TEXAS - A general belief is that interest in UFO’s began with an
incident in 1940’s when aviator Kenneth A. Arnold spotted nine flying disc like objects near Mount Rainier, Washington. That theory is a
misconception. While the crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico, and earlier sightings
during World War II generated much speculation and circulated new
phrases such as "Flying Saucer," and "UFO" into mass consciousness
the roots of the mysteries are far older than you would think.
Christopher Columbus while standing on the deck of the Santa Maira at night spotted unknown objects in 1492. Beginning in November 1896 and ending in May 1897 a strange, unidentified
object was spotted by literally thousands of people from the West
Coast, to the Great Lakes, and even the Gulf of Mexico. Deepening
the mystery is the fact that air travel would not be revolutionized
until 1904 at Kitty Hawk. The Airplane, commonly put forth as an
explanation for mysterious sightings in the sky, had not even been
thought of in the 1890’s. The craft first reported in California was
slow paced, and cigar shaped. This airship moved silently through
the night as dazed witness on the ground marveled at the sight. For
them this ship must have indeed been a wonder, although Airships had
been tried in France between 1852 and 1884, no study of such craft
would be seen in American until 1914. (See
http://inventors.about.com)
Cigar Shaped UFO (from the website Lights in the Texas Sky) |
In Denton, Texas on the night of April 13, 1897 two
independent witnesses reported sightings of the Airship. One witness
described the ship as being about fifty feet long, with two great
"mugs" thrust out on each side, a broad tail or steering sail
behind, and a long beak or blade resembling a cut-water on a ship in
front. The long craft had a powerful searchlight as well as smaller
lights that seemed to shine out of windows on the side. The detail
in this report can be explained as the observer had been standing in
his yard watching the stars through a pair of marine field glasses.
While the second witness was not able to provide the same amount of
detail as the first their accounts strongly resembled each other’s
and it was not long before the story began to circulate across the
state. Soon their stories were matched again and again, as across
Texas the Airship was spotted by huge numbers of people. Newspapers
ran stories on the Airship including the Dallas Times Herald, and
The Austin Daily Statesman as well as smaller papers such as The
Bastrop Advisor. The last sighting was in Forth Worth on May 12,
1897. While opinions and speculation on the mystery were put forth
at the time no one has ever offered any proof or a solution.
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