The apparitions at Poinstown

Hone reprinted a tract of 1679 describing wonders seen in the sky at Poinstown in Tipperary on Sunday 2 March, near sunset, by sixteen named witnesses including a minister and a schoolmaster. They saw an arm with a hand and an anchor-like crosspiece, then ships sailing on a dark sea that sank one after another, a fort that split into two ships which seemed to fight, and a chariot struck by a serpent-like monster, out of which leapt a bull and a dog. The vision lasted nearly an hour on a clear, calm evening, and everything moved northwards and sank at the same place. Such prodigies in the air were widely read as signs.