Type: Historical Manuscript / Published Diary
Source: Jane Lead, A Fountain of Gardens, Volume III, Part I
A first-person account by English Christian mystic Jane Lead, dated February 9, 1678, and titled "A Transport." Lead described awakening from sleep and entering a state in which she felt free from her ordinary bodily condition. She then saw a richly decorated golden object shaped like a large ship with wings descend rapidly nearby. When she asked the other figures present whether they could see it, they reportedly said they could not. Lead described seeing herself move joyfully toward the vessel before it abruptly ascended out of sight. She subsequently returned to her ordinary bodily awareness. The account appears in A Fountain of Gardens, Volume III, Part I, a collection printed in 1700 containing diary entries from 1678. The text documents Lead's reported experience and interpretation, but does not independently establish a physical aerial craft.