Cheyenne Record (Cheyenne Wells, Cheyenne County, Colo.), December 13th 1917
Indiana Farmer Sees Strange Visions in the Sky.
Mrs. Asbury Pashall, of Osceola, Ia handed to us this week the following extract which she clipped from a newspaper sixteen years ago. The present world war makes it indeed very interesting:
The following strange statement made over his own signature, has been given out by R. W. Bowman, a Penn township farmer, says a press report from Portland, Ind.
On the evening of the 16th day of December 1901, while in a perfectly normal state of mind and body I saw what seems to me to have been a remarkable vision in the heavens, mostly in the northwest, which I make known in the hopes that some of the wise-acres may be able to interpret it, I believe it portends something in which the nations of the earth are to figure in the year 1918. I saw with the natural eye what seemed to be the banners, or flags, of all nations of earth suspended, as it were, in the clear heavens by cords, or lines. The whole heavens seemed to be dense with the beautiful emblems, among which old glory occupied a position of prominence at the head of the columns. Some of the emblems appeared so low as to almost touch the earth.
In the southeast I saw a splendid train of cars, drawn by steam, moving rapidly through the air. The train seemed to be moving southwest. It entered a bridge and was lost to my view thereafter. In the midst of the vision I clearly saw the date. 1918, with no figures nor words about it, only the gray heavens for a background.” -Ex
Disclaimer: This 1917 newspaper article was published prior to 1931. Under United States copyright law (specifically the 95-year rule), this work has entered the public domain and is thus free to use or republish. It is presented here as an interesting and folkloric newspaper oddity.
[Note: 1918 was the end of World War I as well as the beginning of the Spanish Flu Pandemic.]
Another article on this story was the Omaha Daily Bee article from April 9th 1917 entitled “Prophecies of the World War.”
Source(s): https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn89052329/1917-12-13/ed-1/?sp=1
Categories: Newspapers, Sky Visions, Indiana (IN)