The Great Meteor Procession of 1882

August 31, 1882 – It was around 9pm on this night when people up and down the eastern seaboard starting seeing an odd procession of glowing fireballs move slowly across the sky.

The parade of shimmering lights lasted between 40 and 60 seconds which allowed plenty of time to run and tell the neighbors, so there were tons of witnesses.

Newspapers would later describe it as “a fleet of ships on fire sailing through the sky.”

Astronomers nowadays chalk it up to a fragmented meteoroid or comet skimming the upper atmosphere.