(1845) lumières au dessus de Mille Roches

[Benjamin.dResponsable du forum]

lumières au dessus de Mille Roches (1845)

Cornwall, Ont. 1845 -- Luminous objects were seen over a period of three months in the late summer of 1845 near Cornwall, Ontario which is located roughly half-way between Kingston and Montreal. The Marsh Point / Mille Roches area where the sightings were reported is located a few miles southwest of Cornwall on the north shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway just south of the village of Long Sault.

In an article entitled Flying Saucers Their Lurid Past which appeared in the May 17th edition of Saturday Night magazine in 1952 Richard S. Lambert wrote about these strange lights while he was Supervisor of Educational Broadcasts for the CBC.

Here is what Lambert wrote:

Probably the most curious case of spectral fires in Eastern Canada was the "March Point Ghosts", near Cornwall, Ont., in 1845. When the 12-mile Cornwall Canal was built between Dickenson's Landing and Cornwall, it cut off a number of headlands which had formerly been part of the mainland, and turned them into islands lying between the river and the canal. On of these islands was a little village -- Mille Roches -- near which stood a secluded farmhouse known as March Point, inhabited by two old women, Granny Marsh, 80 and her daughter Clara, 60. They lived alone and were practically recluses.

One night in September, 1845, a farmer pasing by on the mainland side of the Canal saw, across the water, the old farmhouse surrounded by a number of bright moving lights. He jumped to the conclusion that some accident must have occured to the two old ladies, and the next morning hurried around to express his sympathy. What was his surprise to find Granny and Miss Clara in the best of health and spirits and quite unaware of any unusual occurances in or near the house.

Soon the phenomena were seen again. The lights appeared more and more frequently, almost nightly in fact. The Neighboring farmers clubbed together to keep watch, two at a time, to unravel the mystery. But they never did.

The lights(accompanied at times by dull explosive sounds) vexed the Marsh Point district for about three months, then left as mysteriously as they had come.

1845marsh.gif

The New Dominion Monthly was a 64 page periodical out of Montreal with a circulation of about 3,300. Regarding the Marsh Point Lights they wrote:

...somethimes a great number of lights seemed playing hide and seek among the trees; now running rapidly close to the ground, and then quickly ascending to the top of a lofty tree and spurting about among the branches. At other times a number of them would swing to and fro, forming arcs of circles, some of which were immense.

Their movements were at times so fantastic as to appear to be governed wholly by caprice, and again, so slow and cautious as to indicate great care and circumspection. They seldom or never left the immediate vicinity of the house, but on one occasion a number began slowly filing off towards the canal, to the consternation of watchers on the opposite bank.

Arrived at the edge of the water, all returned save on which, without slackening or accelerating its speed, crossed the canal very near the surface of the water and, ascending to the topmost boughs of a very lofty tree on the mainland, reminded one of a sailor on the llokout at the masthead.

After some little delay, it again descended the tree, recrossed the canal and joined its comrades about the house, whcih gathered about it like a lot of gossips to hear the news; or like friends gathering about a returned traveller to offer congratulations for safe arrival.

Sources:

*
Saturday Night Magazine, May 17, 1952
*
New Dominion Monthly

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