Mystery airship

A number of popular science fiction novels dealing with airships and their secretive inventors were published in the years before the airship sightings. Especially popular among American audiences were the Frank Reade stories by Luis Senarens, which began in 1882 and frequently centered on airships. The wildly successful Frank Reade Library ran to 191 stories. Senarens' acquaintance Jules Verne borrowed the conceit of a secretive inventor who had developed a powerful airship for his novel Robur the Conqueror, which was published in the US in 1887. The airship stories of the prolific science fiction author Robert Duncan Milne were also serialized in San Francisco newspapers during the 1890s. The late 19th century was a period of intense technological innovation, including the invention of the telephone and automobile. Widespread publications about both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air flight in the late 19th century gave rise to a common belief that the development of a successful airship was imminent. On November 17, 1896, the very same day the first sighting of the mystery airship occurred in Sacramento, California, the Sacramento Bee printed what claimed to be a telegram from a New York inventor stating that he was flying his airship from New York to California and would arrive there within two days. Earlier sightings In July 1868, The Zoologist carried a report from a local newspaper in Copiapó, Chile, regarding a "gigantic bird" with "brilliant scales" that made a metallic sound had been seen flying over the town. Charles Fort, in his 1931 book Lo!, discussed this report along with various other reports of aerial apparitions from the 19th and 20th centuries. Fort observed that "inhabitants of the backwoods of China" might "similarly describe one of this earth's airships floating over their farms" (curiously, the 1896–97 airship reports were barely mentioned in Fort's works, although at that time he was writing for some of the same newspapers that were covering the airship stories and almost certainly was aware of the enormity of the 1896–97 airship wave). Discussing the Copiapó report in 2001, Loren Coleman called it an example of "reports of weird aerial constructions" on the boundary between machines and animals that "just do not make sense". On July 29, 1880, two witnesses in Louisville, Kentucky saw a flying object described as "a man surrounded by machinery which he seemed to be working with his hands" with wings protruding from his back. ==Airship wave of 1896–1897==

The best-known of the mystery airship waves began in California in 1896. Then, early in 1897, reports and accounts of similar sightings came from other areas, generally moving eastward across the country. Although the majority of witnesses reported seeing only a light or group of lights moving across the night sky, some accounts during the airship wave claim that occupants were visible on some crafts, and encounters with the pilot or crew were occasionally reported as well. These occupants often appeared to be human, though their behavior, mannerisms and clothing were sometimes reported to be unusual. Sometimes the apparent humans claimed to be from the planet Mars. Historian Mike Dash described and summarized the 1896–1897 series of airship sightings, writing: The total number of reported sightings during the 1896–97 airship wave was in the thousands; based on newspaper reports, the total number of witnesses may have exceeded 100,000. California, 1896 '', November 29, 1896 The initial wave of airship sightings took place primarily in California from November 17 through December 1896, with a few isolated sightings in January, 1897. There were also some reports of the airship in the Arizona Territory, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia during November and December. Many newspaper accounts described the sightings as part of a transcontinental flight by the airship's inventor. • A mystery light was first seen over the capital city of Sacramento on the evening of November 17, 1896. Several citizens observed a strange flying light moving slowly across the sky at an estimated elevation of . • The November 18, 1896 editions of local newspapers including the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Call all published accounts of the sighting. The newspapers ran such headlines as "A Wandering Apparition", "Claim They Saw a Flying Airship", "That Mysterious Light" "Saw the Mystic Flying Light", "Strange Craft Of the Sky" and "What Was It?" Colonel H.G. Shaw claimed that while driving his buggy through the countryside of Lodi near Stockton, he came across what appeared to be a landed spacecraft. The aliens were said to give up after realizing they lacked the physical strength to force Shaw aboard. • The strange light reappeared over Sacramento on the evening of November 21, 1896. Among the observers were Sacramento's deputy sheriff and district attorney. Witnesses described the light as being twice as bright as a typical arc light or locomotive headlamp. Later that evening, the light was also seen over Folsom, San Francisco, Oakland, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and several other cities and was reportedly viewed by thousands of witnesses, including the domestic staff of San Francisco Mayor, Adolph Sutro. As it flew over Cliff House and Seal Rocks, the bright light reportedly frightened the sleeping seals, causing them to frantically dive into the ocean. • On the evening of November 22, two Methodist ministers near Knights Ferry, reportedly observed a "fiery object" resting on the ground. As the two men approached the object, it suddenly took off, flying away in a shallow climb. • On November 29, 1896, over one hundred residents of Tulare witnessed a spectacular sighting: "[They] assert they saw the now famous airship that has been wandering around in different sections of the state...It came down quite a distance, then went up and took a straight shot for Hanford. Red, white and blue lights were seen in succession, but no part of the ship was seen...many people watched it as long as it was in sight." California cities reporting sightings during November and December, included Anderson, Auburn, Red Bluff, Redding, Arbuckle, Woodland, Yolo, Chico, Marysville, Camptonville, Grass Valley, Biggs, San Leandro, San Jose, Hayward, San Luis Obispo, Acampo, Lathrop, Livermore, Lodi, Crows Landing, Manteca, Modesto, Merced, Stockton, Turlock, Visalia, Fresno, Delano, Bakersfield, Redlands, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Riverside and Los Angeles. With much public interest focused on the airship sightings, a young San Francisco attorney named George D. Collins came forward and told the newspapers that some months earlier he had been supposedly contacted by a man seeking legal advice concerning "the world's first practical airship", a craft that he claimed was near completion at a secret location near Oroville, about sixty miles from Sacramento. Collins stated that the lights seen over Sacramento must have been his client conducting nocturnal test flights before an official unveiling of his secret invention. This explanation seemed reasonable to many and was given extensive coverage in the San Francisco newspapers. After Collins' announcement, rumours and wild tales began to spread and for several weeks the "phantom airship" was the biggest news story in northern California. As sightings and reports of mystery lights continued to increase throughout the state, Attorney Collins found himself the center of so much attention and ridicule, that he came to regret his earlier bragging. Cartoons mocking Collins and the airship and depicting the attorney as a drunk and smoking an opium pipe appeared in the newspapers. The San Francisco Chronicle nicknamed him "Airship" Collins and after being hounded by reporters and harassed by cranks and curious busybodies, Collins recanted most of his claims and actually fled into hiding. Collins had hinted that a local dentist, Dr. E.H. Benjamin, was the inventor of the airship. Dr. Benjamin admitted to the newspapers that he was an inventor and Collins was his attorney, but disavowed any connection to the airship. Despite his denials, Dr. Benjamin continued to be badgered by the press and public, and like Collins, fled town and disappeared. Around the time Collins began distancing himself from the airship, William Henry Harrison Hart, former Attorney General of the State of California, came forward and also claimed to represent the inventor of the airship. Hart gave several interviews to the San Francisco Call and his details concerning the mystery airship were even more outlandish than those of Attorney Collins. Hart stated that the airship's inventor had fired Collins for talking too much. He also claimed there were actually two airships, one built in California, the other in New Jersey and later claimed that a third "much improved" airship was under construction and when completed and tested would be used to bomb Havana, Cuba with dynamite. Hart named one of the inventors as a Dr. Catlin and his assistant as Dr. Benjamin, the dentist who denied any connection to the airship. Like Collins, Hart later changed his stories and eventually stopped talking to the newspapers about the airship. Exactly what true involvement Hart and Collins may have had in connection with the appearance of the California airship is not known. In an editorial published in the San Francisco Examiner on December 5, 1896, William Randolph Hearst lashed out at the "fake journalism" that he believed had led to the airship story: Fake journalism has a good deal to answer for, but we do not recall a more discernible exploit in that line than the persistent attempt to make the public believe that the air in this vicinity is populated with airships. It has been manifest for weeks that the whole airship story is pure myth. The California airship wave of 1896 ended in December, but in February 1897, reports of mysterious lights seen moving about the night skies over western Nebraska marked the beginning of an even larger wave of airship sightings that would cover the greater part of the American Midwest. This second wave lasted through May, 1897, with a few scattered reports of the airship in June. 1897: airship moves east '', April 13, 1897 Although many newspapers across the country published reports on the California airship sightings, the phenomenon appeared to have attracted relatively minor attention in the Midwestern and eastern states. The arrival of 1897 saw the end of the California wave, except for a few isolated sightings in mid-January. • On February 2, 1897, the Omaha Bee reported a sighting over Hastings, Nebraska, the previous day: "Several Hastings people report that an air ship, or something of the kind, has been sailing around in the air west of this city...A close watch is being kept for its reappearance". On February 5, the Bee reported that the airship had been sighted again, near the town of Inavale, around forty miles south of Hastings. • One witness from Arkansas – allegedly a former state senator named 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". • 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. • An article in the Albion Weekly News from Albion, Nebraska, reported that two witnesses saw an airship crash just inches from where they were standing. The airship suddenly disappeared, with a man standing where the vessel had been. • An April 16, 1897, a story published by the claimed that a group of "anonymous but reliable" witnesses had seen an airship sailing overhead. related in the Dallas Morning News on April 19, 1897, reported that a couple of days before, an airship had smashed into a windmill belonging to a Judge Proctor, then crashed. The occupant was dead and mangled, but the story reported that the presumed pilot was clearly "not an inhabitant of this world." Strange "hieroglyphic" figures were seen on the wreckage, which resembled "a mixture of aluminum and silver ... it must have weighed several tons." Reports of airship sightings continued throughout the Midwest and East during May 1897 with an isolated sighting in Texas during June, which was particularly noteworthy, since witnesses reported seeing two airships, a rare occurrence during the Mystery Airship waves of 1896-97. Later sightings In 1909, a series of mystery airship sightings reported around New England, were likely triggered by a hoax by Wallace Tillinghast, who falsely claimed to have invented and flown a "heavier-than-air" craft from Worcester to New York City. Airship sightings were also reported from New Zealand, Australia, and various European locations, including the United Kingdom, where a hoax by M.B. Boyd similarly triggered the wave of alleged airship sightings. By this time, airship technology had greatly advanced and several successful powered airships, including Zeppelins, had been built and flown. There had been 47 powered flights in 1909 and hundreds of news articles about aeronautics, so wide-ranging airship claims likely appeared plausible to the public. Later reports came from the United Kingdom in 1912 and 1913. Jerome Clark wrote that "One curious feature of the post-1897 airship waves was the failure of each to stick in historical memory. Although 1909, for example, brought a flood of sightings worldwide and attendant discussion and speculation, contemporary accounts do not allude to the hugely publicized events of little more than a decade earlier." ==Possible explanations==

Hoaxes or misidentification During the 1896–97 wave, there were many attempts to explain the mystery airship sightings, including suggestions of misidentified celestial objects, hoaxes, pranks, publicity stunts and hallucinations. One man suggested the nocturnal lights were actually swarms of lightning beetles; others believed observers were merely seeing meteors or bright stars and planets. A noted debunker of the airship was the astronomer Professor G.W. Hough, director of the Dearborn Observatory; he was certain people were looking at Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse) a prominent star in the Constellation of Orion. Other astronomers believed witnesses may have mistaken Jupiter, Venus and Mars for the airship. Some of the airship reports were proven to be pranks: balloons or kites with lanterns or candles attached, launched by practical jokers. David Michael Jacobs observed that "Most arguments against the airship idea came from individuals who assumed that the witnesses did not see what they claimed to see." However, Jacobs believes that many airship tales originated with "enterprising reporters perpetrating journalistic hoaxes." Two French Army officers and engineers, Arthur Krebs and Charles Renard, had successfully flown in an electric-powered airship called La France as early as 1884. In November 1897, an aluminum-skinned airship designed by David Schwarz was built in Germany and successfully flew over Tempelhof Field. In his 2004 book Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery, American writer Michael Busby analysed observed flight paths and airspeeds from old newspaper accounts and found the evidence consistent with three separate airships flying in the Texas skies. Research led him to conclude they were built in Iowa by a group of people originally from California:Three individuals investigated in this chapter may be the connecting threads between the various airship mysteries we have examined (1840s to 1897). Dr. Solomon Andrews, Willard Wilson, and Dr. Charles Smith, peers extraordinaire, may have been designing, building and flying airships from the 1840s.He concludes one airship crashed at Aurora on April 17, 1897, another crashed off the Gulf coast a few days later, and the third perhaps flew North to New York where it also crashed at sea on May 13. Two other airships the group built in Iowa met their demise in Michigan and Washington state, respectively, and the aviators presumably died. In The Great Airship of 1897 (2009), American writer J. Allan Danelek makes a similar case. He concludes the airship was built by an unknown individual, possibly funded by an investor from San Francisco, as a prototype for planned commercial passenger airships. Danelek demonstrates how the craft might have been built using materials and technologies available in 1896 (including speculative line drawings and technical details). The ship, he proposes, was built in secret to safeguard its design from patent infringement as well as to protect investors in case of failure. Noting that the flights were initially seen over California and only later over the Midwest, he speculates that the inventor was making a series of short test flights, moving from west to east and following the main railway lines for logistical support, and that it was these experimental flights that formed the basis for many – though not all – of the newspaper accounts from the era. Danelek also notes that the reports ended abruptly in mid-April 1897, suggesting that the craft may have met with disaster, effectively ending the venture and permitting the sightings to fall into the realm of mythology. Claims of extraterrestrial origin In 1896 and 1897, the extraterrestrial hypothesis was suggested by some newspapers to account for the appearance of the airships. Two such reports, both from 1897, were printed in the Washington Times, which speculated that the airships were "a reconnoitering party from Mars"; and the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, which suggested of the airships, "these may be visitors from Mars, fearful, at the last, of invading the planet they have been seeking." In 1909, a letter printed in the Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) suggested that the mystery airship sightings then being reported in that country were due to Martian "atomic-powered spaceships." ==See also==