The 1897 Airship Wave

Is Craig here? He is very much so here, yes. And he's gonna want to hear this. In case you're missing our talk about forever chemicals, I got you covered. This starter episode titled, Toxic Forever Chemicals Found in Toilet Paper Around the World is gonna satisfy that itch that you got. I hope it's not on your butt. I hope not either, because that could be a bad sign. You should get that checked out. You should get that checked out.

Yeah. This article about the dreaded forever chemicals that we're constantly talking to you about, Ozon, it's not just a title as we would like to believe that mostly exist in those articles, just titles. Wouldn't that be nice? You wouldn't have to read so much. But I'll read it for you, don't worry. All toilet papers- At least most some of it. It's a long article, so. I'll read you some of it. All toilet paper from across the globe checked for toxic PFOS, forever chemicals.

I didn't know that's what it was, PFAS. Yeah. Now we know, we've all learned something together. I didn't know that it was a- Have I never said that? Have I always just said PFAS? You could have said it. Okay. And I just didn't listen. Forever chemicals, so it's literally PFAS, PFAS. Forever chemicals contain the compounds and the waste flushed down toilets and sent to sewage treatment plants probably creates a significant source of water pollution. New research is found.

Once in the wastewater plant, the chemicals can be packed into sewage sludge that is eventually spread on crop land as fertilizer or split into waterways. It is everywhere. Toilet paper should be considered as a potentially major source of PFAS, entering wastewater treatment systems, the study's author wrote. We don't know who that is. Tom Perkins made a note, he wrote the article.

PFAS are a class of about 14,000 chemicals typically used to make thousands of consumer products resist water, stains, and heat. They are called forever chemicals because they do not naturally break down and they are linked to cancer, fetal complications, liver diseases, kidney diseases, autoimmune disorders, and other serious health issues. Just in case you needed a reminder, though you probably didn't we talk about them so much.

It seems weird that you would need toilet paper to be water repellent. I was just gonna say, it makes complete sense that we would want these in our toilet paper, no? Yeah, I mean they're supposed to break down and just immediately disintegrate in the pipes. Yeah, but no, we want that not only touching our butts, we also want that to go into our water streams. Into our crops, and then back to our butts. Exactly, that's what we're all pretty much thinking at this point.

The study checked 21 major toilet paper brands in North America, Western Europe, Africa, Central America, and South America, but it did not name the brands. The peer reviewed University of Florida report did not consider the health implications of people wiping with contaminated toilet paper. EFAS can be dermally absorbed, but no research on how it may enter the body during the wiping process exists. How can that not exist?

I mean if it's touching your butt, it's going into your system, obviously. And I'm not a scientist. However, it's an opening. However, that exposure is definitely worth investigating, said David Andrews. I'm surprised here. Senior scientists with the Environmental Working Group, a public health nonprofit that tracks PFAS pollution. I'm surprised here at this.

They didn't look into the implications of what it would mean for the human body wiping your butt with that, but they looked into what the toilet paper was doing to the planet. Seems weird. I think maybe nobody wanted to study that. Yeah, I think so as well, but it just makes sense, because you can get sick and get infections that way. And that's also the way that temperatures are taken. They do, they can put drugs in your system that way as well. Up the butt.

I don't know the technical term for that. Rectally. Or suppository. Suppository. Yes, I did know it. So you would assume it's doing something with toilet paper. Anyhow, I digress. Brands that used recycled paper had just as much PFAS as those that did not. And it may be that there is no avoiding PFAS in toilet paper. You just can't make it without it, said Jake Thompson, the studies lead author at the University of Florida grad student.

He says in quotes, I'm not rushing to change my toilet paper, and I'm not saying that people should stop using or reduce the amount of toilet paper they use, he added. The issue is that we're identifying another source of PFAS, and it highlights that the chemicals are ubiquitous. That's an end quote. The PFAS levels detected are low enough to suggest the chemicals are used in the manufacturing process to prevent paper pulp from sticking to the machinery. Oh, that makes sense.

PFAS are often used as lubricants in the manufacturing process, and some of the chemicals are commonly left on or in consumer goods. The blah, blah, blah, they go on to say PFAS are not added to the toilet paper, and evidence seems to suggest otherwise, though it may be true that PFAS are not intentionally added. Companies might not be aware that it's used because it might come from the manufacturer of the instruments they're using. Anyhow, that's pretty much the article.

I pretty much got through the whole thing. I'm just leaving out a few cents. Worries me a lot that a scientist literally knows the problem that PFAS has on the planet, and he's like, yeah, but it's not gonna change how much I use or what I use. Yeah, I'm just gonna use more to be honest with you. I believe is what he was getting at. Maybe they're onto something in Asia with the bidets. The squat toilets. You're up to the bidets. Asia's got the squat toilets. Asia uses bidets as well, I think.

Okay. If you've ever seen 90-day fiance, there is one where his whole family buttholes are so clean. We don't know the implications of bidets and their making process. There's probably PFAS involved in that. There's probably PFAS in them. If I've learned anything from Journey to the Fringe, and this might be the return of the fringe, that PFAS are in everything. That's what we're learning. Whatever. I think the point that the scientists are making are don't walk around with dirty butts.

Just do something. Do something, indeed. Yeah, I would agree. And with that, I think we've all learned a little something and we can get on with this episode. Yeah, let's do the episode.

From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe. Now taking a short hiatus from recording episodes, but from your viewpoint as a listener, this will only be about a six-day long break. We are your sabbatically set host, Taylor and Chelsea, and here today, we're talking about a fringe topic that I love. And Chelsea, you're going to love this too. I'm anticipating this. It is the 1897 airship wave.

Okay, that sounds enjoyable. I'm ready already. I didn't even have to prepare. We're not going to critically analyze it. What we're going to do is, for the most part, follow newspaper articles of sightings of rogue airships flying across the US in the years 1896 to 1897. Oh, I was just going to say, that's not what's currently happening with us shooting down the US shooting down. I mean, they could be. They disintegrated on impact.

We haven't talked about that because that was way too not a fringe topic. I know. I had to only randomly bring it up though. But I'm excited to hear about this. I've heard a lot about it. Yeah, and this is a different time in the world of aviation. The Wright brothers hadn't actually flown the first official flight. Hasn't happened yet. That doesn't happen until 1903. Oh, okay. So like very different. Yeah, this is a completely different time. Nothing should be in the sky.

Well, we'll get to that a bit. According to British aviation historian Charles Gibbs Smith, and this is a direct quote from him, speaking as an aeronautical historian who specialized in the period before 1910, one can say with certainty that the only airborne vehicles carrying passengers which could possibly have been seen anywhere in North America were free flying spherical balloons. So hot air balloons do exist, but that's literally it. I mean, they're not hard to pick out.

Yeah, and you can't control them that well. They got to float in the wind currents. And it is highly unlikely for these to be mistaken for anything else. No form of dirigible or heavier than air flying machines were flying or indeed could fly at this time. However, just because they weren't in the sky doesn't mean that there weren't crazes about airships in general. Airships were in the public eye just prior to this wave.

In 1895, a Swedish explorer by the name of Solomon August André made headlines describing plans for an Arctic balloon trip, which he unsuccessfully attempts in 1896 and two months before this outbreak dies trying to do it. He was trying to fly a balloon filled with hydrogen to the North Pole, and he dies. Jesus. Yeah. Terrible plan. That was a sweetest act, yeah.

And on May 6, 1896, Samuel Pierpont Langley, described by Gibbs Smith as the first major aeronautical figure in the United States, made headlines after successfully testing in-flight his large airplane model number five about one month before the outbreak.

The New York Times carried an article with front page headlines describing the crash of experimental airship Albatross, which inventor and navigator William Paul narrowly escaped serious injury after his craft quote, walked rapidly, beat into a clump of trees and fell. End quote. The article concludes that the inventor says the experiment was unsuccessful because of the quartering northeast wind and that but for this, he would have made a flight to astonish the world.

And before this all takes place as well, on November 1, 1896, the Detroit Free Press reported that in the near future, a New York inventor would construct and fly an aerial torpedo boat. Sixteen days later, the Sacramento, California B, printed a telegram from a New York man claiming he and two friends were bored and airship of his invention and fly to California, which he promised to reach within two days. So that is on November 17. And then the first sightings actually start on November 17.

Really? So with all of that in mind, here's what happens. Okay. The Sacramento B and the San Francisco call reported the first sightings on November 18, 1896. The witnesses reported a light moving slowly over Sacramento on the evening of November 17 that an estimated 1,000 feet elevation. Some witnesses said that they could see a dark shape behind the light.

A witness named R.L. Lowry reported that he heard a voice from the craft issuing commands to increase elevation in order to avoid hitting a church steeple. Lowry added, quote, In what was no doubt meant as a wink to the reader, that end quote, that he believed the apparent captain to be referring to the tower of a local brewery, as there were no churches nearby. Lowry further described the craft as being powered by two men exerting themselves on bicycle pedals.

Above the peddling men seemed to be passenger compartments, which lay under the main body of the dirigible. A light was mounted on the front end of the airship, and some witnesses reported the sound of singing as the craft passed overhead. Were they that close to the ground that they could hear them? Well, it says 1,000 feet, but apparently they could hear them. But I also don't know how you would really have any way of knowing that.

Like literally you never see anything in the sky really, except for maybe like kites and hot air. Like it's quite obvious there's something in the sky. So that happens. And then on November 25th in Stockton, the Stockton Evening Mail printed this article, seen on a country road by Colonel H.G. Shaw and a companion. And this is the article. We were jogging along quietly when the horse stopped suddenly and gave a snort of terror. Looking up, we beheld three strange beings.

They resembled humans in many respects, but still they were not like anything I had ever seen. They were nearly or quite seven feet high and very slender. These beings bore no clothing, Shaw reported, and said they were covered with a natural growth hard to describe. Was not hair, neither was it like feathers, but it was as soft as silk to the touch. Quote, They seemed to take great interest in ourselves, the horse and buggy, and scrutinized everything very carefully.

Their faces and heads were without hair, the ears were very small, and the nose had the appearance of polished ivory. Their mouths were tiny, while the eyes were large and lustrous. They were possessed of a strange and indescribable beauty. Shaw then asked the aliens where they were from, and they seemed to not understand me, but began well warbling, expresses it better than talking.

And then placing my hand under his elbow, I pressed gently upward, and lo and behold, I lifted him from the ground with scarcely an effort. I should judge that the specific gravity of the creature was less than an ounce. The creature was probably terrified. Yeah, the student is built. Each alien carried a shoulder bag attached to a nozzle. Every little while, one or the other would place the nozzle on his mouth, at which time I heard a sound of escaping gas.

One of them had a signal from one who appeared to be the leader, attempted to lift me, probably with the intentions of carrying me away. Although I made not the slightest resistance, he could not move me. And finally the three of them tried it without the slightest success. They might have just been trying it because he did it to them. And then whipping out egg-shaped lights, some sort of luminous minerals, that the beings revealed a startling immense airship hovering nearby.

Quote, it was 150 feet in length at least, though probably not over 20 feet in diameter, pointed at both ends, and outside of a large rudder, there was no visible machinery. Off to the ship they headed, quote, not as you or I walk, but with a swaying motion, their feet only touching the ground at intervals of about 15 feet, end quote.

And then spring 20 feet up to the ship, the aliens whizzed off, quote, it went through the air very rapidly and expanded and contracted with a muscular motion, and was soon out of sight. I have a theory, which of course is only a theory, that those we beheld were inhabitants of Mars, who have been sent to the Earth for the purposes of securing one of its inhabitants. And that's the end of that sighting. That's a cool sighting, was that, that was in a newspaper.

Yeah, that was in the Stockton Evening Mail. Oh, that's cool, I like that one. And then while that's going on, that is posted on November 25th, on November 21st in Sacramento, these lights are seen again, and in fact, they're seen over Folsom, San Francisco, Oakland, Modesta, Manteca, Sebastopol, and several other cities later that same evening. And it was reportedly viewed by hundreds of witnesses.

And then the San Francisco Call reported sometime before November 24th, 1896, I couldn't find the specific date, a man reported that while searching in the woods for deer, he came across six men working on an almost completed airship. And these men then swore him to secrecy. Now that he had heard about these sightings, he wanted to come forward with what he had seen. And then, well, all this is going on, this lawyer by the name of, oh shoot, did I put his name here?

That's okay, the article is still open. So I can in fact look it up. George D. Collins. Here with beat of breath thinking it was Andrew Bozziago. I know, Andrew fucking Bozziago, kid time travel lawyer. So George D. Collins, he's a lawyer in San Francisco. He comes forward and he says he represents a man that's causing these sightings. And this is printed everywhere. This is the Sue City Journal, November 23rd, 1896. And this is the exact press release that he gave.

It is perfectly true that there is at last a successful airship in existence, and that California will have the honor of bringing it before the world. I have known of the affair for some time and I'm acting as attorney for the inventor. He is a very wealthy man who has been studying the subject of flying machines for 15 years, and who came here seven years ago from the state of Maine in order to be able to perfect his ideas away from the eyes of other inventors.

During the last five years, he has spent at least $100,000 on his work, and he has not yet secured his patents. But his application is now in Washington, and I cannot say much about the machine. He has perfected it because he is my client. And besides, he fears that the application will be stolen from the patent office of people. Come to know that his invention is practicable. I saw the machine last week at the inventor's invitation.

It is made of metal, is about 150 feet long, and is built to carry 15 persons. There is no motive power as far as I could see. Certainly no steam. It is built on the airplane system, and has two canvas wings, 18 feet wide, and a rudder shaped like a bird's tail. The inventor climbed into the machine, and after he had been moving about the mechanisms a moment, I saw the thing begin to ascend from the earth very gently.

The wings flap slowly as it rose, and then a little faster as it began to move against the wind. The reports from Sacramento the other night were true. It was my client's airship that the people saw. It started from Orville in Butte County. It flew 60 miles in a straight line directly over Sacramento, after running up and down once or twice over the capital.

My friend came right on a distance of another 50 miles, and landed at a spot on the Oakland side of the bay, where the machine now lies, guarded by three men. The inventor found during his trial trip that his ship had a wave-like motion that made him seasick. It is this defect that he is now remedying. And then the following comes out the next day, and this is from the Bismarck Daily Tribune, November 24th, 1896.

The inventor of the mysterious ship, which has been puzzling local scientists and others for the past week, is believed to be one Dr. E. H. Benjamin, an alleged dentist who occupied rooms in the Ellis Street lodging house for the past two years. But so far he has successfully evaded all attempts to discover his identity.

His attorney, Collins, when seen impressed to tell more about the machine and his inventor, said, quote, This morning the inventor came to my office in the Crocker building and told me that he tested the merits of the ship last night's storm, with great success, and he hovered over seal rock for fully 10 minutes and played his search lights on the seals themselves.

A dispatch was received from Sacramento to the effect that hundreds of people there had again seen the mysterious meteor in the heavens, but as yet no one has been able to see the object sufficiently well to state definitely what it is. Interesting. But then, while this is all going on, another article comes out. This is on November 29th, 1896, and this is from the Oregonian. I have to assume, just because of how news would spread at the time, that it would be like calming throughout the U.S.

These articles coming up, these are just ones I was able to find. So it's not just it's only showing up in Oregon and it's only showing up in Bispoch. These would be all printed everywhere in my mind, but cannot confirm that because I do not have access to newspaper records. So November 29th, 1896, and the Sunday Oregonian, they printed this article.

Wide attention has been drawn to the newspaper story sent out from San Francisco of a mysterious airship invented by a man from Maine, built in secret and launched from a retired spot south of San Francisco, once it made long voyages back and forth over the length of the state.

Told with a clumsy imitation of all swift's wealth of detail, including an interview with the Council of the Inventor, a lawyer who afterward divided all knowledge of the either inventor or airship, but was swallowed gluttonously by the people of California who blocked the streets nightly to imagine that they saw the oblong white body enveloped in dim light as it traveled to and from the air.

And apparently Californians are still gaping up into the empty night, though the falsity of the story has been proved, of course, no person of intelligence ever believed it. That's the last anybody ever heard from Collins, the attorney, outside of in 1905 when he has to stand trial for Bigamy. That was a whole other spitting sping I started going down at that point, which was really weird. Do we have any other insight on? Well, there is one other insight here.

In 1886, an inventor by the name of Moses Cole patented a new and improved aerial vessel, and it consists of two semi-theroidal balloons. And according to Scientific America at the time, quote, between which are situated the cabins of the passengers and crews, those being fitted with windows surrounded by a circular balcony.

This is at least kind of one explanation of where these guys got the idea for the balloon and the patent thing is from a previous patent that had been filed with the patent office. But yeah, the inventor never shows up. And this is really the end of the first wave of the airships. That's weird. Okay. But it's not the end of airships in general. They come back around the start of February 1897. The Omaha Bee reports an airship sighting over Hastings, Nebraska that happened the previous day.

And then an article in the Albion Weekly News reported that two witnesses saw an airship crash just inches from where they were standing. And the airship suddenly disappeared with a man standing where the vessel had been. The airship pilot showed the men a small device that supposedly enabled him to shrink the airship small enough to store in the vessel in his pocket.

In a rival newspaper, the Wilsonville Review placedly claimed that its own editor was an additional witness to the incident and that they heard the pilot was saying, Waver et sroff iberkibus. The phrase he allegedly heard is just backwards for subscribe for the review. But I don't have an actual date on that one. I just kind of think it fit in here. So February, it kind of, we have another pop up. April, things really start going.

This comes from April 3rd, 1897, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported a sighting. That mysterious airship still continues to show itself in the West. It was first seen in California and it has now reached Kansas with rare modesty. It only makes its appearances at night and then but little of it is visible, except the lights that are on board of it.

The fact that the scores of people who have seen it at different times all agree in the description which they furnish is certainly something in favor of the truth of the story. As the inventor appears to be working in his way East, we in this latitude may soon have the opportunity of adding that to the number of observers. From there, apparently this object then goes south and is next seen above Guthry, Oklahoma on April

6th. The Dallas Morning News published an article then on April 8th titled Strange Objects Seen and there shall be signs seen in the heavens describing this encounter. Soon a bright light was seen at the front of the object which seemed to be thrown out in different directions. Mr. Trumbull called a number of people who watched the strange object for a long time and are confident it is the mysterious airship seen at so many places during

the past few weeks. Its outlines were indistinct but a light was thrown out from the front and at times there were flashes of light along the sides. It moved swiftly backwards and forward, sank almost to the ground just north of the city and then rose straight into the air at great speeds and disappeared into the darkness of the night. Then on April 10th, 1897, the St. Louis Post-Dismatch published a story reporting that one W.H. Hopkins encountered a grounded airship about

20 feet in length and 8 feet in diameter near the outskirts of Springfield, Missouri. The vehicle was apparently propelled by three large propellers and crewed by a beautiful nude woman and a bearded man who was also nude. Hopkins attempted with some difficulty to communicate with the crew in order to ascertain their origins. Eventually they understood what Hopkins was asking of them and

they both pointed the sky and uttered something that sounded like the word Mars. Then April 14th, 1897, the Philadelphia Inquirer provided additional information about the inventor and possibly the airships being openly displayed. Not much comes from this. And now comes the story that the director of the Transmissivity Exposition to be held at Omaha have received a communication from a man who declares that he has invented an airship and that he will disclose his identity and come to

the front if the director will guarantee him 870,000 square feet of space. He declares that the ship will carry 20 people to a height from 10 to 20,000 feet. Nothing comes of that. Why is this happening so much? I don't know. Then on April 15th, the Dallas Morning News described a reappearance of the mysterious airship over Denton County, Texas by at least two credible persons whose reputations for truthfulness cannot be assailed. This article contained more details

than nearly any published previously. This is a bit of a long one, so let's get listening. I at first thought it was a meteor, but upon closer examination discovered the unknown object to be almost stationary and focusing my binoculars on it. Discovered that it was moving slowly in the southeasterly direction. At this slow rate of speed, the ship continued its course for a few minutes and then with almost a jump started off at a terrific rate and disappeared in the southeast,

remaining in the range of my vision about 20 minutes. When I first ascertained the character of this object, it floated about a half mile above the earth and seemed to be about 50 feet long of a cigar shape with two great mugs thrust from each side, a broad tail for steering sail behind

and a long break or blade resembling a cut water on a ship in front. At the point where the search light threw its rays far into the night ahead, beside which even luminosity of the moon paled, a row of windows along the side gave out smaller lights, the source of which had been stored electricity as there was no smoke. As well I could see and I could see very plainly coming from the ship, nor was there even a sign of smoke stacks. Two days later, on April 17th, the Dallas Morning

News reported another detailed account of the mysterious ship. This time in Paris, Texas, about 100 miles away from Denton County. According to a mister J.A. Black, the night watchman at the Paris Oil and Cotton Company plant, this is what happened. I was engaged in making my usual rounds at the mill yesterday morning about two o'clock when I observed a faint but luminous object in the northeast sky. I first thought it to be a meteor of gigantic proportions and its

speed appeared equal to such as planetary trance. As it came nearer, this idea was quickly dispelled and sorry this is this really dates the article. I ran to the cabin of a colored man by the name of Jin Smith and together we viewed the aerial monsters that approached nearer. From what appeared to be at first a luminous cloud, there were now clearly outlined a monster airship. Myself and Smith, who he describes with a differable word, were held spellbound by the light. The ship had sails or

wings outstretched on both ends. There were large rotating fans projecting from the sails at an angle of about 45 degrees. The one in the front being elevated. While the one at the rear was depressed, somewhat resembling the tail of a bird, we could only gain a faint idea of its accurate size but think it must have been 200 feet long. The sails or wings constituted 9 tenths of the whole. The subcar shaped cabin was apparently suspended in the midst of the sails and it was

evident that the fans were propelled by some power or force located in the cabin. The noise of the propelling machinery was plainly heard as the ship sailed swiftly over us. My dog was with me when the airship was first discovered and he immediately set up an unearthly moaning which he continued until the curious visitors were completely lost of view. Smith was visibly affected and being naturally superstitious lost no time in falling to his knees and offering up a prayer for the

safety of himself and the family. Smith even now claims the airship was none other than the return of Noah's Ark with wing-like attachments on its way towards the Mississippi bottoms. Its mission being to save the colored folks from the perils of the overflows in that section. That really took a turn. Yeah. The explanation. And then while this is all going on it's kind of in between those two sites. April 16th 1897 a story published by the Table Rock Argus claimed that a group of

anonymous but reliable witnesses had seen an airship sailing overhead. The craft had many passengers and the witnesses claimed that among these passengers was a woman tied to a chair, a woman attending her, and a man with a pistol guarding the parent prisoner before the witnesses thought to contact authorities the airship was already gone. And then this gets even more bizarre. On April 19th 1897 again in the Dallas Morning News they had like just a run of each day they had

a news site even though they go through. This one's called a Judge Seize. Judge Love said the following. A Judge. It was capable of flying 250 miles an hour and he met five peculiar dressed men in it. They actually were out. This is what they told him about the people that have been flying the airships around. We live in the regions of the North Pole. Contrary to the general belief there's a large body of land beyond the polar seas containing about 200 square miles of territory.

The first time this land was visited by humans so far as we know was when the 10 tribes of Israel found their way there after the captivity and dispersion of the Jews. According to tradition they were attempting to cross Bering Strait and were carried by a floating iceberg and landed on

the shores of the North Pole land. The climate there, while at times cold, was prevented from being uninhabited by the influence of the Gulf Stream which after flowing for hundreds of miles many fathoms under the surface of the sea in that region came to the surface and flows entirely around the continent of the North Pole land. You wonder how I speak English? Well the polar expedition of Sir Hugh Willoughby in 1553 who with his crew were supposed to have been lost as a

matter of fact succeeded in reaching the North Pole land. The ship had been so wrecked and broken up by voyage that Sir Willoughby and his crew were unwilling to risk a return trip. Therefore they remained at the North Pole land and in the early part of 1846 Sir John Franklin's crew reached North Pole land. Sir John, having died near what is now called Lady Franklin Bay, Sir John's crew remained as to return was impossible and the ship being crushed between two icebergs 100 miles from

the North Pole land to which they went into boats. In addition to the foregoing various parties in the United States and Europe from time to time reached this land in a helpless condition. Well we have a splendid country now. You know how buildings are heated by steam? Well we have pipes through which steam is conveyed all over the inhabitable parts of our country and the soil is kept at such a temperature that we can produce all the fruits of the temperate zone and some of the

fruits of the tropics. The country is lighted by electricity during the six months of night. We have no timber and no coal. Water as you know is composed of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The oxygen burns very rapidly giving out great heat. Now by means of a chemical process we take an iceberg, separate the hydrogen from the oxygen and use the ladder for fuel and lights. For lack of timber we cannot build ships or trains. Therefore we were led to the invention of the airship and

that's the end of that one. Okay and then an account from Aurora Texas related in the Dallas morning news on April 19th about six o'clock this morning the early rises of Aurora were astonished at the sudden appearance of an airship that had been sailing through the country. It was traveling do-morth and much nearer the earth than ever before. Evidently some of the machinery was out of order

for it was making a speed of only 10 or 12 miles an hour gradually settling down to earth. Sailed directly over the public square and when it reached the north part of town collided with the tower of Judge Proctor's windmill and went to pieces with a terrific explosion scattering debris over the several acres of ground wrecking the windmill and water tank and destroying the judge's flower garden.

The pilot of the ship is supposed to have been the only one aboard and while his remains are badly disfigured enough of the original has been picked up to show that he was not an inhabitant of this world. Junior T.J. Wiens the United States signal service officer at this place and an authority on astronomy gives it as his opinion that he was a native of the planet Mars. I have no idea how an astronomer like the best astronomer in town would be able to judge that but he did. I love these

old sightings when they're like yeah he's definitely a Martian or a Venetian. Papers found on his person evidently the records of his travels are written in some unknown hieroglyphics and cannot be deciphered. The ship was too badly wrecked to form any conclusion as to its construction or motive power and it was built of an unknown metal resembling somewhat a mixture of aluminum and silver and it must have weighed several tons. The town is full of people today who are viewing the wreck

and gathering specimens of the strange metal from the debris. The pilot's funeral will take place at noon tomorrow. I'm gonna end that there. A lot of speculation on this one. It was the town trying to get over it. It had a bit of a plague issue and it didn't want the bad connotation that wanted some tourist money so it kind of a lot of people believe they made this one up. But that's that's still that story. Okay then there's an account by Alexander Hamilton not the Alexander Hamilton

from American history. Another one who lives in Leroy, Kansas. Okay. Yeah the guy who Hamilton is based on the play different guy. Okay. This one lives in Leroy, Kansas. So apparently on April 18, 1897 this occurred and is published in Yates Center Farmer's advocate of April 23. Hamilton, his son and a tenant witnessed an airship hovering over his cattle pen. Upon closer examination the witness realized that a red cable from the airship had lassoed a heifer but had also become entangled

in the pen's fence. After trying unsuccessfully to free the heifer, Hamilton cut loose a portion of the fence then stood in amazement to see the ship cow and all rise slowly and sail off. Some also call this like the first story of cattle needillation. They just left with the cow. Oh sorry later on apparently it's found. Okay. I both like and don't like the story. So that's what he says. When people have looked into this I kid you not Alexander Hamilton is a member of the local

Liars Club. Yeah. I wonder why they don't have those anymore. I know. Apparently we got TVs and just said yeah maybe we don't need Liars Clubs anymore. I just don't have the spare time for it anymore. Wow. Okay. Okay. And this one I couldn't put particularly down but it's somewhere in April 1897. John Halley and Adolf Wenk of Springfield, Illinois reported a flying craft of the Silure type whose pilot told them that it was a new invention flown at night to attract less

attention. The pilot stated he had left Quincy 100 miles to the west only 30 minutes earlier and impossibility for any aerial object of the time. Similar objects were reported in Indiana where a crew were making on the spot repairs and the pilot was tracked down by the press and Martinville where he had made the statement that he had an airship in Brown County undergoing repairs

and three machines flying in central states in the US. And also in April of 1897 for more than 30 minutes a huge airship was witnessed by jurors, judges and lawyers who had gathered outside of the courthouse in Harrison, Nebraska and it had a bright white light and colored lights around it. It was oval shaped with a box like structure hanging from it and a propeller at the stern. And this one that should have came earlier on April 11th, 1897 it around 8 p.m. in Milwaukee.

Witnesses all over Milwaukee saw something strange in the sky and the serious object passed over the city that night. They called it an airship because the term flying saucer in UFO wouldn't be coined for another 50 years. One downtown police officer reported seeing the airship while standing on Broadway. He described the airship as looking like four bright stars put together. It flashed the colors of white, red and green. Although a local astronomer argued the airship

may have only been the stars. This policeman stood by his story. He claimed that the craft dipped, bobbed wildly several times and before it sped off towards the northwest and disappeared from view unusual behavior for a star. Many other witnesses concurred that its rate of speed was unmistakable from the movement of ordinary stars. An essential police lieutenant however claimed the airship was the product of hoaxers flying a kite from the north point lighthouse grounds.

And he contended the airships were nothing more than a kite with a light attached. Strung out on an incredible two mile of string even a Milwaukee Sentinel reporter questioned this explanation. The airship was seen all over the city. How could it have been a night flying kite even one controlled by an impossibly long tether when reliable independent witnesses spotted the airship over Sheboygan. Later that same night the kite explanation became

even less plausible and the airship was the talk of the town in the morning. The question have you seen the airship replace customary greetings and an article in Arkansas Gazette printed on April 20th 1897 reported that Captain Jim Hooten had witnessed the appearance of one such airship. Hooten, a conductor of the Iron Mountain Railroad was visiting Texarkana to pick up a locomotive

to bring back to Little Rock. He decided to go hunting while he waited. As he made his way through the underbrush he heard the familiar sound of a locomotive air pump and moved towards the sound. As he looked up he saw an airship land in a field a few acres from where he stood. Hooten and the ship's pilot then had a conversation about the airship's engine before it took off. Hooten was able to make an extremely detailed sketch of the airship when he was interviewed by the Arkansas

Gazette two days later. On April 23rd 1897 posted in the Harrisburg Arkansas modern news. One witness from Arkansas allegedly a former state senator was supposedly told by an airship pilot that the craft was bound for Cuba and he was going to use its hotchkiss gun to kill Spaniards. He then offered

this senator a ride but the senator refused. As he probably should. On May 17th 1897 Constable Sumfter and deputy sheriff John Macklemore spotted a bright light in the sky quickly disappeared while outriding outside the city limits one rainy evening day in hot springs Arkansas. As they kept riding they saw the light again closer to the ground. They rode as fast as they

could until the horses could go no further then disown and drew their weapons. According to the hot spring sentinel they described seeing a 60 foot long cigar shaped vessel with several men shining lights walking around the ship. Sumfter and Macklemore questioned the captain who told them he could take them to where it was not raining. Sumfter and Macklemore said they preferred to get wet and the two lawmen let the airship go on its way after finding out that they were heading to

Nashville Tennessee. And then while this is all going on the airship sightings catch the attention of the Arkansas General Assembly the local government and they have a debate on whether or not the Arkansas Rail Commission would be getting freight charges from these airships flying over pad. These reported airships seem to be moving around the state without paying taxes and the Arkansas state senate passed a resolution declaring that the airships should be paying taxes on the freight

they carry. And then around the middle of May these sightings just stop on the coastal northeast. This is the last sighting that happens it's in Yonkers New York 1897. And the dates different on this so I don't really know which one's the last one. The articles I was reading I guess just wanted to put it flying off to see is this last one but they also says this is April 30th so might not be the last one. The great airship was seen over Yonkers New York towards the sea

curiously when the 1896-97 complex stopped for all practical purposes it does just stop. There is another airship flap that happens in 1909 it doesn't reference the 1897 one it is fully independent. Super weird. And virtually no new sightings emerge from the areas over which it had soared it just ends. In total there were sightings over 20 different states with at least 150 different independent sightings which took place in this time. Can I ask some questions?

Yes that's the end of my story. Were there ever any daytime sightings? For the most part they were all nighttime. I can't confirm all of them though because some of the articles just say like what happened they don't say it was night like the guy who was hunting and came across that ship in the forest. I assume that would be daytime because I don't see people hunting in the middle of the night for deer but it didn't say whether or not.

True. Now some of the sightings are like super cool sightings other ones like and people saying that this is like aircraft they were working on like why you wouldn't be just exclusively testing aircrafts at night. Well you might be because there would be a bit of like inventors worrying that people are stealing their invention or seeing their invention and them being the first to invent

an aircraft so that does seem somewhat plausible. It could seem plausible but then you think about it and if it's like the first time people are out trying to invent aircraft like something you're flying in is that the ideal testing situation to be going up at night? No but we don't do everything for ideal purposes. True that's true. There's a lot of idiots out there. Plus they probably got day jobs too so they got to work on their airships at night. So that got me to thinking like what's

going on if a lot of it is fueled by people. Like some of them are cool some of them are obviously might be something else other than this but I was like what might be fueling it. I was like when did world the worlds happen? No that one the radio one didn't come out till 1937 so that's a ways off. No but the book I believe would have come out around that time. It did. Now it didn't actually get printed until 1898 so this is still after this. It was being written actually during this time.

Yeah and in fact you gotta wonder if that had a little bit of inspiration drawn from this. That's what I was thinking as well after I realized it wouldn't have came out to create people being like oh what's that light in the sky now? Seems more like it might have been some inspiration. Yeah but also like airships were just kind of part of the popular culture at the time with the science fiction. Okay. Which might also just be drawing what people are seeing.

If they're seeing something in the sky they don't know they're just identifying it as something they might be able to. Anything and reform a reference that you have to be thrown out there. Yeah and I always love like I said when you're talking about it at this time everyone's references Mars Venus or something like that and I always enjoy that. Except for the Israelites that were at the North Pole and the ones that get horrible and that's it. And it does seem like someone would

blame it on them eventually. Yeah that was great I didn't know that history actually. Yeah and John Keel actually writes quite extensively in one of his books. I think it's Operation Trojan Horse is the name of the book as well as there was a book that I would love to read but I was just taking little chunks of it as I went and it is called The UFO Controversy in America by David Michael Jacobs written in 1975 that extensively talks about these sightings as well.

So if you're looking for further reading this is a very short sample of everything that happened during this time. Go check out one of those books because it does bring further information. Well and this is like the first air flap he said that right. Yeah like there are UFO sightings before but like John Keel's the one who points the term UFO flap and he's specifically calls this the first

UFO flap. Yeah that would make sense. Okay well. And if you want to look it up there's a Wikipedia article on mysterious airships that have a lot of drawings of them from the day and like you just gotta love some of the old tiny airship almost steampunk qualities to them on it and also if you probably just google them. This is definitely what do I google? Just google 1890s ship and the airship

and look at images and there's lots of them. There we go. I really like the one and it's literally just a like a ship in the water with like fans above it and a fan in front. Oh yeah there it is. The next one is like a ship with like a hot air balloon attached to it. Yeah. Oh these are good. And we'll probably post a few on socials as this is going on. It really speaks to the time we're living in because UFOs look so different now they've come so far.

Yeah I have a hard time believing these could go to Mars and back. Oh these are good. These are nice photos. But yeah I'm sure at a future date we'll take up the 1909 airship flap but for now I have been Taylor here with Chelsea. We are Journey to the Fringe. Thank you all for listening and we'll see you next week.

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