When Stars Fell on Vermont

What follows is an excerpt from David Ludlum's fascinating Vermont Weather Book, our December 1997 Book of the Month Selection.

"The Leonid meteor shower annually puts on the best spectacle on the 12th and 13th of November when the orbit of the meteors streams across that of the earth. Every thirty-three years an exceptional display occurs with thousands of shooting stars per hour streaking across the sky. The best in the nineteenth century appeared in the early morning hours of November 13, 1833. Much folklore arose from the event.

At Newbury:

The meteoric shower of November 1, 1833, was one of the most wonderful sights ever witnessed. The night was perfectly clear, and about ten o'clock the display began. Thousands of meteors fell, some of them with dazzling brilliancy. The flashing was incessant, many at the same time falling in all directions. Some were awakened from sleep by the glare, and the superstitious thought that the end of the world had come." -- History of Newbury, Vermont, p. 265

Source: David M. Ludlum, The Vermont Weather Book, The Vermont Historical Society, Montpelier, VT: 1996.