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UFO/Balloon Flap of 1897

#1
Magical Realist Offline
Quite a few strange incidents occurred in America in the spring of 1897. One observes the pattern of the flap---periods over months when ufo sightings suddenly increase tenfold , and then just as suddenly die off. What to make of these sightings? Manmade vessels piloted by mysterious inventors who seem always to elude newspaper headlines? Or a continuation of transhuman craft operated by mysterious nonhuman beings?

11
Mar. 26, 1897 Sioux City (Iowa). Approximate date. Robert Hib-
night bard was caught by an anchor dropped from an un-
known flying machine 22 km north of the town. He
was dragged over 10 m and fell as his clothes were
torn. (FSR 66, 4)
12
Mar. 28, 1897 Omaha (Nebraska). The majority of the population
2230 observed an object arriving from the southeast. It
looked like a huge light, flew northwestward slowly,
came to low altitude. A crowd gathered at a street
corner to watch it. (185)
13
Apr. 01, 1897 Everest (Kansas). The whole town saw an object fly
2100 under the cloud ceiling. It came down slowly, then
flew away very fast to the southeast. When directly
over the town it swept the ground with its powerful
light. It was seen to rise up at fantastic speed until
barely discernible, then to come down again and
sweep low over the witnesses. At one point it re-
mained stationary for 5 min at the edge of a low
cloud, which it illuminated. All could clearly see the
silhouette of the craft. (FSR 66, 4)
14
Apr. 12, 1897 Nilwood (Illinois). On the property of Z. Thacker, 19
1430 km north of Carlinville, an unknown object landed.
Before the three witnesses could reach it, the craft,
which was shaped like a cigar with a dome, rose slowly
and left majestically toward the north. Witnesses:
Edward Teeples, William Street and Franklin Met-
calf. (186; Anatomy 12)
15
Apr. 12, 1897 Girard, near Green Ridge (Illinois). A large crowd of
1800 miners saw an unknown object land 3 km north of
Green Ridge and 4 km south of Girard. The night
operator of the Chicago-and-Alton Railroad, Paul Mc-
Cramer, stated that he came sufficiently close to the
craft to see a man emerge from it to repair the ma-
chinery. Traces were found over a large area. The
object itself was elongated like a ship with a roof and
a double canopy. It left toward the north. (186,187)
16
Apr. 14, 1897 Gas City (Indiana). An object landed 2 km south of
1500 Gas City on the property of John Roush, terrifying
the farmers and causing the horses and cattle to
stampede. Six occupants of the ship came out and
seemed to make some repairs. Before the crowd could
approach the object, it rose rapidly and flew toward
the east. (188)
17
Apr. 14, 1897 Cleveland (Ohio). Joseph Singler, captain of the
"Sea Wing," was fishing with S. H. Davis, of Detroit,
when they saw on the lake what they thought was a
ship, about 13 m long, with a canopy. A man, about
25 years old, wearing a hunting jacket and a cap, was
fishing from the deck of the object. Near him were a
woman and a 10-year old child. When the "Sea
Wing" came close to the craft, a large, colored bal-
loon rose from the object, which flew up with it to an
altitude of about 150 m and circled "like a hawk"
before flying away. (189)
18
Apr. 15, 1897 Linn Grove (Iowa). A large object was seen to fly
morning slowly toward the north. It seemed ready to land and
five men (F. G. Ellis, James Evans, David Evans, Joe
Croaskey, Benjamin Buland) drove toward it. About
7 km north of Linn Grove, they found the craft on
the ground, came within 700 m of it but it "spread
its four giant wings and rose towards the North." Two
strange figures aboard the craft made efforts to con-
ceal themselves. Witnesses were surprised at the
length of their hair. Most residents of Linn Grove
saw the craft in flight. (190)
19
Apr. 15, 1897 Howard-Artesian (South Dakota). A flying object
nightfall coming closer and closer to the ground followed a
train, as reported by the engineer, Joe Wright (FSR
66,4)
20
Apr. 15, 1897 Perry Springs (Missouri). A passenger train on the
2100 Wabash line, going toward Quincy, was followed by
a low-flying object for 15 min between Perry Springs
and Hersman. All the passengers saw the craft, which
had a red and white light. After Hersman it flew ahead
of the train and disappeared rapidly, although the
train was then running at 65 km/h. (190)
21
Apr. 15, 1897 Springfield (Illinois). Two farm workers, Adolph
Winkle and John Hulle, saw a strange craft in a field.
They had a discussion with its occupants, a woman
and two men, and were told the ship-had flown from
Quincy to Springfield in 30 min and that the crew.
was making electrical repairs. (FSR 65,1)
22
Apr. 16, 1897 Downs Township (Illinois). Approximate date. While
working in his field, Haney Savidge saw an aerial
craft land near him. Six people emerged from it and
spoke to him for a few minutes before leaving again.
(191)
23
Apr. 17, 1897 Williamston (Michigan). At least a dozen farmers
morning saw an object maneuver in the sky for an hour before
it landed. A strange man near 3 m tall, almost naked
and suffering from the heat, was the pilot of the
craft. "His talk, while musical, seemed to be a repeti-
tion of bellowings." One farmer went near him and
received a blow that broke his hip. (196)
24
Apr. 19, 1897 Leroy (Kansas). Alexander Hamilton was awakened
2230 by a noise among the cattle and went out with his
son and his tenant. They saw an elongated cigar-
shaped object, about 100 m long with a transparent
cabin underneath showing narrow reddish bands,
hovering 10 m above ground. They approached within
50 m of it. It was illuminated and equipped with a
searchlight. Inside it were "six of the strangest be-
ings" the witness had seen, also described as "hid-
eous." They spoke a language no witness could
understand. A cow was dragged away by the object
with the help of a strong red cable; it was found
butchered in a field the next day. (Anatomy 16; Ma-
gonia)
25
Apr. 20, 1897 Homan (Arkansas). Capt. James Hooton was hunt-
1800 ing in the vicinity of Homan when he heard the noise
of a steam engine and found an object in a clearing.
It looked like a cylinder with pointed ends, lateral
wheels, and horizontal blade over it. Hooton spoke
with a man who wore dark glasses and walked behind
the craft. There were three or four occupants. The
witness was told this was indeed "The Airship" and
that it used compressed air for propulsion. Hooton
saw the wheels spin as the craft rose and flew away.
(FSR 66, 4; Magonia)
26
Apr. 22, 1897 Rockland (Texas). John M. Barclay was intrigued
when his dog barked furiously and a high-pitched
noise was heard. He went out, saw a flying object
circling 5 m above ground. Elongated with protru-
sions and blinding lights, it went dark when it landed.
Barclay was met by a man who told him his purpose
was peaceful and requested some common hardware
items to repair the craft. He paid with a ten-dollar bill
and took off "like a bullet out of a gun." (192;
Magonia)
27
Apr. 22, 1897 Josserand (Texas). Frank Nichols, who lived 3 km
2400 east of Josserand and was one of its most respected
citizens, was awakened by a machine noise. Looking
outside, he saw a heavy, lighted object land in his
wheat field. He walked toward it, was stopped by two
men who asked permission to draw water from his
well. He then had a discussion with a half-dozen men,
the crew of the strange machine. He was told how it
worked but could not follow the explanation. (193;
Magonia)
28
Apr. 23, 1897 McKinney Bayou (Arkansas). Judge Lawrence A.
Byrne of Texarkana, Arkansas, was surveying a tract
of land when he saw a peculiar object anchored on
the ground. "It was manned by three men who spoke
a foreign language, but judging from their looks one
would take them to be Japs." (Farish, in Allende
Letters (Award Special, 1968) )
29
Apr. 25, 1897 Merkel (Texas). People returning from church ob-
evening served a heavy object being dragged along the ground
by a rope attached to a flying craft. The rope got
caught in a railroad track. The craft was too high for
its structure to be visible but protrusions and a light
could be distinguished. After about 10 min a man
came down along the rope cut the end free, and went
back aboard the craft, which flew away toward the
northeast. The man was small and dressed in a light-
blue uniform. (194; Magonia)
30
Apr. 26, 1897 Aquila-Hillsboro (Texas). Approximate date. A law-
yer was surprised to see a lighted object fly over. His
horse was scared and nearly toppled the carriage.
When the main light was turned off, a number of
smaller lights became visible on the underside of the
dark object, which supported an elongated canopy.
It went down toward a hill to the south, 5 km from
Aquila. When the witness was on his way back one
hour later he saw the object rising. It reached the
altitude of the cloud ceiling and flew to the northeast
at a fantastic speed with periodic flashes of light. (195)
31
May. 06, 1897 Hot Springs (Arkansas). Two policemen, Sumpter
and McLenore, were riding northwest of Hot Springs
when they saw a bright light in the sky. About 7 km
farther they saw the light again coming down to the
ground. One km farther the horses refused to walk.
Two men were seen carrying lights. The lawmen took
their rifles, called the strangers, and were told that
they crossed the country with a flying craft. The sil-
houette of the machine, about 2O m long, could be
seen in the clearing. There was a woman with an um-
brella nearby. It was raining, and the younger of the
men was filling a large container with water. The elder
man had a beard and suggested that the policemen
fly with them "to a place where it does not rain." The
same witness went back through the same spot 40
min later and found nothing. (FSR 66, 4; Magonia)

http://www.ufoinfo.com/magonia/part1.shtml
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#2
C C Offline
During the era of rampant yellow journalism, the standards of later newspapers and tabloid sensationalism hadn't become fully distinct yet. The serious reader was supposedly expected by unofficial world of mouth to be aware of what was reliable and what was lax investigation slash "pro wrestling"-caliber entertainment to sell papers. Future generations of non-historians doing research in the archives reflexively assumed older journalistic practices were equivalent to their own times.

If some of the claimed accounts were valid, it's unfortunate that they're doomed to be dismissed with the rest due to the deficient integrity of the media climate.
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#3
Magical Realist Offline
Yeah..I heard that back then many of the larger city papers printed Onion-like satirical articles, these mystery airship sightings being no exception. But even with these there were tell-tell signs such as complete outrageousness, humorous details, and an all too serious style of reporting the event as matter of fact:

"During the 1896–97 wave, there were many attempts to explain the airship sightings, including suggestions of hoaxes, pranks, publicity stunts and hallucinations. One man suggested the airships were swarms of lightning beetles misidentified by observers.[29]

Jacobs believes that many airship tales originated with "enterprising reporters perpetrating journalistic hoaxes."[8] He notes that many of these accounts "are easy to identify because of their tongue-in-cheek tone, and accent on the sensational."[8] Furthermore, in many such newspaper hoaxes, the author makes his intent obvious "by saying – in the last line – that he was writing from an insane asylum (or something to that effect)."===https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_airship

The 1897 wave seems an exception to these hoaxes in that they are not really so silly as to be amusing. They're just weird , in the familiar Fortean sense.

Here's a list of some other airship sightings around this same time. See if you can spot the yellow journalism:

The Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Call reported the first sighting on November 18, 1896.[11] Witnesses reported a light moving slowly over Sacramento on the evening of November 17 at an estimated 1,000-foot elevation.[11] Some witnesses said they could see a dark shape behind the light.[11] A witness named R.L. Lowery reported that he heard a voice from the craft issuing commands to increase elevation in order to avoid hitting a church steeple.[11] Lowery added "in what was no doubt meant as a wink to the reader" that he believed the apparent captain to be referring to the tower of a local brewery, as there were no churches nearby.[11] Lowery further described the craft as being powered by two men exerting themselves on bicycle pedals. Above the pedaling men seemed to be a passenger compartment, which lay under the main body of the dirigible. A light was mounted on the front end of the airship.[11] Some witnesses reported the sound of singing as the craft passed overhead.[11]

The November 19, 1896, edition of the Stockton, California, Daily Mail featured one of the earliest accounts of an alleged alien craft sighting.[12] Colonel H.G. Shaw claimed that while driving his buggy through the countryside near Stockton, he came across what appeared to be a landed spacecraft.[12] Shaw described it as having a metallic surface which was completely featureless apart from a rudder, and pointed ends.[12] He estimated a diameter of 25 feet and said the vessel was around 150 feet in total length.[12] Three slender, 7-foot-tall (2.1 m), apparent extraterrestrials were said to approach from the craft while "emitting a strange warbling noise."[12] The beings reportedly examined Shaw's buggy and then tried to physically force him to accompany them back to the airship.[13] The aliens were said to give up after realizing they lacked the physical strength to force Shaw onto the ship.[4] They supposedly fled back to their ship, which lifted off the ground and sped out of sight.[4] Shaw believed that the beings were Martians sent to kidnap an earthling for unknowable but potentially nefarious purposes.[4] This has been seen by some as an early attempt at alien abduction; it is apparently the first published account of explicitly extraterrestrial beings attempting to kidnap humans into their spacecraft.[14]

The mystery light reappeared over Sacramento the evening of November 21. It was also seen over Folsom, San Francisco, Oakland, Sebastopol and several other cities later that same evening and was reportedly viewed by hundreds of witnesses.

One witness from Arkansas – allegedly a former state senator Harris – was supposedly told by an airship pilot (during the tensions leading up to the Spanish American War) that the craft was bound for Cuba, to use its "Hotchkiss gun" to "kill Spaniards".[15]

In one account from Texas, three men reported an encounter with an airship and with "five peculiarly dressed men" who asserted that they were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, and had learned English from the 1553 North Pole expedition led by Hugh Willoughby.

On February 2, 1897, the Omaha Bee reported an airship sighting over Hastings, Nebraska, the previous day.[16]
An article in the Albion Weekly News reported that two witnesses saw an airship crash just inches from where they were standing.[16] The airship suddenly disappeared, with a man standing where the vessel had been.[16] The airship pilot showed the men a small device that supposedly enabled him to shrink the airship small enough to store the vessel in his pocket.[16] A rival newspaper, the Wilsonville Review, playfully claimed that its own editor was an additional witness to the incident and that he heard the pilot say "Weiver eht rof ebircsbus!"[16] The phrase he allegedly heard is "subscribe for the Review" spelled backwards.[16]

On April 10, 1897, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a story reporting that one W.H. Hopkins encountered a grounded airship about 20 feet in length and 8 feet in diameter near the outskirts of Springfield, Missouri.[4] The vehicle was apparently propelled by three large propellers and crewed by a beautiful, nude woman and a bearded man, also nude.[4] Hopkins attempted with some difficulty to communicate with the crew in order to ascertain their origins.[4] Eventually they understood what Hopkins was asking of them and they both pointed to the sky and "uttered something that sounded like the word Mars."[4]

An April 16, 1897, a story published by the Table Rock Argus claimed that a group of "anonymous but reliable" witnesses had seen an airship sailing overhead.[16] The craft had many passengers.[16] The witnesses claimed that among these passengers was a woman tied to a chair, a woman attending her, and a man with a pistol guarding their apparent prisoner.[16] Before the witnesses thought to contact the authorities, the airship was already gone.[17]

An account from Aurora, Texas,[18] related in the Dallas Morning News on April 19, 1897, reported that a couple of days before, 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."[19] Strange "hieroglyphic" figures were seen on the wreckage, which resembled "a mixture of aluminum and silver... it must have weighed several tons."[19] In the 20th century, unusual metallic material recovered from the presumed crash site was shown to contain a percentage of aluminum and iron admixed.[citation needed] 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 it was gone."===https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_airship
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