RE: [meteorite-list] NPA 08-1837 Massachusetts Meteorite Fall?

[Charles Viau]

Thanks Mark!   I live next door to this sleepy New England town….(actually quite a large town, will lots of open land.)  Thanks to what you have found, I will do some local research and see if there is any backup data that could point to the actual location that this supposedly occurred. The nice part about Massachusetts, is that it is just about the oldest recorded history in the US, and there were plenty of small news papers around , even in the 1700’s.  (In my house, I found 1957 newspaper used as insulation on an addition…)   CharlyV   -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MARK BOSTICK Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 9:39 AM To: Meteorite List Subject: [meteorite-list] NPA 08-1837 Massachusetts Meteorite Fall?   Paper: Republican Compiler City: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Date: Tuesday, August 15, 1837 Page 2 (of 4)   METEORS The Boston Daily Advertiser had a notice of a meteor which fell to the earth at East Bridgewater, Mass., on the 5th of May, between three and four o'clock, P.M. It states that nine pieces of the stone were found, some of them still warm, the largest weighing a quarter of a pound. The whole appeared vitrified, as if from rapid cooling. The outside is black, glazed and shining, but within it is grey, and full of oval shaped cavities. The New York Journal of Commerce addes that on the 5th of July, a similar meteor fell somewhere in Vermont or New Hampshire. Its great height may be inferred from the fact that it was noticed at Mountpelier & various other places in New Hampshire; and at Newburyport in Massachusetts. At Northfield, Vt., three reports were heard when it exploded - at Chelsea one, about three minutes after the explosion, and at Hardwick none. Its direction seemed to be from East to West. The Portsmouth Journal thus describes it: METEOR. - We had a good forture to witness on Wednesday evening, at twilight, the most brilliant meteor that we ever beheld. The meteor seemed to start from a cloud a little west of the zenith; it flashed along like a most brilliant rocket, and exploded about 30 degrees above the horizon, throwing out as it burst an interense life of the most beautiful hues, the fragments falling like stars behind the clouds. A long and bright track was left in the whole course of the meteor, which lasted some minutes, & which gradually extended in width & at last seeming to be rent by the wind, slowly faded away. It was noticed at Newburyport and at Brentwood at about the same time. We had been admiring fireworks of the night before, but this meteor so much resembling some, yet so much surpassing all those displays - seemed to flash as if in mockery of what man could do.   (Mark note: Meteorites A to Z does not show a meteorite having fallen at this time, although the description of the stone is somewhat convincing.) Please visit, www.MeteoriteArticles.com, a free on-line archive of meteor and meteorite articles.