Increase Mather’s Illustrious Providences and New England prodigies

Record summary

Increase Mather’s Illustrious Providences compiles reports of comets, meteors, unusual lights, apparitions, and other events gathered from New England correspondents. It is a named, searchable early American source rather than a single encounter, and it can help researchers compare testimony collection with religious explanations of prodigy. The work mixes firsthand reports, hearsay, providential interpretation, and material drawn from earlier authorities. UFO-oriented readings are modern overlays; the text’s historical genre is devotional and evidentiary rather than investigative in the contemporary sense.