Charles Fort: A Fortean Chronology, 1888.

In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). This record will not be equalled until 2388 (MMCCCLXXXVIII), or surpassed until 2888 (MMDCCCLXXXVIII).

January

  • Stones were appearing and "falling slowly" in closed rooms at the home of Mr P.C. Martin, Caldwell County, N.C. (Books567)
  • January 3: The 91-centimeter telescope is first used at Lick Observatory.
  • January 12: Blizzards hit Dakota Territory, the states of Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, leaving 235 dead, many of whom are children on their way home from school.
  • January 13: In Washington, DC, the National Geographic Society is founded.

 

February

  • February 27: In West Orange, New Jersey, Thomas Edison meets with Eadweard Muybridge, who proposes a scheme for sound film.
The Great Blizzard of '88
The Great Blizzard of '88

March

  • March 5: In the presence of many investigators pieces of brick were falling inside a schoolroom in Pondicherry, India. (Books567)
  • March 8: The Agriculture College of Utah, (later Utah State University) is founded in Logan, Utah.
  • March 6: A red rain fell in the Mediterranean. (Books39)
  • March 11: The "Great Blizzard of '88" begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
  • March 18: In the Mediterranean a red rain fell, whatever the substance may be, when burned, the odor of animal matter from it was strong and persistant. (Books39)
  • March 20: The very first Romani language operetta premieres in Moscow, Russia.
  • March 22: The Football League is formed.

 

April

  • April 11: The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
  • April 28: (Until March 1, 1889). Loud detonations are heard over the towns of Barisal, Bengal. The explosions become known as the Barisal Guns. (Books436) 

 

May

  • May 1: The United States Congress establishes the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.
  • May 13: Brazil abolishes the last remnants of slavery.
  • May 28: In Scotland, the Celtic F.C. plays its first official match winning 5-2 against Rangers F.C..

 

June

  • Annie Besant organizes the London matchgirls strike of 1888.
  • June 3: The Kingdom of Sedang is formed in modern-day Vietnam.
  • June 15: Wilhelm II is crowned German Emperor.
  • June 19: In Chicago, the Republican Convention opens at the Auditorium Building. Benjamin Harrison & Levi Morton win the nominations for President and VicePresident, respectively.
  • June 29: Handel's Israel in Egypt is recorded onto wax cylinder at The Crystal Palace, it being the earliest known recording of classical music.

 

July

  • July 6: Pebbles, described as "common water-worn pebbles" fell at Palestine, Texas. (Books176)
  • July 12: A mirage at Hudiksvall, Sweden, of a stormy sea with a vessel upon it; a small boat leaving the vessel. (Books445)
  • July 25: Frank Edward McGurrin, a court stenographer from Salt Lake City, Utah, purportedly the only person using touch typing at the time, wins a decisive victory over Louis Traub in a typing contest held in Cincinnati, Ohio. This date can be called the birthday of the touch typing method that is widely used now.
  • July 27: The British Parliament passes an act that permits bicycles on the road, on condition that they are equipped with a bell that should be rung while on the carriageway. The law is eventually abolished in 1930.

 

August

  • On or about August 1, near, Warasdin, Hungary, several divisions of infantry, led by a chief, who waved a flaming sword, was seen in the sky, for three consecutive days, marching for hours at a time. (Books458)
  • August 5: Berta Benz arrives in Pforzheim, having driven 40 miles from Mannheim in a car manufactured by her husband Karl Benz, thus completing the first "long-distance" drive in the history of the automobile.
  • August 7: The body of Martha Tabram is found, a possible murder victim of Jack the Ripper.
  • August 14: A rain described as a "shower of ink" fell upon the Cape of Good Hope. (Books29) 
  • August 20: There is a mutiny at Dufile, India, and the Emin Pasha is imprisoned.
  • August 31: Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is considered the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.

 

September

  • September 4: George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.
  • September 6: Charles Turner becomes the first cricket bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season – a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
  • September 8: In London, the dead body of Annie Chapman is found. She is considered to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
  • September 30: In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victims, respectively.

 

October

  • October 1: Sofia University officially opens, becoming the first university in liberated Bulgaria.
  • October 8: At Merexull, on the Baltic, was seen the mirage of a city that lasted an hour. (Books445) 
  • October 9: The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
  • October 12: At the lighthouse of Port Isabel, Texas, the widow of the recently deceased keeper, was pelted with a shower of nails. Another shower of nails the following night - people gathered and saw them fall! (Books576) 
  • October 14: Louis Le Prince films the first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK (followed by his movie Leeds Bridge).

 

November

  • In a small region about four miles wide and ten to fifteen miles long of the Thames Valley, near Reading, flocks of sheep had run from their folds in terror. (Books448)
  • November 6: U.S. presidential election, 1888: United States Democratic Party incumbent Grover Cleveland wins the popular vote, but loses the Electoral College vote to Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison, therefore losing the election.
  • November 9: In London, England, the dead body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is considered to be the fifth, and last, of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders in England follow, but the police attribute them to copy-cat killers.

 

December

  • December 23: During a bout of mental illness, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh infamously cuts off the lower part of his own left ear.