Transcription
“This Mysterious Light Called an Airship”: Nebraska Saucer Sightings,1897(Article begins on second page below.)This article is copyrighted by History Nebraska (formerly the Nebraska State Historical Society). You maydownload it for your personal use. For permission to re-use materials, or for photo ordering information,see: shs-materialsLearn more about Nebraska History (and search articles) raska-history-magazineHistory Nebraska members receive four issues of Nebraska History /membershipFull Citation: Robert L Welsch, “‘This Mysterious Light Called an Airship’: Nebraska ‘Saucer’ Sightings, 1897,”Nebraska History 60 (1979): 92-113.URL of article: story/full-text/NH1979UFOs.pdfDate: 1/2/2020Article Summary: The year 1897 was a year indelibly marked by reported sightings of aerial phenomena. InFebruary 1897, beginning in Nebraska, people across much of the United States began reporting nighttimesightings of an airship flying overhead. The ship was usually described as having multiple lights and wassometimes said to have wings. It was often said to move at great speed. The author investigates the nature of thenewspaper reports of the period in Nebraska, having found reports of nearly 200 sightings.Cataloging Information:Names: Dick Grant , Walt Scott and Charley Dempster (all of Beatrice), Charley Prescott (Kearney), WilliamWeidner, Anton Pallardy, Al Abel, C W Hodges, J H McCarty, Tom Cass, William Rigge, James Southard, CyrusMcCormick, Bert Disher, Markus Bullock, Jake Long, Connie Eagen, Albert Whipple, John LeMasters, G W Seux,Clinton A Case, Henry Heinz, Lloyd McLeanKeywords: airship, UFO, mystery shipPhotographs / Images: Newspapers in Omaha, Lincoln, Wymore, Hastings and many other towns chronicled theairship sightings of 1897
"THIS MYSTERIOUS UGHT CALLEDAN AIRSHIP,"NEBRASKA "SAUCER" SIGHTINGS, 1897By Roger L. WelschA huge. canoe-shaped spaceship. like nothing seen before.approaches the small Nebraska town at incredible speed. Itsbrilliant headlight dazzles onlookers. who stand open-mouthedbefore the approach of the mysterious craft. It suddenly stops inmid-air. moves abruptly uP. then down. sidewise. forward. andbackward at will in defiance of all known laws of physics. Someviewers believe they can hear the murmur of a power source.and others detect the voices-even the laughter-of the airship'spassengers; all agree that there is a red light on the stern of theship and a row of three lights on either side. and a dim greenlight is seen by some. The lights dim and glare. and in theirreflection the earthlings can make out the silhouette of fourlarge wings. two on either side of the ship's massive body.Suddenly the craft shoots upward and disappears toward thehorizon at incredible speed.The townsmen are left bewildered. mystified. thrilled-eventerrified. Has some new power for flight been discovered thatwas previously unknown to civilization? Is it a mirage or aportent of the Apocalypse? Is it simply an elaborate hoax?Witnesses of the strange visit take some comfort in knowing-- that other Nebraskans have seen the ship. but they also knowthat cynics will call them drunks. fools. or charlatans. They toohad thought that earlier sighters of the ship had probably seen abrilliant evening star or a vagrant cloud. but now they "knowdifferently:' It is no star. no cloud. no hoax; it is an airship ofan appearance and performance previously unknown orimagined. Its sources and purpose are unknown. Whole com munities see the ship. use modern communications systems totrace the craft. but still there are no explanations. Soon theMidwest is seized with the hysteria; the craft is seen throughoutthe country and conversations turn to the mystery ship.The post-World War II flying saucer scare? A futuristic92
AIRSHIP SIGHTINGS93television show? A cheap comic book story? No, indeed; a storystraight out of Nebraska's history, a chapter that provides oneof the most exciting, if not frustrating, episodes of that history. IFiery wheels, airships, flying saucers, and UFOs have beenthe subject of reports from Ezekiel right up to the United StatesAir Force's Blue Book Project, an extensive cataloging andanalysis program for such sightings, which lasted under variousnames from 1947 to 1969, when it was terminated withoutconvincing conclusions. Today J. Allen Hynek, a formermember of the Blue Book staff and now one of its fiercestdetractors, writes best-selling discussions of the UFOexperience; the phrases he coins-for example, "closeencounters of the first, second, and third kinds"-havecaptured the attention of popular culture markets too. Scarcelya week's newspapers appear without official denials from worldgovernments of their role in the UFO phenomenon, reports offurther sightings, or speculations about the origin and nature ofthe "saucers."The purpose of this investigation, however, is not to deal withthe authenticity or even the nature of the 1897 sightings but totreat instead the nature of the newspaper reports of the period.Charles Dana Wilber's theory, "Rain follows the plow," mustbe considered as a factor of Plains settlement whether we nowconcur with the idea or not. Similarly, whatever our currentopinion of UFOs, we can scarcely deny that 1897 was a yearindelibly marked by reported sightings of aerial phenomena. Ifnothing else, these reports provide particular comfort for thosewho insist that there is indeed nothing new under the sun.The strange sequence of events opened on February 2, 1897,in Hastings:Several Hastings people report that an air ship. or something of the kind. has beensailing around in the air west of this city. It was first noticed some time last fall when itwas seen floating in the air about 500 feet above ground. and after standing nearly stillfor about 30 minutes it began to circle about and then took a northerly direction forabout two miles. after which it returned to its starting place and sank into oblivion.Sim:e that time it has not been seen until last Sunday evening. when it was observedstanding nearly still. a few miles west of Hastings and s,"oemingly about 800 feet in theair. At lirst sight it has the appearance of an immense star. but after a closer observa tion the powerful light shows by its color to be artificial. It certainly must be illuminatedby powerful eledric dynamos for the light sent fonh by it is wonderful. At 9:30 lastMonday night the large glaring light was seen to cirl:le around for a few minutes andthen take a northerly direction for about three IIIl1es. It then stood perfectly still forabout live minutes and then descended for about 200 feet. circling as it traveled at amost remarkable speed for about two miles and then slowing up it circled about for
94NEBRASKA H ISTOR Yfull y IS minu tes , when it began 10 lo .er a lld d L\clIppear as m yster iously as il Ilad madeits appearance . . . . A close w1l1(h is being kepi for ils r(a ppearan ce.'The Hastin gs sightin g was the fir st repo rted in Neb raska butnot the fir st in th e cou ntry; a mysterio us airshi p had beenrepo rted in Sac ra mento , Cali fornia, the year before. and it hadnever bee n satisfactorily explained . The Februa ry 3 comment inthe Norfolk News attributed the unusua l aerial siglu ings byHastings citizens to excessive drinking:It ,,"ould be inlerc ling 10 kn ow just . hal brand of liquor the Ha!il ings COI f :sporuJcntdrinks, lhal enables him 10 4:( airships carrying po,"cr ful lighls !lyral i", about throughlhe allnosphtfC. II m us t be a remarkable brand of goods, an d if it .·ould halt thesalubl iou, trf t of enabling ant \0 Stt hi pet lIl o n gagt n03ting a .a y, . e .ould btglad 10 ery a rew gallons 01 so.O n February 5, 1897, the Omaha Daily Bee repo rt ed th at theship had been seen at Inavale, abo ut 40 miles south o f H astings .It had been spotted several lim es, o nce by a p io us part y o f 10ret urning from a prayer meeting . This obviously was a slap atthe Norfolk cynic who accused those wh o believed they had seenthe craft of drinking. This sighting was more detailed, includ inga description of the lights along the side of the ship. Theonlookers heard the sounds o f the engine and voices a ndlaughter of passe ngers. Observers reported: "It seemed to beco nica l shaped, and perhaps 30 or 40 feet in length, wit h abrigh t head light and six smaller ligh ts, three o n a side , andseem ed to have two sets of wings o n a sid e, wi th a large fun shaped rudd er."T he modern reader m ight ass ume that Neb raska ns we reseei ng a d irigible balloo n. Bu t such craft were o nl y in thedevelopment stages in Europe and the East and co uld scarce lyhave been independent ly develo ped on the Plains or have flownthere on a jaunt. The speed s and control of the craft asdescribed in the reports were no t to be reached by engineers forsome time. Round ho t-a ir balloon s were well known at the timea nd h ad been used in the C ivil War 30 years before. BlIt in nocase d id they have th e ki nd o f maneuverab ility o f this sh ip tha tco uld circle , mak e right t urns , fl y upwi nd , atta in great speeds ,a nd hover m otion lessly. O n february 8, 1897, the York DailyTimes reported that an "honest" cit ize n and his daughter hadspotted the lights of the mystery sh ip and called in a witness,who swo re on a Bib le that he had seen what he claimed .Four days later the Falls City Journal noted a space shipreport from Elwood, Kan sas , and edi to rialized, "Our people
A I RSH IP SIGHT INGS95never saw such things in Nebraska ," suggest ing that the man iahad not reached any sizeable proport io ns in it s firs t two wee ks.On the sa me day the Hastings Tribune wished that someone inthe arca wo ul d create one of th e ru mo red spaceships, whi chscientists theorized was possib le.Next the ship turned up al low altitude over Omaha. Wh ilenot hing cou ld be discerned regardi ng the form of the ai rship,the light s were in ev idence. 11 was scen by scveral pcople , thechief witncss being Thomas Ha zel o f 26th and H St reet s," Iwho l holds a respon sib le position wit h thc Hamm ondPac king Co mpany and is co nside red trustworthy in everyrespcct . " IT hc Beatrice Daily News rcported on Feb ru ary 16 that fivemcn had spotted the ship over th at city the night befo re,"movin g slow ly and very perceptib ly toward the west."However, the light·hearted nature of the report suggests that therumors were sti ll not being take n seriously by al\ editors: "DickGra nt has co me perilo usly ncar a description of the mach ine insolemnly asserting that it has a tail. Walt Scott thinks it had twoeyes, whi le Charley Dempster will not venture more than o ncwho pping big eye ." T he craft now retu rn ed to central Neb raskaand a ppeared nea rly every night betwee n Hasti ngs and NorthPlatte. O ne report had sparks fa lli ng from the sides (at Nort hPla tte) , and a nother alluded to the California sh ip, suggestingthat this might be the same craft which had crossed th emountains-a feat no ba ll oo n o f the tim e could haveacco mplished. City Clerk C harley Prescott of Kearney spottedthe ship and reponed it to the Daily Hub edito r , who pub lishedthe repon on February 19 but refused to take it seriously, notin gthat he had once been gullib le himself.However , the sa me editor swa llowed his pride the next da yand ra n a story in se rious mien, that the ship had bee n spoiledby repu table people a nd there cou ld no lo nge r be doubt thatsometh ing was paying nocturna l aeria l visits to the tow n.Indeed, sight in gs seem to have affected even social life:" Several 'airship ' parties wi ll watch for the strangephenomeno n each evenin g (from l now on a nd an effort wi ll bemade to ge t more acc urat e descripti ons. "Now report s were coming in frequently enough a nd wit hsufficient reliabi lity that they had to be taken seriously. Effortswe re now begun to explain the pheno men on:
96NEBRASKA HISTORYWilliam Weidner is another candidate for fame. He has come forward with one moreexplanation in reference to the mysterious light. Down at Juniata . about fifty·fivemiles distant from York, there is a station agent . who is such in name only, inas much as his railroad duties take but a small part of his time. This man the neighbors calla kite crank . He flies kites of a new and remarkable kind, . known to kitespecialists as box kites. They are built on an entirely different plan from that on whichsmall boys usually construct high nyers. They are tail·less, and look at a Iiule distancemore like a box than a kite. But a closer examination would reveal considerabledifferences between them and boxes. The affairs, in short, are merely a series of planesbuilt one over the other and which are so arranged as to afford the least possibleresistance to the air from an upward pressure. The things oar aloft with wonderfulease. At night, the kite nyer auaches a light to a kite and sends it liP to startle and puzzlepeople for miles and miles around. The nature of this light is 110t very well known. II isintensely brilliant, and, Mr. Weidner says,looks much like an arc light. Whether or notthis light could be seen from Juniata by people of York is a question, but there is apossibility, and a strong one, too, that a bright light raised to an elevation of a couplethousand feet could be seen for over SO miles on a bright night, although its apparentelevation from here would not be so great as stated by those who aw the light a fewnights ago.'Nor, one might add, would it explain fantastic speeds andtraverses across the zenith!Even though the spaceship matter had begun to snowball inthe 16 days since the first report, some editors continued to usethe idea as a target for their wit. The editor of the Kearney DailyHub, for example, wrote that now the "light in the sky" wasseen every night over the city and remained unexplained. But healso wrote:Chief of Police Julian is the last gentleman who claims to have seen the airship. He sayshe saw it rise in the west, sail toward the east, and light near Durley Hall. Janitor Eckrefused to confirm the story of his chief, and the night police object to makingaffidavits to anything the chief says. IThe Beatrice Daily Express carried a story about a secondsighting in that city on February 23:II has the appearance of a greatly magnified star with luminous rays shooting outunevenly from the disc. There is no suggestion of an airship about it, but it has ratherthe resemblance of the frame of an opened umbrella without the cover. It is Venus, andthe swaying motion and peculiar rays are the results of atmospheric conditions.On February 26 the Grand Island Independent carried anarticle on another "sighting" there but explained it as thebrilliant showing of Venus, the evening star. The Independentreported that the airship had "attracted much attention," butthe Hastings Tribune of the same date scoffed: "a, that airshippeople see on high at night isn't in it with the midnight sleighingcrowd."Now the craze was three weeks old, but there had been over20 appearances of the craft reported in southeastern Nebraska
rHE WEEKLY ARBOR STATE EXPERTS 01 THE "AI SHIP"Some Nebraska Landsmen SizeUp the Apparition of theCele!otlal Craft.-.:: ' : ;J R. DODDB EdItor and PrtJpriBtor.OUR VUIt.8TORI!: . HILOSOPUJI:", :'tbHRII aD tlplDIOII 1118t h ('fll'"The lhalrlre EJ:prt!88 takea UI torl"hQed. Orialallllild Sododytask for cnpylng Anton l'alhudy'a artl·cle recently publla14 Ib the Womao'.Wvekly Ga ette of Heatrlce on the air ACil, lailer. a Uni n P,1Cific TrJi"tllan I dIblp. It II laid In conclusion: "Be W"lttn ClUlflnan Gi.eOpiniO'lslIevmg all tbeH thin,. the editor of.upo II.the AllUOll TATK haa tbe audacltJ to write edltorlall on gumption" and ,at (".'nJutl·. I. flr.- '-\"'f Ih.- " . " b!!,,"ttlat gold bug espo",,", 01 DrO l!linn "f ,·.I.' II 1 rr,,'1 Ih.\1 h." I .·.·" ",.mlll:rtlr l'''I1W \\ . ·k. antiand prolperlty haa beenSAW A B'I'RANOC LlODT.al )',h r.'"'' :.\.-.Th,'ita reade" believe tbat t S"',". n (III:'; ,;. 'I.rll d by. ,, ' ::;, : " ,, I : Itandllfd II right, that a . 1·1. ····'1 AII·.IoII·,lilt 10 1."1,, ""l Ih.·walk on on" Ie"81 weill ,,, :' :',, .!;',,:.', ," . \ r' :·;':,\: ; III : ·I "I'Uh"" m.l "'.11)' lJ .mbl·ItI n:hl," I"' \'01\., .:11 ,.ought to 861 fill clearl, \1 !::';;:. ",:,:.,\',:' , '.:.I: .:':. hl:.:,I,I:"' .:"I ,:: .111.1 !'I"nlh "lUnlhl nn,'bII ,., q-·I . 1,1 . . . ' " . ", h" 'I · ".t . .; . i'l.! t'\·· .1' I hIwe11 as two, ear.1 we ' . I. : rU·'.n.,l"'n. r.',',I.'.' Z.l '0' ,,-,,-01 ; 'I.I''.: :""breathe I I well with one :I :I!.' ::";' II':': :/:,.,' of ',',':;.: ",;'01 '; lI;:;:, ')' tn"Ulut. .1.d "all14aDd our natton do as mu :: " .JI i . ": .' 'II: .; .'.". ", " ." ··I :!;l h .·I r. : ;. - - .'"')'rn.r·,1,1&'11'"r"(.:· "::::";U I;"I:A 8l",01:0 AirShip.'rh"----rrequent reported appearQncesor air ships and flying machines III dir." .11J'0 orn ,',.,.II0\lr.lln,lr\\'.'&1;1\"t:" h .·n frol\\ 11"".1·'" IIfOldt. \\ h·, h .In "IU"a,,)"llun'au.)" ""IItC"I1\"'- 'h'fCnh',, ,'' .:':'. ':.:' : Ih' . I "lm'''I-lh.1:::.; : ',"." 'I':",;'! 'h ,,01 I"'l I., IhillI"j.,',0"1't.,I'-)'\'rt,lU"Srerem pllrts of thl! country and espce· :: ' :: It ,,,,,.Ih,' h"Mr I., b .ially III St'braska, should certainly gh·.1",II' 1I1l' \\'.orl,'·".·.some eolur to the presumption thatPLANS or AIRSHIP.finch mllchll:ca do exist. or conrso the In\' . II". bUhu,"r IIrur, n.'n'. UII Ilabl.In Olllahn.grent moss 01' people are skeptical, nnd In It.r (.m.,,, IIr ,: \\' lOu , II. nnwh"pronoulIl'e the llractical air sl.ip an ut- pIIII'nl .utl.·!: .,'. III"), I,,· .·n Ih. 1,111'":;.; .;.;;;;;.!:.:.:;.;,;;.a. .w .,.·,.uM :-a".'nI \. 'ter ImlJosslbility. So iAnother Ai, Ship Story.,n.,f ",·,1:,1 M\I,steanlbollt, the st ':llne: I./'llte a IOOIf IIl1pnl.:b lI.ted rrow till" Ihal r II'·III )'l\lId the telegraph. Y Olt)' app&a,.IID a roC:8Dt I. ua vr thl . ,,1.1 nol I. nlnow eS.Ilblished rne: ; : OmAb" Hee teillD" a\)uv a wy.lerluu. : 'II :. ' "I\ ,!;;: as to CI::Lse to be I)r e,. lletlal v"j ul vr 1I000el"D.1 """tluR v'vr . '11 11\1' IIrln:'",··r·· Ihan t s JUDlaLat oId by t I18 se I t!nt.Ja ' tbe lowe .tIlP".7iDli a pvwltrrul 11111.T . In\.nll"".lillht, It was elaled th,, It wvu·,1 . it I Ihrou"hlthllt, the aIr ship Is a0.11II 4011 r 000 rltel a tiDI.a . lI.ro".:h in.·,'bl' rapl 7 a.a.DU ,I.·! . 1·lr.1 Th.·' Itl la t I t ISmlJOSSI e.o .tao'" 1 llIaDd tbllo rapIdly 80Br BllUut 10n.:",,·01 ""rlulmove through the air. ID OIfOI8S. The UN WID dlMerille. I r ;: 1;" " !'I ''::not tell U8 how It IS tim \bu : .Newspapers in Omaha. Lincoln. Wymore. Hastings (above) and manyother Nebraska towns chronicled the airship sightings of /897.
98NEBRASKA HI STORYand northern Kansas. Edito rs fe lt o bliged to print the report sand rumors but described the luminous objec ts as kites o r th eplanet Venus. They did not li ke the " feci" o f the stories.however, and continued to ba lance news reports with rid icule.Immediately fo llowing an art icle about a sighting in Kearney ,the H ub. to ngue in cheek , ra n this on Ma rch 4:While on the qUe tion o f SHange lights, the Hub reproduces an nlnel from a leite r,published in good faith by the Womon 's Ga I'IU of Beatrice by Anton Pallardy, as.cicntist from the Black Hills, who has rceenlly bee n vi siting in lk atr icc :Febru ary 26, 1897- To the Editor: The ai r hip whk h ha s been seen over Gram.!Isl and, Hastings, and Beatrice Is no lIIyt h. It is a reaHty, Wh ere it was built. I dart nottell YOll; mOle than that YOIII leaders know Ihal lO tht nor l hwt t o f Nebr as ka is a weild,londy and strangt eO llntr y known as Ihe Mauva is Terrn, Thelt alt canyons, C:;l"ern5,nooks and t rannin in thne bad lands thaI ale so sC!:rtt and remOle from the ordinarypathways that men can a nd ha,'e lj"fiI there uninterruptedl y for years, with none tomolnl o r makt afraid, II is flom these Mallvais Terrts the airship comn ,Wi lh my Ihru com(KInions I ha" tsailed over Nebr aska in a line from the forks of thePlallt, alons the Little IlIlie Valley and thence 10 Manhattan, Kansas, generally atnilhl, retuminlto the MllIlvais Te rr n in the early morn ing, , , "II was nC!:cssary that Wt sho uld ba:omt fam iliar with the tarth onfi gurat ion s lyingIIndcr OUI ae rial track, Hencc, I a m in YOUI dty to makt somc nC!:tssary investigations,in orde r tha t we may obtain a tit le to the rou tc over which we propost 10 operale oursh ip,Fo r pllldential reaso ns, I da re not dtscribe Ollr ship in dctaillo you, T hose who haveIftn h , know its general appc'arance to be something like a "tl y lar gt umbrella with atrans lcnt to"trinl. Th i!; larle umbrella is immediatdy abo"e a pair o f winlS , Thnc"'inIS alt upandcd and tontracted at Ih c pleasure o f the engineer. Suspc'nded abo'eand attached to tht winlS art two "try th in aluminum balloons containing the new gas,helium, Immediately t"'un the wings is anothe r smaller umbrella·like affair that anbe: made to Icvolve ,'c ry rapidly , for a purpose [dare not di sc lose to you. This then is theairship in br ief, and iu desc ription "'ill co rrespond with the oblelvalions of those whohavc obtained a good loo k at h, , . . AnIon Pallardy .The March 2, 1897 Omaha World Herald ca rried a se ries ofhumorous ex planations fro m various walks o f li fe: a jailer said ,"Dere's different kinds o f de red liqu or; dat wh ic h makes yousesee snakes , and dat which makes youse see balloo ns and air shi ps " ; a railroader, who fe lt that someone had probab lymistaken train lights fo r a vi sio n; and a cowboy, who felt thatsome fellow mU SI have "wa nde red off the range . . . into abuffa lo wallow and go t a little mixed up o n the way th e herd wasdrifting. "The greates t ca use fo r skepticism was Ih at no o ne had seenthi s " airship " on the gro und and that il o nly appeared at nighl.The Adams Cou",y Democrat said : " The airship, which isreport ed to have bee n seen by so many peo ple, does no tmalerialize very fas t. It is funny whal so me people sec a ft erdark. We have hea rd o f people 'seeing snakes ' but seeing
AIRSH IP SIGHTINGS99'airships' is a new deal. and must be caused by water-dilutedforty-rod. " IThere had now been nearly 30 sightings. The Lincoln StareJournal noted thaI some residents felt the airship was a sign thatthe world was coming to an end. Serious report s were frequentl yaccompanied with a statement like that in the March 5 HastingsTribune, "We know Bert to be a total abstainer, and we dan',believe that he could stand on his head for five hours."The editor of the Beatrice Daily Express heaped ridicule onthe editor of the Wymore Arbor State for giving credence to therumo rs: "The Arbor State, of Wymore, swallows the whole o fthe hoax, and implicit ly believes in the airship, even going so faras to profess to having seen it. Believing all these things theeditor of the Arbor Stare has the audacity to write editorials ongumption. ".One gets the impression that newspapers were caught in adi lemma: They didn't want to believe in nonsense. and yet therewere reports from reliable wi tnesses. The Lexington Pioneerstarted a sto ry on March 6 in a way that was clear ly meant todraw forth from the soph isticated reader a knowing smile: "AIAbel, the groceryman, alleges that he saw the airship Tuesdaynight last. It had a brilliant headlight and was a sight to in spireone with terror. AI was so overcome with astonishment andwonder that he walked off the sidewalk ncar his residence andtore off the bow and stern of his pantaloons." However, a fewlines later the writ er fee ls compell ed to note, "All the peoplewho have seen the wonderful sh ip are strict ly temperate in theirhabits and their stories ought to be credib l e." Now the stories began to pour in from across thestate-M cCook, Fremont. Clark s, and Papillion. Cynicsbecame convert s:People may lal k all they plea5e about the strange lig ht Iha t has been reponed 5e( n inthe sk)·.\.O often of tate. and claim t hattho e ,,'ho ha"e sC'C'n it don't know a star from anairship unlillhey are gray-headed , but lhey ,,'on' t mak e C. w. Hodges bclie" e anYl hingof Ih e kind , Unli l Th ursday mo rn ing he was one of lhe scoffe rs. and didn ' t lake muchStock in ai rship s, but he lalks about it no w in a seriou s manner , He ha s seen somethin ghi mse!f-w hal it was he doesn' t pretend to lllY, olhcr th an a "ery brig ht lig ht - and isnow . illing to bclie,'e that o ther people have nOI bC'e'n fooled by Ihe \tars. '·The descri ptions of th e airship remained constant throughthese first five weeks of report s. No one else had heard noisesfrom the ship, but the headlight and sidelights remained. It stillhovered and darted and moved with great speed. The ship was
100NEBRASKA HISTORYseen moving toward all Quarters of the compass, upwind as fastas downwind. (The author plotted on a map reported flightdirections from the ISO sightings used for this paper, and therewas no pattern, other than that most flights were toward thenorthwest.) There were plenty of explanations. none of themvery plausible:A gentleman. . . said Ihal lasl year someone had predicled Ihal Kearney would bedeslroyed by an aerial visitor who would drop from Ihe clouds, begin work on a cerlainslreel and eXlerminate Ihe lawn. The name of Ihe false prophel was nOI given, bUI thefact that such idle prophecies are repeated shows what strange speculations are indulgedin over the strange light seen."All descriptions practically agree, a fact which would tend to convince the skepticalIhal there must be something besides bad whiskey in the airship theory. ,/During the past few months there have been several reports regarding an individual inthe state who is working on an airship. The inventor has been located somewhere nearHastings, but he has succeeded in keeping his identity pretty well concealed. They say hedocs not want his airship invention to be stolen by unprincipled individuals."Some declare (the spaceship' portends dire disaster to the country."J. H. McCarty, of the night tower at the Portal Station, is firmly convinced that thelight seen in the east is either a mammoth kite or an airship of some kind."Nor did the scoffers relent in their attacks:A reporter, wishing to get an idea of the airship from an expert, Ihis morning inter·viewed Tom Cass, and found him a walking cyclopedia of knowledge on the subject ofaerial travel. Learning that he was to be interviewed, Mr. Ca s threw caution to thewinds, and talked as freely and unreservedly as a phonograph."Did you ever see an ainhip?" queried the reporter."Never in my waking hours," was the reply."What would you do should you see one?""That depends. If I were near a newspaper man. would kcep my mouth continuallyclosed."".f you saw one do you think you would do anything you might afterwards be orryfor?"". might. If. should see an airship with snakes for pas cngers I probably would takethe Keeley cure.""If there were no snakes?"". would question the integrity of my eyesight." . ."What do you think this ship is that everybody is eeing and talking on""One of Norris Brown's air castles that floated beyond hb reach and got away.""Do you think anyone has ever seen it?""Yes. Charley Bessie saw it.""Do you want this interview published?"uNo.tt.tFather William Rigge, SJ. professor of astronomy atCreighton University. Omaha. argued: am satisfied in my own mind that the alleged airship seen about a month ago was theplanet Venus. I remember the night very well, it was cold and the clouds were beingblown along in rifts and this will account for the deception of the 5tar, appearing tomove. The last airship was undoubtedly a balloon which some wag had sent up to enjoy
AIRSHIP SIGHTINGS101the fun the next morning. It does not seem probable that when such men as Maximand others, who have been working on the theory of aerial navigation for years and sofar have failed to solve the riddle that some fellow in the backwoods has been able tosolve the matter.""The airship had now been cruising Nebraska's skies for twomonths and new sightings scarcely rated a column-inch. TheWorld-Herald jokingly suggested that perhaps the conman whohad last year bilked several hundred people of 25 each on thepretense of flying in an airship had repented and was fulfillinghis pledge-but was afraid to land until his safety from the mobwas assured. IIFrom the Auburn Granger, April 9, 1897, came a story that isbaffling in light of the fact that the author's name is given andthere is attestation of his character:James Southard, a farmer on the bottoms north of Peru, was in Auburn on Wednesdayand made this office a call. Mr. Southard tells a story which a great many will doubt,and were it not for his reputation as a truthful man we would hardly care to repeat thestory. He has resided in Peru precinct for the past 20 years and has always been knownas a truthful and honest citizen.Some time during Monday a number of cows belonging to Mr. Southard strayedaway from his farm and were not missed until evening. A hunt for the missing cattleresulted in Mr. Southard finding himself several miles from home when darkness cameon. He soon became lost and wandered about for some time in the dense growth of wil lows, becoming all the time more confused as to his whereabouts.About two o'clock in the morning he saw a light on a bar in the river, and finding aplace where the bar ran into the bank, made his way to the light. Imasine his surprisewhen he found that he had stumbled on to the airship which has attracted so muchattention and been
Fiery wheels, airships, flying saucers, and UFOs have been the subject of reports from Ezekiel right up to the United States Air Force's Blue Book Project, an extensive cataloging and analysis program for such sightings, which lasted under various names from 1947 to 1969, whe
