Free The UFO Singularity by Micah Hanks Page A

as it glided overhead, which, in retrospect, seems reminiscent of descriptions quite familiar to modern UFO researchers that involve the so-called “falling leaf” pattern of descent, resembling a leaf gliding back and forth on its way to the ground. 4 Among those who were said to have witnessed the strange apparition drifting through Sacramento’s night skies that evening had been the assistant to California’s secretary of state, as well as the daughter of the town mayor. Later reports would continue in the days that followed, with sightings reported by members of the mayor’s staff, as well as the Sacramento-area district attorney and deputy sheriff. 5
    Scads of similar reports would ensue after the strange lights were witnessed above Sacramento, and soon an entire “airship scare” was underway, with reports of similar objects coming in from other parts of the country. According to some witnesses, the large white light drifting silently through the sky had been only one part of the strange object in question; some accounts divulged that a larger apparatus existed that the light had been attachedto, variously resembling a huge egg or having an oblong shape similar to a cigar. Some of the more imaginative descriptions included fanciful descriptions of rudders, paddle wheels, or even propellers helping to keep the massive floating fortress aloft, becoming starkly reminiscent of Verne’s depiction of a heavier than air warship in
Robur the Conqueror.

    Airship artwork by Scotty Roberts.
    Such stories of “phantom airships” seen throughout the United States during the late 1890s are largely taken tongue in cheek, and are considered among the better examples of newspaper hoaxes that were common among the various daily newspapers throughout the late 19th century. And yet, though many of the stories lumpedin alongside the phantom airship reports are obviously the pure imaginings of clever (or bored) newspapermen of the day, there are a few aspects to the mystery that remain worthy of consideration. For one, the more credible sightings—especially those from the Sacramento area in November of 1896—generally seem to describe what could be likened to some kind of dirigible craft, though perhaps with certain capabilities that may have been capable of outperforming various known airships of the day. Second, the veracity of some of these reports could, arguably, rest more soundly on the groupings of individuals who had claimed to see the strange object over Sacramento. As stated, these seemed to include city officials and a number of other respectable members of the community. In other words, some would argue that it not only seems likely that something
was
seen over Southern California and surrounding areas in the late autumn of 1896, but also that it is far from impossible for certain technologies to have existed around the time, which would be needed to produce an aircraft similar to those described in the “phantom airship” reports.
    One of the best presentations on this subject in the available literature is J. Allen Danelek’s
The Great Airship of 1897.
Danelek’s book, although highly speculative in its presentation, discusses the possibility that some private entity—perhaps an individual funded by wealthy investment dollars stemming from somewhere in Southern California—could have built an exotic-looking aircraft that, while utilizing comparatively primitive technologyavailable just before the turn of the last century, nonetheless outperformed other known aircraft of the day. Hoping to protect the obvious potential for profiting from such technology (especially once it became a feasible option to go public with the design and incorporate commercial enterprises thereafter), the craft, along with the clandestine sources behind its creation and funding, might have been kept largely a secret from the public. Then, by April 1897, very little was heard anymore regarding the blimp-like mystery airships, which