The 1906 Airship Wave
August-October 1906 - South Dakota, Indiana, Oklahoma, USA
By 1906, a full decade had passed since the spectacular phantom airship wave of 1896–1897. Reports of mysterious craft had never disappeared entirely, but they had become far less common than during those extraordinary years. Then, almost without warning, the strange airships began appearing once again across North America. The resurgence was modest compared to the original wave, with fewer sightings and fewer spectacular encounters, but it raised the same intriguing questions. Why had these mysterious craft returned after ten years of relative silence? Where had they been during the intervening years? Or were the renewed reports simply the result of newspaper editors attempting to rekindle the excitement of the earlier airship craze to boost circulation?
Among the reports from 1906, three stand out as the year's most remarkable encounters.
The first occurred near Mitchell, South Dakota, in 1906 but remained virtually unknown for nearly seven decades. It did not become public until August 27, 1973, when the Albany (Oregon) Democrat-Herald published the testimony of Herbert Vern Demott, then 67 years old. According to Demott, he had been just ten years old when the extraordinary event occurred on his family's ranch.
While near a water well, young Demott saw what he described as a "saucer" descend and land nearby. Curious rather than frightened, he approached the strange craft. As he drew closer, a door "rolled back," and he was invited aboard. Inside, he encountered two occupants who appeared completely human—"earthlings," as he described them. They sat on camp stools and carried on a conversation with him, yet they never revealed who they were or where they had come from, and Demott admitted that he never thought to ask.
The second notable sighting took place in Orinoco, Indiana, on the night of August 26, 1906. The witness was John Warner, a retired soldier, who was relaxing on his back porch when he heard his horse making unusual noises inside the barn. Concerned that the animal might be ill, Warner went to investigate. Finding the horse unharmed, he began walking back toward the house when he suddenly heard a strange rushing sound overhead.
Looking up, he saw a cigar-shaped airship painted green and illuminated with green lights. The mysterious craft descended and landed in his yard. Four men emerged, all of whom appeared perfectly ordinary. According to the brief account published in the Rockport Journal of Indiana on August 31, the men informed Warner that they were traveling from Chicago to New York but had become uncertain of their route. They asked him for directions. Warner pointed them toward Seymour, Indiana. After receiving his guidance, the men returned to their craft, "turned on their power," and sailed away into the night.
A somewhat different version of the incident appeared in the August 18, 1906 edition of the Columbus (Indiana) Republic. The reporter approached the story with obvious skepticism and a generous dose of humor, sarcastically describing Warner as "the most truthful man in the county, next to George Washington." The article also claimed that although Warner had never met the mysterious airship occupants, they somehow already knew who he was.
The third and final significant airship-related incident of 1906 occurred in Oklahoma during late October and was reported in the November 9 edition of the Bedford (Indiana) Weekly Mail. Rather than describing a conventional airship, the newspaper recounted an extraordinary celestial phenomenon.
"An even phenomenon of unusual nature is said to have been seen in the skies in Vincennes recently," the article began before explaining that the moon appeared to be at the center of the mystery. According to witnesses, the strange event occurred on two separate nights and was disturbing enough to frighten those who observed it.
Among the witnesses were Reverend Everett and his wife, whose first name was not recorded—a common omission in newspapers of the era. They were accompanied by Mr. John Potter, his wife, and their child, visitors from Oklahoma. Reverend Everett had been conducting a revival at the Oklahoma Baptist Church for several weeks.
One evening, while returning to the Potter residence where he was staying, Reverend Everett noticed something astonishing. The moon appeared to shatter into pieces before instantly reassembling itself, returning to its normal appearance and brightness. Modern UFO researchers have suggested that the witnesses may not have been observing the moon at all but instead a brilliant orb-like object that they mistakenly interpreted as the moon.
Initially, the witnesses kept the experience to themselves. However, several nights later, while Reverend Everett, his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and their son were once again walking home after church services, the phenomenon repeated itself.
This time, according to the newspaper, "the moon again seemed to break apart and the image of a man was plainly visible." The mysterious face remained visible for approximately two seconds before disappearing, after which the object returned to its previous appearance, shining as brightly as ever. All five witnesses reportedly observed the same phenomenon.
Unlike the mysterious dirigibles commonly reported during the airship era, this strange object bore no resemblance to a conventional airship. Even if the witnesses had read newspaper accounts of earlier phantom airships, they would likely not have interpreted what they saw in those terms. Instead, the event more closely resembled what modern researchers would classify as a UFO sighting. At the time, however, unusual aerial phenomena were often attributed to atmospheric events or regarded as supernatural "signs and wonders."
The witnesses embraced the latter interpretation. The newspaper concluded by reporting, "The minister and the others are of the opinion that the warning was a herald of some approaching catastrophe. No one else as far as is known saw the warning."
Although these three incidents were modest compared with the extraordinary wave of 1896 and 1897, they demonstrate that mysterious airship reports had not disappeared entirely. After a decade of relative quiet, the phenomenon had begun to reemerge in intriguing ways. Even more interesting, these scattered sightings proved to be only a prelude. The following year, 1907, would produce an even stranger and more remarkable airship case.