Alien Abduction
The Alien Abduction of Hans Buchmann in 1573
By Joseph Buchmann
This is an amazing story of a convergence of two events. Both events happened four days apart, in 1572, more than four centuries ago.
In November 1572, a well-known Swedish astronomer noticed a bright new star in the Cassiopeia constellation. Four days later, in the Swiss countryside, a peasant farmer was mysteriously abducted and transported across the Alps to Milan, Italy. A random coincidence? Or an alien Abduction? You decide. The story is based on historically documented chronicles.
The story is especially dear to me because the abducted man bore my family name, and he lived less than 500 yards from my childhood home.
Tycho Brahe, at the young age of twenty, was an accomplished scholar. He learned Latin at home and studied Mathematics, Philosophy, Law, and Rhetoric at the universities of Copenhagen and Leipzig. Ever since he witnessed a solar eclipse as a boy, Tycho had been immensely interested in the emerging science of astronomy. The time was several years before Galileo invented the telescope. Tycho ingeniously built several instruments that helped him measure and calculate the movements of the celestial bodies.
November 11, 1572. Back in his beloved Scania (then Denmark), Tycho, now 26 years old, walks home one evening after sunset. The sky is clear, and the moon is half full. His trained eyes scan the sky, observing the familiar constellations, stars, and planets, each in its proper position. Amazed, he notices a bright light in the Cassiopeia constellation, right above his head, an object shinier than the other stars, a star as brilliant as Planet Jupiter. But that star does not belong there. He stares at the strange object, pauses, and reflects on his knowledge of the heavenly vault. He is surprised at the sight, but he is not ashamed to doubt his perception. Did his profound understanding of the sky play a trick on him? Surely not. He looks at the star again. Yes, he is convinced: this is a new star. The next evening, he contacts his astronomer friends, points out the location of the new star, and asks them to verify that what he saw is indeed a new star. They concur. A wondrous moment in time, a new star that has never been seen before, never since the world's creation. Tycho tells his learned friends, and the news spreads. Tycho later writes a book called Stella Nova. It will make him a celebrity and a recognized astronomer throughout Europe.
News of the discovery of Stella Nova slowly spread throughout the continent, but had yet to reach the villages in Switzerland. It would be weeks before word of the discovery would get to the remote hamlet of Kriesbühl. Kriesbühl is a small hamlet with one or two family farms, half an hour's walk south of the village of Römerswil, situated in the Swiss alpine foothills. Life in Kriesbühl in early winter was calm and peaceful. The crops had been gathered and were safely stored away in the barn. The new star shone brilliantly in the night sky, yet no one had noticed her arrival in the Cassiopeia constellation.
The following is based on a true story, chronicled by the well-known Lucerne town clerk and historian Renward Cysat (1515-1614).
Saturday, 15th November 1572, four days after the historic sighting in Scania. Hans Buchmann, a farmer in Kriesbühl, must go to Sempach to pay Hans Schürmann, a tavern owner, sixteen Florins, a mighty sum of money. It was a long trek, up a gentle slope to the hamlet of Williswil, then following the road to Traselingen, Hildisrieden, and down the hill towards the lake to the town of Sempach. In the distance, he could see the beautiful panorama of the Alps, the snow-covered Mount Pilatus, and Rigi in the foreground. Without incident, the walk to Sempach will take an hour and a half, and he should arrive there by midday.
For the peasant farmer Hans Buchmann, Sempach was a large, vibrant city with crowded markets and imposing patrician houses inside a thick city wall. 186 years earlier, in 1386, a fierce battle between the local Swiss and the despised ruling Habsburg overlords was fought near Sempach. The brave Swiss won the battle but lost many comrades, including Peter Buchmann.
Hans arrived in Sempach, entered through the imposing city gate, and smartly walked directly to the man's house to whom he owed the money. He knocked at the door but was told the master was not home. Having made this long journey in vain, Hans Buchmann decided to take care of some other business while in town. The business took a bit longer than planned, so he allowed himself a break at a tavern and drank a few goblets of brew, not too many, according to a testimony given later to the police.
Later that evening, after sunset, on his way back up the hill towards the village of Hildisrieden, he passed by the woods next to the field of the Battle of Sempach. Suddenly, he was engulfed by a strange swishing, buzzing sound. Did a swarm of bees attack him? The noise grew stronger and developed into a roaring, deafening sound. Fear and horror overcame Hans. He grabbed his walking stick and swung it around him, to no avail. Hans felt himself being lifted upwards to the skies; then he lost consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a strange city where people spoke a language Hans did not understand. His face was swollen, and he had lost all his hair.
Aimlessly wandering through the foreign town, he met a German-speaking guard or soldier, probably a Swiss mercenary. He was South of the Alps in Milan, Northern Italy, a traveling distance of four or five days in those days. The church bells were ringing, and men, women, and children from all walks of life streamed toward the church for prayers. The atmosphere was festive. It was the evening of the day of St. Andrews; fourteen days had elapsed since he disappeared in Sempach. Hans was confused. How was he transported to this distant city? And how did his face swell up, and how did he lose all his hair?
The guard was kind enough to help Hans return to his home. The trip home took many days. Two full days in a wagon up the Ticino valley, then the treacherous voyage over the St Gotthard pass, then along the lake of the four cantons home to Kriesbühl. It is not historically documented how his wife received him back.
The strange voyage of Hans Buchmann had come to the attention of the district administrator, and he demanded a full investigation into the matter. Hans was summoned to present himself at the Rothenburg police station. He was questioned and examined all day. The police naturally suspected that Hans may have been intoxicated by alcohol and that he used the bizarre story as a cover. By the end of the day, the investigators concluded that Hans was telling the truth, and they let him go home.
Clarification: Some accounts state that Hans went first to the nearby village of Römerswil to pay off the debt to Hans Schürmann, the local tavern owner. That may be a misunderstanding. Römerswil had no tavern in 1572; the first tavern rights in Römerswil were granted to Jakob Budmiger more than a century later, in 1709. After some research, I concluded that the tavern owner Hans Schürmann may have lived in Mettenwill, a 30-minute walking distance from Sempach. Documents show that a Hans Schürmann was Mayor (Schultheiss) of Sempach in 1537 (32 years before our incident), and that a Hans Schürmann sold his estate of Mettenwil in 1578. The two men are likely the same person, or father and son, and he is likely the innkeeper we are talking about.
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