Great Airship Wave of 1896-97
Wave of ‘mystery airship’ sightings across the US decades before powered flight
| Great Airship Wave of 1896-97 | |
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| Date | November 1896 – May 1897 |
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| Location | United States (nationwide, concentrated in the Midwest and California) |
| Type | Sighting wave |
| Status | Mostly hoax/misidentification |
Newspapers across dozens of U.S. states reported sightings of cigar-shaped “airships” with lights, propellers, and sometimes occupants, years before the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight in 1903.
Assessment
Historians who have studied the wave attribute the large majority of reports to a combination of newspaper hoaxes (a common practice of the era’s competitive press), Venus and bright-star misidentification, hot-air balloon and kite sightings, and copycat storytelling following widely syndicated wire reports. The wave is considered the direct forerunner of 20th-century UFO reporting patterns.
[1]See also
References
- ^ Clark, J. (1998). The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, “Airship wave of 1896-97” entry.