138 
Panics in Sheep, 
I am unable to speak, as my conductor had a lantern. Late in the 
night there were several flashes of lightning, but not until some time 
after I had reached home, about 11.30 p.m. Mr. Henry Blea, inn- 
keeper, of Bloxham, who keeps traps for hire, and is out a great deal 
at night, says that on that night he was driving between South 
Newington and Tew, on high ground, about 7 p.m., and that a thick 
darkness came on, so that he could not see his hand in front of his 
face, and he had to get down and lead his horse, as he had no idea 
of where he was going. About 8 o’clock it got lighter, and he could 
see very well. Mr. Stanbra, the foreman at Cold Harbour, was 
coming from Swerford about 8.45 p.m., when the darkness came on 
suddenly, just as if the clouds were down on the ground. It lasted 
about half an hour, when he had to strike a light to see where he 
was. Another account says : “ All at once he felt a curious sensa- 
tion, as if the clouds were going to fall on him.” A writer in the 
Chipping Norton Deanery Magazine (who also mentions a phos- 
phorescent light, “to be seen at times playing on the ground,” but 
does not say who saw it or where it was seen) says : — 
It was between 8 and 9 p.m. when such a thick and heavy darkness came 
on that a man could not see his own hand. 
P.C. Sirman, stationed at Shipton-under-Wychwood, writes: — 
Respecting the weather on that night there was nothing unusual, except 
that a little before 8 o’clock there was an extraordinary black cloud 
travelling from north-west to south-east, which appeared to be rolling along 
the ground. I was on a hill at the time, and as it passed over it was very 
dark. This lasted for about thirty or forty minutes, and during that time it 
was like being shut up in a dark room. 
He adds that, as the sheep which he heard of being out were on 
high ground, he believes they must have been frightened at the 
unusual blackness of this cloud. 
The following reports were received from superintendents of the 
Oxfordshire Constabulary. Superintendent Sutton, at Chipping 
Norton : — 
I beg to report that none of the P.C.’s of this division noticed anything 
unusual on the night, except that it was very dark during the early part. 
The Superintendent at Witney reports that his men noticed no- 
thing. Superintendent Jennings, of Banbury, reports that P.C. Lam- 
bourne at Swalcliffe, P.C. Bizzel at Hornton, P.C. J ustice at Wroxton, 
and Inspector Wright at Deddington, each informed him that from 
6 to 8 p.m. on the night of December 4 they saw a very thick 
black cloud descend, which seemed to rest on the earth until about 
8 P.M. ; it was so thick that they could scarcely find their way 
along with their lamps ; that later on it got light again ; and that 
the cloud appeared to have come from the direction of Kineton, 
Edge Hill, Hornton, Wroxton, Swalcliffe, for Dunston and 
Deddington. 
Animals probably see perfectly well on ordinary dark nights 
