The Comet Cometh

This is a photo I found online that supposedly shows Halley's Comet over Texas in 1910. While I cannot guarantee the authenticity of the photo, I think it would be so cool if that's really how it appeared in the night sky.   

Excerpt from the diary of Mary E. Potterf in Raymond’s 125 Years of Memories book: 

Wednesday, May 14, 1910

The day on which the world ends. The comet hits the earth today. Sat up late to see the comet but could not see a thing of it. Someone in town sent up a big balloon and tried to make people believe it was Halley’s Comet. 

Mary Potterf was referring to the week in 1910 when Earth passed through the end of the 24-million-mile-long tail of Halley’s Comet. There were rumors that the comet contained poisonous gases and that it might even collide with the Earth. It was at its closest point to earth (about 14 million miles away) between May 14-22, 1910. 

 A family friend, Grace Leslie (1902-1996), a resident of Morrisonville, never forgot her experience seeing Halley’s Comet in 1910. When Grace was in her 90’s, she told me that she clearly remembered going outside to look at the comet every night with her father. She described it as "huge," and said it seemed to just hang there in the sky, so close to Morrisonville. Grace, who was about 8 years old at the time, said she was terrified of it and felt so relieved when it finally disappeared. 

Grandma Gamlin (the only grandparent I really knew), would have been in her early 20’s in 1910, but I don’t remember that she ever mentioned it. Mom always said that back in those days, people were always predicting the world was going to end due to one thing or another, so I suspect that grandma probably didn’t pay too much attention to all the hype. 

A random, yet interesting connection to Halley’s Comet is that Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was born in 1835 when Halley’s Comet passed over Earth. He predicted that he would die the next time it appeared, and he died on April 21, 1910 of a heart attack.