The Night the Stars Fell - 1833, USA

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"They thought it was judgment day’: The night the stars fell on the US south"

While reading the "Slave Narratives", interviews taken by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) in the 1930s, a number of the formerly enslaved people who were interviewed mentioned "The Night the Stars Fell". It seems many who viewed this event thought it might signal the end of the world.

It was an extreme showing of the Leonid meteor showers. Some estimates put the number of falling stars seen during that night as over 200,000. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonids

"Abraham Lincoln witnessed the meteor storm, as did Frederick Douglass. Harriet Tubmann, another great abolitionist, said in later life that it had showed her to always follow the Northern Star to freedom." This quote is from the link at the top of this text, from The Irish Times, dated Monday, November 11, 2019.

Gahn-22 created this Free Space on July 21, 2021.

Known references to The Night the Stars Fell:

1. Harriet (Ross) Tubman (1822-1913) is mentioned in the article linked above. She was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading many people to freedom from enslavement.
2. Frederick Augustus Washington (Bailey) Douglass (abt.1818-1895) is mentioned in the article linked above. He was born into slavery but escaped to become a leader in the abolitionist movement.
3. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th President of the United States, is mentioned in the article linked above as a witness to the event. [No source.]
4. Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844), founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement, recorded the event in his diary. (As mentioned in the article linked above.)
5. Denison Olmsted (1791-1859), American physicist and astronomer, presented his investigation of the event in the American Journal of Science and Arts, published in the first quarter of 1834.

Others who witnessed and described the event:

• Mary Anne (Kincheon) Edwards (1810-aft.1937)

• Abraham Jones (1825-aft.1937)

• Clara Lottie (Gilbert) McLellan (1888-1994) - tale from her grandmother recounted in a diary

• Berry Smith (1821-aft. 1937)

• Rastus Jones (1827-aft 1936)

• Virginia (Turner) Newman (abt.1828-1937)

• Daphne (Herrings) Williams (1828-)

• Lou Williams (1829-1940)

• Hannah Allen 1830-1942

• Willis Winn (1822-)

• Eliza Washington (1860-) - Eliza figured her mother's age from the event, as her mother told Eliza that she was fourteen when the stars fell.

• Laura (Eford) Thornton (1833-) - Laura was interviewed by the WPA about 1938 when she may have been 105 years old - quite elderly in any case. Laura said her mother had one child on the night the stars fell. It is unclear if Laura was that child.

• Lizzie McCloud (1828-aft.1937)

• Fannie Parker (1847-aft.1937) mentions the night in her WPA interview, but seems too young.

• Frances Holloway (abt.1820-aft.1865). Her granddaughter was interviewed by the WPA in about 1937 and said her "Grandma Frances" told her the story of the stars falling.

• Lillie (Smith) Baccus (1864-). She remembers the story from her grandmother wo raised her in Mississippi.

• Rachel Bradley (1830-aft.1936). Rachel was 'a little girl on the floor' when the stars fell. Her WPA interviewer did some research on the phenomenon to help determine Rachel's age at the time of the interview, and estimated Rachel was 107 years old.

• Peter Brown (1852-abt.1941). When interviewed by the WPA in 1937, Peter recounted his father's story that his father "was a little shirt tail boy when the stars fell." Peter's father was William Brown (abt.1835-abt.1868).

• Phil Towns (1824-1937), a slave who witnessed the event and described it in his Freedmen Slave Narratives interview and a newspaper article shortly before his death

• Alex Buford (1858-aft.1942) was interviewed by Carl B. Boyer in Missouri. Mr. Boyer describes an event happening in Buchanan County, Missouri, on that night but does not show any relationship to Mr. Buford.

• William Ward (abt.1832-aft.1937) mentions only that his earliest memory was the night the stars fell

• Susan (Davis) Rhodes (1835-aft.1936) in a WPA interview about 1937 explained her age by saying she remembered "the stars falling"!

• Edward Taylor (1812-aft.1936) in a WPA interview about 1937, said, "I 'member well when de stars fell, I saw 'em twixt midnight and day and tried to ketch some of 'em. I was grown too, most."

• Annie (Miller) Hawkins (1847-aft.1936) in a WPA interview about 1937 she said she saw them.

• Charlotte (Johnson) Foster (1839-aft.1936) in a WPA interview about 1937 said she saw them. "It was something awful, but I sure saw it."