Mystery Airships: The Steampunk UFOs Part One

On November the 21st 1783, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes ascended to the skies in the worlds first known manned flight using a hot air balloon. Seeing that anniversary the other day sort of reminded me about those anomalous flying machines of the late 19th Century; the "Mystery Airships"

New Hampshire in 1870

Things began to go bump in the sky in the 1870s. Paris was occupied by the Prussians and Alexander Graham Bell was tinkering with a prototype which would one day drive us all insane and in America strange reports were appearing of "airships" in the sky. Over the next few decades the sightings continued, mostly in sporadic bursts, right up until the foo fighters took their place as the UFOs of the 1940s.

Although the major "flap" didn't occur until 1896 there were significant unidentified flying object sightings before that, with the below being the best known, and best documented, one.

On March the 26th 1880, in a small dot on the map named Galisteo Junction, New Mexico, a worker on the railroad and couple of friends were walking after a hard days work when they heard voices in the sky. The voices were in an unknown language, punctuated with laughter, and when they raised their eyes to the sky they were greeted with the sight of a gigantic craft floating above them occupied by a dozen or so men. They would later describe the craft as "fish shaped" because of it's cigar body shape with a tail, all driven by some sort of propeller.

The occupants threw out some objects and pieces of paper which were carefully examined by the men. The writing on the paper made them think of Oriental script and a cup was later described as being unlike any they'd seen before.

Later a strange visitor to town bought the objects and they were never seen again but, according to this site and the April 5th 1880 Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican, there is a postscript:

A party of tourists which included a wealthy young Chinaman stopped in the vicinity and found the stranger engaged in archaeological work. The young man grew excited on seeing the articles dropped from the airship, because among among them was a note in his fiancee's hand, and he explained that CHINESE EXPERIMENTS IN FLYING HAD AT LAST SUCCEEDED, meaning, the airship which crossed the skies of Galisteo Junction was THE FIRST FLIGHT OF a CHINA-TO-AMERICA airline.

China. To America. By Airship. In 1880. Hell, it's one heck of an idea!

But the real excitement started in 1896. Sightings began in California and over the next few months moved gradually eastwards.

In Sacramento in November 1896 some men "Not Addicted to Prevarication", as one newspaper put it, reported seeing a light moving across the sky and heard voices (in a remarkably similar manner to the New Mexico sighting that happened nearly two decades before).

"The most detailed report of the evening came from one R.L. Lowery, a former street railway employee who said he heard a voice from above call, "Throw her up higher; she'll hit the steeple." When he looked up he saw two men seated on a bicycle-like frame, peddling. Above them was a "cigar-shaped body of some length." Lowery said that the thing also had "wheels at the side like the side wheels on Fulton's old steam boat." The Mystery Airship Of 1896

A few days later even greater numbers of people observed the phenomenon in Sacramento and also in San Francisco. After that the sightings, and the claims about them, became increasingly weird and worryingly common. Sightings were reported all along the west coast from Canada down to California and people claimed the airships to be the works of crazy inventors or military machines destined for war against the Spanish (read any right wing blog and insert the word Spanish for Muslim and you'll understand America's feelings towards our European cousins in the late 19th Century). The feverpitch gradually dissipated and all was calm until... 

In February 1897 the airship(s) made another appearance, this time over Hastings, Nebraska and few days later 40 miles away in Invale. Soon they were again coming from all over with one farmer reporting:

"It is cigar shaped, about 200 feet long and 50 feet across at the widest point, gradually narrowing to a point at both ends,"

The Nebraska sightings grew so numerous many people began spending their evenings watching the skies, nearly one hundred years before Mulder and Scully! The sightings moved into other states near and far and that's when things got a little weird... 

The airship was first spotted in Kansas on March 26, and reports came in through April and early May. The most amazing account out of Kansas came from a farmer named Alexander Hamilton, in the little town of Le Roy. According to Hamilton, the airship had dropped down on his farm on the night of April 20. The pilots lassoed a heifer from Hamilton’s herd and carried it off into the air. Mr. Hamilton even produced a notarized statement from twelve prominent men of Le Roy, attesting to his honesty and truthfulness.

The small town of Aurora, Texas, had an even more dramatic incident. On April 19 the Dallas Morning News reported that the airship had crashed into a windmill in Aurora and exploded. The body of the pilot was recovered, and was identified as a native of the planet Mars. Despite this, the remains were buried in the local Masonic cemetery.

Chicago awaited the airship with great anticipation, and was not disappointed. The mysterious lights reached Illinois at the beginning of April, and lasted through the first half of the month. After a handful of reports during the first week of April, a spectacular series of airship sightings swept Illinois and Indiana during the week of April 9-16, with 110 reports over the course of seven nights. It was spotted all over Illinois, frequently in different parts of the state on the same night.

In nearby Wisconsin, a farmer found a letter, apparently from the pilots of the airship, describing its construction in Tennessee. Other letters turned up in Michigan and Texas, obviously practical jokes. The most celebrated “airship message” was found in Astoria, Illinois. It was addressed to Thomas Edison, and was seemingly a coded report to him from the pilot of the mystery airship. The great inventor called it a “pure fake.”

After Illinois and Indiana, the sightings began to taper off. They did not end at once; reports were still being published in June of 1897. But they were scattered and few in number. The great wave of airship mania had broken and receded. The Amazing Airship of 1896

I believe the below picture to be one taken in Chicago at the time of the ships appearance there, although even then it was widely assumed to be a fake.



Things didn't end there.... Mystery Airships: The Steampunk UFOs Part Two

Further Reading

Mystery Airships In The Sky - Steven A. Arts (UK Amazon, US Amazon)

Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery - Michael Busby (UK Amazon, US Amazon)

The Great Airship Mystery - Daniel Cohen (UK Amazon, US Amazon)

American Hauntings: The Ghosts Of San Francisco Part One

Well Dear Reader, I've been trying to research some ghosts outside of Britain just to ensure I have plenty of material for ghostly tales in the future. To make this job a little easier I've started on one of my favourite cities: San Francisco.

San Francisco's modern history doesn't go very far back. Most people would date the real beginning back to the Gold Rush that hit it's peak in 1849 (of course I'm well aware that there was plenty of action going on in the area for millenia before!). I've owned cutlery that's older than that! Nevertheless not only has San Francisco built up an interesting history of characters over it's short life, it also seems to have picked up a few otherworldly residents too.

Sadly a lot of the stories appear to be ill disguised urban myths. I'm not saying that most ghosts stories are not urban myths. But most hide it a little better than those from San Francisco!

Headless Man On The Bay Bridge

On the 17th of October 1989 an earthquake rocked San Francisco and evidence of this is still easily visible around the Bay. But did it leave more than just physical scars? Could this be the cause of an apparition that supposedly now haunts the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge? During the Loma Prieta earthquake a section of the Bay Bridge collapsed and one person lost their life. Did their spirit stick around long after the rescue crews had left?

Late night drivers on the bridge's lower deck say that when driving across the bridge late at night they hear a tapping on their side window and sometimes when they turn to look they find a headless body running, and keeping pace, alongside their car.

Do I believe it? Hmm... my sceptic hat says no... Far too urban myth like. I can't find any sources except for some forums from "witnesses" but I can't exactly trust them now can I?!

The Ghost Ship Of San Francisco Bay

The ghost ship has been sighted on "many occasions" according to the sources I read, most of whom point to the SS Tennessee as the originator of apparition.

The SS Tennessee was a steamer ship which brought thousands of gold-seekers to the City. On the 6th of March 1853 she sunk just outside of the San Francisco's always foggy headlands, in an area now known as Tennessee Cove. Though the ship was lost all the passengers, baggage and mail were rescued, and as such it seems an unlikely candidate for the ever popular title of "ghost ship".

Some stories told of the ship attempt to make it "spookier" (as if the apparition of a sunken ship was scary in itself!) by claiming all hands aboard were lost. This is a lie, as can be seen from this contemporary report. 3 people did die but not from the sinking but more likely from exposure and stress setting off previously known of conditions.

A famous sighting occurred when the U.S.S. Kennison passed an unusual vessel in the straights, which didn't appear on their radar, on the morning of September 15, 1942. One of the better sites (who does not reference the Tennessee might I add!) describes the incident thus:

It was cutting through the fog toward the Golden Gate Bridge, when seaman Howard H. Brisbane heard a series of faint hissing noises from his watch station, followed by creaking and popping sounds. As the morning fog lifted, Brisbane began to see a ship.

"It wasn't just any ship," Brisbane said. "It was an old-fashioned sailing ship, the kind with two masts and lots of rigging." He went on to say that it appeared to be unmanned, and that "She was unpainted, and the rigging was clearly dilapidated. "She was under full, but ragged, sail."

He called other sailors to come see the strange sight, and torpedoman Jack Cornelius informed the bridge about the strange ship. The event was noted and the ships log and forgotten, although the phantom schooner still makes an occasional appearance in the bay.

Based on his description, and also the supposed reference to the Balclutha in some 911 calls reporting a ship loose in the bay, I'd suggest this apparition (if of ghostly origin or not) is definitely not the SS Tennessee. Take a look at the picture on this page and you'll see the ship was quite clearly not as described above.

That's not to say a ghostly ship doesn't haunt the Golden Gate. But if it does I'm sure it's story is far more tragic than the rather unexciting sinking of the Tennessee.

But that isn't the only ghost ship mentioned in San Francisco (given the amount of old ships lying in the bay and around the headlands this is hardly a surprise!) check out the ghost ship Squando

I'll be writing a post totally about Ghost Ships at some point in the future, because they fascinate me... especially the real ones! Yes, Dear Reader, there really are "ghost" ships out there but they might not be quite what you are thinking of...


Phantom Cow of Yerba Buena Island

It's one of those stories you can't pass up. I saw it here:

Before California became a state, however, Yerba Buena Island was known for its phantom cow, which could be seen wandering the island mooing mournfully. Supposedly the story goes that the cow's calf was butchered and devoured by pirates. The cow now sorrowfully roams the island searching for its lost eaten calf.

I couldn't find mention of it anywhere else, but I don't care if it's true or not. It is just a great little story. Plus in my searchings I did come across another bovine related story of Yerba Buena! Check out... the Bull Patrol!

Goat Island became a favorite resort for holiday-makers and at times they were a tax on the Dowlings. However, an ingenious device for keeping off intruders was adopted, by allowing a bull, with a marked antipathy for strangers to range about the island. His presence, together with his reputation had the desired effect. Finally the bull became a menace to those living on the island and a hunting party was organized to despatch him. Not finding him for a time, the party divided and one of the divisions came upon him suddenly in an open path. The situation was dangerous, but not without humor, the six sportsmen, armed to the teeth, taking refuge in the upper branches of neighboring trees. But in their haste, they dropped their weapons and these the bull trampled into uselessness. However, that evening Taurus was ingloriously noosed and executed in cold blood. A reminder of this terror of the island remains in the doggerel:

"On Goat Island's secret shore
Many's the hour we've whiled away
Listening to the breaker's roar,
Which haunts the beach, both night and day
When we landed on the isle,
Dowling met us with a smile,
And his bull gave us a roar
As we left Goat Island's shore."

And on that note, this post has gotten mighty long and I think the tales of the Ghost of San Francisco will have to rest and I'll come back to them another day...

For all your San Francisco history needs go to Sparkletack. It's just plain great.


Further Reading

Ghost Hunter's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area - Jeff Dwyer