From: "WILLIS JARREL, JR." <wjj [at] tyler.net>
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 11:54:09 -0600
Subject: 

I was eleven years old at during the Leonid meteor storm of 1966 and 
living in East Texas. I still do not know why I woke up that morning 
before dawn. But I did. I looked out my bedroom window from my bed and 
saw dozens of meteors and then a very bright flash from a fireball. I 
went outside to our deck on the second story and was amazed to see the 
sky full of meteors. The artists illustrations of the 1833 meteor 
storm posted on the net describe the intensity of the meteors well as 
they were at the height of the storm but cannot express the raw kinetic 
energy of the event that I felt as a viewer. The sky appeared to be 
cracking and sizzling with shooting stars. To this day I have the 
distinct memory of hearing a faint sound like silk rustling from a 
distance as dozens of meteors appeared each second. After several 
minutes, I saw another fireball and then, yet another. I remember being 
astounded that a meteor could leave a trail in the sky. Then a bright 
meteor split looking like the track of smashed particle. I remember 
thinking after one particularly intense burst that the "duck and cover" 
might be a good response as surely something had to reach the ground. I 
saw several fireballs after that with the same incandescent trails. The 
sun was rising as the meteor storm slowed. I watched until broad 
daylight. It could not have been more than a half-hour, but what a 
sight.

Note prior to 1999 Leonids:

I am  certain that you have read accounts of that shower, but even the most 
eloquently phrased metaphors or analogies would fall short of the 
majesty and glory of that morning; a morning sky filled with meteors and 
fireballs.   I truly felt changed somehow by that experience in a 
spiritual sense.    That memory morning inspired in me a lifelong 
amateur interest in astronomy and has always been an inspiration to me.  
I wanted to write wish you the best success in your upcoming flight and, 
if you did not see the 1966 shower, I hope that you will soon be a 
witness to such a shower.