434 lines
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Plaintext
434 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=1, RM=70, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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March 3, 1990
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History of the Mystery Airship Sightings
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in the late 1800's
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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One of the mysteries involving the work of John W. Keely involves
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his Airship which was developed during the period of 1888 to 1893.
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Keely flew his airship for the first time in 1893. We have a
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drawing of the ship and it is very compact and has no hull.
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A reporter inspecting the ship leaves us this record :
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"The space which the propeller of the airship occupies in
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Keely's Laboratory comes within a radius of six feet square.
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A small space for so powerful a medium - distributing over
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1000 horsepower, as tested by experiment. It consists of
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over 2000 pieces and weighed in excess of 1000 pounds."
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A small stool was placed on the unit so that it faced a keyboard.
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Attached to the keyboard were many tuned resonation plates and
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vibratory mechanisms. Mr. Keely said that when the plates were
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polarized with "negative attraction" the airship would rise and
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float above the ground.
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Keely could make the airship accelerate to any desired speed by
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damping out certain notes on the keyboard.
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The Keely Airship was successfully demonstrated to the U.S. War
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Department in 1896. The demonstration took place in an open field
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where Keely brought the airship from zero to 500 MPH within
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seconds.
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Keely was sitting on the stool and before the keyboard. There was
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nothing to shield him from the movement of the ship yet he seemed
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to suffer absolutely no acceleration effects.
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The War Department was impressed, yet stated they could see no use
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for such a complex device.
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Later versions might have added a hull and changed the size to
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accomodate a payload.
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Note also that the Airship Sightings began in 1897, one year after
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Keely's War Department demonstration.
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It is quite possible that a person or group might have financed
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further improvements on the Keely Airship technology.
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We cannot fail to notice the April dates on the following
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sightings, especially since the first sighting came on April 2nd,
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one day after April Fool's day.
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Page 1
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Chicago Record.......Friday, April 2, 1897
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See Great Airship
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Kansas Missouri, Missouri people excited.....mystical black object
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casting before it red light startled whole city for the last two
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weeks!
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At last descended...ten-thousand people swear they have no
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hallucinations! Scoffers and disbelievers claim the people have
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been seeing the planet Venus or the Evening Star, even though
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according to the almanac this planet should have set below the
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horizon at least an hour before!
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Object appeared very swiftly, then appeared to stop and hover over
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the city for ten minutes at a time, then after flashing its green-
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blue and white lights, shot upwards into space....light gradually
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twinkling away and looking like a bright star.
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Time : 8:15 PM
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Everest, Kansas has sighted a strange airship.
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Competent reporters state that this must be the airship that was
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built in Oakland, California and which broke away at launching
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time...this giant airship hovered one half hour at a time and
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descended at regular intervals very close to the Earth.
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A giant searchlight flooded the whole city with light from this
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aerial monster which with the velocity of an eagle darted up and
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away.
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Power source must have been attached to the light for it dimmed as
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the ship went up and away. One observer states that there seemed
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to be a basket or car beneath a great dark object thought to be a
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gas bag overhead...car was shaped like a canoe and had four wings,
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two on each side, fore and aft...light was greenish or blue
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against the light of a locomotive in the rail yard that was
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yellowish. Colored lights seemed to be all around the car."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Chicago Record, April 3, 1897
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Flying Machine Now in Michigan!
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People of Galesburg saw a brilliant white light approach from
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SW...object appeared large and black with a crackling, sharp
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sound. It hovered close to the Earth. Reporters state that they
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heard HUMAN VOICES from aloft...from the airship!
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When the ship went off, it seemed to be tipped with flame. (Local
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comment was that the airship had caught fire!)
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Time : 10:00 PM
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Page 2
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Chicago Record, April 6, 1897
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Airship Now Into Illinois
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Seen first at 8:00 PM in NW....large red light. Suggestions of
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balloon are refuted because airship flew at tremendous speed INTO
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A HIGH WIND!
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Chicago Record, April 7, 1897
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Airship seen many times last few weeks. Large numbers of people
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first hand witnesses. One time, a motorman of a trolley actually
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stopped his vehicle so he and passengers could look at the
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wonderful sight...just ahead of his trolley, the ship seemed about
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six-hundred feet up and about one-hundred feet long.
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The motorman, Mr. Newville, says it was ellipsoid with large
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projections fore and aft. There was a bright headlight in front
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and a red light in the rear."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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From Hastings, Nebraska, came the report that the "airship" had
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been seen in Grand Island, Oxford, York and Kearney. Scoffers
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claimed these people had seen Venus, yet all the reporters were
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people of substance and not given to reporting spurious stories.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Chicago Record, April 9, 1897
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Airship Seen in Iowa
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Between West Liberty and Cedar Rapids appeared a bright
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light...giant airship...steel body. When leaving it appeared to
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be a large star weaving about and stars do not weave around the
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heavens!
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Chicago Record, April 10, 1987
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Airship Sighted over Chicago and Evanston!
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People are tripping over themselves these days trying to get the
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best look at this green and white-lighted giant airship that has
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had the people all over the mid-west in a dither.
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Some people think the end of the world is near...Scientific minds
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have explained the whole thing away by now. The mystery will
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surely be cleared up in the next few days. Mr. Carr, an aeronaut,
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has built an experimental balloon and is financed by a New York
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theatrical wig manufacturing company...Mr. Carr states his machine
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works marvelously, but CANNOT GO AGAINST THE WIND...power is
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storage battery with propeller!
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Professor Hough of Northwestern University and head astronomer of
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the observatory stated when asked to train his telescope on the
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object : 'I am busy with sights on Jupiter and it would be too
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troublesome to change to look at this new thing.' The next day,
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Hough said: 'The thousands of people that are reporting this so-
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called strange airship are in reality looking at Alpha Orionis in
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the Constellation Orion!"
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Page 3
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Chicago Record, April 12, 1897
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Giant Airship Continues Over Chicago and Environs!
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People all over the city are in an uproar, and while everyone is
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viewing this grand sight on the south side, two amateur
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photographers who are news dealers in Rogers Park, looked out and
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saw the airship.
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Their photo shows the north Western Railway station and above it
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the reported airship! The photographers are Walter McCann and
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G.A. Overocker. This airship was seen to come in over the lake
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and traverse the whole city for several days."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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The same report with an Omaha date line of April 11th says :
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"A gentleman brags he has mystery airship problem solved. He
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is an inventor and desires that he be allowed thirty-five
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acres to demonstrate his airship for the Trans-Mississippi
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Exposition. The gentleman didn't sign his name, but the
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reporter hopes the dilemma will be settled by his promises."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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The same report again, with a Fort Dodge, Iowa date line of April
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11th says:
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"Old German residents say that this very same type of airship
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came over Germany THIRTY YEARS before and the people were
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scared to death...said the devil's army was approaching and
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these were his vehicles."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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The same report again, with a Milwaukee, Wisconsin date line of
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April 11th says:
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"The residents of Milwaukee cannot be talked out of what they
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are seeing...thousands report the authenticity of a giant,
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beautiful airship with colored lights...the police records
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are full of the story for they have been called to answer
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what it is!"
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Chicago Record, April 13, 1897
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Airship Called a Hoax!
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Several notable citizens are known to have caused airship
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scene...remains of paper and wood device in wreckage in their
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yard.' (No name given of the 'notables')
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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The above mentioned device was supposed to have been in the
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wreckage, but another column in the same paper said:
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"Airship seen in Rock Island, Illinois and Elkhart, Illinois!"
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How could it have been seen if it had been wrecked?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1897
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"One chap knows all about the airship. He says: 'These thousands
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of people didn't see a steel hull because this is the airship my
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friend built in California and is on its way here to Chicago.
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Although, I must say, he sure has made good time for he isn't due
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until NEXT WEEK and the hull is PAPER, not steel. My friend, O.
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Chanute is on board too and I will introduce all of you to him
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when he arrives!"
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The man who spoke the above was Secretary of the Chicago
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Aironautical Society, Max L. Harmar.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Page 4
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The same strange sightings were made at Sisterville, Virginia.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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In 1897 and other years, there were also amazing observances in
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Texas.
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An excerpt from the book "Genesis" published by Dell and written
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by W. A. Harbinson, copyright 1982 gives more information on the
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sightings from the late 1800's:
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"The first major UFO flap was in 1896 - about November of that
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year - and continued until May 1897. This was five years
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BEFORE the Wright brothers experiments, but there were, by
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this time, various airship designs on the drawing boards or
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in the Patent Office.
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On August 11, 1896, patent number 565805 was given to Charles
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Abbot Smith of San Francisco for an airship he intended
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having ready by the following year. Another patent, number
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580941, was issued to Henry Heintz of Elkton, South Dakota,
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on April 20, 1897. However, while many UFO's sighted were
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shaped roughly like the patent designs, there is no record of
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either airship having been built."
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"At that time the general belief was that aerial navigation
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would be solved through an airship rather than a heavier-
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than-air flying machine - so most of the eariler designs
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looked like dirigibles with a passenger car on the bottom.
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"What stands out in the 1896 and 1897 sightings is that the
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UFO's were MOSTLY CIGAR-SHAPED, that they frequently landed,
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to talk to the witnesses, usually asking for WATER FOR THEIR
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MACHINES.
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"The most intriguing of the numerous contact stories involved
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a man who called himself Wilson. The first incident occurred
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in Beaumont, Texas on April 19, 1897, when J. B. Ligon, the
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local agent for Magnolia Brewery, and his son Charles noticed
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lights in the Johnson pasture a few hundred yards away and
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went to investigate.
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"They came upon two men standing beside a large, dark object
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which neither of the witnesses could see clearly. One of
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these men asked Ligon for a bucket of water, Ligon let these
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men have it, and then the man gave his name as Mr. Wilson.
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"He then told Ligon that he and his friends were travelling in
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a flying machine, that they had taken a trip 'out of the
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gulf', and they were returning to the 'quiet Iowa town' where
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the airship AND FOUR OTHERS LIKE IT had been constructed.
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"When asked, Wilson explained that ELECTRICITY POWERED THE
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PROPELLERS AND WINGS OF THE AIRSHIP, then he and his friends
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got into the airship and Ligon watched it ascending.
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"The next day, April 20, Sheriff H. W. Baylor of Uvalde, also
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in Texas, went to investigate a strange light and voices in
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back of his house. He encountered an airship and three men
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-and one of the men gave his name as Wilson, from Goshen, New
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York.
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Page 5
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"Wilson then inquired about one C. C. Akers, former sheriff of
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Zavalia County, saying that he had met him in Fort Worth in
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1877 and now wanted to see him again. Sheriff Baylor,
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surprised, replied that Captain Akers was now at Eagle Pass,
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and Wilson, reportedly disappointed, asked to be remembered
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to him the next time Sheriff Baylor visited him.
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"Baylor reported that the men from the airship wanted water
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and that Wilson requested that their visit BE KEPT SECRET
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FROM THE TOWNSPEOPLE. Then he and the other men climbed back
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into the airship and, quote, "its great wings and fans were
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set in motion and it sped away northward in the direction of
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San Angelo.' The county clerk also saw the airship as it left
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the area.
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"Two days later, in Josserand, Texas, a whirring sound
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awakened farmer Frank Nichols, who looked out of his window
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and saw 'brilliant lights streaming from a ponderous vessel
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of strange proportions' in his cornfield. Nichols went
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outside to investigate, but before he reached the object, two
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men walked up to him and asked if they could have water from
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the well.
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"Nichols agreed to this - as farmers in those days usually did
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- and the men then invited him to visit the airship where he
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noticed that there were six or eight crew members. One of
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these men told him that the ship's motive power was 'HIGHLY
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CONDENSED ELECTRICITY' and that it was ONE OF FIVE THAT HAD
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BEEN CONSTRUCTED in 'a small town in Iowa' with the backing
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of a large stock company IN NEW YORK (close to Philadelphia
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where Keely had his laboratory!!....Vangard).
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"The next day, on April 23, witnesses described by the HOUSTON
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POST as 'two responsible men' reported that an airship had
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descended where they lived in Kountze, Texas, and that two of
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the occupants had given their names as Wilson and Jackson.
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"Four days after this incident, on April 27, the GALVESTON
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DAILY NEWS printed a letter from C. C. Akers, who claimed
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that he had indeed known a man in Fort Worth named Wilson,
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that Wilson was from New York, that he was in his middle
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twenties, and that he was 'OF A MECHANICAL TURN OF MIND AND
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WAS THEN WORKING ON AERIAL NAVIGATION AND SOMETHING THAT
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WOULD ASTONISH THE WORLD.'
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"Finally, early in the evening of April 30, in Deadwood,
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Texas, a farmer named H. C. Lagrone heard his horses bucking
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as if in stampede. Going outside, he saw a bright white
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light circling around the fields nearby and illuminating the
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entire area before descending and landing in one of the
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fields.
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"Walking to the landing spot, Lagrone found a crew of five
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men, three of whom talked to him while the others collected
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water in rubber bags. The man informed Lagrone that their
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ship was ONE OF FIVE that had been flying around the country
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recently, that theirs was in fact the SAME ONE that had
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landed in Beaumont a few days before, that all the ships had
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been constructed in an interior town in Illinois -which
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borders Iowa -and that they were reluctant to say anything
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Page 6
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else because they had NOT YET TAKEN OUT ANY PATENTS. By May
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of that same year, the sightings ended...."
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(Don't forget to include the Aurora Hoax perpertrated by a
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reporter for a local (Ft. Worth) newspaper at that same time)
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****************************************************
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Notes from Vangard...
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We also have heard of a group which existed in California during
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this period. They were said to have some form of flying machine,
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not based on lighter-than-air technology. The flying machine they
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built was supposed to have been taken out for an "unauthorized"
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joy ride by a member of the group and crashed. Nothing is known
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after this point.
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To our knowledge, there is no record of the nature of propulsion
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or lift for the groups' flying machine.
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As a final note, a friend tells us that in the 60's, he was
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visiting the headquarters of an old organization in Chicago.
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While wandering through the building, he chanced upon a vault door
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which was partially open. Peeking inside, he saw what he believes
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to be the original Keely Airship as shown in the picture we have.
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An officer of the organization came in, closed the vault door and
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ushered him out of the area.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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We are currently working on scanning a picture file of the Keely
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Airship to be included in our future Images section.
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The equipment for such projects takes money which comes from
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personal funds, so it might be a while before we can do this. It
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would surely be nice if we could have such equipment to spread
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this stuff around more easily.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Thanks for your support and contributions. We hope you have found
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this file of interest...
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Jerry W. Decker, Ron Barker and Chuck Henderson
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FINIS
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Page 7 |