“A Windmill Demolishes It” read the headline of an article in the Dallas Morning News in the April 19, 1897 issue. With the byline of S.E. Haydon, the writer informed the reader that “About 6 o’clock this morning the early risers of Aurora were astonished at the sudden appearance of the airship which has been sailing through the country.”
Today this would probably bring an eye-roll, but back when powered flight was still in the future with the Wright Brothers in 1903 this report was certainly an attention grabber. The writer provided more detail: “It was traveling due north, and much nearer the earth than ever before. Evidently some of the machinery was out of order, for it was making a speed of only ten or twelve miles an hour and gradually settling toward the earth.”
Then as the fascinated reader probably tightly gripped the paper, the story went on: “It sailed directly over the public square, and when it reached the north part of town collided with the tower of Judge Proctor’s windmill and went to pieces with a terrific explosion, scattering debris over several acres of ground, wrecking the windmill and water tank and destroying the judge’s flower garden.”
More information followed: “The pilot of the ship is supposed to have been the only one on board, and while his remains are badly disfigured, enough of the original has been picked up to show that he was not an inhabitant of this world.”
Just as today reporters usually get quotes from official sources, in this case this was Mr. T.J. Weems, labeled as “the United States signal service officer at this place…” and also “”an authority on astronomy.” This illustrious official opined the pilot “…was a native of the planet Mars.”
A clue as to his “origin” was discovered. “Papers found on his person – evidently the record of his travels – are written in some unknown hieroglyphics and cannot be deciphered.”
So how about the craft? “The ship was too badly wrecked to form any conclusion as to its construction of motive power. It was built of an unknown metal, resembling somewhat a mixture of aluminum and silver, and it must have weighed several tons.”
Naturally this attracted a lot of attention. “The town is full of people to-day who are viewing the wreck and gathering specimens of the strange metal from the debris.” There then followed a proper funeral and burial in the town cemetery for the “pilot” who locals dubbed Ned.
So did this really happen? Thus begins the speculation – the questions – and the stories.
The remains of the “airship” had been purportedly dumped in a well on the Proctor property which was sold about 1935 to a new owner. Then this man reportedly cleaned the debris out of the well since he wanted to use it for as a water source. Also, he apparently found the water contaminated and saying it gave him arthritis he placed a concrete slab over the well and put a building on top of that.
So was the story actually a hoax? Many thought so, and that included an elderly Aurora woman interviewed in a 1980 Time magazine article. She was sure that the correspondent, Mr. Haydon, had made up the whole story, and published it as a joke. The reason? To attract new attention and business for Aurora since the railroad had bypassed the town and that meant hard economic times were sure to follow.
Of course this story proved perfect for other more recent media coverage – particularly documentaries on the paranormal.
In December, 2005 the program “UFO Files” broadcast an episode that included a visit to the Aurora cemetery. There they found a grave marker that seemed to show a flying spacecraft of some sort, as well as positive indications from their metal detector. However, an exhumation of the grave was denied.
Then in 2008 the “UFO Hunters” program investigated with a new angle. Working with the current owners of the Proctor property, the program investigators unsealed the well to look for possible debris. None was found but while water samples proved normal, there were still large amounts of aluminum present.
Also, these researchers visited the Aurora Cemetery. Exhumation was again declined but they used ground penetrating radar and previous area photos to discover what seemed to be an unmarked grave where Ned was supposedly buried. However, due to deterioration, the grave contents could not be discerned.
So did this “airship” story really happen? Maybe we’ll never know but we can get some idea from the text of the state historical marker erected at the cemetery site. It describes the events of 1897 as “a legend.”
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