In 1896, a Mysterious UFO Brought Northern California to a Mesmerized Halt

By the end of 1896, Bay Area airship sightings had stopped altogether. The confounding thing is, they quickly started up in other parts of the country — first Nebraska in Feb. 1897, followed by Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. The craft seen in Marshfield, Wisconsin was described as “cone-shaped with glaring headlights,” moving up to 70 mph — very similar to what had been seen in California.

Many newspapers of the era described credible sightings, alongside hoax attempts. Fake photos of a flying airship — made using images of a painted canvas on wires — were reported in Rogers Park, Illinois. Groups of men in Omaha, Nebraska and Burlington, Iowa confessed to sending up huge balloons to confuse people actively looking for the airship. And on April 2, 1897, the Kansas City Journal, mindful that what it was describing may have been an April Fool’s prank, nevertheless reported a:

“Flying machine in view for more than an hour … [Witnesses] assert that the floating power seemed to be in a mammoth bag, supposedly filled with gas. To this were attached four light wings of triangular form, two on either side and from the great bag was suspended a cage or car. This car was canoe-shaped and appeared to be from twenty-five to thirty feet long. A few declared that the ship had red lights hung over the edges of the car.”

No one was quite sure what to believe, as is evidenced by the following words gingerly printed in Pennsylvania newspaper The York Dispatch in May 1897:

Recently, the newspapers of the whole country have been exploiting stories of airships seen hovering over various towns and country places in districts very far apart. The testimony seems unimpeachable, especially in the face of so many witnesses, but certain details are always lacking to complete the evidence.