Daytime meteor - stock
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A visitor from outer space streaked across the sky the morning of Aug. 18, 1944, leading some to fear the Tri-State was being bombarded by rockets from Nazi Germany.

That was just one of the outlandish theories people expressed about the meteor. Some apparently were hesitant to mention what they had seen because they didn't want to spread fear or be ridiculed.

The only Henderson County resident who came forward to The Gleaner the day the meteor fell was Hilary Baskett, who had gone to check his farm on the road to Spottsville. He was not fooled; he was pretty sure it was probably a meteor. But he was "particularly anxious" that others confirm what he had seen.

"To make it doubly interesting the celestial fireworks took place in broad daylight" about 8:15 a.m., The Gleaner reported Aug. 19. "He reported it to be a long, greenish, comet-like blaze which suddenly burst into nothingness as it seemed to near the ground."

The Aug. 19 edition of The Gleaner also carried an Associated Press story about the meteor, which made it clear it was not just a local phenomenon. Newspapers, police, radio stations and military authorities across western Ohio, Indiana, eastern Illinois and parts of Kentucky were deluged with hundreds of telephone calls reporting the meteor's arc of self-destruction.

People in Ohio reported a plane had crashed, Illinois police thought a nitroglycerine plant had exploded, while a Vincennes minister who saw it wrote a description he submitted to the local newspaper under the title, "Preacher Smells Brimstone."

The Associated Press story went on to say, "Rumbling explosions accompanying the object's flight brought the German robot bomb to many minds."

The Evansville Press of Aug. 19 reported the same observation. "Most of the astounded eyewitnesses here who saw the object hurtling through the skies described it as being of meteoric character, but some began to wonder if Hitler were trying out a new robot bomb.

"The Gibson Herald at Princeton reported that some persons who called that newspaper office asked if it was true that a German robot bomb had been fired across the country and had fallen in Illinois, killing a number of persons."

The sound it made indicated it was a larger than usual meteor dropped by the annual Perseid meteor shower. R.N. Williamson, a government expert at Indianapolis, said the meteor would had to have been of considerable size to make the types of explosions that were heard in the Wabash valley. "It would have to weigh a hundred pounds or more - that's very rare."

"Meteors travel far faster than any human projectile," explained Howard Blakeslee, the Associated Press science editor at New York City, and the sounds reported were solid indication it was a meteor.

"The meteor travels faster than the speed of sound. When several explosions occur ... the explosions sound as if they retreat into the sky. If the retreating series of explosions was heard by reliable witnesses, then it can be assumed as proof that the Indiana object was merely a big meteor."

Reports of the meteor's size varied widely. Herbert Walters and U.E. Sights of Henderson, who had been hunting near the mouth of the Green River, reported it was "as big as an automobile."

Rufus Baker, a farmer living near Owensboro, said as it neared the ground it looked "like a black ball about the size of a barrel." A search party was organized to look for it near where Baker thought it landed.

Jane Wendell, who was in the test tower at the Republic aircraft plant in Evansville, had a front-row seat to the spectacle. "The object seemed to burn up as it raced along and left a trail of white smoke about 10 times its length, she said."

Other viewers gave different descriptions. "The sight was variously described as a silvery flash in the sky, a ball of red, green and yellow fire, and a wisp of smoke."

Determining where the object landed - or the spot below where it exploded in mid-air - was usually difficult, according to Blakeslee. Observers' guesses as to where it made landfall ranged from Three Mile Island near Newburgh to Kansas.

The Gleaner of Aug. 20 wrote a follow-up story entitled, "Hilary Wasn't Seeing Things," in which seven other Henderson County residents confirmed his account. Eliza Owens of 108 Atkinson St. said she didn't mention it to her family "for fear it would worry them."

She said it appeared to be a ball of fire with a green streak sailing through the air toward the west.

Other local residents who saw it included Miller Ball, Herman Hoffman Jr., and Otis Jones, who had been hunting with Sights and Walters. T.J. O'Nan claimed it fell within 50 feet of his house three miles south of Corydon.

Josephine Smith was hanging up clothes in her backyard when she saw it and stopped in amazement. She ran inside to call her daughter to assist in determining what it was, but when they returned to the backyard it was nowhere to be seen.

The Evansville Courier & Press of Aug. 20 also had a follow-up story, but it simply mentioned that the American Meteor Society of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, was asking anyone who saw it to contact them.

"Many Indiana residents from the Michigan border to the Ohio River reported seeing it land after streaking through the sky, but when they investigated the spot where it appeared to drop, there was nothing there."

100 years ago

A spectacular fire consumed the boat that powered the Dixie Bee Line ferry at the foot of Second Street, The Gleaner reported Aug. 20, 1919.

A spark from a priming torch used to start the diesel engine caused the fire, which hundreds of people lined Water Street and the levee to watch.

The Edna Russell, which made daily trips to the dam construction site six miles downstream from Henderson, was used to fill in temporarily, but operator U.G. Whitehouse planned to get another boat to push the ferry.

50 years ago

The final 18 miles of the Pennyrile Parkway, from Sebree to Henderson, opened to traffic at 6 p.m. Aug. 27, 1969, according to The Gleaner.

A formal opening was planned for Oct. 1, however.

Construction of the 56.6 miles of toll road to Hopkinsville had begun three years earlier. The highway is now part of Interstate 69.

25 years ago

A ruling by Henderson Circuit Judge Steve Hayden cleared way for the Henderson County School District to sell Barret Center at Adams and Washington streets, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 23, 1994.

James R. Barret had donated the half-block of land to the school system in 1906 with the provision that it would revert to his heirs if it ever ceased to be used for school purposes. Hayden's ruling made it clear that reversion clause did not apply.

The land has since been occupied by the Henderson Housing Authority.