Pulp Action from the Wild West through the Dirty 30s and More.
Saw odd tribe of earth-beings busily engaged in destroying house ~~ As means of hastening process of destruction, made use of apparatus containing smoke, fluid and noise ~~ Attached to apparatus were long artificial snakes ~~ One earth-being fidgeted around barking at others through horn.
Martians as visualized in 1904, The Washington Times, April 17, 1904
“The universal impression is that the Martian is of Marvelous brain development” Continue reading “Martians, 1904”
At The Surface Of Mars
The inhabitants of Mars communicating with the Earth
THE planet Mars which is now attracting worldwide attention, may well be termed the planet of romance, since it is enveloped in a mysterious charm, giving the imagination full sway. Some romanticists like Flammarion have pictured the inhabitants of Mars as winged creatures, though whether they arc of the nature of bird, bat or butterfly the French scientist has not at tempted to decide.
It is a strange coincidence, however, that the outlines of the darker portions of the surface of the planet, as delineated by Prof. Percival Lowell of the Flagstaff observatory, Arizona, show a remarkable resemblance to huge batlike creatures apparently floating in the Martian atmosphere. Once the attention is drawn to the strange outlines the wonder is that these seeming aeroplanes of batlike appearance have so far escaped detection. Since flights of imagination regarding Mars seem to be in the ascendant at present owing to the fact that the planet will be at its nearest, and consequently well .placed for observation, during the month of September of this year, may one be permitted to weave the following fanciful theory around the planet of romance?
[…]
May not these huge batlike outlines be airships constructed by the Martians for use in the hour of direst need, in which they ascend above the surface of their planet when they know the springtime floods are due? Just as the Egyptians of old fled from certain regions on the banks of the Nile when they observed Sirius, the dogstar, rising in the morning sky before dawn, warning them of the approaching flood, so the gradual melting of the icecap must be in the nature of a signal to the Martians to embark on their aeroplanes and airships.
excerpt from the The San Francisco Call, October 03, 1909
The Martian astronomer stepped forward with an expectant thrill. He was about to take his first peep through the newly perfected telescope at the earth. For many years the work on this wonderful instrument had been prosecuted. It was, at last, to enable the people of the red planet to learn just what kind of beings inhabited the interesting sphere which they had so long been studying. Telescopes which had served to bring the earth to within an apparent distance of 200 miles of
their own globe had long been in use by the Martian astronomers, but now they were to be able to see their neighbor at an advantage which they had never previously enjoyed. The new Instrument was so powerful that the observer gazing through it would see the earth as plainly as if it had had actually been within hailing distance. Continue reading “Martians View a Football Game”
When one speaks of Martians one is pat to think of those canal builders, those beings who, if we were to accept Mr. Lowell’s remarkably well-sustained conclusions, no irrigate with melting polar snows and cultivate what were once the ocean beds of their drying planet. Continue reading “Men of Mars and Other Things”
I was not long In Mars before l could see that the Martians have ‘the advantage over us In every way. To begin with, the wholesome maxim that you shouldn’t speak with your mouth full does not concern the Martians at all. While they are eating with their mouths they are talking with the second mouth that they have on their thumbs. A large, stout Martian kept up a running fire of questions at me while he was taking a long drink from a pewter pot, while I, of course, had to put my glass down before I could reply. My helplessness seemed to cause them a great deal of amusement. Continue reading “Earthlings are Lunatics”
Featuring HG Wells War of the Worlds