In 1552, a curious and lavishly illustrated manuscript titled Augsburg Book of Miraculous Signs appeared in the  City of Augsburg, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire, located in present-day Germany. It exorcised, in remarkable detail and wildly imaginative artwork, Medieval Europe’s growing obsession with signs sent from “God” — a testament to the basic human propensity for magical thinking, with which we often explain feelings and phenomena beyond the grasp of our logic. This unusual Roman manuscript was recently discovered and published for the first time as The Book of Miracles .

Folio 28: “In 1007 A.D., a wondrous comet appeared…It gave off fire and flames in every direction. It was seen in Germany and Welschland and it fell onto the earth.”