Manhattanville: Too Fast for a Comet

On April 12, 1879, in Manhattanville, New York, astronomer Henry Harrison observed an unidentified aerial object while searching for Brorsen's comet. The glowing, circular object moved with exceptional rapidity, ruling out the comet, and appeared to hover at high altitude before departing swiftly.

The Incident

Henry Harrison, based in nearby Jersey City, noted the object's exceptional speed and described it as a glowing, circular shape.

It hovered at high altitude before departing swiftly, ruling out Brorsen's comet.

The sighting occurred during heightened astronomical interest in periodic comets like Brorsen's, discovered in 1846 but faint and elusive by 1879.

Witnesses

• Henry Harrison (Jersey City astronomer): Observed for hours, reported to New York Tribune and Scientific American.
• J. Spencer Devoe: Independently corroborated, reported to local newspaper.

The observation was documented in Scientific American and New York Tribune.

Historical Context

This marked one of the earliest recorded fast-moving aerial anomalies in post-Civil War United States.

Gilded Age New York saw rapid urbanization, with Manhattanville developing amid industrial expansion, yet night skies remained relatively unpolluted.

Reports fit broader patterns of unexplained aerial phenomena since antiquity, though 1879 coincided with advancements like early electric lighting and telephony, leading to occasional misidentifications of balloons or lanterns.

Sources and Analysis

Primary sources from Charles Fort's 'The Book of the Damned' (1919) and Jacques Vallée's 'Wonders in the Sky' (entry #499), citing Scientific American and New York Tribune.

Secondary UFO literature like Filer's Files and Think About It docs reiterates but lacks primary verification.

No subsequent astronomical analysis debunked or confirmed it as meteor, aircraft prototype, or atmospheric effect; Devoe's independent report enhances credibility against hoax claims.

This case represents one of the earliest documented U.S. aerial anomalies with multiple witnesses and press coverage, illustrating 19th-century astronomical vigilance and the challenges of classifying rapid sky phenomena before aviation.