The Airship Over Michigan And Other Locations In The Midwest, 1897

[CVX]

The “Airship of 1897” has always generated some interest among students of the UFO phenomenon. Much has been written about the “airship”, and occasionally it is mentioned in a television documentary, but little has been accomplished since1897 in effort to analyze the reports. The chronological posting of these retrieved news articles are presented in order to provide other researchers interested in the “airship” as much raw data as possible. Care has been taken to avoid typographical errors, but such errors could and probably do exist, however, in most cases words which appear to be misspelled are the spellings used in 1897. No editing of the news articles has taken place, in each case the article is transcribed in its entirety, except as noted.

If the enigma of the “airship” is ever to be solved, that solution will have to be accomplished from the remaining evidence supplied by the surviving news articles. The chronological reading of “the reports” will supply the reader with a sense of the wonder, awe, hysteria and in some cases nonchalance and humor with which the populace in 1897 viewed these reports at a time when nothing manmade other than balloons plied the skies. Some of these stories are just that, the editors of the day published a number of thumb in cheek articles regarding the “airship”. Many false reports were turned in, and misidentifications of astronomical objects were made, as is to be expected during a time of peak interest in something as unusual as the ‘airship”. By my estimation however, a greater percentage of signal to noise is present in the “airship” reports than in the UFO reports received today. This view is supported by the fact that the reports have a definite beginning and end, that is to say that the reports did not start up again in the fall of 1897, or the spring of 1898 when Venus was near the horizon.

No UFO “flap” or “wave” has ever matched the magnitude, intensity or longevity of the “airship” reports. As such, the “airship” reports stand alone in the annals of unsolved or unidentified aerial phenomenon apparently generated by a single source.

Much of the material herein was supplied by Mr. Lucius Farish of Plumerville, Arkansas, Mr. Gary Larreategui of Lansing, Michigan, and Mr. Clinton Curtis Williams Jr. wherever he is. Todd Lemire, and Fred R. Varner have accomplished recent additions. Many thanks are extended to the many librarians who have assisted others and myself in the retrieval of the Airship reports.

Scanned copies of the original articles may be obtained by E-mailing varnerfred@aol.com. Include the item number of the article you wish to verify. Unfortunately copies of original Michigan articles are not available because at the time they were collected library equipment was incapable of producing readable copies of the articles. (With exception to, item 123, which is the most recently recovered Michigan article and a good copy, exists in our files.)

I personally invite you to join in an effort to at last solve this mystery by visiting your local library and scanning news articles from 1896-1897. If you live in the Midwest scan February, March, April and May 1897. If you live in the West scan articles from late 1896 and early 1897. Join us by sending the articles you would like to add to my E-mail address.

Fred R. Varner

The following is an index of reporting communities, which follow in the chronological listing of “The Reports.” It is provided in order to reduce confusion regarding multiple articles regarding the same event, pinpoint communities subject to multiple reports, and provide a quick reference for those readers who would like to find if the airship had appeared in their community. Dates given are the dates of the reports as extracted from the articles, not the dates of the articles.

http://www.michiganufos.com/airships.html