In November of 1896 residents of California watched a mysterious bright light—often described as being suspended beneath a “cigar shaped” craft of considerable size—pass slowly over their cities on several occasions, sparking a media frenzy. A few months later, what appeared to be the same craft was seen in the skies over the sparsely populated prairie states of the Midwest making its way methodically eastward and appearing to literally hundreds—if not thousands—of witnesses. Then, as suddenly as the reports began, they abruptly ended, leaving a mystery that has never been satisfactorily explained by either science or historians to this day. Was it evidence of a nascent technology, appearing a full decade before Von Zeppelin began building the first of his behemoths in Germany, or was it all merely a media hoax generated by the yellow journalism of the time in an effort to increase sales? Or, most provocative of all, was it a visitor from outer space, making an early appearance? Chapters include: The Mysterious Sacramento Lights; The Great Media Hoax?; The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis; Cutting Edge Technology; Realizing a Dream; Building an Airship; The Birth of an Idea; The Dream Takes Flight; The Move East; The Final Flight; The End of a Dream; more.

THE GREAT AIRSHIP OF 1897. A Provocative Look at the Most Mysterious Aviation Event in History by J. Allan Danelek. 182 pages. 6x9 Paperback. Illustrated. Footnotes. Sources.