Historic Oddity Headline: November 25, 1913 - Hay Ricks Lifted On High
The Lafayette Advertiser
November 25, 1913
“Hay Ricks Lifted On High.”
Remarkable Phenomenon That Is Said to Have Been Witnessed by Party of Scotsmen.
A strange phenomenon, said to have been seen by a party of people walking on the Strathblane road, close to the Glasgow Corporation’s Mugdock reservoir, Milngavie, is reported with all seriousness and circumstance by the Glasgow (Scotland) Herald.
“They witnessed,” say the Herald, “the remarkable sight of a rick of hay, weighing some hundredweights, rising in the air in front of them.
“When it had reached a certain altitude the stack burst, and the hay was blown in all directions. There was nothing in the atmospherical conditions or on the spot to indicate the reason for the strange happening.”
Noticing an account of the incident in the Glasgow Evening Times, Mr. John McLuckie, manger of Conderigg colliery, Larkhall, writes to that paper describing a similar incident in a hayfield adjacent to the colliery office. “The farmer, Mr. Struthers, Alexander Kidd, and others were standing at the smithy door about 1:15 p.m. The heat was very great at the time and there was no wind. Strange to stay, without and visible warning a coil of hay was suddenly taken up into the air in a whirling manner to a height of probably 400 feet or thereby. Just when it seemed to be at its greatest height it began to spread out in the air and fell to the ground.
“Since that date I have on two occasions witnessed similar phenomena, not with hay, but with dust which was heaped on the roadside, and which was suddenly whirled into the air in a body, notwithstanding that there was no wind at the time. The cloud of dust remained combined until it reached a height of 30 or 40 feet. It then spread out somewhat suddenly and fell to the ground. All these incidents happened about one o’clock in the day, when the heat was great. The hay lifted in the air would weigh several hundredweights.”
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