Post by SwampFire on Aug 21, 2007 13:33:09 GMT -5
Bill Wangemann column: Were UFOs already flying around in 1897?
Most of the column's I write are on local history and pertain to people and happenings in Sheboygan and Sheboygan County. However, sometimes research comes across happenings that involved not only Sheboygan and Sheboygan County but also the entire state and sometimes the entire Midwest.
This column covers just such an incident.
In 1897, the country was very much enthused in the then-infant aviation industry. Inventors around the world were attempting to construct flying machines, some of them so outlandish that they were beyond belief. Balloon ascensions drew gigantic crowds wherever they took place, and Sheboygan was no exception.
On several occasions in the city, to attract large crowds to picnics, balloon ascensions were held. But, large airships that could fly long distances and maneuver at will were still some 20 years off in the future.
In late 1896, strange reports began to appear in newspapers in the western United States of a mysterious airship cruising over cities. The Galveston Daily News carried the first of these stories on Nov. 23, 1896, and it told of a mysterious airship that was seen cruising slowly over the city of Galveston the previous night at about 2 a.m.
The story went on to relate that this cigar shaped object had what appeared to be a large headlight, similar to, but brighter than what would be found on a railroad locomotive. This headlight, according to witnesses, could be swiveled back and forth and directed up and down so that it could illuminate objects on the ground.
The newspaper article also related that a similar incident had taken place over numerous cities in California.
Soon the story began to spread and more and more airship sightings occurred. Then on April 19, 1897 a report was received from the small city of Aurora, Texas. The story went on to relate that while cruising at a low altitude across the Texas landscape a large airship collided with a windmill and crashed to the ground, killing its sole occupant. Local residents rushed to the site and claimed to have recovered the body which they described as being badly injured and after an examination by a local doctor they stated that the strange crafts occupant was not of this world. The article then goes on to relate a local pastor gave the strange creature a Christian burial in the Aurora Cemetery where supposedly it remains today.
Soon airship sightings spread across the country to the Midwest. Reports of strange flying objects were received from Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Wisconsin newspapers soon picked up the story and began publishing reports of sightings.
The Daily Northwestern of Oshkosh on March 29, 1897 reported that on four successive nights in cities in Kansas and Nebraska the mysterious airship was sighted.
Then on April 10, 1897, the same newspaper reported that the airship was seen by thousands of witnesses as it drifted slowly across the city of Chicago. Soon cities up and down the shoreline of Lake Michigan all reported sightings. Further sightings were reported over Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and Lake Winnebago by hundreds of people who all gave similar descriptions of the strange aircraft.
By the year 1898 the Spanish American War had pushed the mysterious airship story off the front pages of newspapers. To this day no plausible explanation has ever been given which would account for the great airship craze of 1897.
Today's Tidbit: During the great airship craze newspapers reported young lovers were organizing airship parties to watch the night skies for strange flying objects, perhaps similar to young lovers watching submarine races in later years.
A new book is being prepared that will cover the column's I wrote in 2005 and 2006 and will be entitled "How Come Years Ago Sheboygan was All Black and White?" This book should be available after Oct. 1. For more information on this book e-mail schrc@execpc.com or call (920) 467-4667. Or, if you have comments on this column please feel free to contact me at wwangemann@charter.net, or call (920) 458-2974.
Most of the column's I write are on local history and pertain to people and happenings in Sheboygan and Sheboygan County. However, sometimes research comes across happenings that involved not only Sheboygan and Sheboygan County but also the entire state and sometimes the entire Midwest.
This column covers just such an incident.
In 1897, the country was very much enthused in the then-infant aviation industry. Inventors around the world were attempting to construct flying machines, some of them so outlandish that they were beyond belief. Balloon ascensions drew gigantic crowds wherever they took place, and Sheboygan was no exception.
On several occasions in the city, to attract large crowds to picnics, balloon ascensions were held. But, large airships that could fly long distances and maneuver at will were still some 20 years off in the future.
In late 1896, strange reports began to appear in newspapers in the western United States of a mysterious airship cruising over cities. The Galveston Daily News carried the first of these stories on Nov. 23, 1896, and it told of a mysterious airship that was seen cruising slowly over the city of Galveston the previous night at about 2 a.m.
The story went on to relate that this cigar shaped object had what appeared to be a large headlight, similar to, but brighter than what would be found on a railroad locomotive. This headlight, according to witnesses, could be swiveled back and forth and directed up and down so that it could illuminate objects on the ground.
The newspaper article also related that a similar incident had taken place over numerous cities in California.
Soon the story began to spread and more and more airship sightings occurred. Then on April 19, 1897 a report was received from the small city of Aurora, Texas. The story went on to relate that while cruising at a low altitude across the Texas landscape a large airship collided with a windmill and crashed to the ground, killing its sole occupant. Local residents rushed to the site and claimed to have recovered the body which they described as being badly injured and after an examination by a local doctor they stated that the strange crafts occupant was not of this world. The article then goes on to relate a local pastor gave the strange creature a Christian burial in the Aurora Cemetery where supposedly it remains today.
Soon airship sightings spread across the country to the Midwest. Reports of strange flying objects were received from Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Wisconsin newspapers soon picked up the story and began publishing reports of sightings.
The Daily Northwestern of Oshkosh on March 29, 1897 reported that on four successive nights in cities in Kansas and Nebraska the mysterious airship was sighted.
Then on April 10, 1897, the same newspaper reported that the airship was seen by thousands of witnesses as it drifted slowly across the city of Chicago. Soon cities up and down the shoreline of Lake Michigan all reported sightings. Further sightings were reported over Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and Lake Winnebago by hundreds of people who all gave similar descriptions of the strange aircraft.
By the year 1898 the Spanish American War had pushed the mysterious airship story off the front pages of newspapers. To this day no plausible explanation has ever been given which would account for the great airship craze of 1897.
Today's Tidbit: During the great airship craze newspapers reported young lovers were organizing airship parties to watch the night skies for strange flying objects, perhaps similar to young lovers watching submarine races in later years.
A new book is being prepared that will cover the column's I wrote in 2005 and 2006 and will be entitled "How Come Years Ago Sheboygan was All Black and White?" This book should be available after Oct. 1. For more information on this book e-mail schrc@execpc.com or call (920) 467-4667. Or, if you have comments on this column please feel free to contact me at wwangemann@charter.net, or call (920) 458-2974.
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