Alleged UFO photo taken in New Hampshire in 1870

The Mystery Airships were a class of unidentified flying objects, the best-known series of which were reported in newspapers in western states of the U.S., starting in 1896 and continuing into 1897. Image File history File links 1871UFO.gif Summary Source URL: http://www. ... Image File history File links 1871UFO.gif Summary Source URL: http://www. ... Official language(s) English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Area  Ranked 46th  - Total 9,359 sq mi (24,239 km²)  - Width 68 miles (110 km)  - Length 190 miles (305 km)  - % water 3. ... An unidentified flying object, or UFO, is any real or apparent flying object which cannot be identified by the observer and which remains unidentified after investigation. ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

The reported ships were usually said to be a type of dirigible, and were usually differentiated from gliders or hot air balloons. The best-known wave of airship tales were largely confined to North America, but according to Jerome Clark^[1], similar reports were made worldwide, early as the 1880s, and late as the 1990s. Dirigible can refer to : an airship -- a lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air. ... Gliders or Sailplanes are heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight. ... Hot air balloon in flight Hot air balloons are the oldest successful human carrying flight technology, dating back to the Montgolfier brothers invention in Annonay, France in 1783. ... Jerome Clark (1946 - ) is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note. ...

Not only were [the Mystery Airships] bigger, faster and more robust than anything then produced by the aviators of the world; they seemed to be able to fly enormous distances, and some were equipped with giant wings ... The 1896-1897 airship wave is probably the best investigated of all historical anomalies. The files of almost 1500 newspapers from across the United States have been combed for reports, an astonishing feat of research. The general conclusion of investigators was that a considerable number of the simpler sightings were misidentification of planets and stars, and a large number of the more complex the result of hoaxes and practical jokes. A small residuum remains perplexing. The eight planets and three dwarf planets of the Solar System. ... STAR is an acronym for: Organizations Society for Telescopy, Astronomy, and Radio, a non-profit New Jersey astronomy club. ... A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

—Mike Dash, ^[2] Mike Dash (b. ...

Airship sighting waves

1887

There were a number of mystery airship reports from the U.S. east coast in 1887^[3]

1896-1897 wave

The best-known of the Mystery Airship waves began in California in 1896. Afterwards, reports and accounts of similar airships came from others areas, generally moving east. Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ...

Some accounts during this wave of airship reports claim that occupants were visible on some airships, and encounters with the pilots were reported as well. These occupants were said to be human, though their behaviour, mannerisms and clothing were sometimes reported to be unusual. One witness from Arkansas-- allegedly a former state senator Harris -- was supposedly told by an airship pilot (during the tensions leading up the Spanish American War) that the craft was bound for Cuba, to use its "Hotchkiss gun" to "kill Spaniards". (Jacobs, 10) Official language(s) English Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Area  Ranked 29th  - Total 53,179 sq mi (137,002 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 261 miles (420 km)  - % water 2. ... The Spanish-American War took place in 1898, and resulted in the United States of America gaining control over the former colonies of Spain in the Caribbean and Pacific. ... The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 1800s. ...

In one account from Texas, three men reported an encounter with an airship and with "five peculiarly dressed men" who reported that they were descendant from the lost tribes of Israel; they had learned English from the 1553 north pole expedition led by Hugh Willoughby. Official language(s) No Official Language See languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 261,797 sq mi (678,051 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ... Lost Ten Tribes, also referenced as the Ten Lost Tribes or the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, usually refers to ten of the tribes of the ancient Kingdom of Israel that were reported lost after the Kingdom of Israel was totally destroyed, enslaved and exiled by ancient Assyria. ... North Pole Scenery When not otherwise qualified, the term North Pole usually refers to the Geographic North Pole – the northernmost point on the surface of the Earth, where the Earths axis of rotation intersects the Earths surface. ... Sir Hugh Willoughby (d. ...

Specific cases

At least two airship tales were taken as at least possibly genuine by generations of later ufologists: Ufology is the study of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings, alleged physical evidence, and other related phenomena. ...

• An account by Alexander Hamilton of Leroy, Kansas supposedly occurred about April 19, 1897, and was published in the Yates Center Farmer’s Advocate of April 23. Hamilton, his son, and a tenant witnessed an airship hovering over his cattle pen. Upon closer examination, the witnesses realized that a red “cable” from the airship had lassoed a heifer, but had also become entangled in the pen’s fence. After trying unsuccessfully to free the heifer, Hamilton cut loose a portion of the fence, then "stood in amazement to see the ship, cow and all rise slowly and sail off." (Jacobs, 15) Some have suggested this was the earliest report of cattle mutilation (In 1982, however, UFO researcher Jerome Clark debunked this story, and confirmed via interviews and Hamilton's own affidavit that the story was a successful attempt to win a Liar's Club competition to create the most outlandish tall tale).

• An account from Aurora, Texas [1] (as related in the Dallas Morning News) reported that an airship had smashed into a windmill-- later determined to be a "sump pump" -- belonging to a Judge Proctor, then crashed. The occupant was dead and mangled, but the story reported that presumed pilot was clearly "not an inhabitant of this world." (Jacobs, 17) Strange "hieroglyphic" figures were seen on the wreckage, which resembled "a mixture of aluminum and silver ... it must have weighed several tons.”"(ibid.) (In the 20th Century, unusual metallic material recovered from the presumed crash site was shown to contain a percentage of aluminum and iron admixed.) The story ended by noting that the pilot was given a "Christian burial" in the town cemetery. In 1973, MUFON investigators discovered the alleged stone marker used in this burial. Their metal detectors indicated a quantity of foreign material might remain buried there. However, they were not permitted to exhume, and when they returned several years later, the headstone -- and whatever metallic material had lay beneath it -- was gone.^{[citation needed]}

• In April, 1897, hoaxers manufactured a large “tissue paper” balloon and set it loose over Burlington, Iowa. The Des Moines Leader received reports from citizens who swore the balloon had “red and green lights; one reputable citizen swore he heard voices.” (Jacobs, 16)

Le Roy is a city in Coffey County, Kansas, United States. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (114th in leap years). ... Cattle mutilation (also known as bovine excision[1]) is the killing and then mutilation of cattle, under unusual or anomalous circumstances. ... Jerome Clark (1946 - ) is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note. ... A debunker is a skeptic who pursues dispelling false and unscientific claims. ... An affidavit is a formal sworn statement of fact, signed by the declarant (who is called the affiant), and witnessed (as to the veracity of the affiants signature) by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public. ... Tall Tale, also known as Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill is a 1995 family Western movie starring Patrick Swayze, Nick Stahl, Oliver Platt, Roger Aaron Brown, Scott Glenn, Catherine OHara, and Jared Harris. ... Aurora is a town in Wise County, Texas, United States. ... A Dutch tower windmill surrounded by tulips A windmill is an engine powered by the wind to produce energy, often contained in a large building as in traditional post mills, smock mills and tower mills. ... A logogram, or logograph, is a single grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). ... Aluminum is a soft and lightweight metal with a dull silvery appearance, due to a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... A Christian Burial is the burial of a deceased person with ecclesiastical rites in consecrated ground. ... MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, headquartered in Colorado, is the oldest and largest UFO investigative organization in the United States. ... U.S. 34 over the Mississippi River in Burlington. ...

1909-1912

There was a series of mystery aiship sightings in 1909. Some came from various European locations^[4], some from New England^[5] and from New Zealand. (Clark 2000, 123) This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ...

Later reports came from the UK in 1912 and 1913^[6]

Later research

Jerome Clark writes that "One curious feature of the post 1887 airship waves was the failure of each to stick in historical memory. Although 1909, for example, brought a flood of sightings worldwide and attendant discussion and speculation, contemporary accounts do not allude to the hugely publicized events of little more than a decade earlier." (Clark 2000, 123) Jerome Clark (1946 - ) is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note. ...

Clark writes that attempts to "uncover the truth about the late-nineteenth-century airship scare comes up against some unhappy realities: newspaper coverage was unreliable; no independent investigators ('airshipologists') spoke directly with alleged witnesses or attempted to verify or debunk their testimony; and, with a single unsatisfactory exception, no eyewitness was ever interviewed even in the 1950’s, when some were presumably still living."(Clark 1998, 37)

The "single unsatisfactory example" Clark cites is a former San Francisco Chronicle employee interviewed via telephone by Edward J. Ruppelt in 1952. Ruppelt wrote that the man "had been a copy boy ... and remembered the incident, but time had cancelled out the details. He did tell me that he, the editor of the paper, and the news staff had seen 'the ship', as he referred to the UFO. His story, even though it was fifty-six years old, smacked of others I’d heard when he said that no one at the newspaper ever told anyone what they had seen; they didn’t want people to think they were 'crazy.'" Todays San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. ... Edward J. Ruppelt (1922 - 1960) was a United States Air Force officer probably best-known for his involvement in Project Blue Book, a formal governmental study of unidentified flying objects. ...

Jacobs notes that "Most arguments against the airship idea came from individuals who assumed that the witnesses did not see what they claimed to see. This is the crucial link between the 1896-97 phenomenon and the modern unidentified flying object phenomenon beginning in 1947. It also was central to the debate over whether unidentified flying objects constituted a unique phenomenon." (Jacobs, 33-34)

Explanations

Hoaxes or misidentification

During the 1896-1897 wave, there were many attempts to explain the airship sightings, including suggestion of hoaxes, pranks, publicity stunts and hallucinations. One man suggested the airships were swarms of lightning beetles misidentified by observers (Jacobs, 30). A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The media itself often stage stunts for movies and television shows. ... A hallucination is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ... Genera Curtos Cyphonocerus Drilaster Ellychnia Hotaria Lampyris Lucidina Lucidota Luciola - Japanese fireflies Phausis Photinus - common eastern firefly Photuris Pristolycus Pyractomena Pyrocoelia Stenocladius many others Wikispecies has information related to: Lampyridae Lampyridae is a family in the beetle order Coleoptera, members of which are commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glow...

Jacobs notes that many airship tales were due to “Enterprising reporters perpetrating journalistic hoaxes.” (Jacobs, 16) However, Jacobs notes that many of these accounts “are easy to identify because of their tongue-in-cheek tone, and accent on the sensational.” (ibid.) Furthermore, the supposed authors of many such newspaper hoaxes make their hoax obvious "by saying--in the last line--that he was writing from an insane asylum (or something to that effect)." (Jacobs, 17-18) A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...

Human airships

Some argued that the airship reports were genuine accounts. Steerable airships had been publically flown in the US since the Aereon in 1863, and numerous inventors were working on airship and aircraft designs (the idea that a secretive inventor might have developed a viable craft with advanced capabilities was the focus of Jules Verne's 1886 novel Robur the Conqueror). Dr. Solomon Andrews, (1806-1872), of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Robur-the-Conqueror (Robur-le-Conquérant in original French) is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne, published in 1886. ...

Several individuals, including Lyman Gilmore and Charles Dellschau, were later identified as possible candidates for being involved in the design and construction of the airships, although little evidence was found in support of these ideas. Gilmores second, larger plane Drawing of the smaller first plane Gilmore Flying Field One of Gilmores inventions, an 8-cylinder radial engine Lyman Gilmore, (June 11, 1874 – February 18, 1951), was an aviation pioneer. ... Charles August Albert Dellschau (4 June 1830-20 April 1923), was an artist and inventor. ...

Extraterrestrial origin

Early citations of the extraterrestrial hypothesis, all from 1897, include the Washington Times, which speculated that the airships were "a reconnoitering party from Mars"; and the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, which suggested of the airships, "these may be visitors from Mars, fearful, at the last, of invading the planet they have been seeking." (Jacobs, 29) In 1909, a letter printed in the Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) suggested that the mystery airship sightings then being reported in that country were due to Martian "atomic-powered spaceships." (Clark 2000, 123) A photograph taken in Passoria, New Jersey, on July 31 1952 The Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) is the hypothesis that UFOs are best explained as being creatures from other planets occupying physical spacecraft visiting Earth. ... The Washington Times is a daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C.. It was founded in 1982 as a conservative alternative to the Washington Post by members of the controversial Unification Church. ... Adjectives: Martian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ... The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch is the only major city-wide newspaper in Saint Louis, Missouri. ... A Martian is a hypothetical or fictional native inhabitant of the planet Mars. ...

References

Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. ...

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