Before all the "drone" sightings, there was a flurry of airship sightings - in 1897

[Liberal In Texas]

After all the stories about "drone" sightings I remembered I had this book. I dusted off "The Great Texas Airship Mystery" purchased back in the 90s when I was amused reading about weird paranormal subjects. This was a similar "flap" of aerial reports that occurred not only in Texas (where that author lives) but the West Coast and the Midwest.

Many of the sightings echoed some of the popular culture of the era. Like Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg or Captain Nemo. The airships were sometimes thought to be the invention of a mysterious scientist.

All these reports occurred years before the Wright Brothers first flight but only a few years after the first lighter than air airships were being developed in Europe. The first Zeppelin made its debut in 1895. The public was well aware of this from reading newspaper reports.

Years later, starting sometime around the 1940s airships sightings are replaced with UFO and flying disc reports.

There seems to be a not uncommon phenonium among us to share fears and beliefs of the unknown and to spread stories and rumors - and maybe to misidentify common objects or to greatly exaggerate. Or to simply fabricate.

[John1956PA]

1. On my website, I have posted about a sighting which occurred in Western PA.

The sighting was reported in a New Castle (Lawrence County, Western PA) newspaper edition dated April 23, 1897. Witnesses reported that an airborne object (about thirty feet in length) moved swifty at a relatively low altitude. It was of general cigar-shaped proportions. It was viewed proceeding in a southern direction about five miles south of New Castle. The article referenced similar sightings which had been reported a few days prior in neighboring Mercer County to the north.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. The Mysterious Airship of April 1897

Excerpt…

The first thing most people noted was the large white light that would shine from the front of the airship while two smaller lights were seen on the body. At first, people might think they were seeing stars in the sky, but soon realized the unusual movement of the lights were not stars or a planet. It was noted that the lights faded in brightness as the object flew, but became brighter when the object stopped and hovered over an area.

The white front light was described as larger than the headlight on a train. There is some discrepancy with one of the colors of the two smaller lights. The majority of accounts mentioned one smaller light being red in color. The other smaller light was observed to be white by some witnesses while others thought it might be light green in color. The two smaller lights were each estimated to be the size of a human hand.

The shape of the airship was described as an upside-down schooner or cigar-shaped with a smaller basket or canoe-shaped object attached. There were two wings or fan-like projections attached to the main body as well. Newspapers reported the airship was about 30 feet in length according to witnesses. A modern 90-passenger school bus is about 35 to 40 feet in comparison.

The airship was spotted above rural farms, small towns, and cities alike. This meant on any given night you might have a handful of witnesses to hundreds of people viewing the flying mystery. There were those in the newspaper columns who doubted a mysterious airship was traveling over midwestern states. The Davenport Democrat poked fun at the stories in early April 1897 as most sightings had been in the western part of Iowa along with Nebraska and Kansas. They joked that sea serpents were falling out of favor and those who were seeing a flying airship might need to stop their alcohol consumption or seek medical help.

Continues…

https://blogs.davenportlibrary.com/sc/2024/04/05/the-mysterious-airship-of-april-1897/

Just like today — people experienced something far out, but not too far out, that changed their understanding of what is and what is possible.

[Liberal In Texas]

3. There you have it. One of the many newspaper reports at the time.

In that midwest area.

[Kid Berwyn]

5. You might enjoy "Passport to Magonia" by Jacques Vallee...

...it is a survey of the history of UFO sightings. The book includes reports from Great American Airship Mystery (page 139 "Look But Do Not Touch!" ) Vallee finds the extraterrestrial hypothesis inadequate.

Here's a PDF copy of the book:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ia800904.us.archive.org/3/items/PassportToMagonia--UFOsFolkloreAndParallelWorldsJacquesVallee1993/Passport%20to%20Magonia%E2%80%94UFOs,%20Folklore,%20and%20Parallel%20Worlds,%20Jacques%20Vall%C3%A9e%20(1993).pdf

[Liberal In Texas]

8. Chrome says it's blocked. Edge also says blocked.

I'm kind of off the paranormal stuff these days, but I do remember that Vallee was one of the well-known authors in the genre.

[Kid Berwyn]

12. Sorry if you're having trouble accessing it.

Sorry about that. I was not able to get there from the link in my post above, either.

You might get a valid URL by googling "Jaccques Vallee" + "Passport to Magonia" and "PDF." For some reason, it will not copy and paste in its entirety, but I was able to open up the copy at "TheEye.eu."

Vallee is a serious scientist, a profound thinker and an outstanding writer. He has a PhD in information science from Northwestern and a master's in astrophysics from Lille and his bacherlor's in math from the Sorbonne.

Vallee writes the phenomenon is real, based on physical evidence as well as eyewitness testimony, but that the extraterrestrial hypothesis is inadequate to explain the variety of reports, the actions of reported objects, the apparent absurdity of the messages and behaviors by reported occupants, and the impact of the phenomenon on the witnesses' minds and behavior.

From (sorry, wcmagumba) Wikipedia:

Vallée's opposition to the ETH theory is summarised in his paper, "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects", Journal of Scientific Exploration, 1990:

Scientific opinion has generally followed public opinion in the belief that unidentified flying objects either do not exist (the "natural phenomena hypothesis" ) or, if they do, must represent evidence of a visitation by some advanced race of space travellers (the extraterrestrial hypothesis or "ETH" ).

It is the view of the author that research on UFOs need not be restricted to these two alternatives. On the contrary, the accumulated data base exhibits several patterns tending to indicate that UFOs are real, represent a previously unrecognized phenomenon, and that the facts do not support the common concept of "space visitors". Five specific arguments articulated here contradict the ETH:

1. unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth;

2. the humanoid body structure of the alleged "aliens" is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel;

3. the reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race;

4. the extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded human history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon; and

5. the apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Vallée

Vallee applied information science to the phenomenon. With his late wife, Jeanine, he wrote some of the first books to scientifically approach the subject. They created a computerized catalogue of UFO reports that revealed commonalities in the reports. He also believes that the data show a more complicated explanation than extraterrestrial hypothesis can provide. While he would be disappointed if UFOs turned out to be "only" alien visitors, he fears humanity may get the visitors we deserve.

[LeftInTX]

4. We had Martians and spaceships at our school

Everyone could see them but me. They also created huge holes in the ground. Everyone could see them but me.
Kids would say, ""There's a green man standing right behind you!" They would scream and run away. I thought it was real and that something was the matter with me because I couldn't see them.

[Liberal In Texas]

9. Probably didn't have the right glasses on...

[Ping Tung]

6. At least the new Bogeymen are significantly smaller the ones in 1897.

[Wonder Why]

7. The Martians were not as sophisticated back then.

[Elessar Zappa]

10. I don't write off the possibilty

of UAPs from other parts of the universe. It’s a huge universe and I think intelligent life somewhere else is extremely likely. And who’s to say they don’t have some kind of advanced technology to travel space? I’m not saying it’s proven, just that I believe in the possibilities.

[Sympthsical]

11. Over 7 billion smart phones in the world

And no one can get any good video or pictures.

Just lights, shapes, fuzzy objects, usually at night during the hours most people are still active - shit tapers off fast after around 10pm. Weird. Maybe the aliens are fans of local news.

Although, it is considerate of the aliens to often use FAA lighting guidance for our convenience. Or really any lights at all. Maybe the aliens don't want to run into each other.

I file this stuff in the same folder as religious belief. "Child was miraculously healed. It was obviously St. Edelthard and the sacred waters of the discarded medieval pepsi bottle!" Lights in the sky is aliens.

Humans just seem geared to believe in things on flimsy evidence, and then for that belief to spread based on contemporary fears and anxieties.

[Mr. Sparkle]

13. Are they drones though? If the Pentagon cant take down a few "drones" then heads should roll