The air ship of 1896

On November 17th 1896 the Sacramento Evening Bee reported that a man named Leon was building a "flying machine" in Hoboken N.J., and he had told his friends he would cross the continent in two days. In fact, his friends accepted invitations to join him on this adventurous trip, with his new futuristic flying machine. Although Leon was very hush-mouthed about his project, one of his associates claimed that he already perfected the machine and it had risen to a height of two hundred feet in Chicago. The machine was described as having a wooden centerpiece, fifteen feet long, covered with a thin piece of brass. From the centerpiece there extended spikes of wood three feet long, over which were placed wooden rings six feet in diameter. Over the rings were drawn rubber and canvas sails. In the front there was a rubber balloon, large enough to hold five men and an electric battery, which was to furnish both light and propelling power. The steering apparatus was in the rear. On November 18th, 1896 the Sacramento Evening Bee reported that an "Aerial Ship" had been seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses "bobbing" in the wind over their fair city. Did Leon leave early? Was his ship faster then he realized? Had he indeed achieved his "transcontinental flight?

The Bee went on to say that these eye witnesses stated that the object appeared as a bright light, or an "electric arc lamp," if you will, and that it was "propelled by some mysterious force." Moreover some witnesses claimed to have heard "voices" coming from the object! One witness said he heard a voice say, "lift her up quick, your making for that steeple!" That article which was of course, "front page news," was the beginning of a wave of sightings that continued through the end of 1897, and was a "national phenomenon." Today UFO researchers refer to that period as the "Air Ships of 1897.” The focus here will be on that very first sighting as reported

View: Full Article | Source: American Chronicle

Yet another newspaper hoax that has been blindly echoed through the years.

Newspapers of the 19th and early 20th century were notorious for fabricating all kinds of wild stories. They did this to keep their readers buying their paper.

Then competing newspapers, seeing how popular the story had become, picked it up and embellished it. A race was on to garner more readers.

Newspapers across the country ran reports as-is, without checking the facts. Readers loved this kind of stuff and it sold more newspapers.

Some years ago I picked up a 1903 newspaper at a yard sale. In it is a report on the Army's new rifle --- what came to be known as the 1903 Springfield. The report claimed that this rifle could shoot through more than 40 enemy soldiers if they were lined up, and that its user could hit a man out to 5 miles!

We're talking about a cartridge that became known as the .30-06, folks. This cartridge might penetrate two men, at best, but certainly not more than 40. In the hands of an expert, the 1903 Springfield rifle would make life interesting for an enemy soldier out to 1,000 yards --- at best --- not 5 miles.

The newspapers of the 1800s and early 1900s were very irresponsible. If you think the media is bad today, go to the morgue of a major, older newspaper and start reading papers from this time period. Sooner or later, you'll run across an absolutely wild claim:

Men from Mars, flying airships, ghost locomotives or carriages, a 200 pound trout caught, a pig that can recite the ABCs, chimpanzees that carry on lucid conversations, etc.

The readers loved this sort of thing. It was in the financial interest of newspapers to perpetrate it.

And remember, the readers of yesteryear were not as well educated or skeptical as they are today. Back then, if you graduated from 6th grade, you were ahead of most of your peers. Some people had little or no education at all. They believed what they read (or what was read to them).

I've seen this "mysterious airship" article crop up for the past 35 years. It's always the same old rehash of newspaper accounts --- hardly an objective or discerning source.