiting almost immediately. That indicates they received a dose over 10 and approaching 100 Joules of ionizing radiation per Kg of body mass, in a matter of a minute or so. The victims certainly all died.
https://remm.hhs.gov/aboutvomiting.htm
There is no known natural phenomenon or any even imagined that could produce the level of radiation required to explain this event as natural in origin. This level of radiation can only be produced using technology. So, we have a report that must be genuine, that describes events due to something that must have been an unknown, advanced technology, in 1886. And there was certainly no such human technology at that time. The only remaining explanation is that this was due to a non-human or future-human technology.
Here’s the standard radiation-biology ballpark, expressed in gray (Gy = J/kg) to the skin:
- ~2–3 Gy → transient erythema (reddening)
- ~6–10 Gy → more intense erythema, itching, swelling
- ~10–15 Gy → dry desquamation (peeling)
- ~15–25 Gy → moist desquamation and blistering
- >25–30 Gy → ulceration, necrosis, possible permanent damage
The report indicated their skin began to blister almost immediately and was necrotized the next day; again suggesting exposure levels of at least 25 grays
A whole‑body dose of:
• 1–2 Gy → causes radiation sickness
• 4–6 Gy → often fatal without aggressive medical care
• >10 Gy → universally fatal
• 30 Gy → causes immediate, catastrophic biological damage
What can produce this level of radiation?
To deliver 30 Gy at 50 feet to a 100 kg person, the source must be something on the scale of:
- Large industrial gamma irradiators
- These use cobalt‑60 or cesium‑137 in quantities of hundreds of thousands of curies.
- At close range, they can produce dose rates high enough to deliver tens of grays in minutes.
- They are housed in heavily shielded facilities because unshielded exposure is fatal almost instantly.
- Freshly removed fuel rods emit intense gamma and neutron radiation.
- At a few meters, unshielded exposure can reach tens of grays per second.
- They are stored underwater specifically to shield this radiation.
An accidental, uncontrolled fission chain reaction can produce a burst of neutrons and gamma rays.
Historical criticality events have delivered 20–40 Gy to workers several meters away.
Letter to Scientific American December 18, 1886:
CURIOUS PHENOMENON IN VENEZUELA
To the Editor of the Scientific American: The following brief account of a recent strange meteorological occurrence may be of interest to your readers as an addition to the list of electrical eccentricities: During the night of the 24th of October last, which was rainy and tempestuous, a family of nine persons, sleeping in a hut a few leagues from Maracaibo, were awakened by a loud humming noise and a vivid, dazzling light, which brilliantly illuminated the interior of the house. The occupants completely terror stricken, and believing, as they relate, that the end of the world had come, threw themselves on their knees and commenced to pray, but their devotions were almost immediately interrupted by violent vomitings, and extensive swellings commenced to appear in the upper part of their bodies, this being particularly noticeable about the face and lips. It is to be noted that the brilliant lights was not accompanied by a sensation of heat, although there was a smoky appearance and a peculiar smell. The next morning, the swellings had subsided, leaving upon the face and body large black blotches. No special pain was felt until the ninth day, when the skin peeled off, and these blotches were transformed into virulent raw sores. The hair of the head fell off upon the side which happened to be underneath when the phenomenon occurred, the same side of the body being , in all nine cases, the more seriously injured. The remarkable part of the occurrence is that the house was uninjured, all doors and windows being closed at the time. No trace of lightning could afterward by observed in any part of the building, and all the sufferers unite in saying that there was no detonation, but only the loud humming already mentioned. Another curious attendant circumstance is that the trees around the house showed no signs of injury until the ninth day, when they suddenly withered, almost simultaneously with the development of the sores upon the bodies of the occupants of the house. This is perhaps a mere coincidence, but it is remarkable that the same susceptibility to electrical effects, with the same lapse of time, should be observed in both animal and vegetable organisms. I have visited the sufferers, who are now in one of the hospitals of this city; and although their appearance is truly horrible, yet it is hoped that in no case will the injuries prove fatal.
Warner Cowgill. U. S. Consulate, Maracaibo, Venezuela November 17, 1886
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