Orson Hyde's Celestial Phenomenon

“As I left Wellsburgh, Va. I stayed with father James, who received and entertained me with great kindness and hospitality. He is a man of a noble and generous heart, and I pray the Lord to reward him for his kindness to me. On the 24th, while on board the boat, the most remarkable phenomenon occurred in the heavens that I ever witnessed. There appeared two bright and luminous bodies, one on the north, and the other on the south side of the sun: in length about ten yards, inclining to a circle resembling a Rainbow, about fifty yards distant from the sun; apparently east of the sun, twenty-five yards, was a body of light brilliant, almost, as the sun itself; and on the west, a great distance from the sun, appeared a white semi-circle passing half way round the horizon, and another crossing it at right angles, exhibiting a scenery of the sublimest kind. It was a great wonder to the passengers on board the boat. I felt that it was a sign of the times, and a token of the coming of the Son of Man.”

— Orson Hyde, Times and Seasons, Vol. 2, No. 1