Print, Engraving on Paper, Hand Colored, ALLARME GENERALE DES HABITANTS DE GONESSE OCCASIONEE PAR LA CHUTE DU BALLON AEROSTATIQUE DE MR. DE MONTGOLFIER

Allarme Generale des Habitants The first small hydrogen balloon launched from he Champs de Mars by J.A.C. Charles in August 1783 burst and fell on the village of Gonesse, near Paris. Fearing that they were being attacked by a demons form the skies, the villagers attacked the balloon with scythes and pitchforks, then tied it to the tail of a horse and paraded it through the village in triumph. The sad demise of the world's first gas balloon led court officials to order an edict read in parish churches across France assuring the people that a craft such as this descending form the sky was a balloon, not a supernatural being.