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As reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3-column, front page report on April 10, 1897 under the headline;

Airship in the Heavens
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Telegrams were received by the Post-Dispatch Saturday morning from correspondents in four Central States stating that a luminous body had been seen moving in a northwesterly direction Friday night. Different colored lights were seen flashing from the object and its lines were easily distinguished. . . .

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Those same detractors who claim the 1896-97 airship sightings was nothing more than an elaborate conspiracy by the newspaper people, or railroad people - take your pick - also would have you believe that the thousands of people of the time who reported seeing the aircraft were nothing more than ignorant hayseeds who saw a star and mistook it for an airship. Stars don't have "lines [that are] easily distinguished.". In Part 2 of this report we'll take a look at the people who were the actual witnesses. But before we get into the eyewitness accounts, let's take a quick look at the times these people lived in.

The period between the mid-1800s and the start of the 1900s was probably the most productive times in the history of mankind. In 1900 Chicago hosted the World's Fair, an exhibition that featured all of the marvels of the age including electric lighting provided by Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. The celebration of industry was attended by hundreds of thousands from around the world.

Ii is a fact that during the period of the last 50 years of the 19th century more modern inventions were made than at any other time. A list of the inventions of the period has been compiled and can be accessed on the website, Inventors and Inventions from 1851-1900.

A partial list from the page includes:

Dishwasher (1850), Gyroscope (1852), Bunsen Burner (1855), Rechargeable Battery (1859), Typewriter (1867), Motorcycle (1867), Multiple telegraph (1875), Telephone (1876), Cash Register (1879), Electric Iron (1882), Fountain pen (1884), Sound on records (1885), Kodak portable camera (1888), Zipper (1890), Escalator (1891), Braille Typewriter (1892), Tractor (1892), and last but not least in importance, Toilet paper (1857).

With an understanding of what was going on in the area of invention during these people's times common sense tells us that if one of these citizens saw an airship they would not run and hide, they would only think it was another marvel of the times. Their curiosity of just how it worked would have been uppermost in their minds and their ability to study the strange object would have been sharpened. Some of their description is remarkable and we'll cover that in detail in the next report.
As far as the correctness of the descriptions given by eyewitnesses of the ships; by reading any publication of the time, be it book, newspaper or magazine article no one can deny the people of that time were educated enough to be highly articulate in their description. In fact anyone reading the published writings and personal letters of the time
will realize the citizens of the 1800s descriptive abilities far surpass those of us writing today.

With that in mind let us continue to delve into the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of April 10, 1897;


Airship in the Heavens


EXCERPTS
Reference was made above in the corroborative evidence that had been received from many points regarding observations made Friday night. The statements, condensed from telegraphic dispatches, are here given . . .
. . . Press dispatch from Chicago; The only thing viable about the whole affair was what appeared to be a powerful electric light, sometimes a cluster of them, some green. Gradually the whole city turned out to gaze at the mysterious object that floated far above the lake off the north shore. Sometimes it seemed to move rapidly a short distance, then retrace its steps and then remain stationary for a time. Then it would apparently move slowly in some other direction. The light became intensely brilliant at times, then almost died away.

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It's interesting to note that the above description could very well be a description of a present day UFO. In fact there are many youtube videos claiming to be actual film of UFOs which would match this description to a Tee.
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Continuing;
The sightseers who covered the roofs of the high building downtown were certain the strange creation was the air ship that has astonished people in Kansas and Iowa.

Press dispatch from Omaha; several hundred persons in Omaha are prepared to swear that an airship of gigantic proportions has been hovering over this city at night for some time. It has been seen repeatedly. Six months ago it was heard from in the interior of the State, and since that time it has been seen in various parts of Nebraska. During the past two weeks it has appeared nightly over the city.

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The favorite "explanation" from the skeptics crowd is that all of these people and the thousands of others who saw and reported seeing these airships were observing a star. That stands to reason. After all, at that time, a star is all they have, what else could they blame it on? There was suppose to be nothing in the skies except birds, butterflies and the celestial bodies. During the late 1800s there were no spotlights, streetlights, or even residential lights to be mistaken for an airship. The nights were mostly dark. Very dark. Any light in the sky would have been noticed.

Then you have the very straight forward one-on-one eyewitness accounts like the one from Richard Butler.

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Richard Butler, farmer, of Wolf Creek Township Iowa - I was driving home Wednesday night when I observed a light in a field. I knew no house was there, and stopped to investigate. The light had a glow more like that of an electric lamp than the kerosene burners usually employed by the residents of the Wolf Creek district. . . .

At this point Mr. Butler gives a very good description of the airship he saw. We'll look closely at his and other such eyewitness accounts in the next report. Mr. Butler continues with his account of the incident;
. . . At this moment my horses caught sight of the ship, bolted precipitately for the opposite side of the road and tumbled me into the ditch. By the time I had crawled from the wreck the machine was moving briskly in a southerly direction, and at the same time ascending at an angle of about 45 degrees.

Now I might stand still and allow someone to try and convince me that the "machine" that left the area "briskly in a southerly direction" as reported by Mr. Butler was just his mistaken identification of a star, but they could talk until they are blue in the face and they will never convince me that those horses spooked because they saw a star. Horses have more sense than that!

The article continues;
Press dispatch from Burlington, Indiana: what is believed to have been an airship was observed in this vicinity Friday night. Nearly every operator and agent along the Burlington road saw it . . .

Ex-State's Attorney Hunter Rodger of Kankakee, Ill.: I saw the object and believe it was an airship. It could not have been a star.

Trainmaster Coopman of the Illinois Central, Kankakee, Ill.: What was evidently an airship was seen by me. It moved off to the northwest.

D.D. Sherman, Kankakee, Ill.: I was attracted Friday night by a phosphorescent glow which seemed to hang 1,000 feet above the earth.

Stanley Dubois, Fairfield, Iowa: Yes, I saw what I believe was an airship. There were two smaller lights of yellowish-green on either side of a large white light which first attracted me. The object disappeared in the west.

Dispatch from Solon, Iowa:
The airship was seen here by a number of reputable persons at 8:30 Friday night.

W. J. Martin, Mount Pleasant, Iowa: I am willing to make affidavit that I saw a white light slowly moving through the air in a westerly direction. While I watched it the light turned a dull red, then back to white again.

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As we can see the witnesses to the Airship mystery sound very believable. And we have only looked at one article, from one newspaper of the hundreds I have in my possession and the thousands in archives and private collection across the United States. Were all of these people actually only seeing a star? I don't think so. If a mistaken identification of a star was the answer it seems to me that someone in all of those people - thousands in Chicago, and "several hundred" in Omaha, and all the others - just one person would have noticed that fact and, like the little kid in the story of Emperor Wears no Clothes, shouted out, "Hey guys, it's only a star!"

Of course the first theory that came forth regarding the witnesses was that they had been in the clutches of the grape. The very next day, April 11, 1897, after devoting the complete front page to the mystery the day before the following article addressing that very question appeared on page 4 of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:


What Light Do We See


Times are too hard at present to permit of the suspicion that all of the men who have seen an airship in the night were under the influence of the cup which both cheers and inebriates. Besides Iowa and Kansas, two prohibition States, are included in the wide field of observations covered by these reports. . . . Scientists are conceding that there is something out of doors worth looking after. These may be visitors from Mars, fearful, at the lest, of invading the planet they have been seeking. . .
This is a problem which must be solved unless we are willing to leave a large number of good and reputable and sober men under suspicion as to their temperance and veracity.
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But it wasn't only lights the eyewitnesses of the airships saw. There are actually several very detailed descriptions included in the newspaper reports of the times which we'll study in the last part of this series of reports.
Continue to part 3: Airship Descriptions - A Dellschau Connection?

The Airship Sightings of 1897: A Hard Look
(2009) by Dennis Crenshaw
Part 2: The Eyewitnesses

Eyewitness drawing from sighting in 1897
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