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

[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.