Beginning on November 17, 1896, thousands of ordinary Americans reported strange flying craft in the sky, from California to Nebraska and beyond. This was seven years before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane.
Term: Mystery airship: the name given to unidentified flying craft reported across the United States in 1896 and 1897.
Term: Wave: a period in which UFO reports rise sharply in a region or country.
What Were the Mystery Airships of 1896?
Beginning on November 17, 1896, thousands of ordinary Americans reported strange flying craft in the sky, from California to Nebraska and beyond. This was seven years before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane. Witnesses described long, cigar-shaped craft with bright lights that moved with purpose and control, and some said they saw figures inside. Nobody has given a satisfying explanation.
How it began
The first sighting to make the news occurred over Sacramento on the evening of November 17, 1896. Witnesses said they saw a bright light moving slowly at about 1,000 feet, and some said they could see a dark shape behind it. Within days, sightings were reported across California and up the West Coast.
The wave grows
The reports spread east through the winter and spring of 1897. Researchers have found hundreds of newspaper and magazine accounts, and one count lists more than 1,200 articles in over 400 papers. Witnesses described craft that hovered silently over their towns before gliding away. Some articles mention face-to-face encounters with beings that looked human but were not.
Who saw them
The witnesses were ordinary people in ordinary towns, and many of the names given in the newspapers have been traced to real people. Each sighting was reported in the local press, and the number of reports grew week by week.
What people said at the time
Many Americans assumed a secret inventor would soon take credit. No one who came forward could show a working flying machine. The government and scientists of the day offered no explanation for what people were seeing.
What is solid and what is not
The newspaper record is large, and it shows that many people reported strange craft in the sky in 1896 and 1897. What they saw is not established. In my book Disclosure: They Are Not Extraterrestrials, I present the 1896 wave as a set of reports from before powered flight. Disclosure is available on Amazon. You can find more of my work at ckqbooks.com.
Sources
Readex, UFO Fever in America’s Historical Newspapers: The Mysterious Airships of 1896-97. Wikipedia, Mystery airship. Think Anomalous, Mystery Airship Sightings, 1896 to 1897.
CK Quarterman. CK Quarterman is a USAF veteran, independent author, and publisher at CKQbooks (ckqbooks.com). He writes nonfiction under the Malaterrestrials brand. The concept of malaterrestrials describes evil earthbound non-human intelligences, as distinct from the holy angels of heaven. Truth · History · Scripture.
Topics
Related CKQ Book
Disclosure
They Are Not Extraterrestrials
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