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Historic encounters / Mystery airships, 1896-97

The mystery airship wave of 1896 and 1897

From November 1896 in California to April 1897 across the Midwest, papers filled with lighted "airships" cruising at night. Some reports were honest puzzlement, many were jokes, and a few were elaborate hoaxes that newspapers printed with a wink.

51 cases163 newspaper pages13 marked as probable hoaxes

  1. 1896
  2. The San Francisco Call Nov. 19, 1896 · Page 1

    A bright light crosses Sacramento

    Sacramento, California · Nov. 17, 1896

    On a Tuesday evening, hundreds of people in Sacramento watched a brilliant white light drift over the east side of the city, rising and falling as it went. Some witnesses insisted they saw a dark body behind the light and heard voices aboard. This was the opening night of the great 1896-97 airship wave.

    “It was cigar shaped.”
    Also printed in 4 other papers
  3. The San Francisco Call Nov. 24, 1896 · Page 1

    The mayor's men see it over the ocean

    Sutro Heights, San Francisco, California approx. · Nov. 21, 1896

    San Francisco mayor Adolph Sutro said employees at his Sutro Heights estate watched a dark mass with two lights come in over the ocean at about 500 feet, sweeping a searchlight-like beam, then turn north toward the city. Sutro said he believed an inventor had solved aerial navigation.

    “these people would not try to tell me ghost stories”
    Also printed in 1 other paper
  4. The Herald Nov. 22, 1896 · Page 2

    A lawyer says his client built the airship

    San Francisco, California · Nov. 22, 1896

    San Francisco attorney George D. Collins told reporters that a wealthy client had built a working airship and flown it over Sacramento, and promised a public exhibition. Papers then named a dentist, Dr. E. H. Benjamin, as the secret inventor. Collins soon backed away from his story, and no airship or inventor was ever produced.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale Collins retracted much of what he was quoted as saying, and the New-York Tribune called the whole affair one of the strangest hoaxes in the country.

    Also printed in 47 other papers
  5. The Dalles Daily Chronicle. The Dalles, Or. · Nov. 23, 1896 · Page 1

    The light returns to Sacramento

    Sacramento, California · Nov. 22, 1896

    Days after the first sighting, crowds in Sacramento again watched a large white light move quickly across the evening sky toward the southwest. One man driving a streetcar said his passengers made him stop so they could get out and stare.

    “the most uncanny looking thing I ever saw”
    Also printed in 4 other papers
  6. The Record-union Nov. 23, 1896 · Page 6

    Seen heading for Mount Hamilton

    San Jose, California · Nov. 22, 1896

    A young San Jose man, Frank Everett, said he watched the airship pass high over the eastern part of the city at about 11 at night, moving toward Mount Hamilton and its observatory. Others on Santa Clara Street said they saw it too.

  7. The San Francisco Call Nov. 22, 1896 · Page 13

    Streetcar riders see an airship shaped like a bird

    Oakland, California · Nov. 23, 1896

    Passengers on a streetcar near Oakland watched a light in the direction of Haywards and said they could make out the outline of a craft shaped like a huge bird, throwing a beam of light ahead of it. Oakland residents talked of little else and guessed the machine was hidden somewhere in Alameda County.

    “The ship resembles a huge bird in its outlines”
    Also printed in 1 other paper
  8. The San Francisco Call Nov. 25, 1896 · Page 1

    Market Street crowd stares at a star

    San Francisco, California · Nov. 24, 1896

    At about 6 p.m. the cry went up on Market Street that the airship's headlight was visible high over the city, and excited crowds gathered to watch. A professor who checked with his telescope said the supposed airship was an ordinary star.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale A professor identified the light as a star.

  9. The San Francisco Call Nov. 25, 1896 · Page 2

    Telephone workers watch a light head for Gilroy

    San Jose, California · Nov. 24, 1896

    Three employees of the Sunset Telephone company in San Jose reported a bright light moving rapidly across the sky at about 11 p.m., heading south toward Gilroy. Two nights later more San Jose residents described lights passing over the city.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  10. The San Francisco Call Nov. 25, 1896 · Page 2

    Santa Rosa sees a light with wings

    Santa Rosa, California · Nov. 24, 1896

    Airship fever reached Santa Rosa when a bright light appeared at 7:30 p.m. and hundreds of people went out to watch. It seemed to move east, vanishing with a dull red glow and then reappearing, and some were ready to swear it had huge wings.

  11. The San Francisco Call Nov. 27, 1896 · Page 14

    The airship crosses the Tehachapis

    Los Angeles, California · Nov. 25, 1896

    Los Angeles papers reported that the famous airship had apparently crossed the Tehachapi range, after a book dealer and two other residents described a moving light. Within days, people up late in the San Fernando Valley described strange lights near the hills on three nights running.

    Also printed in 2 other papers
  12. The San Francisco Call Nov. 29, 1896 · Page 1

    Rising out of a canyon near Haywards

    Haywards (Hayward), California · Nov. 26, 1896

    A Haywards man named Mohr said he watched the airship rise from a canyon near his place, fly toward San Francisco and come back, and believed it was kept near Lone Tree Cemetery. Three well-known Haywards citizens gave their own account of the same lights.

  13. The San Francisco Call Nov. 28, 1896 · Page 1

    Coloured flashes near Mount Tacoma

    Tacoma, Washington · Nov. 27, 1896

    Several people in Tacoma said they saw the airship near Mount Tacoma (Mount Rainier), giving off flashes of different colours. They guessed the inventor had built a second machine, or had taken an evening spin up from California.

  14. Lyon County Times. Silver City, Nev. · Nov. 28, 1896 · Page 3

    Nevada men say they saw it weeks earlier

    Silver City, Nevada · Nov. 28, 1896

    After reading the California stories, two Silver City men said they had seen the same airship about six weeks before, though at the time they took it for a meteor or a comet.

  15. The Record-union Nov. 30, 1896 · Page 3

    Pat Nunan's ride in the sky

    Sacramento, California · Nov. 30, 1896

    In a Sacramento saloon, a man named Pat Nunan entertained the stove-side crowd with a long account of being lured aboard the airship and taken for a ride. The paper printed it as a comic yarn.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale Told and printed as a saloon yarn.

  16. The San Francisco Call. San Francisco · Dec. 2, 1896 · Page 14

    Two lights over the Sierra foothills

    Robinson's Ferry, Calaveras County, California approx. · Nov. 30, 1896

    Around the time the airship was said to have flown south, people at Robinson's Ferry in Calaveras County reported two mysterious lights moving high over the mountains.

  17. The San Francisco Call. San Francisco · Dec. 2, 1896 · Page 14

    An electrician's close-up view

    Oakland, California · Dec. 1, 1896

    Case Gibson, a young Oakland electrician and the son of a school superintendent, told reporters he had seen the airship at close range and gave a detailed description of it in flight. Students at Stanford also reported a light they took for the airship.

  18. The San Francisco Call. San Francisco · Dec. 3, 1896 · Page 1

    Fishermen say they dined with the aeronauts

    Beach north of Pacific Grove, Monterey County, California approx. · Dec. 2, 1896

    Two Pacific Grove fishermen said an airship about sixty feet long and made of metal landed on the beach some fifteen miles north of town, and that they talked and ate with its three crewmen. The paper sent a correspondent to look for evidence.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale No evidence of a landing was reported; it reads as a tall tale.

  19. The San Francisco Call. San Francisco · Dec. 5, 1896 · Page 2

    A Fresno barkeeper meets the inventor

    Fresno, California · Dec. 3, 1896

    George Jennings, part owner of the bar at Fresno's Grand Central Hotel, said a stranger came in claiming to be the airship's inventor and told him the craft had been caught by an air current and was now somewhere in Fresno County.

  20. The San Francisco Call. San Francisco · Dec. 4, 1896 · Page 1

    A tin airship falls into a gulch

    Stanford Heights, San Francisco, California approx. · Dec. 3, 1896

    A San Francisco story, reprinted in Kansas, said a 40-foot airship of galvanised sheet steel sailed over Twin Peaks, lost control and plunged into a gulch near the Corbett road, bruising its two crewmen. Reporters described its twisted propeller.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale A homemade contraption or a newspaper stunt; nothing like it flew in 1896.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  21. New-York Tribune Dec. 6, 1896 · Page 27

    Flying machines in flocks

    Oakland and Alameda, California · Dec. 5, 1896

    Mysterious lights floated over Oakland and Alameda one night, one shooting up over Piedmont and drifting into the clouds, followed by others. A Washington paper reprinted the story under a joking headline about airships appearing in flocks.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale The papers treated it as a joke; such lights were often paper fire balloons sent up by pranksters.

    Also printed in 2 other papers
  22. 1897
  23. Omaha Daily Bee Feb. 6, 1897 · Page 1

    Prayer-meeting crowd hears voices from the sky

    Inavale, Nebraska · Feb. 4, 1897

    Inavale residents said the airship already reported near Hastings had been seen over their town several times. On a dark night, ten or twelve people coming home from prayer meeting described a cone-shaped craft thirty to forty feet long and said they heard voices. It was one of the first reports of the 1897 Midwestern wave.

    “Thirty to Forty Feet Long and Conical in Shape”
  24. The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, Kansas · March 1, 1897 · Page 3

    Telegraph operators watch for the Kansas airship

    Northern Kansas approx. · Feb. 28, 1897

    From Atchison came word that the supposed Kansas airship had been seen in Nebraska, and that railroad telegraph operators across northern Kansas spent the night watching for it.

  25. Courier Democrat Langdon, N.D. · March 11, 1897 · Page 2

    A winged ship ablaze with light over Ellinwood

    Ellinwood, Kansas · March 1897

    Ellinwood citizens described an immense airship moving south at about forty miles an hour, with two huge wings or propellers on each side and a rudder at the back. It was lit from stem to stern and stayed in view for about ten minutes. The paper noted that Ellinwood was a dry town.

    “The ship was one blaze of light from stem to stern”
    Also printed in 6 other papers
  26. The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, Kansas · March 19, 1897 · Page 2

    A ball of fire crosses Omaha

    Omaha, Nebraska · March 15, 1897

    On a Monday night, large numbers of Omaha people saw a big light pass over the city in a way that suggested someone was steering it. A citizen of North Loup wrote in to say the light had come from his direction. The excitement lasted all week.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  27. Kansas City Journal. Kansas City, Mo. · March 28, 1897 · Page 1

    Scores of Belleville people see it under control

    Belleville, Kansas · March 27, 1897

    The airship sighted around Kansas and southern Nebraska for a month passed over Belleville several times in one week, and many residents watched it. They believed it was the same machine first reported in California and that someone was steering it.

  28. The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, Kansas · March 29, 1897 · Page 1

    Omaha sees it for the third time

    Omaha, Nebraska · March 29, 1897

    On a Sunday evening, reputable Omaha citizens watched the mysterious light for the third time, visible for about half an hour as it hovered over the city. Nearly every paper in the Midwest carried the dispatch.

    Also printed in 15 other papers
  29. The Herald April 2, 1897 · Page 2

    Kansas City swears to the strange lights

    Kansas City, Kansas · April 1, 1897

    On April Fools' Day, many respectable citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, solemnly declared they had seen the strange lights at 8 p.m., and the papers printed an affidavit. Two nights later, thousands in Kansas City said the visitor came back.

    “Notwithstanding that this is the first day of April”
    Also printed in 7 other papers
  30. The Evening Times. Washington, D.C. · April 5, 1897 · Page 4

    A light hanging from a canoe-shaped bag

    Nebraska and Kansas approx. · April 4, 1897

    A widely reprinted Omaha dispatch said a light had floated over Nebraska for months and was being hotly debated. Some described it hanging from a canoe-shaped bag, and rumour credited a German inventor. The story ran in at least sixteen papers.

  31. Richmond Dispatch. Richmond, Va. · April 8, 1897 · Page 6

    A lighted object with rigging over Wilmington

    Wilmington, North Carolina · April 7, 1897

    Hundreds of people on Wilmington's streets and wharves watched a brilliant floating mass move rapidly west of the city. Many said they could see a network like rigging around it. It was one of the few East Coast reports during the 1897 wave.

    Also printed in 2 other papers
  32. Rock Island Argus Rock Island, Ill. · April 10, 1897 · Page 7

    Chicago and Evanston stare at four lights

    Evanston and Chicago, Illinois · April 9, 1897

    On two nights, crowds in Chicago, Evanston and other lakeside towns watched a moving group of lights, white in front with green and smaller white lights on the sides. Evanston families gathered on Davis Field with telescopes and field glasses. Astronomers said the main light was a bright star.

    “Men renowned for sobriety looked aloft through strong telescopes”
    Also printed in 3 other papers
  33. The Indianapolis Journal April 10, 1897 · Page 5

    Every station agent from West Liberty to Cedar Rapids

    Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern line, eastern Iowa approx. · April 9, 1897

    Hundreds of people in eastern Iowa reported the airship, and dispatches said every telegraph operator and station agent on the railroad between West Liberty and Cedar Rapids had seen it.

    Also printed in 5 other papers
  34. The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, Kansas · May 5, 1897 · Page 5

    Topeka's airship was a kite

    Topeka, Kansas · April 10, 1897

    Several hundred Topekans had watched an airship in the western sky one Saturday night. Weeks later the paper revealed it was a government experimental kite with two lanterns hung on it, sent up by a Mr. Patten.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale Explained: a kite carrying two lanterns.

  35. Rock Island Argus Rock Island, Ill. · April 12, 1897 · Page 5

    Following the Hennepin canal

    South Moline, Illinois · April 11, 1897

    A farmer named Karr living on the Rock River said he saw the airship following the Hennepin canal south of South Moline before dawn, heading west. The whole Moline police force swore they had seen it the night before.

  36. Rock Island Argus Rock Island, Ill. · April 12, 1897 · Page 5

    A snapshot of the airship at Rogers Park

    Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois · April 11, 1897

    Walter McCann of Rogers Park said he photographed the airship at 5:30 one morning and showed two negatives, with three witnesses saying they saw him take them. Papers pointed out that modern photography could fake almost anything.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale The photograph was widely judged a fake at the time.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  37. The Red Cloud Chief April 16, 1897 · Page 1

    Footprints where it landed near Red Cloud

    Red Cloud, Nebraska · April 12, 1897

    A dozen Red Cloud residents watched a large white light, some saying red and green too, travel northwest late on Monday night. Another account said the ship had landed in a field and that a party who reached the spot found a man's footprints.

  38. The Saint Paul Globe St. Paul, Minn. · April 14, 1897 · Page 2

    A star that stopped to rest over St. Paul

    Marshall Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota · April 13, 1897

    James Feeley, his family and other Marshall Avenue residents watched a light that looked like a star making a rapid trip and stopping now and then. Some thought they heard an order to cut away the anchor as it moved off.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  39. Evening Journal April 15, 1897 · Page 5

    A letter from the airship Pegasus

    Near Appleton, Wisconsin · April 14, 1897

    A message said to have been dropped from the airship was found in a red stocking near Appleton. It named the craft Pegasus, and papers asked whether it was a canard.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale Almost certainly a prank; the papers themselves suspected a canard.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  40. The Daily Morning Journal and Courier April 29, 1897 · Page 4

    A rabbi's story of a landing near Beaumont

    Near Beaumont, Texas · April 14, 1897

    Rabbi A. Levy of Beaumont said the airship landed on a farm near his home one night, and that he went to the spot and heard what the travellers had told people there.

  41. The San Francisco Call April 16, 1897 · Page 2

    A strange light over Tacoma again

    Tacoma, Washington · April 15, 1897

    Tacoma residents described a strange moving light in the night sky and took it for the airship that had been crossing the Midwest.

  42. The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, Kansas · April 16, 1897 · Page 2

    Over the capital, then a kite at Fort Myer

    Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C. · April 15, 1897

    Hundreds of people in Columbia Heights watched what they took for the airship one night, and one report joked that it seemed ready to anchor on the Washington Monument. A week later, a crowd that thought they saw it over the Potomac learned they were watching an official aeroplane kite flown from Fort Myer.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale The second sighting was explained as an Army experimental kite.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  43. The San Francisco Call April 17, 1897 · Page 2

    Settling on a meadow near Birmingham, Iowa

    Birmingham, Iowa · April 16, 1897

    William Walters and others said an airship settled onto a meadow a mile from town in the morning. As they ran toward it, it rose gracefully when they were 100 yards away. They described two men in the car and a machine about 100 feet long and 20 feet wide.

    “Two men were plainly seen in the car.”
    Also printed in 1 other paper
    • The Sun., New York, April 17, 1897, p. 1
  44. The Austin Weekly Statesman Austin, Tex. · April 22, 1897 · Page 5

    An undertaker sees it fly down the beach

    Galveston, Texas · April 17, 1897

    Galveston undertaker Walter Norwood and his driver, Bob Tevis, said that at 3 a.m. under a bright moon they watched the airship follow the beach east, turn at the end of the island and follow the bay front. It was pointed at both ends, carried a headlight and looked like a big bird with regularly flapping wings.

    “It looked like a great big bird, with wings flapping regularly”
  45. April 20, 1897 · Page 1

    A message from three men lost in the sky

    Cripple Creek, Colorado · April 18, 1897

    Cripple Creek said the airship passed over on Sunday, and a man found a note on his barn roof claiming to come from three occupants, two Bostonians and a Frenchman, who had lost control and were drifting without water.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale The papers treated the dropped message as a joke.

  46. The Evening Times April 20, 1897 · Page 4

    A huge cylinder flashing red fire

    Camden, New Jersey · April 19, 1897

    Shortly before 5 o'clock, a crowd at Fourth and Market streets in Camden watched something in the western sky that looked like a huge cylinder flashing red fire, and many believed it was the airship.

  47. The Times. Richmond, Va. · April 28, 1897 · Page 6

    Alexander Hamilton's stolen heifer

    Near Le Roy, Woodson County, Kansas approx. · April 19, 1897

    Former legislator Alexander Hamilton swore that an airship hovered over his farm, roped a three-year-old heifer and carried it off, and that the hide was found miles away the next day. Papers from Kansas to Utah printed his story.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale Called "the champion lie" at the time; Hamilton was later reported to have made it up as a joke with friends.

    Also printed in 2 other papers
  48. The Evening Times April 20, 1897 · Page 4

    Sistersville signs an affidavit

    Sistersville, West Virginia · April 19, 1897

    A mysterious light approached Sistersville from the northwest at about 9 p.m., stopped over Cochransville, Ohio, across the river and flashed red, white and green. Citizens signed an affidavit that they had seen it.

  49. The Houston Daily Post. Houston, Tex. · April 28, 1897 · Page 6

    The anchor at Merkel

    Merkel, Texas · April 25, 1897

    People coming home from church in Merkel said a heavy object on a rope was dragging along the ground until it caught on the railroad. Looking up, they saw the airship with lights shining from several windows. The anchor was said to be on display in town.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale Generally treated as a tall tale.

  50. The Evening Times. Washington, D.C. · April 26, 1897 · Page 3

    A travelling salesman saw it four times

    Wheeling, West Virginia · April 25, 1897

    George A. Williams, a travelling salesman for a large cloak firm, told Wheeling reporters he had seen the airship four times on his travels and had no doubt about it.

  51. Union County Courier. Elk Point, Union County, D.T. · May 6, 1897 · Page 1

    Passing over Ponca

    Ponca, Nebraska · May 2, 1897

    The mysterious airship was reliably reported to have passed over Ponca, according to a South Dakota paper across the Missouri.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  52. Pine Bluff Daily Graphic May 10, 1897 · Page 1

    Two lawmen interview an airship passenger

    Bull Bayou, near Hot Springs, Arkansas · May 7, 1897

    Constable John Sumpter and deputy sheriff John McLemore swore an affidavit that near Bull Bayou at midnight they saw the airship land and talked with one of its crew, who said it had come down for water.

    Also printed in 1 other paper
  53. The Saint Paul Globe St. Paul, Minn. · Dec. 7, 1897 · Page 2

    A locomotive engineer's light in the sky

    Eastern Minnesota railway, between Duluth and St. Paul approx. · Dec. 6, 1897

    John J. Hussey, engineer of the day train down from Duluth on the Eastern Minnesota, reported a strange light in the heavens that people supposed was an airship, months after the main wave had ended.

    Also printed in 1 other paper

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