happy? - May 18

Subject: RE: happy? - May 18
From: Abby Sale
Date: 25 May 05 - 09:15 PM

GUEST,Allen, no I never heard of that one. Thank you for your contribution to the Happy File. The standard recompense is herewith dispatched.

Subject: RE: happy? - May 18
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 24 May 05 - 06:30 PM

Abby, I've no idea if you know this, but just found out that the 18th was also the anniversary of the Red Barn Murder, which led to the song "The Murder of Maria Marten"
http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/visit/redbarn-intro.cfm

Subject: RE: happy? - May 18
From: Abby Sale
Date: 19 May 05 - 09:41 AM

Only a guess but different observers & telescopes & theories at the time may have postulated this or that occuring at different times. Will we all die when the tail first crosses Earth or will it take a while?
The comet was actually nearest Earth on May 20 (as I have it.)

Even in the 1986 event, many diffedrent dates were given for when it would do this or that.

Thank you for your additional contribution (of very, very many) to the Happy File. The usual recompense is herewith dispatched.

Subject: RE: happy? - May 18
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 19 May 05 - 09:37 AM

Throughout history comets have been blamed for many bizarre things. The 1066 appearance of Halley's Comet inspired mass terror in Europe and was said to foreshadow war and the death of kings.

Conveniently, King Harold the II bought the big one that year at the Battle of Hastings, where the victory of William the Conqueror and the Normans changed the face of England -- and the course of history.

link

Subject: RE: happy? - May 18
From: Wolfgang
Date: 19 May 05 - 07:11 AM

Am 30. Mai ist Weltuntergang,
wir leben nicht mehr lang,
wir leben nicht mehr lang

(at May 30th is the end of the world
we won't live much longer,
we won't live much longer)

is an old German carnival song from that time. I don't know why we did date it a bit later.

Wolfgang

Subject: happy? - May 18
From: Abby Sale
Date: 18 May 05 - 04:30 PM

          We'd heard the French astronomer, Camille Flammarion
          Had said the comet's tail was deadly gas, cyanogen
          On May 18 through Halley's tail the earth would surely pass  [1910]
          And every living thing on earth would be killed by the gas.
  

"Halley's Comet," Linda Allen. filename[ HALCOMET.

[Ie, Camille Flammarion, Mars researcher, popularizer of astronomy, born 2/26/1842]

Copyright © 2005, Abby Sale - all rights reserved