The Sun.
London, England, 1806-12-18 00:00:00

EXTRAORO{NARY PHENOMENON.

The followin4 accotint of an extraordinary Phenomenon, that
appearod- to-a number of People in the County. or Rutlier-
ford, State of North Carolina, was made the 7th of
283;, in presence of Dav_id Dickle, Esq. of the County and
State aforesaid, ,lef.se Anderson,- and the'-.Rev. 'George
• . Newton, of'the County of Buncombe,. and Miss Betsey
Newton, of the State of Georgia, who unanimously agreed,
with the consent of the Relaters, that Mr. Newton should
communicate it to Mr. 1.-Gales, Editor of The Raleigh Re-
gister, and
.State

Patsey ReaVes, a-widoW womah,who lives near the.
Apalachian: M4untain, declared, that on the 31st
July last, abont,six o'clock P.M. her daughterEliza-
heti), about eight. years old, was in the cotton field,
about ten poles froni the dwelling7house, which
btands, by computafs. ;n, six furlongs from the plum-
my 'Mountain, and that Elizabeth her brother
Morgan, aged eleven years, that there was a man on
the Mountain. MOrgan \vas incredulous ,at first;
but the little girl affirmed it, and Said she „saw him-
rolling rocks or picking up sticks, adding that
she saw, a-heap of people. Morgan then went to the
place where she. was, and. calling out, said he saw-a
thousand or ten thousand' things flying in the air—
on which', Polly, daughter of Mrs. Reeves, aged fbur7
teen years, and a negroe woman, ran to the children,,
and-Called to Mrs. Reeves to conic -and see what'
sight yonder was.
„
'Mrs. Reeves says, she went about eight poles to-
ward's them, and, without any, sensible. alarm. or.
fright, she turned towards the,Chiumer_Mountain„
and discovered a very numerous crowd of beings, re-
serubling-the human species, but could .not.diStin-
guish any particUlar memb'eis '6f the human body,
nor distinction of sexes ; that they were: of e‘, &Ij.
size, from the talk:it Men down to the 'least in fantS.:;
that there were more'of. the' stnall than of the full
grown'; that they were allrelad:with brillianovhite
raiment, but could not describe any-form of their
•raiment; that they appeared!to- rise off the side-of-A
mountain south - of said rocks and about as high
that ,a considerable part of the mouirtain's top was
visible above this shining host ; 'that they moved in
a northern direction, -and colleaedj,abOut the top of
the Chimney llock. Wheti:all but a few had reaCh;-
eci,said rock, two seemed. terri se together, and' be-
hind them about two feet, a third ruse. These three
moved with great agility 'towards, the crowd, and
had the nearest resemblance- to' men of any 'before
seen. . While beholding those three, her eyes 'were
attraeied by three more, rising nearly from the,same
place, and moving swiftly in the same.order and
reCtion. After these, several others rose and- went
towards the rock.- •
•During this view, which all the speEtata-S thought
lasted upwards of an hour, she sent for-Mr. Robert
Siercy, who, did not come at first ; on a. second-ales-
sage sent about fifteen minutes,after, the first, Mr.
Siercy came, and being now before us, he gives -the
following. relation, to ,the substance of which Mrs.
Reeves:agrees. .
Mr. Siercy said,' when he was coming he ex.pee.ted
to see nothing extraordinary, and when conte.,.,being
asked if he saw those people on the mountain"), he
answered, no ; but upon looking a second times' he
said he saw more glittering white appearances of
human kind than ever he had seen 'of men at any
oeneral review ; that they were, of , all- sizes, from
''that of men to infants ; that they moved in throngs

round a large r9ck, not far from the Chimney ,Rock;
they:were.abcfat the height of the Chimney Rock,
and moved in a serni-circular course, between him
and' the rock, and so passed .along in a southern
course between him and the mountain to the place
Where Mrs. Reeves said they rose ; and .that two of
a full size Went before the geneval crowd about the
Space of twenty yards; and as they respectively
'came to this place, they vanished out of sight, leav-
ing a solemn, and pleasing impression on the mind,
accompanied with a diminution 'of bodily strength..
Whether the above be accountable on philosophi-
cal principles, or whether it be a prelude to the
descent of the Holy City, I leave to the impartially
curious to judge.

GEORGE NGWTON.

P.S. The above subscriber has been informed,
that on the same evening, and about the same time in
which the above phenomenon appeared, there was
seen by a Gentleman of charaaer, who was several
miles distant cram the place, a bright rain-bow, al),
parently near 'the sun, then in the west, where there,
was no appearance of either clouds or rain, but a hate
in the atmosphere. The Public are, therefore, at
liberty*to judge, whether the phenothenori had 'ziny;
thing supernatural in it, or whether it was some
usual exhalation 'or moist vapour from the. side of
the mountain, which exhibited such an unnsuill
rain-bow. G.

. _
;;IcHARD HARRIS, oflN,lO. 4, Martlett-court, Bow-strect • and vubbslied by WI 1..t.t AM ARM 1 G 6P, SCRIPPS, of ,South MOitit):l-Str.V.t, Grosvenor;stviarei
CE N. 112 Strand; where' Advertisements, Oder* for the P'ap'er, Letters for the ::cuter, &c. (post-frtid), must be addressed. • '
I, J , ,