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b"In the winter of 1896, a spate of airship sightings spread out from California, stampeding across the United States until, in the Spring of 1897, they hit a wall in the midwest, after a brief flirtation on the East Coast. The sightings totalled in their tens of thousands and many included fantastical descriptions of both the ship and the people riding it. As the ships flew from state to state, the stories often grew bolder in their claims until they were heavily dovetailing with the science fiction of the day. With airships still incapable of sustained flight in 1896, were any of the sightings true? Or were the witnesses seeing something else in the sky? Are some of the more outrageous stories, actually far closer to the truth than they may at first seem, or was the whole affair just one big medley of lies, hoax and misidentifications?\\n\\nSOURCES\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nEvans, Hillary & Bartholomew, Robert (2009) The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behaviour. Anomalist Books, Texas, USA\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nCohen, Daniel (1981) The Great Airship Mystery: A UFO of the 1890s. Dodd, Mead & Co. New York, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe San Francisco Examiner (1896) Nations May Yet Fight In The Air. 16th Feb 1896, p.32. San Francisco, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Record Union (1896) What Was It? 18 Nov 1896, p.4. Sacramento, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe San Francisco Call (1896) Claim They Saw A Flying Airship. 18 Nov 1896, p.3. San Francisco, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe San Francisco Call (1896) Strange Craft Of The Sky. 19 Nov 1896, p.3. San Francisco, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nSacramento Bee (1896) Air Ship Or What? 19 Nov 1896, p.1. Sacramento, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe San Francisco Call (1896) A Winged Ship In The Sky. 23 Nov 1896, p.1. San Francisco, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe San Francisco Examiner (1896) Airships Now Fly In Flocks. 25 Nov 1896, p.5. San Francisco, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Evening Mail (1896) Three Strange Visitors. 27 Nov 1896, p.1. Stockton, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Nebraska State Journal (1897) An Airship or Ill Omen. 23 Feb 18977, p.5. Nebraska, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Leavenworth TImes (1897) Like The Sea Serpent. 28 Feb 1897, p.1. Kansas, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Times Herald (1897) Not An Airship. 10 Apr 1897, p.1. Michigan, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Times Herald (1897) Airship In Michigan. 13 Apr 1897, p.8. Michigan, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Evening Times (1897) The Airship Coming Here. 13 Apr 1897, p.5. Washington, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Boston Globe (1897) Airship Was A Hoax. 15 Apr 1897, p.6. Boston, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nSan Francisco Chronicle (1897) How The Airship Drops Letters. 19 Apr 1897, San Francisco, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n\\nThe Dallas Morning News (1897) A Windmill Demolishes It. 19 Apr 1897, Texas, USA.\\n\\xa0\\n\\n----------\\nFor extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com \\nSupport the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories\\nConnect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast\\nOr find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories\\n& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/\\nOr you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com\\nor via voicemail on:\\xa0(415) 286-5072\\nor join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf\\nThe Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye\\nMusic was recorded by me \\xa9 Ben Cutmore 2017\\nOther Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that."