This talks about a pillar of fire.

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The "other persons," Dr. Earl mentions above, may well have been
from this neighborhood of poor people in the small town of Jay, Ohio.
No doubt Henry Wallace never suspected that Dr. Earl would mention
him by name in his odd little book and thereby allow us to catch a
glimpse of this poor man and those who might have witnessed one of
the most extraordinary sights any human could behold. What thoughts
could have run through their minds in the presence of an airship
hovering so near to the earth that it clearly exhibited its crew of
giants and the intricate machinery that made it fly? And then to watch
it move grandly through the air until lost from sight!

Magnolia UFO Sightings Database
July 1868 Copiago (Chile).
A strange "aerial construction" bearing lights and making engine
noises flew low over this town. Local people also described it as a
giant bird covered with large scales producing a me- tallic noise.
Although not an actual landing, this is the first instance of close
observation of an unknown object at low altitude in the nineteenth
century.

Magnolia UFO Sightings Database
Dec. 07, 1872 Banbury (Great Britain). At King's Sutton an object
0100 hours resembling a haystack flew on an irregular course.
Sometimes high, sometimes very low it was accom- panied
by fire and dense smoke. It produced the same effect as a
tornado, felling trees and walls. It sud- denly vanished.
(Fort 189)
May. 15, 1879 Persian Gulf. Two very large "wheels" were
seen spinning in the air and slowly coming to the surface of
the sea. Estimated diameter: 40 m. Distance be- tween the
objects: 150 m. Speed: 80 km/h/ Duration: 35 min.

Witnesses aboard the ship "Vultur" (Round up 17; Anatomy 12)
1880 Aldershot (Great Britain). A strange being dressed in
tight-fitting clothes and shining helmet soared over the heads
of two sentries, who fired without result. The apparition
stunned them with something de- scribed as "blue fire."
(FSR 61, 3; Magonia)
1880 Eastern Venezuela. A 14-year-old boy saw a luminous ball
descending from the sky and hovering near him. He felt
somehow "drawn" to it, but succeeded in backing away in
spite of his terror. (Lor. III 2O6)
Capron, J. Rand; Nature, 1882 (Auroral "meteor" / UFO)
I happened to turn to the south, where the moon (with a very
pronounced lumiere cendree on its dark part) was nearly on
the meridian, when I saw aspindle-shaped beam of glowing
white light, quite unlike an auroral ray, had formed in the
east. As I looked this slowly mounted from its position, rose
to the zenith, and passed it, gradually crossing apparently
above the moon, then sank into the west, slowly lessening
in size and brilliancy as it did so, and fading away as it
reached the horizon. The peculiar long spindle shape, slow
gliding motion and glowing silver light, and the marked
isolation of this cloud from the other portions of the
aurora made it a most remarkable object, and I do not
recollect in any former aurora to have seen anything
similar.

Strange Cylinder of Fire

Symon's Monthly Meteorlogical Magazine, 1869

Our in Cheatham county [Tennessee] about noon on Wednesday
- a remarkably hot day - on the farm of Ed. Sharp, five miles from
Ashland, a sort of whirlwind came along over the neighbouring
woods, taking up small branches and leaves of trees and buring
them in a sort of flaming cylinder that traveled at a rate of
about five miles an hour, developing size as it traveled.
It passed directly over the spot where a team of horses were
feeding and singed their manes and tails up to the roots; it then
swept towards the house, taking a stack of hay in its course.
It seemed to increase in heat as it went, and by the time it
reached the house it immediately fired the shingles from end
to end of the building, so that in ten minutes the whole dwelling
was wrapped in flames.
The tall column of traveling caloric then continued its course
over a wheat field that had been recently cradled, setting fire
to all the stacks that happened to be in its course.
Passing from the field, its path lay over a stretch of woods which
reached the river. The green leaves on the trees were crisped
to a cinder for a breadth of 20 yards, in a straight line to the
Cumberland.
When the "pillar of fire" reached the water, it suddenly changed
its route down the river, raising a column of steam which went
up to the clouds for about half-a-mile, when it finally died out.
Not less than 200 people witnessed this strangest of strange
phenomena, and all of them tell substantially the same story
about it.
Personal note: What travels at tree-top level appearing as a
"sort of flaming cylinder" and that burns everything it nears
for a great distance, and that is not part of a storm, and is
able to move in straight lines, and has so much sustained heat
that it can send up a vast cloud of steam for a distance
of 1/2 mile once it follows a river?

Noble, William; Knowledge, 1883

Can any of my brother readers of 'knowledge offer a feasible
explanation  of a very remarkable phenomenon which I
witnessed at 10h. 35m. p.m. on Tuesday, August 28? I
was just coming out of my observatory when, on the E. N.
E. point of the horizon beneath the Pleiades, I saw a bright
light. My first thought was that the moon was rising, but an
instant's reflection sufficed to remind me that she would
not be up for the next two hours. As I watched the light
becoming brighter and brighter, I saw that it threw a kind
of radial illumination upward, the effect of which I have
tried to reproduce in the accompanying rough little
sketch.
As will be seen, a few distant cumulo-stratus clouds,
close to the horizon, crossed it. For a moment I imagined
that I was viewing the apparition of a new and most
glorious comet; but, as I watched, the "tail" disappeared
and what would represent the nucleus flashed up
brilliantly.
Then I made up my mind that some distant house, barn, or
haystack was on fire, and returned to the observatory for
a 3 inch telescope, which I keep for looking over the
landscape.
Before I had time, however, to enter the door, every
vestige of illumination disappeared as suddenly as it
had come into view, and after waiting in vain for some
time, I left the observatory and came into the house.
I have diligently inquired if there was a fire anywhere
in this part of Sussex on the night of which I am speaking,
but there was none.

Magnolia UFO Sightings Database

Nov. 02, 1885 Scutari (Turkey). A luminous object circled the
harbor.
Altitude: 5-6 m. Illuminated the whole town. Duration: 1 1/2 min,
as a bluish-green flame. Then plunged into the sea. Made
several circles above the ferry-boat pier. (LDLN 48; Anatomy
14)
Nov. 12, 1887 Cape Race (Atlantic Ocean). A huge sphere of
fire was observed rising out of the ocean by witnesses aboard
the "Siberian." It rose to an altitude of 16 m, flew against the
wind, and came close to the ship, then "dashed oft" toward
the southeast. Duration: 5 min. (LDLN 48; Anatomy 14)
Mar. 28, 1897 Omaha (Nebraska). The majority of the population
observed an object arriving from the southeast. It looked
like a huge light, flew northwestward slowly, came to low
altitude. A crowd gathered at a street corner to watch it.
Apr. 01, 1897 Everest (Kansas). The whole town saw an
object fly under the cloud ceiling. It came down slowly, then
flew away very fast to the southeast.
When directly over the town it swept the ground with its
powerful light. It was seen to rise up at fantastic speed
until barely discernible, then to come down again and
sweep low over the witnesses. At one point it re- mained
stationary for 5 min at the edge of a low cloud, which it
illuminated. All could clearly see the silhouette of the
craft. (FSR 66, 4)
Apr. 12, 1897 Nilwood (Illinois). On the property of Z.
Thacker, 19 km north of Carlinville, an unknown object
landed. Before the three witnesses could reach it, the
craft, which was shaped like a cigar with a dome, rose
slowly and left majestically toward the north. Witnesses:
Edward Teeples, William Street and Franklin Met- calf.
(186; Anatomy 12)
Apr. 12, 1897 Girard, near Green Ridge (Illinois). A large
crowd of miners saw an unknown object land 3 km north
of Green Ridge and 4 km south of Girard.
The night operator of the Chicago-and-Alton Railroad,
Paul Mc- Cramer, stated that he came sufficiently close
to the craft to see a man emerge from it to repair
the ma- chinery. Traces were found over a large area.
The object itself was elongated like a ship with a roof
and a double canopy. It left toward the north.
(186,187)
Apr. 14, 1897 Gas City (Indiana). An object landed 2 km
south of Gas City on the property of John Roush,
terrifying the farmers and causing the horses and
cattle to stampede. Six occupants of the ship came
out and seemed to make some repairs. Before the
crowd could approach the object, it rose rapidly and
flew toward the east. (188)

Part 6.

John Winston.  joh...@mlode.com