[X] My Assistant

[t_oner]

According to turkish newspaper Hurriyet (October 15th, 2007) an investigator working in the Ottoman archives found a letter sent by Kirkuk Post Office Manager Seyit Hasan to Sultan Abdulmecid dated June 27th, 1856. Here is a quick translation of the letter:

"God save the Ottoman land from natural disasters. Amen. Since the 15th day of may in the 74th year (islamic calendar?) temperatures in the region increased day by day up to more than 40 degrees. Due to intense heat 250 people living in houses and tents have died. Inhabitants of 4 cities started living in cellars and wells. Summer crops started to burn due to intense heat. 6th of June, on friday night, around midnight [here is a description of an astronomical event that I could not translate because it is in ottoman]. After this, more terrible than lightning some noises were heard as if "kudret topu" (kind of an Ottoman gun) was fired three times. For 15 minutes noises were heard as if there was a gun training. Then fireballs bright as full moon were seen and disapperaed after 5-6 minutes. After 1-2 hours later another star was seen as a meteor?

Until now no one has ever seen such a rainbow ("sky belt" in turkish) around here. Because of this people were afraid as in apocalypse and both jews and muslims and also other people from other religions went to their mosques, synagogues and churches and prayed in tears. Because of this situation lots of men and women were in panic, many pregnant women lost their babies, many children became epileptic. Cries had reached sky. After this meteor event the temperatures started to decrease, and weather started to get to normal. After a few days a meteorite weighing about 1.5 kg was found from the places that were hit by the falling objects and it was brought to the local government. This is presented to your high court for your information. June 27th, 1856, Kirkuk Post Office Manager.

[dvandorn]

Since there were no other reports around the world of unusual meteor activity during this period, it seems there are only a few possible explanations for this quite interesting report:

1) These meteors were a portion of a coherent body which broke up very late in its approach to Earth, such that the footprint of the activity was very limited. This would mean that the entire event would have taken place over the course of minutes and not hours -- but in this kind of circumstance, I can imagine that five minutes would seem like an hour to people in the path of the meteors.

2) The event was some kind of freak weather event. However, as much as the discussion of this possibility has been lively, I can't imagine that one could collect samples of hailstones that would last for very long in the summer -- even in the cool air that would follow such a severe storm front. And hailstones are so identifiable as ice, I can't imagine the account not making reference to this obvious compositional data. And finally, I can't imagine anyone mistaking lightning in a thunderstorm for meteors in a clear sky. Too many factors argue against this option, I'm afraid it doesn't hold up.

3) The inhabitants of this district had their summer crops decimated by drought, but knew that the Ottomon Emperor would be demanding his tribute (likely in foodstuffs) in a month or two. They looked at the food they would have to survive the winter and decided that, if they paid their taxes, they'd most all starve to death. So they pled for mercy by telling the story of a killing heat wave, and embroidered it with a mystical fall of stars from the very sky. If I had to bet, I would lay odds that this is the most correct answer.



-the other Doug