August 12 - 18: A fireball, shooting beams of light/fire, appears over a small Russian village, the entire event chronicled by a monastery monk - 'The King' Elvis Presley is dead... or is he? - One hundred or so colonists from Roanoke Colony disappear, giving rise to the name 'The Lost Colony'.
August 15, 1663
Illustration of the lights near Robozero A huge fireball shooting two beams of light appears over the small Russian village of Robozero. I think it is best to leave the report to the monastery monk who documented the sighting:
"At noon, a large ball of fire came down over Robozero, arriving from the clearest part of the cloudless heavens. It came from the direction whence winter comes, and it moved toward midday (south) along the lake passing over water surface. The ball of fire measured some 140 ft from one edge to the other and over the same distance, ahead of it, two ardent rays extended. The people seeing the terror of God gathered in the church and prayed to God and the Blessed Virgin, with tears and crying, and the big fire and two smaller ones disappeared.
Less than an hour later, the people again came out to the square and the same fire suddenly reappeared over the same lake, from the same place where it first disappeared. It darted from the south to the west and must have been 1500 ft away when it disappeared. But it appeared, in a short while, back again, from that another place, moving this time to the west; the third time the same fireball appeared more terrific in width, and disappeared, having moved to the west, and it had been remaining over Robozero, over water, for an hour and a half. And the length of the lake is about 7000 ft, and the width is 3500 ft.
As the fireball was coming over water, peasants who were in their boat on the lake followed it, and the fire burned them by the heat, not allowing them to get closer. The waters of the lake were illuminated to their greatest depth of 30 ft and the fish swam away to the shore, they all saw that. And where the fireball came, the water seemed to be covered with rust under the reddish light; it was then scattered by the wind and the water became clean again."
An interesting occurrence and one that has quite a number of similarities to accounts of close encounters with UFO's reported in more recent times – lights, sudden darting movements, burns on those who get too close... Ancient Aliens or a act of God?
"At noon, a large ball of fire came down over Robozero, arriving from the clearest part of the cloudless heavens. It came from the direction whence winter comes, and it moved toward midday (south) along the lake passing over water surface. The ball of fire measured some 140 ft from one edge to the other and over the same distance, ahead of it, two ardent rays extended. The people seeing the terror of God gathered in the church and prayed to God and the Blessed Virgin, with tears and crying, and the big fire and two smaller ones disappeared.
Less than an hour later, the people again came out to the square and the same fire suddenly reappeared over the same lake, from the same place where it first disappeared. It darted from the south to the west and must have been 1500 ft away when it disappeared. But it appeared, in a short while, back again, from that another place, moving this time to the west; the third time the same fireball appeared more terrific in width, and disappeared, having moved to the west, and it had been remaining over Robozero, over water, for an hour and a half. And the length of the lake is about 7000 ft, and the width is 3500 ft.
As the fireball was coming over water, peasants who were in their boat on the lake followed it, and the fire burned them by the heat, not allowing them to get closer. The waters of the lake were illuminated to their greatest depth of 30 ft and the fish swam away to the shore, they all saw that. And where the fireball came, the water seemed to be covered with rust under the reddish light; it was then scattered by the wind and the water became clean again."
An interesting occurrence and one that has quite a number of similarities to accounts of close encounters with UFO's reported in more recent times – lights, sudden darting movements, burns on those who get too close... Ancient Aliens or a act of God?
August 16, 1977
The King is dead? Elvis Aaron Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, singer, musician and actor is discovered, unresponsive on his bedrooms bathroom ensuite floor. He was rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital but all attempts to revive him on the way failed and he was pronounced dead on arrival.
His post mortem stated he had died of a form of heart attack – a cardiac arrhythmia. He was just 42 years old however the last years of his life was full of trouble and illness. He had gone from the sleek and energetic performer he was well known to be to being hugely overweight and barely able to keep his performances together.
What performances he did manage to attend were shorter and his singing voice had got to the point where it was hard to impossible to understand him. He knew his performances were letting down his fans and he became nervous, paranoid and completely stressed with being in the celebrity spotlight. However, just a fortnight before his death, a book was released – 'Elvis: What Happened?' - detailing his pharmaceutical drug misuse. This totally devastated The King.
He was scheduled to fly out to Memphis to begin another long series of tours when he was discovered on his bathroom floor. On August 18 his funeral was held but that was marred by tragedy when a car plowed into fans standing at the gates killing two of them. One of Presley's cousins was paid to secretly photograph the corpse in its open casket, a photo that became the cover for National Esquire magazine.
However there are many people who believe that Elvis did not die in 1977 but had sought out a distraction, to remove him from the public image (alive anyway) and seek out a much quieter life. Conspiracies involved the open casket holding a wax dummy that was kept cool by an air-conditioning unit hidden where his legs and feet would be.
He has apparently been spotted numerous times all over the US and worldwide and during the 1980's 'Elvis Spotting' became so common that you would be hard pressed to go a week without hearing of yet another sighting.
His decline, personal troubles and disillusionment with being in the media spotlight runs along the same lines of other celebrities thought to have used a fake death to retire in peace – Jim Morrison and Michael Jackson just two of the more well known ones.
His post mortem stated he had died of a form of heart attack – a cardiac arrhythmia. He was just 42 years old however the last years of his life was full of trouble and illness. He had gone from the sleek and energetic performer he was well known to be to being hugely overweight and barely able to keep his performances together.
What performances he did manage to attend were shorter and his singing voice had got to the point where it was hard to impossible to understand him. He knew his performances were letting down his fans and he became nervous, paranoid and completely stressed with being in the celebrity spotlight. However, just a fortnight before his death, a book was released – 'Elvis: What Happened?' - detailing his pharmaceutical drug misuse. This totally devastated The King.
He was scheduled to fly out to Memphis to begin another long series of tours when he was discovered on his bathroom floor. On August 18 his funeral was held but that was marred by tragedy when a car plowed into fans standing at the gates killing two of them. One of Presley's cousins was paid to secretly photograph the corpse in its open casket, a photo that became the cover for National Esquire magazine.
However there are many people who believe that Elvis did not die in 1977 but had sought out a distraction, to remove him from the public image (alive anyway) and seek out a much quieter life. Conspiracies involved the open casket holding a wax dummy that was kept cool by an air-conditioning unit hidden where his legs and feet would be.
He has apparently been spotted numerous times all over the US and worldwide and during the 1980's 'Elvis Spotting' became so common that you would be hard pressed to go a week without hearing of yet another sighting.
His decline, personal troubles and disillusionment with being in the media spotlight runs along the same lines of other celebrities thought to have used a fake death to retire in peace – Jim Morrison and Michael Jackson just two of the more well known ones.
August 18, 1590
Discovery of the carved word 'Crotoan' The Roanoke Island Colony was an attempt at the first English settlement in the New World. The first attempt did not go so well with the colony being settled in 1585 and then abandoning the following year.
In 1587 a new group of 150 colonists were sent out to establish a new colony in Chesapeake Bay and on the way were to pick up the small detachment of men who had been left near the original Roanoke colony. However on arrival they found no one there, the only remnants of the small force being a skeleton.
A bad omen to be sure but things got worse for these new settlers when they were not allowed to re-board the ships. They were essentially forced to establish a new colony on Roanoke Island much to their dismay as they all knew of the hostile relations the previous attempt at a colony had with the local Indian tribes.
All attempts to re-establish a positive relation with these tribes (the Secotans and the Croatans) were rebuffed and one of the colonists was soon killed. John White, the appointed governor of the new colony returned to England in order to explain the colonies situation and to seek help. He left behind 115 colonists on Roanoke Island.
White had not planned to be gone for long but unfortunately England was (essentially) at war with Spain and with the Spanish Armada headed towards England all English ships were pressed into service. This meant White was not able to return to the colony for three years.
Governor White finally set foot back on Roanoke Island on August 18, 1590, but no trace was found of the colonists, all of them had vanished – disappeared. There was no sign of a struggle or battle and all of the fortifications and houses had been dismantled. The only real clue was the word “Croatoan” carved into a post that made up part of the palisade wall around the village and the word “Cro” carved into a nearby tree.
It is still not entirely known where the missing colony went. Recent studies show that a severe drought had hit the area in 1587 and that would have no doubt made life even more difficult for the colonists. It was thought they may have moved to the nearby Croatoan Island but no evidence of the settlers has been found.
Another theory is that the settlers had integrated with the local tribes whose histories stated that some of their ancestors were white people who could 'talk in a book' (write?) and that these tribes had a prevalence for grey eyes whereas other tribes do not.
Other theories state that the colonists moved everything to another site due to further hostilities and were all later destroyed or had tried to travel back to England on the small ships that were left for them in order to explore the coast.
It is a most fascinating subject of which only the surface has been scratched her. It is definitely worth looking further into if you have an interest.
In 1587 a new group of 150 colonists were sent out to establish a new colony in Chesapeake Bay and on the way were to pick up the small detachment of men who had been left near the original Roanoke colony. However on arrival they found no one there, the only remnants of the small force being a skeleton.
A bad omen to be sure but things got worse for these new settlers when they were not allowed to re-board the ships. They were essentially forced to establish a new colony on Roanoke Island much to their dismay as they all knew of the hostile relations the previous attempt at a colony had with the local Indian tribes.
All attempts to re-establish a positive relation with these tribes (the Secotans and the Croatans) were rebuffed and one of the colonists was soon killed. John White, the appointed governor of the new colony returned to England in order to explain the colonies situation and to seek help. He left behind 115 colonists on Roanoke Island.
White had not planned to be gone for long but unfortunately England was (essentially) at war with Spain and with the Spanish Armada headed towards England all English ships were pressed into service. This meant White was not able to return to the colony for three years.
Governor White finally set foot back on Roanoke Island on August 18, 1590, but no trace was found of the colonists, all of them had vanished – disappeared. There was no sign of a struggle or battle and all of the fortifications and houses had been dismantled. The only real clue was the word “Croatoan” carved into a post that made up part of the palisade wall around the village and the word “Cro” carved into a nearby tree.
It is still not entirely known where the missing colony went. Recent studies show that a severe drought had hit the area in 1587 and that would have no doubt made life even more difficult for the colonists. It was thought they may have moved to the nearby Croatoan Island but no evidence of the settlers has been found.
Another theory is that the settlers had integrated with the local tribes whose histories stated that some of their ancestors were white people who could 'talk in a book' (write?) and that these tribes had a prevalence for grey eyes whereas other tribes do not.
Other theories state that the colonists moved everything to another site due to further hostilities and were all later destroyed or had tried to travel back to England on the small ships that were left for them in order to explore the coast.
It is a most fascinating subject of which only the surface has been scratched her. It is definitely worth looking further into if you have an interest.
Ashley Hall 2013
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