A year ago, an impressive meteorite collapsed on harsh Chelyabinsk. For the first time in the history of mankind, the city suffered from the fall of a cosmic body. However, there is an assumption that this is the second such case, the debut was much more terrible: a number of circumstances indicate that the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was the result of fragments of comet Biela falling to Earth.
EVERYBODY'S GUILTY … THE COW
The fire that destroyed most of Chicago began at nine in the evening on October 8, 1871 and died down only two days later. Its cause is still called a cow, which allegedly knocked over a kerosene lamp on a farm with its hoof. The story of the unfortunate animal was published in the Chicago Tribune, but later the author of the publication admitted that his article was a fiction.
Chicago was hot in those days. Unsurprisingly, the O'Leary's wooden farm, filled with large stocks of hay, burst into flames like a matchbox. The nearby neighbors' farm soon caught fire as well.
The firefighters who arrived just shrugged off their hands, not even trying to extinguish the flaming buildings - together with a crowd of onlookers, they watched the fire. Unfortunately, it did not occur to the firemen to pour water over the roofs of neighboring houses. As it turned out, this was an unforgivable mistake. An unexpectedly rising wind easily carried the sparks across the road, and now the neighboring residential building was on fire.
Firefighters tried to cut off the flames and defend the neighboring houses, but they caught fire one after another, sheaves of sparks rose into the sky, carrying the flames around. Since the building was very dense and consisted mainly of wooden buildings, the fire took on an uncontrollable character. In a wide lane, he headed towards the city center, devouring everything in his path.
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METAL AND STONE MELTED
In the city center, the fire spared neither banks, nor hotels, nor the mansions of the rich. The opera house was also burnt down - the pride of the townspeople. The spectators had to leave it already during the fire, many died not from the fire, but in the crush formed near the exits. It seemed that there were several buildings in the center, which were supposed to withstand the attack of fire, but they did not resist. For example, the building of the First National Bank was built only of stone, iron and glass, but it also fell victim to the elements. From the intense heat, the marble began to melt, and the metal dripped!
Two journalists from the Chicago Tribune newspaper, who were direct eyewitnesses of the fire, wrote the following about it: “The flames engulfed the building from one side, and after a couple of minutes it was visible from the opposite side. A fiery whirlwind began inside the building, the fire irresistibly stretched upward. Powerful vortex currents easily grabbed bulkheads, walls, reached the roofs and were thrown to neighboring buildings, and the whole situation was repeated.
The spread of the fire was facilitated by burning ash rising into the night sky, which was blown to the side and fell on the roofs of other buildings. Residents who fled from the fire, gathered on the shore of the lake, presented a terrible and at the same time majestic sight. Red, orange, blue and green flames reeling over the city … In some places explosions were heard and sheaves of sparks flew into the sky, the wild neighing of horses could be heard, which they did not have time to release."
After the fire, it turned out that the fire had laid a strip of one kilometer wide and six kilometers long through the city, 17,500 buildings were destroyed, 90 thousand citizens of the 300 thousand population of Chicago were left homeless. According to various estimates, up to 300 people died, the total damage amounted to about 220 million, which at the current exchange rate is about $ 3-4 billion. Although firefighters and volunteers have fought the fire with dedication in many parts of the city, it is believed that the end of the disaster came after the rain that began late Monday.
FIRE STONES FROM THE SKY
If only Chicago were on fire on that ill-fated evening of October 8, everything could actually be explained by the awkwardness of a cow knocking over a lamp, dry weather, wind and the presence of a large number of wooden buildings. However, as the young American scientist V. Chamberlain found out in his time, the fire in the city began not only at the O'Leary farm, but also in a number of other places. Here is what the brand major Chicago Medill claimed:
“When we received the first message that one of the houses was on fire, almost immediately the news came about a fire that started in the church“St. Paul”, located two miles from the site of the first fire. Further, alarming signals began to come from different parts of the city, so we did not know where to throw ourselves. It is completely unthinkable that all these numerous fires began from one cow stall. No flying fire could be so fast. Besides, it was a calm day."
Moreover, fires then began not only in Chicago, they broke out in a number of settlements in the Lake Michigan area, and not only in them - forests and prairies caught fire in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Indiana and others. It is simply impossible to see randomness in this simultaneity. What then? A conspiracy of arson maniacs? But then there was no Internet, they could not find each other and assemble a team. It turns out that the cause of the fires was different.
To find out, Chamberlain entered the archives and discovered a number of rather mysterious details. For example, in the documents of one of the affected cities located near Chicago, he found a message in which it was written: “Like Sodom and Gomorrah, fire rained down. Like the smut flying out of the fire, stones of fire fell on people, on foot, on horses and in carts trying to escape from chaos.
It was completely inexplicable that hundreds of corpses were found outside the city, where the fire was completely absent. The clothes were not damaged and no burn marks were observed. Not only people were found dead, but also animals.
Wreckage of comet
All these facts led the scientist to believe that the cause of the tragedy in Chicago was a blow from space. Chamberlain found the work of the astronomer Ignatius Donnelly, summarizing information about all comets and meteorite falls observed in the 19th century, and sat down to study it. After a while, his attention was attracted by a comet discovered in 1826 by the Austrian scientist Wilhelm von Biela.
Its circulation period was 6 years and 9 months. The comet appeared in the sky in 1839, 1846, 1852, 1859, but in 1866 it did not appear.
Comet Biela in February 1846, shortly after the collapse of the nucleus into two parts. Drawing by E. Weiss
It is worth noting that in 1846, Biela's comet appeared with a split tail that looked like a huge horseshoe. In 1852, it appeared already divided into two parts, in 1859 the tail of one part increased and acquired a ray-like shape, which indicated the beginning of decay. Needless to say, the disintegration somewhat changed the trajectory of this celestial body?
In November 1872, in many European countries, an abundant stellar rain was observed, meteors flew from a section of the sky, where astronomers expected the appearance of a heavenly wanderer. Chamberlain was interested in the question: could parts of this comet come into contact with the Earth a year earlier? Astronomers contacted by the researcher reported that such a bombardment could have occurred in October 1871 in North America. After that, the scientist finally came to believe that the fires in Chicago and its suburbs were caused by rain from hot meteorites, whose "mother" was the comet Biela.
The death of people outside the fire zone was attributed to poisoning with poisonous gases contained in the comet's tail. Although Kepler had already assumed such a possibility, it is difficult to imagine that gases passed the planet's atmosphere without scattering. Maybe the corridor for them was burned by the hard parts of the comet? Or did these fiery stones themselves, falling to the Earth, emit poisonous gas when burning? It is possible that contact with the tail could cause some kind of anomalies in atmospheric electricity. One way or another, the death of people and animals outside Chicago cannot be connected with the fire, but with the comet Biela it is possible.
It is worth noting that Chamberlain's hypothesis is not popular in scientific circles: why bother trying to prove or disprove when everything can be blamed on a cow? Maybe she actually knocked over the kerosene lamp …
Vitaly GOLUBEV