Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
#
John F. Schuessler
PHASE I (Cent..)
(more)
r Page 3
PHASE I (Cont.)
PHASE II The Pilot, His Grave and Unique "UFO" Carved Headstone.
PHASE II (Cont).
SUI-KALY CCMCLUSICH:
Dr. Hand r s netal analysis is most important and the other facts simply
aid in sustaining the belief that a UFO crashed at Judge proctor's well.
We also have a Xerox copy of S. E. Hayden*s original sto^y as published
in the Dallas Morning News. Although investigation shows the T. L.
V/eems, Hay den identified as U.S. Signal of rice in Aurora also turns
out to be the town blacksmith at the time this dual occupation would
not be unusual in Texas. Aurora was still a frontier pioneer corr.isunity
at the time* Burials were carried out by parties made up of men 6f
the community who all aided in digging the grave and performing the
burials.
We check the cemetery Association, the local church and other somces.
Actually other than an incomplete recording or the grave plots owned
by families in which up to 10 or 12 members of a family are intered
there are no Individual records telling who is bur'ed whore.
The plot in which the UFO pilot's grava is located has no owner of record,
photos which Earl Watts shall bring with him Friday will help in
establishing: the location ang giving you an idea of the terrain and
setting.
Regretfully, howsyer, we now believe although there is a definate
possibility the reported pilot Is in the grave we are not going to
get it exhumed without a fight in court. And bearing in mind that this
is an intensely religious comaunity and the cemetery is tlv one in which
the ancestors of tod a y's residents are buried they have a very vested
interest against disturbing it,"
(more)
*,
UFO iBPOrs -Page 5
Hia latest so-called press releases have b.:en widely intreproted here
especially on radio and TV that "this conclusion finishes ofJ? the
Aurora UFO hunt.."
Our final hope is that the hundreds or papers vo distributed in
Aurora, Rhome and Newark (all of which bury in the same cemetery)
will urge some resident into coming up with a sSn"n£ni3& genuine
metal sample, diary entxy or even a bible notation. Unfortunately
the church has kept no records on past burials and the Cemetery
Association has devoted its effo.tc to keeping the graveyard neat,
clean and well-kept.
Ihls sicall group of three towns and the community around it is
unique in that the third and fouith generations continue to live
there. And ir they do leav^ they return out or homesickness, it is
an extremely close-knit area in which intermarriage between the
early families have made every third resident a third or fourth
cousin or almost everyone else and" there is a cohesive spirt in the
community that cannot be ignored.
1 hope this helps rill in the gaps. After you have had an opportunity
to study it, see Kaytfen'e original story and related repo/ts in
Xerox copies of the original 1|S7 paper plus the photos we are
sending to Sansas city for your conference during the iiUFGH annual
meeting, you have any additional questions pleas^ call ae. I shall
advise 3arl Watts whore I can be reached at your convenience.
Bill Case
June 11, 1973
1HE D4LWS TIMES HER4LD
214/744-6111
P O BOX 5445
1101 PACIFIC AVE/DALLAS TEXAS 75202
'/e have sent off samples for analysis gathered June 12 at the
Aurora welj site by Mr. Geprge Kayfield to the chief physicist at the
University of Calgary in alberta, Canada —covrtesy of Atlantic Richfield
Oil Company — both are anonymously interested in the project and
TL'Os in general as well as another slice of the sane piece to John
Bchaessler in O'Fallon as you requested.
The enclosed metal part of some typ" of equipment was given to
us by Mike Fo^tler, KR 1, Box Q, lot 250, Mesquite, Texas 751^.
We would not be interested in it except0 none of the farmers, ranchers
or other buffs around the area can recocni" it as a pidce corning from •
fa-"i" eq* ipment, household a 1 pliarces or anything else. And the composition
se=ms to be at least an aluminum alloy. It was not burned or melted by
high heat as all of the other suspect _ icces have been. However, it is
introguing since For-tler found this buried in the ground within the
crash pattern of metal fragments we recovered 3ast and Northeast of the
well. His Phone Number in event you should need it is : Area 21*t 2^6-7085.
Perhaps you can ret someone to recognize this. We have not received a
Xerox copy of the metal analysis from our friend in Fort -forth . Hope he
was able to get one off to Dr. Hynek. However, GD is extremely busy trying
to keep its head above water.
We have all of the resident's t stimony on tape. We met with DistrJct
Judge W.A. Hughes in Decatur, Wise County, who would sit on the case if
MUFON applied for an exhumation order. At the moment until MUFON moves the
Board of Directors of the Aurora Cemetery Association have "absolutely
no comment." They won't even answer our calls or come to the door when
we go to their homes in R^orne near Aurora. They obviously do intend
to oppose an exhumation order.
Earl Watts
Having the UFO gravemarker stolen didn't help the cause. jj&jj&X believes
our firendly competitor HH who promised "to ruin our investigation" is
using it as a door sto or paper wei ht. personally I don't know. There
we^e hippies in the cemetery last Sunday who caused trouble.
Regards,
(
Bill
^2$v/$&
17
fTf ^ « 'K *_^' ^ j —
iltplflfm<;
v -i•••••.•?•.,-- "• ?->v.',..'!*^'^-^/'TJj1'?
v^'V^'. ^r^fV'-i/w^ •-•-•;-•• ., •..-,•*:.•..• •
V,. v -;>•-• 3;v. V-.-j1<l'~ir.n'i^"l "• v\"!'••
.•^<^...;V- |^>/^^'%^1 • .,,-.;,-•
;•?•;':>i:-.-.;.::, <
J --•j;^y ,s-\ 1 U/. H ii?S-
;:•;•••
•'-'. --i'i.--.A,^s:£ita ',';,. '"!"».s;rjL'jcr#i ; :',•.•,.!' :
m&^m ,-',:^'-'
^f^ ''kr&Mi &•-.'•:
.• v ^H:r^ !
e-- : :ir; T .';,--/.
; •••;- ; ;-i'i :^.,-.'::-' ;: \|;.H;: ; ^-:- ; v;.
;: ;
&j$™£#&&.m..&>'><- ','
*•••*• • ' •' 'Wji-r'"1 • */"( I nJ.>'*-ai-'-*;'iK?"''' -"f [ . 3 -f
PHONE 512/379-9216
Dear John:
Bill C?Se
4vietion Writer
liUFOH State Director for Texas
SECTION EDITION SPECIAL TYPE
INSTRUCTIONS
HEADLINE
GUIDE
Samples fron lir. George 1'ayfield to Dr. H. Roy Krouse, Phvsics Dent.
University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2n 1N^ and llr. John
Schuessler, P.O. Box. 9, O1Fallen, l!o. 63366
DALLAS TIMES H3SALD, 1101 Pacific <We., Dallas Texas, 75205
Bill CESO
Aviation Writer
SECTION EDITION SPECIAL TYPE
INSTRUCTIONS
HEADLINE
GUIDE
Note: Re Metal samples recovered at Aurora , Texas, reported UFO crash site.
Diagram indicates piece unearthed by Mr. George Mayfield. It is the largest
such piece recovered Thus XX far. Aside frora havo two straight sides it also
has what were KXgXSX either rivet or screw holes in the corner.
The -diagram indicates how it melted out of its original formation upoa
contact with the bedrock:
J
tTj. . t '
vN/-'>
-v*- . ;
,o»- '.••»* V*.
J
. -• ~L*,. -=±- r* '
/o o
Bill Case
Aviation Writer
Dallas Times Herald
1101 Pacific 4ve.
Dallas, Texas 75205
pl^g^lllMilpi^
iv.sv- •:.•'.i1 wVjwLAJXf "5 •',,fJ"fx••.,-
^'•'tX .V-i-^r-^ '-.^-'
«y» • - - ' •//.
-^^v /^^//^ 4?">*4~
>• /• « A.
fy>-
k
(<fyMd
'. ^M-g
^.' -
• -. ::.-;i'[^-,:-.-:-^^
-V'^-^-S."-.'--1 !'.'. ...' •!]
7/,s ^sur?**
//~~^fSi*e
if* ^ ^* *r» -^
Dear Walt:
Arrangements have been completed for you to stay with Earl Watts and
his wife during your Dallas visit at 515 Falling Leaves Drive, Dune anvi lie.
Phone : AC 214 298-1523.
A Complete file of all Times Herald stories and all photos available
will be awaiting you here. However, we are enclosing the latest two to bring
you up-to-date.
At the moment we have these:
5 - Th® existence of the now stolen UFO grave stone with its
unique design cut into it roughly Recorded in photos.
Residents of Aurora , including Town Marshall H . R . Idell, tell
us th/ls grave marker with' its unusuala^eign is known to have
been in place there "at least 65 to 701' years and probably
longer, obviously this was no "fake."
6 - Correspondent Hayden's story had "holes in it" as far as detail
of facts are concerned. However, it cannot be divorced from
the fact it was "one of more than 500 Airship sighting reports"
published in Dallas and port Worth newspapers from April 14 thru
April 27, 1897.
An often asked question is "what happened to the reported
pilot's log written in hieroglyphics ?"1 No mention of it
can be found other than in H.E. Hayden' s original story.
CONCLUSION: These facts add up to the belief that some type of unidentified
"airship" did crash on Judge J.S. Proctor's homestead. And this
much of correspondent Hayden 1 s story can be accepted on the
evidence. Whether is. was extraterrestrial or not who can prove
it ?
We discussed metals found on the moon with Apllo 16 Astronaut
John Young ( Capt. UBN) w&o told us they round "no unusual
metats on the mooni only unusual combinations of already
known elements including iron, nickel, copper, aluminum. But
no "exotic" items such as titanium.
The one element "iron" keeps cropping up. Dr. Tom Gray,a
North Texas State University physicics professor, recovered
some non:-magnetic iron. »e also did and compared the pieces
side-by-side in his laboratory. From all appearances they
appeared "identical" and he issued a press release on his own
saying he found, metals recovered at the site "puzzling."
is all he has 15HK contributed thus far.
-
2nd Add Memo to Walt Andrus
Add Conclusion:
MUFON and Times Herald investigators were the first to
locate the unusual grave in Aurora Cemetery with the UFO
headstone. However, other than the design on the stone our
only solid connetion was the metal detector decibel readings
which matched those of the metal John Schuessler is now
having examined.
A (more)
MEMO to Walt Andrus
Add CONS: "Thus, in view or the evidence we cannot label H.E. Hayden's
story a hoax in every detail. "
It may have been embellished (i.e. the pilot's log in unknown
symbols) , but, too much evidence exists pointing to an aircraft
explosion and crash and the co- incidence 61' the mystery grave
established as being there these many years by pioneer residents
to the credibility of Hayden's story."
If Hayden had created a "hoax" it would have been virtually
Impossible for him to create as durable a one as this story has
turned out to be. Also, a hoax of these proportions would have
been so elaborate to prepare and carry off it would have
been: literally impossible to plant all 01 the clues which
remained in place both at the crash site and grave for 76 years.
There is no question a crash occurred. There is no question
a mystery grave has been in Aftrora Cemetery since the incident.
And evidence links them together.
My personal conclusion was thatz Correspondent H.E. Hayden
probably embellished some facts (and overlooked others) in his
report. But he has been maligned in saying "the entire thing
is a hoax. "
you can't explain away the evidence and the grave as "Just a
hoax." Hayden obviously worked from fact and the chances he
dug a grave in the cemetery and produced the unique tombstone
as a clencher don't add up. The residents wouldn't have
permitted him to "desecrate hallowed ground" (as they cal it)
even in those days.
We believe Hayden, like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and other
pioneers in their fields, was ridiculed and maligned simjbly
because the residents were admittely frightened and wantedv
nothing to do with the unnaturak event.
We hope this gives you some basis on which to tiase your replies
in interviews.
Best
Bill Case
July 10, 1973
3 - KDFW ---- Call MR. BUSTER McGREGOR on HOT LINE 744-6568 any
time between 10:00 and 2:00 for Vidio Tape.
o-
7f
.
SECTION EDITION SPECIAL TYPE
INSTRUCTIONS
HEADLINE
GUIDE
work of Bill Case, Aviation Writer for the Dallas Times Herald newspaper
and MUFON State Director for Texas, with the able assistance of Earl
Watts, MUFON Field Investigator and State Director of Astronomy, the
following facts are submitted as evidence that H. E. Hayden's original
story to both the Dallas and Fort Worth newspapers cannot be considered
a complete hoax as some people have implied.
Mrs. Mary Evans, age 91, now of Newark, Texas, who lived in Aurora
at the time of the incident, stated in a tape recorded interview with
Bill Case that she recalls her family and friends talking about the crash,
although she being only 15 years old at the time, was not allowed to go
to the scene. (Her Mother and Father did view the crash site). During
a second interview with Mrs, Svans, she told Mr. Case that "a body was
recovered and a piece of the aircraft was stuck up as a marker" in the
Cemetery.
Page 2
A grave was found with the aid of a metal det'ector in the Aurora
Cemetery in an area where Cemetery records were incomplete and did not
identify either the owner of the plot or the person buried in the grave.
A small triangular shaped native sandstone marker has existed on this grave
for "at least 65 to 70 years and probably longer" per Town Marshall
H.R. Idell and other residents of Aurora. The only identification on the
stone was a scratched drawing of an object that looked like the front
of a UFO having three round portholes or windows. After the photograph
of the marker under an old oak tree appeared in the Dallas Times Herald,
someone stole the marker oh June llj., 1973*
evidence. Previous investigations into this legend over the years have
been only cursory in nature and immediately branded a hoax, since no one
took the time to conduct cfrv- in-depth study as is presently being done
by MUFON. If scientific evidence exists to prove that the story is a
hoax, MUPON will so go "on-record", and close this case permanently.
However, if the evidence warrants continued investigation, as it now
appears, it will be carried to a conclusion or as far as we may legally
extend ourselves.
Due to the tremendous interest in 'this case, the news media in the
United States and Canada requested that Bill Case and MUFON release a
statement of our progress. On July 13th. Walter H. Andrus, Jr., Director
of MUFON, personally answered these inquiries to the Dallas Times Herald
newspaper and appeared on the following television and radio stations:
KRLD radio (one hour tape), KDFW-TV (Filmed news broadcasts), WFAA-TV
(live on noon news) in Dallas; WBAP-TV (live on evening special) and WBAP
radio (2£ minute tape) in Fort Worth. Bill Case and Earl Watts are to be z-r -...
commended for arranging this outstanding exposure to the public for MUFON.
Both Mr. McCrary and Mr. McKinnon, who had been expecting my visit
to the cemetery, maintained their position that they would not permit
the possible body to be exhumed as stated through" their attorney Mr.
W.A. "Bill" Nobles of Decatur, Texas in writing to MUFON. However, both
gentlemen did agr"ee if legal action was taken through their attorney
(going over their heads, as they explained), they would certainly give
the proposal further consideration. Since the personal appeal was ineffec-
tive, legal steps became the only alternative.
Walt Andrus visited the site of the alleged crash on the property of
Brawley Gates taking documentary photographs and interviewing both Brawley
Page 6
and his wife, Bonnie. Bill Case, in his 27 trips to Aurora, has conducted
very thorough interviews with the residents so no attempt was made during
my visit to locate each of the contributors to duplicate their reports.
Both Mr. McCrary and Mr. McKinnon are firm believers that the entire story
explosion took place on this rock strewn hill—the search and investigation
continues. Another status report will appear in the September issue of
SKYLOOK on this historical, but", very difficult case.
Walt Andrus
Director, MUFON
MUTUAL UFO NETWORK
August, 17, 1973
25 July 1973
ch
copy: Mr. Earle F. Watts
D u n c a n v i l l e , Texas 75116
o *
Title 26 CEMETERIES Art. 912a—22
Historical Note
Prior laws: Acts 1034, 43rd Leff, 2nd C S . p. 146, ch.
Art. 028. 6G. ; 1.
Historical Note
Prior Laws: Acts 1934, 43rd Leg.. 2nd C.S.. p. 146.
Art. 928a. ch. 66, 9 1.
Historical Note
Prior laws: ~-~Acts'lQ34T~43rd~Leg p , 2nd C.S., p. 14G, ch.
~Art.~928br CC, 5 1.
Notes of Decisions S(
Library references C(
Dead Bodies C=>5. be permuted except under circumstances In
C J.S. Dead Bodies 8§ 4, 9. indicating a necessity or compelling rea-
sons. Alklns v. Davis (Clv.App.19C2) 352 tl
1. Construction and application S.W.2d 801. tr
Failure to comply with former similar Next of km have some rights In regard 0(
slalvile would not prevent the statute of to disinterment, and owe some duties un-
limitations from running against action for der certain conditions. Id. w
wrongful disinterment and reburial of re-
Act pertaining to permission of county of
mains of deceased person. City of Ver-
court for removal of remains of deceased ih
non v. Low (Civ.App.1942) 158 S.W.Zd 837.
persons does not confer jurisdiction on
While the right to remove a body re- County Court to determine a controversy CC
mains with the surviving spouse, the right between surviving spouse and next of kin fr
Is a qualified one, and removal should not over disinterment of a decedent. Id.
(5
ac
Art. 912a—23. May contract pecuniary indebtedness but all
le:
liens subordinate to dedication no
Cemetery associations shall in the conduct of their business have In
the right to contract such pecuniary obligations as may be required, CCi
and may secure the same by mortgage, deed of trust or otherwise upon fn
their property. Provided, that all mortgages, deeds of trust and other thi
liens of whatsoever nature, hereafter contracted, placed or incurred cr;
upon property which has been and was at the time of the creation or _US(
placing of such lien, dedicated as a cemetery asjn this^Act'^author-- 'tio
izcrl and-providedror"upon~propert"y wKicTTshaTl afterwards, with the sai
consent of the owner of any such mortgage, trust deed or lien, be sui
dedicated to cemetery purposes as authorized by this title, shall in . of
nowise or at all affect or defeat the dedication thereof, but such mort- pr<
gage, deed of trust, or other lien shall be subject and subordinate to iw
such dedication and any and all sales made upon foreclosure thereof sec
shall be subject and subordinate to the dedication of such property by
to cemetery purposes. Acts 1945, 49th Leg., p. 559, ch. 340, § 23. for
i Articles 912ar-l to 912a—27; Yemen's Ann.P.O., art. 705b—1. of
Historical Note
Prior laws: Acts 1934, 43rd Leg., 2nd C.S., p. 146, ch.
Art. 929. CO, i 1.
410
LAW OFFICES OF YARBOROUGH AND POPE INC.
5148 East Belknap Street Fort Worth. Texas 76117
ALWAYS
; ZIP
f /t .
spW****'*'
,-_ „ —N-
* P.O. Box 9
0»Fallen, Mo. 63366
31 July 1973
V
Mr. Bill Case
Aviation Writer
The Dallas Times Herald
P.O. Box 5445
1101 Pacific Ave.
Dallas, Texas 75202
Dear Bill:
The metal sample you supplied is keeping the analytical
people quite interested. Unfortunately, they move very
slowly, however quite thoroughly - maybe soon we will have
a complete analysis.
As you will note by the enclosure I divided the specimen
into three pieces* The largest piece is being analyzed
by the people in our research laboratory (identified as
sample #1). Although I cannot yet offer a report on their
efforts I can give you some verbal information* as follows:
1. It appears to have gone through a heating and
cooling phase. It has large grain structure and
no strains.
2. It has a typical aluminum alloy structure, but it
is not at all a typical alloy.
3. It contains hard Pe (iron) inclusions. The inclusions
are near the surface where cooling occurred first.
4. It contains on the two elements Al (aluminum) and
Fe (iron). No copper or zinc were found.
5. In an examination by soft z-ray emission one spectral
line was missing. This is most unusual and will be
rechecked.
6. The specimen is 95$ Al and 5$ Pe. Again unusual.
The sample identified as #2 was examined by a friend in the
metallurgical laboratory. The enclosure is my preliminary
report of his findings. Although measured quantities are not
shown the EDAX identified only Al and Pe. For comparison the
surface of the sample was tasted and numerous elements
identifiedl
Sincerely yours,
John P. Schuessler
Deputy Director, MUFOH
&S
Case of
<* T* **t »
JOHN F. SCHUESSLER
JUL 31 1973
KC
3oco X
/Sod X
\
«(
#r*e
GO *
**- -"*'- /\t4*>
*
/?
lll'll i j l l \
4 2 S E C 31569INT
1450EV 4 89 6 I N T
1788EV 384 I NT
£ SV 2 3 5 9E V 1 9 4 IN T
^. 2656EV 122INT
3366EV 161 I NT
r. XT 3790EV 168 I NT
4508EV 615 I NT
4959EV 137 I NT
7. T"/ 6 4 86E V 217 I NT
R
7858EV 66INT
11 1855 8 E V 54 I N T
12 8EV 01 N T
13 8EV 8 I NT
14 8EV 01 N T
15 8EV 01 N T
16 8EV 0 INT
17 8EV 6 IN T
18 8EV 0 I NT
19 8EV 0 1 NT
-S- 73
-/!• W
to It /5 AL YTOCI<.
SPECTRO-CHEMICAL
RESEARCH LABORATORIES, INC.
ESTABLISHED 1946
CHEMISTS • SPECTROGRAPHERS • METALLURGISTS • CONSULTANTS
AREA CODE 312
August 2, 1973 330O WEST LAWRENCE AVENUE
TELEPHONE 267-1844 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 6O625
70564-M
r ~l
YOUR ORDER No.t-
Cu • • • • • 5.68
^n • • • • • .02
Fe . 38
Si . • • • • .26
Mn ..... .02
Ni ..... none
Me
J.YJ-5 .• ... .01
L i •••'•• trace
Cr . 02
Pb .03
Sn . 02
A1• • • •• remainder
Alloy 2011
MEMORANDUM
MUTUAL UFO NETWORK, INC.
MDRL- 7 6 7 The Scientific Investigation
13 AUg 73 of Unidentified Flying Obiaclt
To: R. A. Weiss
CC: D. P. Ames, L. l/C/itfirowitz, V. A. Montgomery,
J. F. Schuessler, D. S'. Wright, S. Zwerdling
From: J. E. Holliday
MDRL-767
| 13 Aug 73
J.
Scientist - MDRL
Dept 224, Bldg 33, Sta 23874
JEHrdll
PHONE 512/379-9216
'• = ,.'• Meta^; analysis": deitaiIs have. been received from several, laboratories- .
/"where, investigations, have been conducted by metalufgists; physicists
; '•- and chemists:to determine/the compositionJof pieces of metal..imbedded
under ground .on the-limestone, surface at the., alleged crash site. ; ..
• (Bradley Oates residence^); The different ..samples recovered by Bill
-,- .Case, and; Earl Watts,-thrpug'h the aid- of -.'-a. metal .'..detector, .all show
evidence, of having been heated to a molten state when they were
originally deposited. ;' Basically, the samples are of an aluminum
. a l l o y , varying from an aluminum content oF 65% to 951 and iron
content fr.om 25% down ;to St.' Other elements are present in small.
quantities in certain pf the soibmitte'd samples.. Reports have been
-.-• received from three (3) aerospace company labs, one. (1) university
ahd;;brie* (1.) private spectrp^chemical research."laboratory in four (4) ,
: different s;tates. . The uniqueness of the-metal has excited the .;
. interest" pf the "metalurgists who are ;.asking more questions in ail .
;= - effort -to determine,-the- origin or manufacturer of the aluminum alloy.
It is believed by many th;at our universe, is made up of the saine, elements
:/ : found on our Earth; therefore, we are. not looking-^for an unknown
element, that might"-be :evidence of extraterrestrial origin. We-are
:'-•.-'> : searching for positive evidence .of a. combination of elements, oivan
: i r alloy that has never been produced or manufactured on this Earth. ; If
.: .the: continued ^investigation in the labs so dis.cios.es such., an alloy,
V - , it will provide -the, evidence to seek further, support of this interesting
case by seeking, a court order, to exhume the .alleged remains in the - :
suspected"grave in the Aurora,-Texas cemetaiy. .Legal aid has been
-- '':•.. volunteered when and if exhuminatiPn is the next logical step. . . .
It has be,en-interesting tp read the "hoax" comments, made by. a few
UFO buffs who -have-jfeiied. on the' cursory, investigations of a second
1
- party forT their, facts;. No one.has ever conducted an in-depth inves-
tigation into this j
intriguing case to pfeove or disprove its authen- \
;
ticity prior t.o MUFON:'s work. Our goal is either to .prove it is a , ':.
: legend orr a hoax perpetrated by F. E. Hayden in 1.897, pr it ^actually.
;: .happened as, reported. ..Sine'e this, case is 76 ye^ars old, reconstructing •
the .physi'cal evidence^ interviewing witnesses and. conducting the/
•'.','• necessary .laboratory research has :been:very difficult, but a : real
.challenge to; a. scientific study. . "-. . '
"!'."; As new information becomes available', it; will be .reported in SKYLOOK.
Walt Andrus
Norma Please add this material to the previous
unpublished story that arrived top late .
for ""the •;•August::issue
' ' - Walt : - .;:. ;•••.,-••. - -.'.
SAMPLE REPORT SUMMARY (AURORA)
Bill Case (2nd item) - Small chunk (approx. 1.8 cm x 0.6 x 0.4
cm); Aluminum oxide melt, essentially diamagnetic, easily
worked/polished.
AN INVESTIGATION
REFERENCES:
J. F. Schuessler
Aluminum Most abundant metal of the earth's
crust.
Valence
Process the Ore The first step in Hall's process is the puri-
fication of the bauxite, and it is especially
important to remove the iron which produces
undesireable effects upon metallic aluminum.
The purified alumina is dissolved in a fused
cryolite electrolyte in a furnace. Aluminum
metal collects at the bottom of the furnace
and is tapped off at intervals.
To produce one pound of metal there are
consumed 2 Ibs of aluminum oxide, 0.60 to 0.65 lb
anode material, 0.1 lb cryolite, 0.1 lb. fluorospar
and 10 kw elect, energy.
Purity Done by electrolytic method known as Hoopes
process, a 3 layer bath
-fl-W
Pure aluminum of cathodes Middle layer
dissolves aluminum
Fused fluoride electrolyte readily (but not
cu, Fe, Si) and
Impure Al-CuaJLloy Al finds it way to
Anode the cathode
T H E R M O C H E M I C A L DATA OF ALLOYS
Ni-Cu-Al. Nickel-Copper-Aluniinium.
OELSEN and LICHTENUERG [237] determined the heals of formation
in the solid state on mixing Cu-Ni alloys with Al, in the same
manner as with the Fc-Ni-Al system. The m i n i m u m heat of forma-
tion in the ternary system was found with NiAl (A// = — 17,000);
from this composition an inverted ridge stretches to CuAl (A// =
— 5800). Parallel to this another inverted ridge extends from
Cu 2 Al at NAi = 0-33, and disappears at about Ni:Cu = 1:1. With
the alloys with N&1 > 0-5 a regular increase of A// towards the Al
corner was observed. For further details the original paper should
be consulted.
Fe Co Ni
Fe 10 20 JO 10 SO SO 70 SO 30
"""> A t o m - 7 . Ml,
FIG. 2
Integial heats of formation in the Fe-iNi-Al s)stem at room
temperature
FIG.
Integral heats of formation in the Fc-Co-Al system at room tempeiature
10
FIG. 4
Integral heats of formation in the Fe-Si-Al system at room temperature
y0 m alloy/yo in {Fe}
"X
C Cr Mn
V Al
I540 C C 1595X 160CTC 1600°C
Difference
in A tfm -26-0 -29-2 - 38-8 - 70 3 kcal
Deoxidation equilibria for various elements in liquid iron have
frequently been determined for practical reasons. The equilibria
may also be calculated from data available in the present mono-
graph, i.e. from the free energies of solution of oxygen and of
the deoxidizer in{Fej, and from the free energy of formation of the
slag. Such calculations will not be repeated here, since they have
frequently i been carried out, for instance, by RICHARDSON [366],
CHIPMAN [137, 78], and KUBASCHEWSKI and EVANS [253]. It is,
however, necessary to take into account the change of activity of
oxygen caused by the presence of the added element. The effect of
a few elements on the activity of oxygen in liquid iron was deter-
mined by CHIPMAN and his associates: Cr [75], V [78], C [285], Si
[137], and Al [138]. The effect of other elements, such as Mn, has
been estimated by RICHARDSON [366]. The results arc given in the
table, in the form of the ratio of the activity coefficient of oxygen
in the ternary solution Fc-X-O to that in iron. This effect is partly
compensated by the reverse effect of oxygen on the activity of the
added metal. Thus the activity of Al in {Fe} is considerably lowered
by the presence of oxygen [138].
For other metals having smaller mutual interaction with oxygen,
and when the concentration of oxygen is low, as it is in practice, the
effect of oxygen on the activity of the metal may be neglected.
There is still some doubt as to the effect of silicon [137], and
accordingly these data have not been tabulated here.
It has been pointed out [366, 138] that the m u t u a l effects of two
added metals on the activity curves should be proportional to the
differences in free energy of formation of the oxides of iron and of
the alloying element. For an approximation, one may take the
differences between the heats of formation at room temperature.
This has been done in the bottom row of the table, using the
heats of formation of Fe0.95O and of the most stable oxide of
the addition element. The principle involved may be used for the
estimation of the y ratios of other elements in iron.
Calculations of the deoxidation equilibria in liquid steel [366,
78, 253] have mostly neglected the mutual effect of the solutes on
the activities. This accounts for the larger discrepancies with
experimental results. Part of the differences between theory and
practice may have arisen either from inaccuracies in the basic
thermochemical data and oversimplifications of the reaction
mechanism (e.g. Fe-Ti-O), or from experimental errors, particularly
in practice, ,whcre equilibrium may not have been attained. In
addition the system may be more complex than that assumed in the
theoretical analysis.
Further rough values of the effect of third elements on the activity
of oxygen in liquid iron may be found in a recent review by CHIPMAN
[78a].
Table [.'•Therniocheinical Symbols Used, and their Definitions
(The table is illustrated with a hinary alloy system of two
metals Me and Mt, where Me is the base metal)
Symbol Quantity Definition Dimension
r absolute °K.
temperature
e temperature °C
Pae vapour pres- saturation pressure of the ideal gas (Me) atm
sure of Me over a condensed phase containing this
• component
2 elcctrochem. —
valency
E electromotive potential difference of an electrolytic Volt
force = cell measured isothcrmally and rever-
e m f. sibly by a compensation method, i e.
no current flow
Nue,N>u atomic A'MC = ' - A/,,, = /IMC/("MC + "ML)
fraction
—
= at-%/100
"Me activity Padpo, where pa is the vapour pressure —
of the pure component Me
VMC activity —
coefficient a Jfo /A r Mc
R gas constant 1 986 cal/degrce
In logarithm logc —
log logarithm logic —
At/Me partial free change in free \ when 1 g-atom of cal
energy energy 1 Me is assimilated by
A/? Me partial heat change in heat 1 a (theoretically) infi- cal
of solution content I nitc amount of an
A5ne partial entro- change in 1 alloy of constant Cl =
py in solution entropy ' composition A/Me cal/dcgrce
A<7T integral free change in free \ cal
whcn V
energy energy ' MC £- a( om g-atom
1 Me and (1 — A\,c ) cal
Atf T integral heat change m heat g . atom Mlcombin c
of solution contcnt
I by reaction at tern- g-atom
A5T mtcg entropy change in perature T Cl
of solution entropy / g-atom
Lf latent heat cal
fusion g-atom
a, entropy of Cl
fusion L,\T, g-atom
I*t latent heat of cal
transforma- g-atom
tion
AVT atomic Atomic Weight/Density (p — pykno- cm 1 /
volume metnc; r — x-ray) g-atom
AK r volume (^alloi — £K mcla | s )/SK me ials at —
change on temp T
formation
Ref 450. 102. 255. 25 248 218. 329.455 248. 210 417. 255. 253.61.
211. 338. 210 61 230. 462. 456. 114
53 414
LABORATORY^ T|5T^RESULTS
1897 Aurora^TX Metal Sample
Conducted for
J>, "Schuessler
1. The subject sample was analyzed by x-ray fluorescence, soft
x-ray spectroscopy, and optical metallography.
29 X-Ra.y Fluorescence Analysis
The approximate composition of the sample as measured
by x-ray fluorescence was:
95 atomic (at.) % Al
5 &•$*.% Fe
That no zinc was detected in the sample is of interest,
since zinc was found in other pieces of aluminum recovered
in the geographical area of the ,,present sample. The
limit of x-ray fluorescence detectability for Zn is
n
\j*ji av« °/n
at 70.
3. Soft X-Sa.y Analysis
The approximate composition of the sample as measured
by soft x-ray spectroscopy was:
98 at. % Al
1-2 at. % Fe
No copper was observed with soft x-ray spectroscopy^,
which has a limit of detectability of approximately
i at. %, Commercial aluminum allots that contain iron
usually contain k-5 viffc. % copper.
If. Optical Me tallo graphic Analysis
Photomicrographs of the sample are shown in Encl.(!)(see
attached photographs). The presence of large grains shown
in Figure l(see page ) indicates that the sample is stress-
free and has gone through a melting and cooling stage.
The presence of shrink cavities observed before the material
was etched also indicates that the sample had been molten.
Small crystals of a second phase as shown in End. (l)(see
page ) are an iron-aluminum intermetallic compound. Th%$
second phase is present because not more than 1% iron can
exist in solution in aluminum. These crystals are much
harder than the aluminum matix and are much more numerous
at the outer surface than in the interior as may be observed
by comparison of Figures 1 and 2. The photomicrograph in
Figure 1 was taken at the edge of the cut surface 'whereas
the photomicrograph in Figure 2 was taken at the center of
that surface. The differences in the percentages of aluminum
and iron between the x-ray fluorescence and soft x-ray
results are due to this change in concentration of the
second phase. In the soft x-ray spectroscopy measurements,
the x-rays originate from a small area(1 mm x 3 mm) near
the center of the cut surface, but in x-ray fluorescence
the entire sample contributes to the results. The increase
in concentration of the second phase near the edge of the
sample is a normal occurrence when the alloy is cooled
from the melt.
5. The sample was tested for radioactivity with a Geiger counter.
No radiation above background was detected.
PHONE 512/379-9216
,^yy.^r.^
0.000 VFS = 4096 10.240
240 RURORR FRRGMENT
SSQ
No. of Iterations 2
----- K CZD CAD CF CZAF] ATDM.'/i WT.7.
AL-K 0.990 0.999 1.023 0.999 1.022 99.50 98.96
FE-K 0.009 1.080 1.018 1.000 1.100 0.50 1.04
* - High Absorbance
6, 0fy*»M+*f &*~ s"^-*"
f I rf Jj> / fit
4U+4 '&***' J*** <W*£S*
7,
4£
[i^^u^ r
i4#t*?s*/^te.
S
/<
>**«^^x^xa^K &&*~~&
**>&&&*- s4*+ •Tfatt,; WAvtstHAgjArf '***&£.
(Z^SI^ »»£l*^
fa^^srS^n****"*'
J^&*^^jtt+***y#'
b+jtl****
0
6^0ut^<**+b
ic-af^/ftr, \d*U/*"/***<&fc&ljfi*~
t^^^^^^r^^^
^i^i $6, tfcfcifa' (rtfa+fatf Jy '^
^
l^c^^J^/^^ fiji/>*d*i^ty**,
jtJtft'
&
*- &**»£•
^^MM_
' &
—ty\e*s (. Ov^fL^^-tfrdLze^^
t i . /% 9% r r r
#v/ y?/ V /^
(f^^i^^^^r^^-f^1^^^^^^/f^
j f . //. r CM** .,
* * - * > • ! t' J -
^M-^^-&jt^-0^4t^^r^^ -
a ( / tf . J /} ' / j^
^Mt-ts^d**^-* /&#Ld£^.^^
««feL^!3*!Owl*v.~'
>o -^ ^/ ^y s^ y // ^ ^ —/— "y * / /
-jfau£^-fd--*«*f4+&_
I I
--^^
^J^i^4^^5^_^_-
.^^^^^i^^.^1
/^^L/^^-^iz^—
\
1HE Q4LWS TIMES HER4LD
INUOUSL* PUBLISHED FOR ao_£ARS THE T MES iB76 THE HEBALD see CONSOLIDATED ieaa
Walt:
Here is today's story on the first
scienticf results of metals testing on the
reported Aurora, Texas crash in which the
pilot's body was surposed to have been
recovered.
We have sent a complete file to Dr. Hynek
to brief him. After the scientific findings
of the analtfets are in we would consider it
an "honor" and one hell of a boost if both
you as MUFON national director and Dr. Hynek
eould comment on the effort wnd whether
you consider the evidense substantial enough
to go ahead with a firm effort to secure an
exhumation order in the grave we have been
getting the signals from.
Obviously we need the respect and outside
"punch" that a statement from Dr. Hynek and
yourself would give us in this case. We feel
we have dug intdi every corner and Gary
reports his analysis thus fars looks
promising.
Please let me have your views on this
possibility. We could of course conduct it
in other ways not a la Hayden Hewes —
and we want keep it straight and level to
maintain the community cooperation.
o _ 1HE DAUAS TIMES HER4LD frw^ ci
CONT
CONT 'NUOUSUf PU&USHED FOR 90 YEARS THE TIMgS 1B76 THE HERALD ISBfl CONSOLIDATED 1B88 I L^^Jv»—XO LJ
In Metro Dallas J V In Retail Advertising
June 5, 1973
Walt:
Regards,
Bill
fadhud-
— ^
^
'
a. >V*<. <W<*~*1##4&SUZJ'
1 /
t-J
I
OCT NOV DEC 'I
S M T; W T F s s M T' W T F S S M TW F S T;
1 2 3 V4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 - 1 2
8 9 10 fl 12 13 14 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 3 4 5 6 7 8 S
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 1.2 13 14 15 16 V 18 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
29 30 31 26 27 28 29 30 ^31 25 26
2 27 28 29 30
-—
I \ /^- t *\ —* ^
NOTES
/,
VfBAP-TV &-•*"
&£&
/3fci<#
C,
AC
U
1%
£tt~jj*t
£"^^ 7+
!&**&.
(jj-tt*
/
-a*-*
ON
At P5 -
Me. SHUTA
<SIL
~' 73
LEGEND
SUSPENS ON BR DOE
U S DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
SCALES
0 05 0
1963
1970 CENSUS FIGUTES
BOONSVILLE
TE AS
WISE COUNTY * 249
< IM. .s/.r.w/.vr.u
metal into the usages of man's life is an operation of extreme I''. A L. K. CiiirU-y, Troy, X. V. The castings in this
difficulty." This statement was truly prophetic, for scientist ll wen- made from aluminum purchased from a metal
though he was, Sainte-Claire Dcville sensed the crux of the Jtrokrr at ?1.30 per avoirdupois ounce. The date of the invoice,
commercial problem, possibly because he had devoted a large Apr. 3, 1S7G, indicates that the metal was cither imported or
part of his own fortune, not only to his experimental work, but olse m:\dc ;]t the small chemical works of Col. William Frishmuth
also to the marketing of the product. ! at Philadelphia. Sodium was made at this plant and, by its
Saintc-CIaire Dcville had reference to aluminum produced
by the earliest process known, reduction with sodium. Thirty-
four years later (1889), Charles M. Hall, whose invention of the
electrolytic method of producing aluminum permitted a drastic
reduction in cost, wrote his associate in the Pittsburgh Reduction
Company, Romaine C. Cole, "The 'mention of S2 per pound
in 1,000-pound lots did not seem to interest anyone . . . practi-
cally no one wanted a thousand pounds." Here was a metal
about which much had been published looking forward to an
"Aluminum Age," with methods of working covered experimen-
tally, and uses suggested' that ranged all the way from minor
coinage to the replacement of steel in bridges. Also it was a
metal but one-third the weight of any other metal in common
use, which for 30 years had been generally known to have
reasonable strength when worked or alloyed, and stability under
ordinary atmospheric conditions. Yet when it was suddenly
brought down from $8 to $2 per pound, ^ decrease to 25 per cent
of its previous value, this new price did not even arouse interest.
It is not surprising, therefore, to find the statement by Dr.
Joseph W. Richards in the 1890 edition of his well-known book,
"Aluminium, Its Properties, Metallurgy and Alloys," that
"Aluminium has not yet won a very large field, and perhaps FIG. 1.—Transit made of aluminum by W. and L. E. Gurley and exhibited at
i Centennial .Exposition, in li>70.
not a little disappointment is felt on finding out exactly the few
uses it has been put to." It was disheartening to the pioneers use, small quantities of aluminum were produced. The alumi-
who, like Sainte-Claire Deville, had hoped to place the aluminum num tubing was bought in Paris by William Gurley.
industry on a firm basis, but were instead between the devil of This transit was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in
the high costs of production and the deep sea of a restricted Philadelphia and probably sold. Fifty-three years later it was
market that could only be enlarged through sales below cost. returned to the makers for repair and by them exchanged for a
The early dynamos were temperamental, but the weekly payroll new instrument. Its history from 1S7G to 1909 is unknown,
was not. bin froin the latter date it was owned by an engineer in Char-
ii'tJ-.'-viilc. Va., :uid had been in almost constant service. A
Early Development of Markets in the United' States. o.:!ip!.-;<- clu'inical Mii:ilvsis. nrrntly made of a simple from
Probably the first assembly of aluminum fabricated in the ''" --11' •'•'•£. !-h'i\\c'([ :m aliiiiiiri'.iiii content of OS.O-i per cent,
United States, of which there exists authentic knowledge, is an 'v " ' :•(::.•..- ..; v^o-ui (>.'.>!: jr.... ll.'.M); r<'pjKT IU4; :uid
engineer's transit made in 1876. It is now in the museum of its • '", "I » t t-'i:
8 THE ALUMINUM INDUSTRY . HISTORY nf M.UMtXUU
Soldering and Welding.—As soon as sheet metal became Early in 1S95' occurred the first bit of what might be called
commercially available, the necessity for properly joining pieces inU>rn:ition:il publicity since the Paris Exposition of 1SS9. The
was evident. Probably no other process was the subject of so Ili-rroshoff Manufacturing Company designed and, with great
much effort and invention. The Patent Office files on aluminum secrecy, built the yacht Defender for the International Cup Races.
solders are voluminous, and the results disappointing in many Aluminum alloy plates and deck angles, rolled in a steel mill, and
ways. Scarcely a week went by in the earlyjdays that some new cast fittings werejused above the water line. Prior to this in the
solder was not being pushed by a hopeful inventor. The problem United States, a few small aluminum boats had been used by the
was not one simply of finding a solder that would flow and adhere.
P I T T S B U R G H REDUC T I C K CO
Any combination of metals with a substantially lower melting
point than that of aluminum was certain I to differ from it in
electrolytic potential. This meant the failure of the joint
through galvanic action in the presence of, any moisture that
could act as an electrolyte. Ultimately a very satisfactory
welding technique was developed, but in the'first 20 years of the
commercializing of aluminum no stable use resulted where either
hard or soft soldering was essential and .where riveting was
impractical. The soldering of aluminum is better understood
now and has some applications for which it is quite satisfactory.
L.
to
-
*v\
t
01 „. %v*'
fe '!' • • • -'^ , *+** c.»-.-.i Friday, August 6, 1S63 aljc Sallas -Slsrutiie Sfrai.-: ' . 7 A';: -V
yin
I DENiSOiV, Texas (Sp.)—Soulh-iDallas Kcrald in -.vliicli "Mr.! "After gazing at it for somc;!)!c'J, as well .is !-c c
[western sinr Ja/crs who thir.k'J'o;'!1 Martin, a f.-.rmrr who livcsj.;,-^ ^r Mr.rtin became b!r.rf!'« •suc« n ^"slar.ce.
Ithcv are seeing 'spots before theirl™ si>: m^ rorth of .this f^tr"-. lonj looking and left of,'!wllich SCC!11-c! !o :'lirn l
°b
-
f H i " , j ,. ' ,, (Dallas),, wnne out ntmt:n^,, I^ao . . . . , ,. mie.sl. rea."onao:2
. .
I »"- ,cycs ^^rcn t secmg anytn.ns neiv.!-,,., a ( l c n t i o n dirc.ctcd .o a d n r k _v^^g it >» order to rrst ni.s.slra.,..c p^no,T.e.;c;, ,;;o,,h ;,c
i F.any-d:iy p:r>nccrs were seeing. object lii^h up in the northern eye?. On -c.«imv.pj; his view, tr.t; js nf ,i,p ,,„•„,:,,,., .; : ~ r ; r ..vr, ]7L.,.
aniccpl-ficc: Ilyirp objects a^sky. ' ;o'\-c: -va< ai^os!. cv::-hcail aiv.l^^blv oic oj ;!'c !i;.r.x-'-'y oodics.
jt-arly .IK 'S7S. al.lcast. . . "The pc'.-jliar ihaac. and the r.."i rncrra;-cd coi .idcra'jly in '": \,-eri a.s rT).(i!y a:: it Iu/
j The Jan. 25, 1S7-S. txl'tioii of ihc! velocity v.ith which ire nbj'ictjbir" crnci anpearcd to be ^oin^; conic and was j-co,; ioj-i fo ii^h!
iDcniron Daily News carried wiinj' soetne.l to approach, riveted hisil'i.'OBph space at a wonderful, in the southern s'<y. Mr. Mnr:in
Jiiiforians ciaim.is one uf ihc car- ati'.'iilion, ar.cl he strained his cycs.bpf.-^i \Vhen directly over him it.i.i a ^cn'ien'.a:' of ur.t'oiibtctl
Ilias-l reports of [a "U70." Undergo discover ifs cha-acior. Whcn-.vts about the swe of a iargc'vcrai-'iy :.nd tl'.'s- s'jvjr?" occur-
la one-line heading, "A Slranpe f!r>l r.oli<:"fi it oppe.ir-d ti> be saucsr ord was evidenily at a ri'nc.1. u' it M.t« iv.v a baliccn.
'Phcr.cmenon," l)ic paper recounts'about (lie size of an onn^e, which' ;;reat heighl. itlesor'.cs iivj altci'iVn of ihc sci-
!a pifcs that appeared in ihe o'dlfonlii''.!^! !<• ^row '.r. we. i "*/r. Mnrlin llvi'.i^ht it rrvc'n-'i'riNi* "
HL^,
p--.
e o . k e e p s popping :up
yr?w
DL^-W.--' ;
-^ ">
••V wvupaoi wn« :was wwaoiy a mm-eveni..,; r '..-„-••" •»•»«»• ,.t-.~~- '»O/' K Mcffltny
^/.^.'-•..v^^vri-^'^'''-- •••• •$ -J Stephenvllle.V Texas,- ccailed^The ;
Dall*.
*/U; ^ir^p'iflftei'lFliufinW^;-'-^:' N«»« -to--"/ <h»M» ;,w«»
: com5fl«
i ' 11; M 1 . ' .,' ... .' ; ..'..,, .!'..'•!>. v<:, ?;,*,,.from.'prayer,meeting-w
ng -wh^n he fart as «lr»
f'1^ » .1 ' ' ^ ^J '
' • '.i.
mjitApril ;of, 18S7 •
»_ IJ A _l*_!t *_A • AAM a.. •_.»" it _—.' _ l — i
Bottle down ^ one. o(,htf ptsajra'tnd
!. ,«• ^
1
ffoad 'telegraphers. And • yet people all over., ^
^r the-ccwntry. most «*«» of *§
hlV fl&VB •*•""*•* *•» on
I
?f^^(^li'Cwnen •-dynamitors
**»* •nlfsi cnu^M tmHt • . .
;
start
dropping- ~1xnnb9.;dofm-on'
_ •_• .
.riding
- •* "
"AURORA. Wise bounty, Tesas-^bout The news story didn't aynlinii what (da
• o'clock^ this morning early risers of AD- Judge .vaa serving but he and aU bis
Tor4' were . aiitbnished at the sudden .ap- guests declared,they saw "the Qymgmt»
pearance of the airship which baa'been chine roar over like a railway passenger
cruising around the nation.... Evidently coach at rather fast speed against the fir»
5'. isoinetil J»_machineryj^s_out of order,"; '^inantent'fe In ^Dall Dallas .M, •£• Oriffti, de-
V fpfit was; making e'speed of;o»ly tOor"/ scribed'.as'"church urch man and a non-drinK>
.;!lj miles, ah hour tad ..gradually" settling- - " said " .he
' *•borrowed "a powerful glass,"
• toward the earth. ''\ '«/ ; • : climbed' to the top of the courthouse
*' "It sailed directly over the public and the airship convenienUy flew over to
." square then collided with Judge. Proctor's his "great delight" and he called it .a.
.;* windmill and went to pieces with a terrif- "sublime eight." Fort Worth's leading wit-
;:, ic explosion, scattering debris oVer sever- 'ness, was Joseph E. (Truthful) Scully, a
;• al acres, wrecking the windmill and wa- railroad conductor "who never told a lie In
'. ter tank, and destroying the judge's flow- his life."
'^ er garden." - , v; The* wire services said "fully 110
dents of New Carlisle, Indiana" would
' r^reCrO
^ fo ^ tfr0rq
i' - * swear on the Sible they «w the ship on
' , »' -' The story-went on to say that a dead theOne night of April 18,1897. :
.: "; pilot was "epparentV' the only one it-was-a(theory on this whole thing li that
• '*' aboard 'and tKSt~his disfigured remains phere''in Iowa. started hoex by raUtead talegra?.
Then railroad telegraphers
v suggested that "he wasn't an inhabitant
•';; of this world." The story skid that "the all over the U.S., or at ltiut in the mid-
•*. town is full of people" carrying off spec!-' dle part, joined b the fun. abetted by i
*, mens of the "strange metal" of the air- .newspapermen. •,/ . ••. '• .'»
- ship settle dbwn in one of his pastures 'and o,f Stilt, the fact remains that thousands
people, some of, them In the back coun-,
."• and • silver." Thej yarn conchided -wWi:
-" "The pilot's funeral will take place tomoA try, claimed to see the heavier-than-air '
crafts .flying around. They couldn't possi-
bly have been in on the hoax in that tirew
;• THAT DAY (ApiU 17/1837) big air- of rather poor communications, 0 yean
/ ships were crashing over a widewvath of before' the Wright brothers- finally got a
•• the nation, at least according to news re- machfm off the ground at Kitty Hawk.
.<v
^
Tolbert*8 Texas
" • '• % * /
i •• 1
6 9 * i (j.,
Meah Schoolmaster
Named Frog Not Town
By FRANK X. TOLBERT £ * 'was' killed and apparently buried, <J»
FIRST 1971 calendar to hit niydeskis same day dn the town cemetery
from Mayor and Mrs. Otis Dixonof Frog First I had trouble with an ^yew-old
Not or Frognot, Twas. ,Frog Not3is in boy reader who objected especMy to th|
Collin County/ near Snow pi and Climax 'heading of the column. .And .the child f
and' just east of Blue Ridge. • bointot out' correctly that the Wading on *
' ' '•
. tern's tank, down the road from ^the ufo arrived from Jerold
on store and market 11,.,.1'),.'1^"'^'1 jS/Vj. R. "I read your inter-.
I was hoping that the'Frog^ot.CBJen-' . esting^reply^.to a letter fronj Dr..
'f &V ** ^" *' ~*~ - *~'--- ~ • -* **
'., dar would be illustrated by some picru, ift-;-MV further •_*-
information
of frogs. Instead there is a ,'airship' crash* at Aurora, Tex.v
color ""• •<»--'-'•»•" Vallee. .author,of
foals, on the subject of
Frog Ha'rJon,, author of -J
the scarcity of these amphibian^ but be-1'
cause of an early schoolmaster--who .was
• a severe disciplinarian..% Oqe of hia'pet
peeves was over j^i,--*-'-"-"-----•-—-••-<--'•
ing frogs to school,
with a frog' in class
So Ae afoot and later cne oomroumry .w p^^ Saiicer Revfew^for JwuM^-Febni-
. came to be calf^.Frog Not or F:rognoff t.ffjiy Mr, Vallee jrnd Hanloii stated ,flBt
That old sppilspor| <*j&!'^l«&&'\$n;im!stfatm was «pnt to Aurbra.to.as,
would have been unhappy"1!} fie'd Iwed to',y^rt^n the vaUdity ofIfoe incident^epprt.
see that likeness of ^ grten'frog-on,rti)«CA a?lnjche Dallas Morning N«ws edition of |
,-town-water, painted ffolft a'.scaffold by'''. Anril 18~I897V" ts£ ' - A Y »• •'""••• ' i"
place, April 19, 1897," Hewes It was first reported in Dal- Hewes doesn't believe so.
said. "He was not an inhab- las and Fort Worth newspa- "We hope by exhuming the
itant of this world." pers a few days after the al- body we may obtain some of
An intense search for pieces leged explosion, and reporters the same type of unusual,
of the 19th century spaceship quoted witnesses that they metal from either his clothing-
have been underway since had also buried the astronaut or bones that was unearthed
March by the UFO bureau who died inside the ship. at the well site when we
team, but the story of the al- Most residents around the checked it with metal detec-
leged explosion of the UFO small hamlet, about 60 miles tors," he said.
has been a legend in Wise northwest of Fort Worth, Those pieces of metal are
County for more than a half Tex., claim the story was al- now being analyzed by scien-
century. ways a hoax. tists, he said.
By BILL CASE
U through "hundreds of UFO sighting re- crash where a crewman's body has and wait for its • appearance," The
Aviation Writer ports published in old newspapers 76 been recovered. . ' ) Times Herald reported. " *
A team oi ufologists (Unidentified years ago.'! The crash was the climax-to a'rash Published reports from more than
Flying. Object investigators) are comb- Saturday The Dallas Times Herald . of hundreds of UFO sightings in North 20 cities where UFOs were sighted in-
ing a cemetery in the ghost town of Au- also located published reports of the Texas cities and towns from about ,'Api'iL North Texas all described it as "silver!
rora in Wise County lor the grave of a crash in the town near Rhome. 14 through'April 27,1897. ... • i colored, cigar-shaped, about 60 feet
UFO pilot reportedly buried there after "The body was dismembered," the : The Times Herald of April' 18; 1897 long, with blinking lights and no
his spaceship collided with a windmill reports said. "However, enough re- reported firemen of Engine Company' noise." . •
and exploded April 19, 1897. mains were picked up to determine it .No. 4 had seen a UFO on the night of , "These reports correspond .with
Hayden Hewes, director of the In- was not ,that o[ an inhabitant of this April 17 and Dallas druggist R. C. Ko- many of the thousands of UFO reports
ternational UFO Bureau in Oklahoma world. It was given a Christian buri- pisch said a crowd formed in front of wo have received in. recent years,"
City;" .confirmed scientists are searching al." his store to watch : the cigar-shaped ob- said Walter H. Andrus, executive direc-
the abandoned weed-covered cemetery ject with blinking lights hover over the tor of MUFON (Midwest Unidentified
for the ; spaceship pilot's grave.' .: Hewes'. said he and his group hope Flying Object Network).
city and then disappear at high speed.
:
Hewes : said; the? "search under., way to, locale jthe grave and ''nain permis- Newspaper stones said the UFO
"During nightly visitations 6l the
was ; prompted , by newspaper, rep/orts of sion from the State of Texas to exc-.. which hfid been sighted over Aurora on
-aerial monster over Dallas residents
.hume the bones for study. ~. other occasions u'iis first spo'ted at 4
the r a c i i d e n - p u b U s h . - i n t - a l a . - . a n d "held 'lawn parties' just to sit outside
rbrf W ^ r U 6 n ' - . p n 20/.1897; Tmearhcc ' > •' • •' • • Out•;of thousands;'• of UFO-reports' a.m.;._]haf fatal morning traveling at *
, by vT/ItfFOB4 researchers;;?- ^checking : T this is'the only recorded instance of a See UFO on Pagp 9
itisk Investigated
. \- 3
Aurora's "UFO in 1966 Monday,
April 2, 1973
. By FRANK X. TOLBERT Mcllhany said the pilots "waved
adieu" and climbed in the plane and
THE DALLAS News and other Texas took off, apparently under electric pow--
newspapers carried a story in the April er "from large storage batteries."
J9, 1897 editions .that a "spaceship" had
The farmer concluded his tale with
crashed *he day before in the village of this philosophy: "What's going to hap-
Aurora, Wise County, and it was de- pen when ^dynamiters get to riding in
clared that the dead pilot's body was flying ships and drop bombs down on
disfigured but it was clear .that "he was folks?"
-not an inhabitant of this world:" It was
also written that "funeral services will An April 17, 1897 newspaper story
.be held for the pilot here at noon tomor- ' from Kalamazoo, Mich., chronicled
row/'. that' "3 prominent and sober citizens
while engaged in shingling a roof" saw
IVe kicked this yarn around in my an, airship crash land and completely
column before, most recently when blqw up. City- Marshall Tom Brown and
some'quotations were printed from a some other "church people" in Farm-
British magazine called Flying Saucer ersville, Texas, swore they saw 'an
Review. The magazine sent an investiga- airship fly low over the town. There was
tor to Aurora town and published a re- more of such testimony.
port'In 1967. . i
• The 1897 story in the Dallas News on
.You may have read in Sunday's Dal- thei Aurora crash was under the by-line
Jas iKews that a 1973 team of investiga- of 'F. E. Hayden! The material in his
tors Vor an organization called Interna- story certainly isn't very reStble. For
tional Unidentified Flying Objects Bu- instance he said that one of the wit-
reau is now in Aurora looking for metal nesses of the crash was "T. J. Weems,
' fragments of the alleged 1897 spaceship a U.S. Army Signal officer and astro-
crash' and searching the local cemetery noper." In 1897 there was a T. J.
lor .the pilot's body. Weems in Aurora all right but he was
WHAT THE United Press Internation- the local blacksmith.
al wire service story in Sunday's Dallas Hayden wrote: "At about 6 o'clock
NewS didn't mention was that that 1897 this morning early risers were aston-
report •, from Aurora was only one of ished at the sudden appearance of an
hundreds of "sightings" of airships and airship. It sailed directly over the pub-
even conversations with the pilots on lic square and collided with the tower of
.the ground solemnly reported by "sober - Judge "Proctor's windmili"and went to
witnesses" all over the United States in pieces with a terrific explosion, wreck-
that April more than 6 years before the ing the water tower and destroying the
Wright brothers achieved powered judge's flower garden."
flight at Kitty Hawk. The April 16
through 20 newspapers were full of such The Flying Saucer Review's British
stories. You can say it was all a hoax. investigator who came to Aurora 69
Yet how did so many people in so many years after the alleged crash said that
states get coordinated,for such a colos- Aurora had been a busy town until the
sal prank? railroads by-passed it and that F. E.
Hayden, the au;hor of the 1897 story
For example, in the same issue "wanted to do something to keep people
which reported the Aurora crash, there in his town and make it a tourist at-
was^ another story from Stephenville, traction."
Texas,-in which "a prominent farmer
from 3 miles down the Bosque," C. L. STILL, BRAWLEY Gates, who in .
Mcllhany, claimed that he was coming April, 1973, lives on the site of Judge
home from prayer meeting when he Proctor's old place in Aurora, told the
saW/a''heavier-than-air flying machine UPI in Sunday's story that "he and a
land "in his pasture and 2 men jumped nephew cleaned out a well where the
out "to repair the machinery." Mr. windmill stood and discovered a large
Mcllhany said he assembled about a amount of metal. The pieces were about
dozen of his neighbors to bear witness the size of your fist, but we didn't think
and'namcd them. anything of it and junked them."
UFO
fyjP Hunts Spaceship UFO Investigators 'M
'••' '• "-'c. •;';5^t-. -•-• ' • •'• — ••;
That HitWjndmill jn 1897.
•ess International
AURORA, Tex.. April 11 —
Etta Pegues thinks it's all a
"The Aurora Cemetery has a
record of every person, there,
Grave of Pilot
....1 .DALLAS, Tex.-'(AP) -r-V the Time Herald quoted Dalla
big hoax, but an investigating and there is no record of any team of Unidentified Flying Ob- residents as saying that'crowds
teani is busy ^searching for re- man from Mars- ever having jects (UFO) , investigators;;are had- formed to; watch a cigar-
mains of a spaceship "reported been buried there. combing a cemetery' in ' t h e shaped object with'; blinking
to^ha've cyasKed into Judge ji. "Furtherinofe, there never ghosttown of, Aurora in • North lights hover over the city.and,
C. Proctor's windmill 76 years was any well there," Mrs. Central Texas for. the grave of a then disappear at high speed.' -','•
ago. Pegues said. "Judge Proctor UFO pilot reportedly buried •' "During nightly visitations of
Hayden
. ._- Hewes, director of didn't have any windmill." there, the Dallas. Times Herald .the aerial monster over, Dallas
the "International UFO • - said in its Sunday editions. " jr.? residents held l^wn parties to sit
Bureau" in Oklahoma City, '; ''-. The newspaper said that Hay- outside and wait-for its appear-,
says his group if not taking den Hewes, director of theater-- 'ance," the Times-Herald'report-'
any chances.
. .national UFO Bureau in Okla- ed. . . ' : • > ;?::•;'•;:;.:> "£
"We are continuing to check ,homa City, confirmed <that sci- '•The day of the crash the IJFCX
the area, even though it could • enlists are searching. the aban- was sighted:?over v: Aurora f.;at
have been a hoax," Mr. Hewes :• ' ".'doned weed-covered -icemetery about 4 a.nv;"according..to" r£
said. Wednesday. "We are •' , for the spaceship pilot??. grave."1' ' ports. It collided, with Judge ^jr
especially looking for any
metal piece of the UFO that -?~-\> Hewes told the newspaper '•. the; S. Proctor'siwindmill; and went
might have gone down nearby • ^search was prompted -by snews- to pieces.' .".':: .: ..•;•--..'./.•"•.:.^t.
wells, and we are searching v paper reports of April 1897-jthat T. J. Weems,"U.S."Signal Ser-
the cemetery for the pilot's ' '.a spaceship had collided with a vices officer stationed in Aur-
grave." ; windmill and exploded and that 'ora, was. quoted as saying'the]
Mr. Hewes and his group . the pilot was buried . in the pilot carried some papers that.'!
were aroused by recent '. town's cemetery. -•':£ +- - '•'"*-_• -"appeared to be a log'of his trav-
discovery of newspaper ac- -• ' The Times Herald said it lo- els written in sop.ejunknqwn ;hi-.-
counts of an unidentified flying ;
object that crashed in the area. cated -published reports of the eroglyphJcs.;^.-^:;t >> v*v;;-- r
' -..*<*;.
The articles were found in "crash that said "ttie body'of the '• The pilot"w'as bnried at'nooni;
Dallas and Ft. Worth pilot was dismembered. • How- pieces of the spaceship, ^ scatr
newspapers dating to April ever, enough remains were tered all over -the area, were':
1897. picked up to determine it was taken by sightseers. ". - ."•• _'
"At 4 AM a spaceship which not that of an inhabitant of this 'Hewes said his searches have'
had been seen, in the area world. It was given a Christian located the cemetery •• and '-rev
burial.", '-..'' mains of the windmill and other
previously slowly crashed into
Judge J. S. Proctor's windmill According 'to' "reports, the Landmarks.
.
. . . . . . ,v-^,;' ...j,.
,
and went to pieces with a crash was the climax to a rash . KOBE, Japan- (AP) 4-" The
tremendous explosion," said - • of hundreds of UFO sightings in Ikuno copper mine, the oldest in
one article, written by F. E. , North Texas cities and towns operation in Japan, has finally
Hayden. from April 14 through April 27, run out of copper, mine, officials
"Parts were scattered, over 1897. ..' ...•• . • " •' reported. •They.1 said : it
several acres. The windmill
was destroyed. The pilot's body ,• The April 18, '1897, edition :of
was dismembered. However,
enough remains were gathered
to determine it was not an in-
habitant of this world.
"The body was buried at
noon in Aurora Cemetery.
Papers believed to be the
pilot's log were found, written
in some . • undecipherable
hieroglyphics and the aircraft
was made of some unknown
metal," the article said.
Mrs. Pegues, 69, who hat
lived in nearby Newark, Tex.,
since 1920, says she was not
taken in by the stories.
"It was all a hoax," she said.
It was cooked up by F. E.
Hayden who was a . cotton
buyer and correspondent for
Dallas and Ft. Worth
newspapers, and men sitting
around the general store," she
said.
i-,.ifle:j«uivr«»-*vc4|c.*^'/iit"«>»">.>. -.«.,s..._„, „
|la)SeKwh6::toyel;5^tojdete<aors4and>more sophisticalt:
t;^ji!5U\d^g^ye^|^mii{^^^^4^v;^^;
'97JJTO to/legains support nr i\ l 0 IsJ/j
Unidentified metal scraps found at supposed site
.• .
By BILL CASE Haydcn Hewes, director of the Interna- "Sightseer-; IKIVC been here hy the
Aviation Writer tional UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City, hundreds asking lo look ;it the old well
Unidentified Flying Object investiga- 'whose investigators have been .checking she; (hen llu;y go down to the ceme-
tors searching for clues in the reported the reported crash for ^ over two . tery., i
crash of a UFO which hi ruck a wind- monlliH. "But' we will be back there *'UFO invfslipiitoi-s have been dig-
mill and exploded April 19,18'J7, in the Sunday with metal detectors and more ging /around the slab of concrete and
little North Central Texas hamlet of sophisticated equipment." well" house used to si'nl off the 'old
Aurora have dug up miscellaneous bits "I know of at least 125 unmarked well. They did dig up chunks of metal
of unidentified metal. graves there and loss of these stones which could not be identified andjook
Meanwhile hundreds of curious sight- makes any chance of locating the sup- them away for analysis to sec if they
seers visiting the Aurora Cemetery posed pilot's grave virtually impose!-.,' are ^inade of uny mrtal unknown on
where the pilot, supposedly killed in ble," Mrs. Gladys' Anderqafaaf nearby. • earth. ».
the crash, was allegedly buried that Rhome said.'She has B^jSvcataloging "I believe in UFOs. My son saw
same day have stolen at least 20 the early-day graves as awibby. one two years ago," he added. "But I
hund-heun native rock grave stones. Brawley Gates, 65, owner, of the don't know if one hit the winfftnill
"This will make bur search for the property ..where the alleged crash oc- here. It happened bed ire I was born."
pilot's grave even more difficult," said ' curred, told The Times Herald: Sen FRAGMENTS on PIIRP 31
Al Morgan Auto Sales. A good place to Championship tennis and Ice hockey Joe Irwln wants to buy some land.
buy. For 23 yrs. 3-110 Ross Ave. (Adv.) •tthi&atterBOon '•••• 824-4142. (Adv.)
Over?
I
APR 15 1973
Fragments
** from UFO? '97 tale- gains
**
Contlnnod From Pnge 1. The story of the crash has been 's fi'i'Ni at Icasl
' branded a hoax by Mrs. Etta Pcgurs widely known UFO investigative agen-
Aurora '1'nwn Marshal 11. II. Iflrll, of nearby tyewark. Mrs. Pegues, novel- cies arc i.'hfchiiiK nui the report. Gales
who .says he "isn't certain about ist and local historian says, "There said. They arc the International UFO
UFOs," !-rf:d he helped dig up the old never was any windmill there." Gates Bureau from Oklahoma, N1CAP (the
wooden corner post remains and seal and Idelf "say she is mistaken, ,• Nalional Investigative Committee on
off (he well in 1945. He showed report- The story of the search sprang into Aerial Phenomenal headed by Maj.
in's iwo rusted iron corner posts still In national 'prominence recently, when it Donald K. Keylior, \Vashinglon, D.C.,
the ground on which he said the wood- was learnefl^UFptftflVesttgalors wcre and 'MUFON ( t h e Midwest UFO Net-
en beams of ihe windmill had been checking fl»tt>4^wry.,published inDal- work), Quuicy, 111., directed by Walter
anchorcd/ : 7' , las' and tfdjjj:"$fajfjh .papers on April 20, H. Andrus, Jr.
' "There definitely was a windmill 1897k jffidTttMtteh" by F. E. Hayden, an
here," I del I declared, displaying a AurSra cotton buyer and newspaper
wheel-shaped piece of decayed wood correspondent. f .
which he believes was part of the de- '"It ^waaiofifrrol hundreds of "uniden-
molished hlructuro. "I helped clean out tifledlfliBlft" sightings reported in the
the well ami (lie metal recovered was papers-between April 14 and April 27,
just dumped on the ground. It was 1897,"' Hewes said, "but is the only
iliwi: pieces (ho UFO InvfstJgntors took CURB reported where the UFO crashed
away w i i h them for Identification." and the pilot's body was recovered."
1"0" GRIT News Sect ion April 22,197$
Team Seeking
Clues of
Crash in '97
An investigating t e a m is
looking for evidence of a space-
ship reported to have crashed
in Texas 76 years ago. At least
one person, however, isn't im-
pressed.
Representatives of the Inter-
national UFO Bureau in Okla-
homa City are searching in the
vicinity of .-Aurora, Tex., for
proof that an unidentified fly-
ing object crashed into a wind-
mill owned by Judge J. S.
Proctor in 1897.
Newspaper articles from that,
time written by-F. E. Hayden
stated that' a- spaceship that
had been seen in the area be-
fore "slowly crashed into Judge
J. S. Proctor's windmill and
went to pieces with a tremen-
dous explosion."
\ Body Said Found
1
The article further stated
that the dismembered body of
the pilot was found and that it
was believed "it was not an in-
habitant of this w o r l d . " The
pilot's log is also said to have
. been found. But, reported Hay-
den, the writing in the log was
"undecipherable" a n d t h e
metal in the spacecraft could
not be identified.
Mrs. Etta P e g u e s, 69, of
nearby Newark, Tex., said she
is sure it'v/as a hoax.
-"It was cooked up by F. E.
Hayden, who was a cotton buy-
er and correspondent for Dallas
and Fort Worth newspapers,
and men sitting around the
general store," she said.
Mrs. P e g u e s said she be-
lieves there is one fact that
casts doubt on the whole story:
"Judge Proctor didn't have
any windmill."
Texas efash site.
Of 1897 UFO Search in Aurora
Several months ago, an investigating team
Being" searched ^a> from the "International UFO Bureau" in
Oklahoma City began searching for the remains
of the spaceship that reputedly crashed into
In this spring of 1973, when reports of UFOs Judge J. C. Porter's windmill 76 years ago.
buzzing the landscape from Hamburg to Robeso- A March 30 UPI story, telling of the search
nia have startled Berks countians, Walsh is for scraps of the '97 spacecraft and the pilot's
pleased to note that investigators have been grave, quoted Mrs. Etta Pegues, 69, who lives in
checking for the remains of a "flying saucer", nearby Newark, Tex., since 1920, who claimed the
that reputedly crashed in Aurora, Tex., in 1897. 1897 story was a hoax. •»
Back on Oct. 23,1966, you know who mused in She not only said "Judge Proctor didn't have
his column: "All this makes Walsh wonder if any windmill" but that the "Aurora Cemetery
has a record of every person there, and there is
no record of any man from Mars ever having
been buried there."
JohnF. But a mid-April AP story disclosed that the
researchers have unearthed bits of unidentified
Walsh metal, and that Judge Proctor did have a
windmill.
As for the bits of metal picked up around ,the
concrete slab used to seal off the old windmillj H.
R; Idell, present town marshal of A u r o r a ,
Stiff believes they were actually part of the old
Writtr windmill Uiat he had helped clean out from the
vo well after it was demolished in 1945.
-j As for the search in the cemetery, it was
some of those unknown hieroglyphyics as well as complicated by the hundreds of curious sightseers
some of those pieces of metal from the craft that who flocked in, including some who have stolen at
wrecked the judge's windmill, are still around least 20 hand-hewn grave markers — making
Aurora, Tex. He also wonders if any scientists more difficult the search for the pilot's grave!
ever checked the bones of that ill-fated pilot — to The UFO hunt has apparently become as weird
see if they resembled those of an earth hu- "* gs.
man."
In that particular column, Walsh told about
various sightings of flying saucers over Texas
that happened back in April 1897 — six years
before the Wright brothers flew the first
airplane. i
The column was based on an AP feature
clipped out of a Davenport, Iowa, newspaper by
Betty Troy, who writes a Sunday social column
for the Reading Eagle.
Saucer scare
The feature, headed, "The Saucer Scare of
1897," was written by a Houston Post writer, who
dug into yellowed newspaper clippings to tell of a
series of sightings across Texas in 1897 of the
"mysterious airship."
The most bizarre account was taken from the
Dallas Morning News that was datelined Aurora,
Wise County, April 17 (1897). It read: "About 6
o'clock this morning the early risers of Aurora
were astonished at the sudden appearance of the-
airship which has been sailing throughout the
country.
"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.
"The pilot of the ship is supposed to have
been the only one aboard, 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.
"Mr. T. J. Weems, the U.S. Signal Service
officer at this place and an authority\ on astro-
nomy, gives it as his opinion that he (the pilot)
was a native of the planet Mars . . .
"Papers found . . . are written in some "un-
known hieroglyphics . . . This ship was too badly
wrecked to form any conclusion as to its con-
struction or motive power . . . The town is full of
people today who are viewing the wreck and
gathering specimens of strange metal from the
debris. The pilot's iuSSe^rnS take place at noon
tomorrow."
MAY 17 1973.
any alloy know ceivfid 'approval^ to "probe. all jou Observers noted present day NASA "Papers believed to be the pilot's log
"This n al looks « . ierent I hon- want ' from Brawley Gates, 65. now astronauts wear spacesuits containing were written in some undecipherable
owner of the property. large amounts of light metal a n d Keroglyphics Ard the aircraft was
es'iji '"Ti't -A v»r.at it ii '. \, ft "
Kt '<?y :
area w.t -.
h_^rs .Tbm^ v.e
tvpe of leep pi-oo°
Kellev •; professionalism produced
res dts ever, after hundreds c: ama-
spacecraft ordinarily au' Boated on the
CNttnoi \ith a shirt>, ;w\ ceramic
marie o -orre unknown metal "
Havo°n s st n r\ was one of hundrrcK :
SK k ^>^§|m%>S^^.
*&*£&:-& i • r 5 r«>s.. % '-
metal deiO"'o --.ever e nit a • le,..s and p jfe^Kinal L'FO ir.vest.ga- finish 10 wiir-M^nd he^t of "ppons o.' airsrips" pi Wished in
ai signal he "tn :e ocatP^1. to1. s had dug up tr.e area for the List Kcl'e\ a studoT ot UFOs *-a' s h° Dal'a- ana F™' Worth papers bttwef.i
,o' c of the - rebo d TVf- • ',\>o rpon;-is and i\uned oil so-nt nf believes ili^v e\ist and cite-, the man_\ Ap-'l 14 arc A;-'127. 1S97
\ i i ) ' V » n. -.-rer t'.e honv^.dde gia e stones f i ~<T. the s,imi!ai loports from ah parts of tl'e Repnnr": •-f it this spr.nc mo igln
da. .'• ro"a Cempto r v vorld MS p'oof. the ^Jv gp 'r i. M"* Fiu Pc^ucs it
' I ri.- am i S L ceivit ; . - The most cur izin^ aspect I sec The 'oponcrl n,iN|i '" AUK la VA'^c rpnrh'. \ o \ ? k i w i u e r , ,>l nnveli^i.
. i s ils frr : ^ K 'lie; <=a '1 i1- tKil .110-1 soil lj to ti Ouml1. i1- inr T'_i i tiui i <-\oi if ; ri ' i- - '>a\ c'Hjki ' Mf) liv Hr"v-
rem e,,, i \ ^ .r.
1
Au 1 Cerreien. 'i'c\ a.uuin the '^rnKT wuiuT. '! sue1- po ir^l in tru v • 'd n w u ' n L'FO d-T t-id w -• Tion ^ u t i r ^ dm'intl I!IP ARE 'r-ziE IMTEN" PIABLE -refa ---stron-, pa
in w^io": tr.e pUo <\ \j< junod • e aiso gi\e« oH a ^imewh^t less bi.t -U- ci .-hi i! ainl me f' . > v>n.K u i - ir- = ' n :n '-e E 'ier<J - I M I . B'-iw.ev Oa ei '?*t c*ni'r of tSe r e c c - e c :-i s n <,
said i i .\\evor •"•r i< tie-in. V\e I'OV 010(1 M i ^ ? r r - > also saul i n r i i i\ <>5 no a ^ a C r a n i c ' ' K l ' e y <i scientific
n
know ie iiirx: .n ; ''1. Tl.( others j.-r- h r i o 1= nn ^rliil in it ll v\as 'uni.^'it to lir 1 I R_riin nlT', AT.! i " ""• Judse P ncloi place pieces h* ov T - 7 fr^m'tie b« c o- <? - -
me' •'•••!> ,i' id tt gra'. e died u i- He tie.i | inM i ate(l bv p^^- "^ tiir bv Tiir Tirr.rs Heirild v.i"n it disclosed B"i'i O^tc- avl Idel! di^asree with dllegedlv -. ai'red / o- IS, 1397 |P c .- ._
same "o- c.c»e -o r. we are nocttvtor nvc r se\e' il sina'.! p'les n{ a team of 'ufolog'^ts' was searching 'irr. ing u" s-3 v
et.- ,, Kc e '
__„ Friday, May 18, 1973 THE ODESSA AMERICAN
Metal Recovered
From Flying Ob/'ecf
AURORA, Tex. (AP) - An gives us the same reaction." acres," one story relates, "and
unidentified flying object Mrs. Brawley Gates has lived the windmill was destroyed.;,,
crashed into a farm windmill, on the property for 26 years The pilot's body was dis-'J
exploding in a ball of flaming with her husband. She said not membered. However," enough '
metal fragments, according to even weeds will grow where remains were gathered to de-
newspaper accounts in this Kelley's detectors indicate termine it was not an in-
North Texas area. there is metal. habitant of this world.
T h e p i l o t ' s badly-dis-
membered body was buried in Kelley dug up more than a "The body was buried at
a grave about a mile away. dozen pieces of the strange noon in Aurora Cemeteryjft
Date of the news reports: metal at depths of from two to wrote correspondent F.E. Ha||
March 19, 1897. 14 inches. PA1] were a dark den. "Papers believed to be the
A professional treasure hunt- brown on one side but appeared pilot's log were written in some
er unearthed metal fragments to have a protective grey coat- undecipherable hieroglyphics.
at the 'site Wednesday and ex- ing on the other side. And the aircraft was made of
claimed: "In more than 25 some unknown metal."
years of recovering metal and "This metal looks so different
treasure of all kinds . .. I've I honestly don't know what it i here is at least one skeptic.,
never seen metal like that is. The fragments are small, Etta Pegues of nearby Newark.
thin and jagged as if torn apart She claims the whole affair
Frank Kelley's new, deep- by an explosion. They look was a hoax dreamed up bj
probe metal detector not only something like modern aircraft Hayden and some'men sitting
gives off electronic response at covering. around the stove at the general
the crash site but at the grave store.
site. "But, they are not aluminum,
"The most amazing aspect I tin, iron, steel or any alloy I But Gates and Marshal H.R.
see is that most soil 20 to 30 know," he said. Idell disagree with her.
feet around the former wind- Accounts of the ll^U crash
mill site also gives off a some- "At 4 a.m. a spaceship which
were printed in Dallas and Fort had " the newspaper
what less but almost identical Worth papers March 19,1897.
electronic response even when stories say.
there is no metal in it," Kelley,
of Corpus Christi, said.
"At 4 a.m., a spaceship
which had been seen in the
.1
"I am also puzzled at receiv- area earlier, moving low, and
ing the same type of rebound slowly crashed into Judge J.S.
signals from a remote grave in Proctor's windmill and went to
the Aurora cemetery in which pieces with a tremendous ex-
the pilot may be buried. How- plosion.
ever, there is a tie-in. We know
he died in 1897. The others im- "Parts scattered over several
mediately around that graves
died the same year or close to
it. And we are certain, accord-
ing to newspaper reports, he
was buried here," Kelley said.
Kelley, a master mechanic
and part of a team of profes-
sionahmetal locators, said "the
only explanation I can give for
getting the same signals at the
windmill site and m the grave
. . . is that the pilot whose body
was torn apart was buried
wearing some type of metal
uniform or equipment which
placed off limits
By BILL CASE Brn\vley Oatos b5 owiiu of
Atlation Writer the w i l l site propprt> when
the UFO ieportrdl> crashed 7d
The owner of propel ty in years ago s,aid additioiirtl bits
Auroui, Wisp County, whore a of the unknown metal \vciu H
UFO reportedly crashed Into .1 covered Frld iy h\ a lolntwr.
windmill and exploded April 10, In « built li Tlnusdi^y Fi ink
1897, rrMilting in the p i l o t »N Krlley of ( irpus Chnsii i
di.iih, put tlio propnrly "n[( 25-yr \r vetriati In ISIIK hunt
limits ' Fild.iy Lo all but offi- er and piofohslondl loM mct.il
u.il UFO investlfjutorb. locator used d dreppmhc
metal d^t'ctoi lo Im.itL alinut
MIDWEST UFO NETWORK
Mi^ Breiwley Oatrs, who (MUFON)
a do/en pitccs, of thin lifihl
has h\cd 2& years on the farm
w h r t c a scientific tu asure weight metal.
hunter found unidentifiable "I've never seen »nv mt I il WALTER H ANDRUS JR
metal fiagmentb Thursday, like this It isn't aluminum D I R ECTO R
CRASHED
Newspaper articles written at the time
of the accident reported that the pilot's
remains were given a "Christian burial"
on the pilot's body appeared to be some
sort of log of his travels written in some
unknown hieroglyphics which could not
what our neighbors in space look like.
While some people may scoff at
Hewes' attempts to locate the space vis-
in a now o v e r g r o w n c e m e t e r y in
IN 1897
Aurora, Texas.
The.old newspaper reports, which
appeared in The Dallas Times Herald
be deciphered.
"The pilot appeared to be the only liv-
ing thing aboard and the spaceship built
itor's body, many prominent scientists
are anxio.usly awaiting the results of his
search. -
of an unknown metal was so badly Stanton T. Friedman, a master'^
and The Times Herald of Fort Worth, to watch the cigar-shaped object with demolished details of its construction and graduate in physics from the University
were unearthed by a team of ufologists blinking lights hover over the city and , motive power could not be determined." of Chicago and an expert in U FOs, says,
.(scientists investigating unidentified fly- then disappear at high speed. As news of the crash spread the town "After more than 13 years of study and
ing objects) headed by Hayden Hewes. Published reports from more than 20 filled w i t h sightseers who gathered investigation I believe the earth is being
Hewes, director of the International North Texas cities all described the pieces of the spaceship as souvenirs. visited by intelligently guided machines,
UFO Bureau, says he and his crewhave spacecraft as "silver-colored, cigar-., The pilot was buried at noon. not from this world. In fact, humanoids
already recovered parts of the windmill shaped, about 60 feet long with blinking . "The body was dismembered," said from other planets have been visiting the
involved in the crash and soon hope to lights and no noise." .the reports. "However, enough remains earth regularly — possibly for thousands
find fragments of the spacecraft and the Visits by the strange craft became so were picked up to determine it was not of years."
space visitor's-grave. regular that during one period The that of an inhabitant of this world. It Friedman admitted that critics of
"Out of thousands of UFO reports this Times Herald reported: "During nightly was given a Christian burial." UFO research are right when they say
is the only recorded instance of a crash visitations of the aerial monster over Dal- Hewes is optimistic that his team will, t h a t many UFO sightings can be
where a crewman's body has been re- las, residents held 'lawn parties' just to eventually find the pilot's remains and e x p l a i n e d -in c o n v e n t i o n a l terms.
covered," says Hewes. sit outside and wait for its appearance." be able to analyze them using today's "But," he says, "a core of unexplained
The crash was apparently the climax On the fatal morning of the crash, sophisticated techniques. He also hopes sightings remains to give strong support
to hundreds of UFO sightings in North newspaper stories confirmed that the to locate a well, said to be near the to the theory of visitors from outer
Texas cities and towns from about April spaceship was first spotted over Aurora foundation of Proctor's old home. He space."
14 through April 27, 1897.. at 4 a.m. traveling at a much lower believes that it still contains fragments Hewes and his team of scientists may
.The Times Herald of April 18, 1897 altitude than normal and moving due of the spacecraft. soon turn up the proof that will change
reported'firemen of Engine Company north at about 10 to 12 m.p.h. "If we find what we are looking for," theory to fact.
No. 4 had seen a UFO on the night of "In the north part of town it collided says Hewes, "it will be a milestone in
April 17. Dallas druggist R.C. Kopish with Judge J.S. Proctor's windmill and the study of extraterrestrial travel. MIDNIGHT Page9
said a crowd formed in front of his store went to pieces with a tremendous explo- Seventy years ago the inhabitants of May 21, 1973
UFO_ unit
wants body
exhumed
T L Intern ic-r IFO Bmcau \\as
seeking legal - c ^ s.- \\cdncsd< \ of
n i i ^ a 'c<p<p'i~ IT/ L~ ijen iftl 'King
object p lo .J.JVA k c > n _ icd to L \ i m
na on 'IOT a ecu. _r lOiietcij in the
Wise Coorii rr> . •- Aucua
X. i- c cckirg the gra\e \\iih i et
al deiec o ana _; Bering facts for
tiiec " -i'i we a r e as certain <u: \\e
can be a t is poir-!.e'\vas (he pilot of
a ITO \'i<n repo-lEdly exploded atop
a well on Jaage J S Doctor's place
\p,il 19 189" sait" Hajden Hewe-
dneciO- of t>e UFO investigation
group
Newspaper rep-~ r i= of that date say
the UFO was der^ushed and the pi-
lot's dismeaabereSl bpfly was buned
that same day m tie Aurora Ceme-
terj," He\\es explaired The stones
said he \\ a» not a^ inhabitant of this
world"
' We vope by exnuming the body we
maj obtain soaie of the same type of
unusual metal from either his clothing
or bones that was unearthed at the
well sue »hen we checked it with met-
al dete:tor»," Heues added.
While Hew es' organization was seek-
ing means of cieckmg the reported pi-
lot, reporters from The Times Herald
who also recmerea some of the m>s-
terj rretal sent it to research scientists
in a majo- a^rciait companj who vol-
unteerea to attemp tDidentiij- it
Oner pieces Kad been recovered
la c t week b\ Fre<i N Kelly of Cot pus
Chnsti, a scienL c treasure hunter and
locator i,f lo^t - ^ a. H'1 said I \ c
nc\r s fL i an\ — a1 like that in 25
jc us o o\pe icic--
\, ei ~e ^ear^ 'o ,jii.i_cs of the
-, iliL ic 1 LFO a- i e pi'oi « ^ia c
has bt = i jnd^r ua since March by
LFO in\esi Cation c^e icics and Tne
Time* Herald The m^tal was uncm-
cied Sat^-day «ner an Auroia lanchcr
f.iimrr t^ld Tne Ti— es Herald in an
e\clusi\e interview
'M> caddy \vat-->ed Ihe silvei co-
lored, ci^ar shaped airship cross our
pasture very low and slowly,' said C
C (Charbe) Stephens It had a white
light on it and r.e watched until it
crashed and burned on the top of Pi OL-
t o r s hill He told me aboul it u h u e l
was still a boy
Stephens S3, 1 \«» .1 quiel reining
life and all'! ri-i. v ii iUi\i_l} lie h i d
An 1897 UFO ':-
^'
An International UFO Bureau spokesman says
the organization will go to court if necessacy,. to
open a grave in a small North Texas cemetery
said to contain the body of an 1897 astronaut'who
"was not an inhabitant of this world."
Hayden Hewes, director of the Unidentified
Flying Object investigative group, said legal
steps already have been taken for exhuming, the
body. - •>;'>
"After checking the grave with metal detectors
and gathering facts for three months, we
certain as we can be at this point he was the
of a UFO which reportedly exploded atop a well
on Judge J. S. Proctor's place, April 19, 1897,('
Hewes said. "He was not an inhabitant of thil
world." ;
An intense search for pieces of the 19th century THE TULSA TRIBUNE. TULSA, OKLAHOMA^
spaceship have been under way since March by
„«
the UFO Bureau team, but the story has been $
legend in Wise County for more than a half cento- -~^g_G^ THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1973
ry. It was first reported in Dallas and Fort Wortfc
newspapers a few days after the alleged exploJ
sion, and reporters quoted witnesses that thej
UFO Group SeelS Body of
had buried the astronaut who died inside the
ship. I 'Alien 1897 Astronaut'
Most residents around the small hamlet, about
60 miles northwest of Forth Worth, claim the stx> AURORA, Tex. (UPD - A if necessary to open the grave,
ry was a hoax, but Hewes doesn't believe so. > grave in a small North Texas Director Hayden Hewes of Ok-
i cemetery contains the body of lahoma City said Wednesday.
"We hope by exhuming the body we may obtai£ i an 1897 astronaut who "was - "We hope by exhuming the
some of the same type of unusual metal from ei£ n o t an inhabitant of this body we may obtain some of
thcr his clothing or bones that was unearthed at 'world," according to the In- the same type of unusual
the well site when we checked it with metal de}- ternational UFO Bureau. metal from either his clothing
lectors," he said. J The group, which inves- or bones that was unearthed
Those pieces of metal are now being analyzed tigates unidentified flying ob- at the well site when we
by scientists, he said. — UPI » , jects, already has initiated checked it with metal detec-
legal proceedings to exhume tors," he said.
the body, and will go to court Hewes said pieces of metal
found near the grave .and
D. C. crash site are now being ana-
lyzed by scientists. H
"After checking the grave
with metal detectors and gath-
2-4 f K73 ering facts for three months,
we arenas certain as we can
be at this point he was^the
pilot of a UFO which repor-
tedly exploded atop a well .on
Judge J. S. Proctor's place,
' April 19, 1897. Hewes said.
"He was not an inhabitant of
this world." :.$
UFO Sighted in Israel GRIT News Section
April 29, 1973
TEL AVIV (JTA)-Scicntists
are unable to explain an uniden-
tified flying object claimed to have
been seen in the skies over Israel.
Sightings were reported from
various parts of Israel and from
gists Uncover
Lebanon.
The object was described as
"glowing like a bright star" and
ju
was said to have moved in a cir- An ancient lost city which form, an ancient form of writ-
cular direction with four or five was one of the capitals of the ing. At the excavation itself, a
small shining satellites at its sides. kingdom of Elam has been dis- group of seven tablets were
The UFO was observed at about covered in Iran by an expedi- found. Uncovered in a mud-
8 p.m. local time and was visible tion from the University of brick building, they were dated
for only a few seconds. But that Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. about 3000 B. C.
was time enough to bring a flood of Known as Anshan, it was in- was It is believed the structure
telephone calls to the Mitzpe "habited, according to archeolo- causeused as a warehouse be-
the tablets are said to be
Ramon observatory in the Negey. gists, from before 4000 B. C. business
An observatory spokesman said to about 1000 B. C. It was a in which records. The language
the object was definitely not the major commercial and political ten has yetthe records are writ-
to be translated, but
orbiting "Skylab" launched from capital, and its discovery may it has been identified as Proto-
Cape Kennedy. mean that cities were more
widespread in the Middle East Elamite. Other discoveries were small
than had been thought. statuettes of women and a room
Called Great City of a very large building which
According to Dr. William M. is believed to have been de-
Sumner, of Ohio State Univer- stroyed by fire.
sity at Columbus, "Excavations
have shown that Anshan was a
great city fully justifying its
ancient reputation." Dr. Sum- Mythical Titans
ner was a member of the ex-
pedition.
The excavation at Anshan is
Become Credible
in Southwestern Iran, near the Heretofore, A z t e c legends
ft *<•:•». \: ;: village of Tall-I-Malyan. Work about a race of men who were
began there almost two years giants and invincible have been
, /f>3 ago, according to Sumner. ' considered purely mythical.
The key to the location of Archeological excavations in
Anshan was found when an • Panama, however, reveal a
Police Told of archeologist at the University I civilized race, who were ex-
ceedingly tall and well formed.
of Chicago deciphered s'ome Their physical features are
Red 'Creafure j b r i c k s inscribed with cunei- considered to be unlike those of
What is 5-feet 8-inches tall, any other race on earth.
broad-shouldered and reddish in j
color, has red eyes that can't •
stand light, smells musty and
walks without making a sound?
A Frederick Street resident Space Visitor Buried
doesn't know what it is either, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Mon., March 5, 1973
but he told police there's one Jn Texas, Group Says
lurking in Springer's Woods. AURORA, Tex., May 24 (UP1)
He reported the creature at —A spokesman for the Inter- PRESIDENT ID! AMIN of Uganda saw an unidentified
1:30 a.m. today to Edwardsville national Bureau of Unidentified - - ^ x fly' n § object splash down in Lake Vic-
police. He said he saw the crea- Flying Objects say his organi- toria Saturday and then take off like
ture Wednesday night and that zation will got to court if neces- a "gentle rocket," the Uganda radio
v It also had been sighted Monday sary to open a grave in a small said yesterday. The radio said Amin
\j night in Springer's Woods. Texas cemtery. The group says was among a number ot persons who
,. •-> He said that a friend of his the grave contains the body of saw "a spectacular object covered with
S^' told him that the creature had ' an 1897 astronaut who "was not something like smoke" descend into the
come up behind him Monday an inhabitant of this world." lake, about 10 miles from Kampala.
_j night and grabbed him, tearing "After checking the grave "After seven minutes the Hying ob-
his shirt and scratching his with metal detectors and gath- ject was, seen lifting oH like a rocket
•• --> v,,> mnv j n5 gently," the
f chest. ering facts for three months,
,7 Police \vent to Springer's we are as certain as we can be
C. Woods this morning, but the at this point he was the pilot
creature could not be found. of a UFO which reportedly ex-
The man who made the report ploded atop a well on Judge J.
told police that it is afraid ol S. Protor's place, April 19,
light. . 1897," the spokesman said yes-
It screams when light Is shin- terday. "He was not an inhabi-
ed in its eyes, he reported. i tant of this world."
In other police news, a stereo The story of the explosion
tape player was reported stolen of a spaceship has been a
Wednesday from the car of Glen legend in WuefinyoosCta'/ 8 .... . Thurs.,May24,1973
D. Mercer, 21 Dorset Ct. legend in Wise County for more
The car was parked near the ' than half a century. Most resi
ST.LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Mercer residence, and entry dents regard it as a hoax.
was gained by forcing a window,
police said.
Seek 1897 spaceman's grave .^VVU'C' [/
7
UFO searchers go 'underground in Texas
1!v j;ILL CASE, through "hundreds of UFO sighting re- crash where a crewman's body has mid wait for its appearance," The
Aviiitinn Writer ports published in old newspapers 7B been recovered'. Timc's"~'Herald reported.
A team of urologists (Unidentified years ago/' The crash was the climax to a rash Published reports from more than
Flying Object investigators) arc comb-
Saturday The Dallas Times Herald of hundreds of UFO sightings in North 20 cities where UFOs were sighted in
ing a cemetery in i.he gho.si town of Au-
also located published reports o( the Texas cities and lou:is from about April •North Texas all described it as "silver
rora in'Wise County lor tbe grave of a
crash in the town near Rhome. .J/f through April 27. 1897. colored, ei;ar-shapcd, about (JO feet:
UFO pilot reportedly buried there after
""The b'ody \VHs"7lismcmb"c"rcd,"~flic"" " ." The Times Herald of Aptil 18/3807 long^ with blinking lights and no
his spaceship collided with a windmill
reports said. "However, enough re- reported firemen of Engine Company noise."
/"7 and exploded A£rilJ!U.S97.
mains were picked up to determine it No. 4 had seen a UFO on Ihe night of "These reports correspond with
Hayden tiewes. director of Ihe In-
was not that of an inhabitant of this April J7 and Dalla? druggist R. C. Ko- many of the thousands of UP'O reports
ternational UFO Bureau in Oklahoma
world. It was given a Christian buri- pisch said a crowd formed in front of we have icceived in recent years."
City, confirmed scientists arc searching
al." his store to waich the cigar-shaped ob- said Waller H. Andrus. executive direc-
•7 Mm .^abandor.ed^ weod-covered cemetery
Hcwes said ho and his group hope ject wii.li blinking lights hover over the tor of MUFON (Midwest Unidentified
' for the spaceship pilot's grave.
to locate Ihe grave and '''ilain permis- city and then disappear at high speed. Flying Object Network).
Hewes said the scarcli under way
sion from ihe State of Texas to ex- "Duiing nightly visitations of the Newspaper stories said ihe UFO
was prompted by newspaper reports of
hume the bones for st.udy. "aerial monster over Dallas residents which had been sighted over Aurora on
ihe accident published in Dallas and
held 'lawn parlies' just 1o sit oulsidf other occa.sion.s WHS first .spo'icd at 'I
Fni-l. Worth on April 20. ]S!)7. unenrthcd Out. of thousands of UFO reports
b.v IUFOB researchers checking • See J ler Fall\ as "Columbo" tonight a.m. that f.iial morning traveling at a,
this is .he only recorded instance of a at 7."'.,j on Ch. .1. l.Ad\.j Si-« UFO VH Pane 8
WALTER H ANDRUS JR
DIRECTOR
4O CHRISTOPHER COURT
OUINCY ILLINOIS 623OI
Y;
-p°sr; MAY id, 1973
19th Century Spaceman Tale
Stirs Interest in Texas 'Blob'
Reuter • cookies and cannot be de- restraining—but not
DALLAS, May 25 — Re- stroyed " -the blob.
ports of a 19th-century Despite her attempts to "I do hope it's no relation
spaceman burled in a small kill it, the blob remains. to the spaceman they thinK
Texas cemetery and a seem- "I sliced the thing with a might be buried over there*
ingly industructible "blob" garden hoe, and it was in Aurora," commented. a"
infesting the backyard of a blackish mUcus inside," she • Harris neighbor.
suburban Dallas housewife said. , Officials of the Interna-
are diverting the attention "Taking it for a fungus of tional Unidentified ^ Flying
of northeast Texas residents some kind, I cut it up and Objects Bureau, citing news^
from the celestial machina- spread it out. Two mornings paper reports more than 70
tions of the space program. later it had returned -*- years old, claim some sort of
twice as big this time." spaceship "exploded atop a?
Reports of the "blob" — Mrs Harris said her hus- well" in Aurora on Aprfl*l'97
described by Marie Harris band then took a whack at 1897. r-'
of Garland as "foamy and the blob, but "then, last Sat-
creamy and pale yellow" — "Thevpilot's dismembered
followed claims by flying urday, there it was again ... body was buried that same,
saucer buffs that an alien this time the inside was or- day in the Aurora ceme-
being is buried in the small ange." When she sprayed it tery," IUFO Director Hay-
with a nicotine-based mix- den Hughes said.
farming community of Au- ture, "it appeared to be His organization is seek:
rora, about 70 miles north- bleeding red and purple ing "legal meanst' to have
west of here. fluids " the body exhumedjjjand ex-
Mrs. Harris discovered^the The spray appears to be amined. ^L
"blob" one morning this
' - %h_
month when she looked out
her bedroom window.
"It was white and foamy-
looking — about the size of
an oatmeal cookie," she
said. "But that was two
weeks ago. It has now grown
to the size of 16 oatmeal
. . TFUBUN^T U
Mystenou^ Texas
Queries From Far-Off Cities
By The Associated Press miles from Seagoville, a su- are being kept away from a
At three Dallas area homes, burb east of Dallas, said she small cemetery.
spotted a similar mass inching A guard at the graveyard
residents are watching a pul- Monday told one newsman, "I
sating, cancerous blob of mat- its way up a telephone pole. don't care if you're Jesus
ter which mysteriously oozed "It was red and pulsating, like Christ. You can't come in."
from the ground, thus far de- the one I read about. For
heaven's sake — what is it?" MEANWHILE, NORTH
fying definition. Scientists from Growth In- Texas State University at Den-
Some 75 miles to the north- ternational, a Colorado firm, ton, and other schools, are ex-
west, an armed sentry guards are analyzing the membran- a m i n i n g metal fragments
a graveyard where villagers eous matter in Mrs. Harris' found where 1897 Dallas news-
say a spacemanjwas buried in yard. paper accounts say an uniden-
1897. tified flying object crashed.
G I SCIENTIST ARNOLD Villages at Aurora and the
INVESTIGATORS ARE Dittman gathered spore speci- Dallas newspaper reports say
holding what they say may be mens and shipped them to Co- the badly mangled creature
m e t a l fragments from his lorado for laboratory tests. piloting the UFO was buried
spaceship. "Yes, it's growing. We put at the small cemetery now
The whole affair has become samples in a jar and before being guarded.
a science fiction buff's idea of long we noticed pressure was Professional metal and trea-
heaven. building up inside," he said. sure hunters have examined
London newspapers, h a v e "Bacteria, if it is, bacteria,., metal fragments dug up at the
been asking more information have tremendous growth po- site, tested and analyzed them
along with reporters in Can- -tential. Bacteria have more without learning their com-
ada and Australia. than 1,000 genes in each orga- position.
Scientists and universities nism and under proper condi-
are investigating, also. tions can change to a com- HAYDEN HUGHES, HEAD
The mysterious membrane plete different specie in a few of the national UFO center at
began oozing from the back- seconds. Maybe that's what Oklahoma City, said Monday
yard or a Garland, Tex., the thing is, a new mutation. he plans a trip to Aurora to
woman two weeks ago. Marie But we really don't know what conduct his own investigation.
Harris described the strange it is," he said. He confirmed that pieces of
material as reddish with thick Dittman said some bacteria the unusual metal dug up at
bubbles on top . . . blackish grow from one billion spores the reported crash site have
mucous inside. It has mul- to one billion tons in 24 hours. been distributed to several un-
tiplied itself by 16 times in two "With its ability to mutate, iversities for analysis.
weeks. bacteria can adapt to any
change or deficiency in growth
IT IS FOAMY AND TURNS conditions. I'm not saying that
colors when punctured. When happens all the time," he said.
the bubbles are broken, the
"blob" appears to bleed a red MRS. H A R R I S SAID
and purplish material. heavy rains had oblitered the
A North Dallas woman who "blob" last Friday.
refused to be identified said, On Monday she said, "I
"I'm scared to death. I have looked again. Three more had
the same thing on my hedge. I ' grown in its place."
can't kill it." To the northwest, at Aurora,
Edna Smith, who lives eight Tex., sightseers and newsmen
'Stjpnge* V
Grave'
Is Found
' AURORA, Tex.- (UPI) - A
grave in a small north. Texas ,'
cemetery contains the body of an*
1897 astronaut who "was n»t an
inhabitant of th'is"''world,"
according to the International
UFO Bureau.
The group, which investigates
unidentified flying objects, has
already initiated legal proceed-
ings to exhume the body, and will
go to court if necessary to open
the grave, director Hayden
Hewes said Wednesday.
, "We hope by exhuming the
body we may obtain some of the
same type of unusual metal from ,
either his clothing or bones that
was unearthed at the well site
when we checked it with metal
Selectors," he said.
; Hewes said pieces of metal
found near the grave and crash
site are now being analyzed by
scientists.
"After checking the grave with
metal detectors and gathering
facts for three months, we are as
certain as we can be at this point
• he was the pilot of a UFO which
reportedly exploded atop a well
oh Judge J. S. Proctor's place,
. April 19, 1897, Hewes said. "He
was not an inhabitant of this
world."
Confidential data
2 narrow hunt for UFO pilot's grave
By B1M,CASK a h c a t t condition and liiyli blood pic - l\ p( s uf i \ l i i me h, l u u i i. III .ind
Aviation Wrltrr Mill1. s i l l i n g I l l l l l l i U l l l l i i l IIK.I < l I I I ' I l l l r ol'l
Two lifelong Auior.i icsidrnts have The resident said he could "lead us well. U ' I K h Ins lii i n si ili (1 since I'll")
given The Times I lei aid confidential right to the grave if it ucie physically ' Our is in miK l i e and t i n o l h i I m>n-
information pinpointing the grave of an possible for him to make the t u p foi in IE;M< t i c \\ i l l ' ml Ami Imlh n p
Unidentified Kljing Object pilot rcpoit- In- has visited It many times," Hie Au- si i h l l i l Mir I i I I I h i n K i n i K i I III II k
edly bin ml in Ibe AMI oi.i Cemetery af- roi a people said. Ml t i n i n u l l h i i i l h i l l l i i I ol c l l . l -
ter the ( i ash of his spaceship in the The Times Herald is withholding de- nioiul pu ill
small Wise. County community April 19, tailed information on the grave and the The sanipli \\rn- nisliLil to llir hb-
1897. landmarks surrounding it to protect tiie r i i c i l u i n s o f oih 1 < f tho n.iliDii s l.ngc'st
The crash site .it a well on the grave from damage by vandals and <II1C1 ifl ((Illlp.Mill's \\llLKJ lOlllplPtO
Brawlry Hales piopeily m Aurora and souvenier seekers. They already have .inal\sis u i l l bi1 in idc 1
the small c o u n t ] y cemetery in Noith broken off and carted away a numbc i A n pin I on t i n - ill.iKsis i.-. espetted
Texas ha\c been the scene of intensive of old handmade marker stones. in about .1 \\i ok '
scientific in\ estimation by reporters and When checked with metal detectors If tin ie,poit imlic itcs sonic o[ the
"ufologists' fiom several UFO re- by Earl F. Watts, a Dallas astronomer mclals arc niadi of malenals not
search organisations since mid-March. and investigator for the Midwest Um- kno\\n on nrih 01 .m an allov known
The infoimation given Monday by dentifjed Flying Object Network (MU-
\ Jhe pair of icsidents, who asked not to FC-N), the grave gave off the same
to have boen developed SUILC the «lal(*
of the ciasli .1 com I oulcr asldiiR ex-
be identified, led icporters to a remote decible signals as unidentifiable pieces li'imadon ol the pilot s inmains \\ill be
area of llic old cemetery where the of light metals found at the crash site sought in Wis County Com I
grave and certain landmarks associat- at the well. An injunction p i c v c n i i n g dipgms
ed with it \\eie found ^exactly fcs jde-> . "* , "The evidence linking this grave was issued l i s t w r i k in Wise County
scnbed < < ^ • *'" ' . and. the .crash site seem too solid to be Couit aflei U i j d o n llewes, i l u i c i o r o t
The informaUon, thw residefils~Said, coincidental," Watts said. "Everything Iho Intel national UFO Buieau in Okla-
had been relayeJd to. them from a near- checks 6ut exaclly as described " homa City, told .t laclio ni'l\\oik lie
by (ommumty by a resident who is al- On Monday, reporters working witli was goinq; to c\humc the body imnicdj-
iiiD I i) \ e a i s old and seriously ill with , Watts Recovered at least two mou1 aldy
I '
' (
• -.") -JI.I-."
: v
SUBMITTED BY;
•
^^•^ v-., -
M o i i l i v . following a new
lead supplied by U\o Auioia
nsitlcnis, th<> UFO investip;a-
loi^. s\Mtt.lii il tin n snirdi for
tin- i».lni •> pr.iM f i o t n t h o t c n -
tor to tiiL- soulli nt the u-me-
Iciy.
1
Tin 10, following 'in inform-
ant -. Uueclion^ to lo<ik under
.1 KTMrlul old tuistcd oak
lire, \\o touiul .1 RIMVO with a
unique In iilsiono, ' said 13<ul
Walls MUFON invfrvt^ator.
"On i<'slinK il witlvthe metal _
\
WATV^^A/^^/ju/_f^uinijA.iiAAai rn^suzisT, jjr»-cn UTB^ 01 tforwi ^exas oT^a^e -ni^err..^
wcamines a 3»t«u s3on.pl« fron1 the ao-oall*d1 •paccsnip^si.te in Aurorft.Twft.'-Trou^t *^ "In
for eraluation ?y acfc« ^57 coll«n£Utaa C * four SBT.bles h« nas exa^-lnsd, on* "a? "^SZ^^.-T"
UFO advocates study
1897 Airship'crash
AURORA, Tex. (UPI) - A
91-year-old woman says she
remembers the night on April
19, 1897, her parents went to o A THE HERALD-WHIG
the spot where an airship ZA
QUINCY. JLL1NOIS
crashed into Judge Proctor's
well and the pilot was buried in Thursday, May, 31, 1973
the community cemetery.
"That crash certainly caused
a lot of excitement," Mary
Evang said Wednesday. "Many
people were frightened. They
didn't know what to expect.
That was years be/ore we had
any regular airplanes or other
kind of airships."
UFO advocates have combed
the Aurora area with metal
detectors, radiation meters and
other scientific devices in re- PHYSICIST TOM GRAY
cent months in an attempt to . . examines metal sample
get some tangible evidence to
file with a court order to ex- one piece and said it was
• hume the body of the alleged unusual because it was 75 per
pilot. Pieces of metal taken cent iron but lacked many of
from the area have been sent the properties common to iron.
to various scientists and The professor. Dr. Tom Gray,
metallurgists for examination, said it was not magnetic and
A physics professor at North was shiny and soft instead of
Texas State University tested dull and brittle like iron.
1
THE OKLAHOMA JOURNAL, THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1973
Saucer
• , Continued from Page
not that of an inhabitant of this world." be occupied by three men and a large dog.
The early reports said the being was In Merkel, Tex., a family reportedly
"given a Christian burial." returned from church and spied an anchor
Bear in mind, all this was six years before hooked to a fence, with a stout rope leading
the Wright Brothers flew a plane at Kitty from the anchor to a cigar-shaped craft
Hawk. which hovered just above the ground.
In any case, some students of the Aurora Before their eyes, the cigar opened and a
incident believe Hayden's story was a hoax, ' man in a \blue sailor suit cut the rope and
particularly because of quotes attributed in climbed back into the craft, which flew
the story to "T.J. Weems, U.S. Signal Ser- away, leaving behind the anchor, which
vices officer." didn't.
Weems reportedly said — among other The Fort Worth Register reported that a
things — that "papers found on the pilot's railroad telegrapher named Patrick Byrnes
body appeared to be some sort of log of his was bicycling east of Putnam, Tex., when
travels written in some unknown he encountered an airship.
hieroglyphics which could not be He reportedly said he found a ship full of
deciphered." blue-suited men who told him they were
Weems also reportedly opined that the having engine trouble and were on their way
pilot must have come from the planet Mars. to Cuba to "bomb the Spaniards."
Skeptics of the Hayden account claim that Byrnes reported the ship was loaded with
"T.J. Weems" was actually Jeff Weems, several tons of dynamite which were going
Aurora's blacksmith. to be dropped on the Spanish navy to destroy
Improbable as the initial account was — it it.
appeared with a very modest headline on By the morning of April 17, the Register
page 5 — it came at a time when similar account goes, the ship was repaired and set
strange UFO sightings were rampant off toward the Ozark Mountains where, ac-
throughout north Texas and much of the cording to the captain, the crew would train
Midwest for the bombing run.
The same day as the alleged Aurora inci- H.A. and B.T. Hambright, brothers, told a
dent (April 1?) a Waterloo, Iowa, farmer Register reporter they saw a silver aircraft
reportedly appeared with some metallic above the town of Rhome, two miles east of
debris he claimed was all that remained of Aurora, about 8 p.m. on April 17, the craft
an aircraft which landed in his pasture. reportedly having a white searchlight in
A wire service report from Kalamazoo, front and cruising west at 150 miles per
Mich., stated that "three prominent and hour.
sober citizens, while engaged in shingling a In the last several months, investigators
roof" saw an airship crash-land and blow with IUFOB, NICAP and MUFON have con-
up They stopped shingling the roof to in- verged on the old Proctor place looking for
vestigate, but they reported nothing was corroborative remains. (IUFOB is the
left of the craft but "a large coil of heavy International Unidentified Flying Object
wire and a propeller blade of some light Bureau. NICAP is the National
material." Investigative Committee on Aerial
Dallas Times-Herald Aviation Writer Bill Phenomena MUFON is the Midwest UFO
. Case, who has been working with the UFO Network.)
investigators, says there was a "rash of A Corpus Christi treasure hunter earlier
• hundreds of UFO sightings in north Texas v this month went over the area with
- cities and towns from about April 14 sophisticated metal detector equipment and
• through April 27, 1897." came up with fragments of a strange metal
The Times-Herald of April 18, 1897, which he and others have not been able to
reported firemen of Engine Company No. 4 identify
had-seen a UFO on the night of April 17, and The metal detector got the same readings
Dallas druggist R C. Kopisch said a crowd at the site of one unmarked grave in the
formed in front of his store to watch the community cemetery.
cigar-shaped object,with blinking lights Within the last week, Case with the Dallas
hover over the city, and- then disappear at paper managed to obtain an interview with
high speed. h ^ _--^^=:"=r;=='- —83:yjear-old C.C. Stephens who claimed his
The Times-Herald-reported 'thaT"during " fathefwaTan eyewitness to the crash itself.
nightly visitations of the aerial monster "My daddy watched the silver-colored,
over Dallas, residents held 'lawn parties' cigar-shaped airship cross our pasture very
just to sit outside and wait for its low and slowly;" Stephens said. "It had a
•—appearance^ -—- _=-^ ... - - -white -lighVoiMt-^d-toe^watched- until it
Case has examined published reports crashed and burned on the top of Proctor's
from more than 20 north Texas cities where hill. He told me about it while I was still a
UFO's were sighted, and says most all of boy."
the accounts describe the UFO as "silver Stephens, however, said his father never
colored, cigar-shaped, about 60 feet long, mentioned any occupants in the airship.
with blinking lights and no noise." The old Proctor place is now owned by
Some of these accounts relate bizarre in- Bra wley-Gates, 65.
teractions between the inhabitants of the Mrs" Gates reported she has lived on the
-earth and those of the spaceship. homestead for 26 years and "nothing, not
An Iowa farmer claimed one of his prize even weeds, will grow in the area" where
cows was rustled by occupants of the cigar the strange metal detector readings have
he saw. . been noted. „
In the'Texas town of Atlanta, near Tex- " .• Hayden Hewes, director^of- the Inter-
arkana, a resident claimed to have spoken national UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City, has
with the occupants of the cigar. given samples of the metal to scientists at
He reportedly claimed three of the oc- . North Texas State University. t
cupants sang "Nearer My God toThee" and If the analyses indicate a probable extra-
passed out temperance tracts. terrestrial origin, he said the bureau will
" C i t y M a r s h a l Tom Brown of take legal action to see if the grave can be
Farmersville, Tex, alone with several exhumed for examination
1 .*
1897 UFO?
He Can't Tell
If Metal's Alien
Tex. (UFI) — A physics professor at North
Texas State University said Wedneday a small chip of
metal "stirs" his curiosity, but that he could not tell if it
came —as some have suggested— from a spaceship which
crashed in Texas in 1897. Quincy, III., Thursday Ev^ing, May 31, 1973
Primary among the unusual aspects of the metal, ac-
cording to Or. Tom Gray, was that it was 75 per cent iron,
but lacks properties common to iron.
He said it_\^asj3pt^ma.gnet_ic, anjL w^s also shiny and
"soft! instead oTTduirandiSiUIe likeTironr " "^^^^^-^
"l don't mean by my comments to indicate whether this
UFO advqqgites study
is ot terrestrial or extraterrestrial origin," Gray said, "but
that the physics of that much iron not being magnetic stirs
my curiosity as a scientist.
"It it proves to be a rather strange beast, then a great
1897 'airship' crash
deal more study will have to be done on it. Right now, we AURORA, Tex. (UPI) - A
can only make suppositions. We cannot draw any conclu- i 91-year-old - woman says she
sions." remembers the night on April
The samples were dug from an area near Aurora, Tex., 19. 1897. her parents went to
about 70 miles northwest of Dallas in Wise County. Various , the spot where an airship
'..crashed -into) Judge Proctor's
samples were found when dispatches resurrecting news re- ' well and the foilot was buried in
ports from the 1890s of the supposed spaceship crash were 1
the community cemetery.
published. "That crash certainly caused
Une article, published in Dallas and Fort Worth news- a lot of ex'citement," Mary
papers April 20, 1897, was written by H.E. Hayden, an Evang said Wednesday. "Many
Aurora correspondent and cotton buyer. ', people were ^frightened. They
Speaking of the crash, which he said occurred over the didn't know Avlhat to expect.
weU on the larm owned by J.S. Procter, Hayden wrote: , That was years before we had
"The remains ot the pilot were gathered together. It was any regular airplanes or other
determined he was not an inhabitant of the world and he kind of airships."
was given a Christian burial in Aurora Cemetery." UFO advocates have combed
Otticials ot the International Unidentified Flying Object the • Aurora area with metal
Bureau, run by Hayden ^Hewes of Oklahoma City, have detectors, radiation meters and
seized on the incident as a real instance of UFO activity other scientific devices in re- PHYSICIST TOM GRAY
on earth. cent months in an attempt to . . . examines metal sample
They have said that if the metal is proved to be extrater- , get some tangible evidence to
restrial they will press for exhumation of the body of the ' file witih a court order to ex- one piece and said it was
hume the body of the alleged 'unusual because 'it was 75 per
supposed astronaut. cent iron but lacked many of
•pilot. Pieces of metal taken
from the area have been sent the properties common to iron.
to various scientists and The professor, Dr. Tom Gray,
metallurgists for examination. said it was not magnetic and
A physics professor at North was shiny and soft instead of
Texas State University tested dull and brittle like iron.
MIDWEST UFO NETWORK
(MUFON)
SUBMITTED
J
cemetery,'or was tjie whole incident a; hoax
k
,.•••.-'-•,.:,:"• .;'.'•.,^-''V.,
r : :'':•.••.'•,:;::'/•'v-',- : './''.-• r
',:l>;-y:;^,X'^ ;V'"' . f ' , V.:" ''••.'•' Continued frorri Page . ' *
not that of an inhabitant of this world:" be occupied by three men and a,'large dog.',.-,
i The .early reports said the being was ' In Merkel, 'Tex., a family, reportedly,;
: "given a Christian burial." returned from church and spied an anchor ',.
',.'-. Bear in mind, all this was six years before hooked to a fence, with a stout rope leading ;'
'.the Wright Brothers flew a plane at Kitty from the anchor to a cigar-shaped craft''
Hawk?,, • . '' , which hovered just above the ground. '?
. In any case, some students of the Aurora Before their eyes, the cigar opened and a :
incident believe Hayden's story was a hoax, man in a blue sailor suit cut the rope and
particularly because of quotes attributed in climbed back into the craft, which flew ;
.the story to "T.J. Weems, U.S. Signal Ser- , away, leaving, behind the anchor, which
vices officer." • . i. - . - • - • • • , . ,- didn't. - •' , -.
1
Weems .reportedly said —. among'other The Fort Worth Register reported that a .
things f— that "papers found on the pilot's railroad telegrapher named Patrick Byrnes ; .
body, appeared to be some sort of log of his.-.: was bicycling eas't of Putnam, Tex.vwhen
j; y, :^;.,, travels, written in some unknown he encountered an airship. ','"" • '••,
^'r'\^"- : hieroglyphics which could not be . He reportedly said he found a ship full of ^
£$)v4i £•• deciphered."-.,,, v • ' ; •••"• blue-suited men who told him they were;!
"• ''""''",' J, Weems also reportedly opined that the . having engine trouble and were on their way '{i
i ; tt<j-'-<Y' ifitot must have come from the planet Mars. • ., to Cuba to "bomb the Spaniards." . «
; i j \&-~ £. Skeptics of the Hayden account claim that Byrnes reported the ship was loaded with f
|^j^\'".'TJ:v Weems" was actually Jeff Weems, .' several tons of dynamite which were going.:
:\"';"-v,; Aurora's blacksmith. /,' to be dropped on the Spanish navy to destroy !
^/."'•jX:?; Improbable as the initial account was — it . Mt. , • • . . . • . .:• . •• •'>
*/••'' \;!j> appeared with, a very modest headline on , By the morning of April 17, the Register j
&i Yrf*'" Pa8e 5 — it camerat a time when similar account goes, the ship was repaired and setj
strange UFO ' sightings were rampant ' off toward the Ozark Mountains where, ac-(
throughout north Texas and much of the ; • cording to the captain, the crew would train •>
f o r the bombing run. ,.••',
same day as the alleged Aurora inci- H.A. and B.T. Hambright, brothers, told a .
17) a Waterloo, Iowa, farmer Register reporter they saw a silver aircraft
reportedly appeared with some metallic above the town of Rhome, two miles east of
debris he claimed was-all that remained of Aurora, about 8 p.m. on April 17, the craft \
an aircraft which landed in his pasture.;, reportedly .having a white searchlight in",
A , wire service report from Kalamazoo,« front and cruising west at 150 miles per •
£3< ' Mich.,-' stated that "three prominent and ..hour. ... , I
1
sober citizens., .while engaged in shingling a , In the last several months, investigators ?
roof" saw'an airship crash-land and blow with IUFOB, NICAP and MUFON have con- '-
.up:,.They stopped shingling the roof to in- , verged on the old Proctor place looking for ••'
vestigate; biit.Othey reported nothing.was corroborative remains. (IUFOB is the ,!
;
left of the craft but "a. large coil of heavy /International Unidentified Flying Object ;
; wire a'.id'a propeller blade of some light B u r e a u . N I C A P is the N a t i o n a l •;;
material;".,. ;]//... Investigative Committee on* Aerial :-:
Dallas Times-Herald Aviation Writer Bill . Phenomena.-MUFON is the Mjdwest UFO 7
.' Case, who has been working with the UFO Network.) .
. investigators, says there was a "rash of . • A Corpus Christi treasure hunter earlier i\
hundreds of UFO sightings in north Texas this month went over the area with -
'.cities.',and towns from, about April 14 sophisticated metal detector equipment and :•
?;.;•-'.;• through April 27, 1897." ; came up with fragments of a strange metal;
B, BDLLCAAE lectors to recover four pieces of differ rwitn <*onie other Irate elemerts. Dr., J. Allen Hynek, chief consultant of all known metals " dismembered body i..
italf Wrttrr ent metals near a well. "But it lacks properties common to for MUFON \Midwest Unidentified A preliminary report on this collec- gathered by the men c
Tuo of three laboratc- tesurg Newspaper reports o£ the crash at iron, such as being magnetic," Dr. .Flying Object Network) chief consult- following the crash
tion, of samples should be rebdy 1 riday.
the time said the airship" collided Gray said. "It is also shiny and malle- ant and the nation's leading UFO ex-t A third set identical to this ghen to "It was detern
pi ^s of metal recm errt ' the s.te habitant of this \\cnu
of i reported UFO c-? Aurora with a windmill and exploded blasting able, instead of dull and brittle like pert at Northwestern Umvetsiry theiAmeJKean Aircraft Co. have been
pieces of metal over several acres and Christian bunal in Auf
Tc,, Apr'j 19, }&1 ha- Jcrfed the la a second report on seven sam r ' _ sent' to the National Research Institute it said.
have found *cne sa wgaJy un^ tailing^the pilot. , ~, Most 'alloys which contain iron are pies submitted by Dallas Times tferald "In Ott^ra, Canadau Using metal detectc--
sual " \ samples have properties and he added. "".- -* reporters "to one of die nation's largest "Ware seeking independent evalu- . MUFON ->n\estigato «
Physicist Di Tton. Gcaylqf the common to metals of tfiis -Dr. Gray ^emphasized he did not ' ^ aircraft manofacruren, aciefitisU said ations at the metals tram as many remote grave in the c
North Texas State Umversit faculty area," Dr Gray said. "But one sampfe mean hu oommests to- indicate the "ode of, Jna seven dlSereat pieces sub- highly reliable sources as possibl^ un- from which they recei\
. said he iouBd one outlet io_t. pieces pSky require much more investigation." sample was of earthly or extraterres- mitted lor exuntnafion 'l»'highl> unu- der the drCTpnstances," a MUFON ibel readings as the\
being tested In {ns laboratory "puz- He said the sample looks as if it ortgjn. "But Its physics stir my cu-^ • BiiaL'.'^•**r ^ -> f 'srmfestnan 'fcltt-!, The Tones Herald sample of metal Dr Grs
:
dwg." > \ , has been melted and jp&ttered on the dfy as a scientist," lesakl. j * "*Bui3l.0Eud the sample'also was '6K resaHarlndlcate at crah company scientists
Conducting Us own search for metal ground. - -s- ^tti^ saflSple ItBU&r rt^mre ;^nncbu shj&y, jsnwoa^etlc and tests tins tar' the loetals ^considered "puzzling" and unusual
,Bt.tha site of the alleged UFO erash on "ttowjwer, the most urtxigoinjfiung 'wto« nwesti^ito" hfr -"^ "» <* •* BflBW ^|Tf"^!IP fwO^^tieSf A ffPflfcpyma^ i}-'tul by the IpeotisU we Extra effort has b<-
IheBrawiey Oates fasm homefavArova, is that4)t is made Up primarily ol'jron,. gptvves to j&e a-'i said in a prje&Btf&rx. report. ^"We are. nave scientific .evidence on investJgabOT of the rc
Gray said DC. DaanA Redden ofrthe but is/Sst tnagnebc;' he espiajned." _.- ' a great giving* ^his^ a^4oiDp$|te run-down. crash because this is the
NTSU department oi biajogjcal samples F^st analysis- shows it to be about b<to jjf "the/eported UFO pfot" case where * UFO is *
and » flfrfoV" "Student used rarfgl de- 75 peVcetst ' ^xHG^]89T*WBpaper repart ttpAt said'the
s; crashed "and the pilot's ix
'i ^'""
WALTER H ANDRUS. JR
DIRECTOR
AO CHRISTOPHER COURT
QUINCY I U L I N O I S 623OI
PHONE AC 317 222-8374
^ Dr. Gray sold tftat the
piece he analyzed "may re-
q u i r e m u c h m o r e in-
TX vestigation."
.' H e said the "most in-
triguing part" is that the
fPuzzling'
•
piece "is made up primarily
of iron, but is not magnetic."
i The piece was taken from a
six-inch scrap of metal found
metal
*»
by Dr. Redden.
• "It is 75 per cent iron and
55 per cent zinc with a few
i (trace elements," he added.
''But it lacks properties com-
Examined mon to iron, such as being
magnetic. It is also shiny and
fnalleable instead of dull and
irittle like iron." .>
;DENTON Wl - A North > He said, however/ that his"
^cAaa ouue
T,exas university scien- ^
State University if Comments, "do not indicate
tjst said Wednesday a piece f Jvhether this is of terrestrial
oj metal found at the site of •o r extraterrestrial origin.
reported 1897 spaceship crash//. Sfhey mean only that the
is "puzzling." / physics of that much iron not
; Dr. Tom Gray, who has Jjeing magnetic stirs my cu-
been analyzing scraps of met- riosity as a scientist."
il found near Aurora, a ghost •! The NTSU physicist said
town in Wise County in North Jt h a t r e p o r t s of the in-
Texas, said at least one piece vestigation will be sent to Dr.
of metal appears to be the re- <J. Allen Hynek of North-
sult of intense heat. western University at Evans-
I "It looks like a liquid drop jton, 111., who is the director of
or a splatter," he said. "It's the Air Force's UFO study
interesting."
•
/department.
1
• MEANWHILE, a 92-year-old I MRS. EVANS was the sec-
woman who said she lived in ymd former resident of Aurora
Aurora at the time of the re-' JLo recall the incident.
ported crash on April 18, 1897, ! She said she was told by
told the Dallas Times Herald iier parents that the airship
at she recalls the crash of riad exploded and the pilot
:e strange unidentified flyingwas torn up and killed in the
Abject. jcrash.
• Mrs. Mary Evans told the } " T h e c r a s h certainly
Times Herald: caused a lot of excitement,"
I "We were living in Aurora Jshe said.
§t the time. But my mother ; "Many people were fright-
and father wouldn't let me go jened. They didn't know what
with them when they went up to expect. That was years be-
to the crash site at Judge Ifore we had any regular air-
iProctor's well. planes or other kinds of air-
• Published reports of the *ships."
time said the residents found i E a r 1 i e r this month C.
the remains of a "small :"Charlie" Stephens, 83, a
Juan" and buried them. "It farmer-rancher in the area,
was determined he was not' said his father saw the "Ci-
an inhabitant of this world," 'gar-shaped" airship pass over
a newspaper report said, ;the farm and then heard it
"and he was given Christian %rash on a high hill on Judge
burial in Aurora cemetery." > '•Proctor's farm.
•! "The next day my father
| INTEREST IN the incident Jrode a horse into Aurora to
jiegan anew recently when a^ 'iook at the scene and said it
group of private UFO in-' •looked like a mass of torn
vestigators came to Wise Cmetal and burned rubble,"
Pounty from Denver, Colo., to ptephens told the Times Her-
check the reports. ;ald.
' Dr. Gray, a physicist at i Residents in the Aurora
NTSU, said the pieces of met- 'area have objected to recent
fcl were brought to him by •'investigations and they said
biologist David Redden, an- .'they will go to court to pre-
other NTSU professor, and Kvent any digging in the ceme-
jnembers of the Denton As- tery.
jtronomical Society.
\
i .
U \,
1897
tv-rtuj^vAiMk^^cA.'.^un/T ** iri-ycuj-viu woman - says'she
r^members'thefnight pn'Aprll^, 1897, 'he^parents.went to
andthe.pilot,wasT3uried,in
. urc>|AuuiiW<» uiuicu,ui the ity ce
LUC vyuuii^uuiy vciiustci.j'.jr • ) , ,.
'"That crash certainly caused'a iytuaf'excitement," Mary
>-- ins said vhere::."Many ^peppie w,ere frightened^ They,
1
I • didn't know, what to expect. Th&t was years before we had ,
any regular airplanes or other,kjnd1rf airship's:"^ /^ ' '<"" -
1
; The Wright'Bro'tKers made 'their'historic'flight'pVKitty<>f
- Hawk in DecembeV^ 4903/ This^feis led some to believe the
airship that .crashed at the Texas -well was from 'another
. planet, if indeed such -an airship exists. Mrs. EvansJias no
doubts.' "*":"<,-S?-V* / ', i\ "~ ' J .. ' '"\ r>;
"I was" "only ^bout ,15| at'the time and had all but
forgotten the incident until it Appeared in the; newspapers ;
recently," she said.^"We were living in Aurora at the time 1
but,my molher and fattier^wouldn't let me go Tvith them '
when they went up to the crash site at Judge Proctor's well."
I
/!«.. ' • "When they returned horne"theyj told me bow the airship,
had exploded.'The pilot was !torif upland killed in the cras.hr"
,'x'a„ small^matf^andyb'uried
. „ 1 ; f r^t %
him!thaVsame
, *z
v
Jr* ^". ^r
day*- iri^Aurorel-
i. J S I . - V N - * J f>
>
Cemetery." ( ^^-,;,y .j?, j^J ^ - , . ..^V^;,;',;
The UFO advocates bave'jfcoinbed1 the Aurora area -J"'
jmeiaf detectors, radiation nSeters and, oth^r r^ci
J 1 *_ t .1 1' «.! i _ A A _-ij. i X_ _. _ A _ Jl_ J^V A —
r ^ sent to yarious^ejjtiste.and-metalttrgiststof.examination. . •/
^'V^ ."A pbyslcs'^rdffessor at' Worth Texas StateJ -University"
one piecevand, said it was unusual because it was 75
i|e properties cornirtpn to
- ' ' - ^ '
. 5.>pR.jJO/UljjQ^Cv.V > SaMp/e-iPozi/es
DALLAS TIMES HERALD, Fri., tune I, 1973 B-3:
UFO incident
Pioneer recalls
hearing of crash
Bv BILL CASE phens. 8t>, of Aurora, who de-
Aviation Writer scribed how his f.iihcr, Jim
A third pioneer North Texas Stephens, was aji cye-w itness
resident has confirmed he to the UFO cmsh. and that
knew of the crash of an uni- given by Mr* Mary "Grand-
dentified flying object in Au- ma" Evan=. 91, who lived in
rora April 19. 1S97, in which Aui ora at the time.
the pilot was killed Mrs. Evans said her mother
G. C. Curley, 9S. of Lewis- and father wouldn't allow her
vil!e, now a resident of the to visit the crash scene but
Lenisvillc Nursing Home told they told her when they re-
The Times Herald Thursday: turned home the UFO had ex-
"We got the report early in ploded when it hit a windlass
Lewisville. Two friends wanted over a well on Judge J. S.
me to ride over to Aurora to Proctor's farm.
sec it. But I had to work. "They said the pilot was
"When they got back on tom up and killed in the
crash," she said. "He \\as
horseback that night they told
buried later that same day in
me the airship had been seen
the Aurora Cemetery."
coming from the direction of
The reports related by Cur-
Dallai the day before and had
Icy. Stephens and Mrs. Kvans
been sighted in the area. But
closely duplicate the facts In a
no one knew what it was.
story written by Aurora news-
"They said it hit something
paper correspondent, H. E.
near Judge Proctor's well. The
Hayden, which was published
airship was destroyed and the
In Dallas and Fort Worth pa-
pilot in it was badly torn up,"
pers the day after the crash.
he said.
While the search for addi-
Curley who is remarkably
alert despite his advanced age tional witnesses and informa-
added: tion continues by otologists
(UFO investigators), reports
"My friends said there was
a big crowd of sightseers who from three scientific laborato-
were picking up pieces of the ries which are analyzing sam-
exploded airship. But no one ples of metal gathered at the
could identify the metal it was crash site were expected Mon-
made of. We didn't have metal day night.
like that in America at that "Wo have at least one piece
u time.
"And they said it was diffi-
cult to describe the pilot. They
saw only a torn up body. I
of very light metal which
shows nonmagnetic iron, zinc
and at least traces of six other
elements and it is hi.^h'y un-
ustinl." said one scientist.
don't know what happened to
the pilot's bod>. They didn't Investigators ha\c located a
say." grave in Atiroia Cor.ctcry in
Curley added "people were '.\hicli they believe the UFO
frightened by the crash. They pilot was buried. They have
couldn't understand what it obtained identical metal detec-
was." tor decibel readings from the
His statement corroborates grave that they do from the
statements given The Times mystery piece of metal scien-
Herald by C. C. ' Charlie" Ste- tists ;nc studying.
_...-"*-_•":,~-
Aurora UFO site
~probe
• / near
s* **& climax '---
By" HILL CASE. ^ p a y o f f , " a MUFON spokes-
Avintion Writer man told The Times Herald.
Exhaustive efforts since . "More intensive investigation
mid-March to confirm reports has gone into this case be-
that H UFO crashed at .1 well cause it is the only reported
• site iu Aurora, Tc'x., April 19, case of a JJFO crash in which
ilSfi?, \\crc al u crucial stage the pilot's body was allegedly
Sunday. recovered and buried. The sci-
./•Investigators from MUFON entists report one out of seven
(Midwest Unidentified Flying pieces of metal is highly unu-
Object Network) and Dallas sual in its properties.
Times Herald reporters have "And," he emphasized,"
combed the area with scientif- even if analysis shows this
ic instruments in an effort to metal is known on earth it is
locate pieces of the reported not conclusive proof that it did
space ship and have pinpointed not come from space or that it : >•}-'§
a grave in Aurora Cemetery in was not developed and dupli- '. r *!»?«V;:rf'l
which the pilot may be buried. cated on earth by man at a :'^lhrl
And scientists in laboratories later date."
at North Texas State Universi- Meterorites composed largely
ty, one of the country's major of iron, zinc and traces of oth-
aircraft companies and the er metals, some known and
National Research Council in unknown, are constantly bom-
Ottawa. Canada, arc in the barding us from space, Dr.
midst of running tests to identi- Tom Gray, NTSU physicist,
fy metal samples supplied by s a i d . "And we don't know
"investigators. NTSU conducted where' they, come from. .It is
itslsearch on its own. the physics' of this puzzling
" "We are in the waiting peri- piece of metal we recovered at
od to see if all of our efforts the crash site that stirs my
curiosity as a scientist. I
would like to see'if we can du-
plicate it."
The first in-depth compre-
hensive metal analysis reports
are expected to he completed
Monday night.
Although the slory has been
branded a "hoax" and practi-
cal joke for years in North
Texas, the investigation has
found three aged persons who
have given detailed stories of
the crash, recovery 'and burial
of the pilot.
In addition, articles from
April 14 through April 27,1897
published in Dallas and Fort
Worth newspapers . list
hundreds of sightings of "air-
ships" matching the descrip-
tion of th$ one which reported-
ly crashed in Aurora.
"We have no plans to ex-
luimc the pllot's^body at this
Him:," the MUFON spokesman
said." However, if scientific
evidence shows close relation-
ship between the, metal read-
ings from the crash site and
the grave are valid we shall
consider asking' Wise County
District : Court to issue an ex-
humation order allowing it to
be performed by experts in ac-
cordance with instructions of
the court."
•'THcre~Ss" no'"intention -'of
turning this into a circus. It is
a . scientific .investigation and
will be kept on that plain with
till respi:bf' for Mm oMtinlcry,
its other-i occupant* and the
people of the community."
I-
Saucer Expert
Hayden Hewes, Oklahoma City director of UFO bureau, listens to radiation detector in ',
chicken coop built over site of supposed UFO crash. Nothing but normal background radio- j
tion was detected. (Staff Photo by Steve Sisney.) ,• „ - (
2 THE OKLAHOMA JOURNAL, MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1973
Nothing Found
Probing with metal detector for signs of a supposed alien landing are, from left, Inter-
national UFO Bureau members Richard Leonard, Ken Vaught and Vic Johnston. Only a rusty
nail was found during Sunday's search. (Staff Photo by Steve Sisney)
L)l
_ ... Last Fragment r|
THE
•V4U:
2 OKLAHOMA JOURNAL,'MONDAY;,JUNE:4, 1973
tf^:.ij^'b-
^—"P jYvy"-' r3j>*|ji«-«
•
, . . , - - i, •., , . . • " . -
( By HOWARD DAVIS . p h e n o m e n a . h a d been into hiding Sunday when 'a £
'- Of The Journal Staff '. reported in the last several t e a m of :. U F O I o g i s t s ^'
;•••; ;AURORA. Tex.. - The .weeks that tended to suggest "(researchers^ intb\unidei^
• evidence all but disappeared '; •• ...... - i « i , •* •• .' ' '. •"•>-, ' • • , '\- ,. •
BY;
SUBMITTED
.;tn -, • «
.-••. • ujnunueo Jrom Page.^,^*fAew wfc'rff'frepbfts earflSf. i«t*/<
detectors and firsthandYsto Itbe week the cemetery?'
observation. V ' 1 association had posted armed •'
There were reports that the ?' sentries' toL keep, sightseers/
alleged crash site was still iVand/ newsmen out of ,the
THE ATLANTA CONSTI11JTIO1N, Tliuri,.,-Ma> 31, 1?73',, radioactive; but the Geiger'vCemetery grounds': .' ..;. ;
'
1897 UFO?
TX
'"'-.••• •'-.'-'-•1-.-\i1...;/-'i:;V
He Ctitft Tell to have been responsible for H o W e v e r , ' . : ' Nob 1 eS:<
' the chickens laying rotten acknowledged 'that .Wise
eggs in the coop built over the . County !>sh'erif f's deputies > >.• •
; supposed crash site. But even -'' spentvseverah hours at^the •'?
I/If MetdTs AMti the chickens were on good cemetery .one'day when *
behavior,. apparently laying townspeople feared an immi- >.
nothing but standard Grade A neht attempt to abduct the :
Mediums, which, when open- :;
•••'. '".DENTON, Tex. .(UFI) ,— A physics /professor at North ed, looked and smelled fine. .v;^J ';t.^i:>V'.:-^/H!
if Texas State University said Wedneday a small chip of" An effort was made.Jwith ; discouragement,- '
J metal "stirs" nis-curiosity, But. that he could not tell if it :
- the use of metal detectors', to' came with i the disclosure by '
;
find more fragments, of-;a •Nobles that''cemetery .
shiny metallic substance • records indicate! the suspect; .
!. recently .discovered on the /grave was 'owned by a' man^'.
crash site, but the only thing ' named.C.A- Carr and ,that
but lacks properties comrno , metallic recovered from the attempts.to locate Carr or his"
ground was a rusty hail:-,. known descendents have been :,
oft, instead'bf. duU-ahd.britU(?v^Kg"}ron:;^iYr-^^i^;v"C'''. Meanwhile, the man who -T-, s,?-,-;,?';.- -..-, •;- -:;v ••••
"l don't mean; by my/conynents'id'.- indicate'whether'l'thisl first discovered the strange McCrary.'said it is not even ; :
. is of terrestnal'or extraterrestrial origin,'7 Gray said, "but shiny metal and took the . known,whether Carr is alive, -:;
that the physics of that much iron not being magnetic stirs • lion's share of it for himself adding that it-is possibleva.;
my curiosity as. a scientist. ' ' • ' - ' . i has apparently disappeared relative of |Carr ;or .Carr .;
„, i, "It it proves'.to'b'e' a rather-strange beast, then a great without a trace, leaving, himself fell-victim to one of";''
deal more study, will have to be done on it. Right 'now, we behind only'a fake address in, ' the/ repeated, yellow fever
=qan-only.make;suppositions."We,'cannot'draw any ( • Corpus Christi and a •epidemics^ -which,plagued ~'\
5
'efnne ""-." '-'' : ril
*t;' X ' T'-"'. ' " ' ' "-' telephone n u m b e r ' t h a t /Aurora in,the 1890's and may.'!
The samples,;,were''djig from';ah^,area near, Aurora,; Tex., '••• belongs to someone else, rr 'haye then been quickly buried.
. about, 70 miles nbrtnwe^rof .DallasJn.Wise County? Various' •; Hayden Hewes, direcior'of with no.itohe^ to mark (the I
, samples were found when dispatches resurrecting news re- t h e International UFQ '-grave.: : '.V-^;1.; -'...yj/^
pjarts from the- igjjQspi'the. supposed spaceship'crash were .Bureau, headquartered, in : : :
'published. '•',„•, !:.>,\ , . ' . • • • - . - ; . . - . , . . . , ' . • » • - i - V ' ' - - ' • Oklahoma City, said efforts. ; . McCrary' is bpenly' hostile!\
iOne article, published in Dallas and ,Fort Worth news-.
I-' '• to contact a."Frank Kelley",.;, to the^UFO investigation.,, >.'i
papers April 20,-L1897, was written by H.E. Hayden, an who " said he was^ai,' ivJv'.'The people here don't like -
A'urora correspondent and cotton buyer. professional treasure hunter; '< ; lt,':' he' saysJ "You wouldn't
have been futile. "^-^v'j:; „;; 'cemetery) like it,. either., That (the
. ri"
Speaking of the crash, which he said occurred over the '..'". Two more disappointments is supposed to be a
,'well on the larm owned by J.S. Procter, Hayden wrote: greeted the investigators'! ;.sa,cred plaicie;''.,;, '• • . :.'/••..:
"The remains of the pilot were gathered together. It was ; when they arrived at "the; - ;: /'The way it's been the last r
determined he was not an inhabitant of the world and he . Aurora cemetery, when! ac- five weeks it's been a show ' -
was given a Christian burial in Aurora Cemetery." L{- cording, to turn-ofrthe- ; ..- place^",:',t<-^i,,],-'.'^:^
Otticials of the International Unidentified Flying Object K . century newspaper,accounts;;i:
Bureau, run by HaydenN Hewes of Oklahoma City, have the'alien pilot was "given" a'. mothw and mother's^ mother '
seized on the incident as a real instance of UFO activity Christian burial.".. : ,. ,r. ,W
on,earth. ere born and rajseiMn the
They have said that if the metal is proved to be extrater* i ' ••»i, i VK ii • W*CI^ i .aurora 'area^ana who nas,liv-;
: that the small, unmarked ed all her own life there, said
restrial they will press for exhumation of the body of the triangular headstone at the Vshe nad never heard the 1897
supposed astronaut. . suspected.£ravesite had been story until three or four years'
broken off two inches above.'; ago. ; ' ' : :
;f
ground level and removed.
Second, the metal detec- She attribytes.all the furor
tors failed to get any to Braley Gates, 65, the man
readings directly over the who lives on the land where
,: gravesite, contrary to earlier the cigar-shaped airship
reports allegedly exploded. . ,.:
The developments of Sun- f Gates says he first moved. i
; day's investigation tended to to the farm in 1945, and didn't
dim any immediate prospect hear anything about the UFO^
' the UFO Bureau may have of incident until an article came \
getting a court order to exr out in a newspaper about it '
. hume the suspect gravesite.^ some 12 years ago, ;.; . '. . ' ..i-.
1
Trustees of the cemetery; ; "At the time.J didn't think;
, ,'a.larmed last week of curiosi- anything about' it," he said>
ty. seekers overrunning the "I didn'K think there was . any '
groiinds, have had their-at-,. ^siich of. a thing as; flying
' torney, Bill Nobles, draft' 'isaucers.1. ". V-,3.-
legal papers for obtaining,an "But l-sure, do-now/' '•
injunction,-. if — necessary,
— j , . to - v, •^••«-.-
w One ••t«>*^ thing;; \ »that lia» weighs
W^lgl^a
keep the grave from being .heavily with Gates is that
desecrated. , ^-.'.-',. ...• ( ;r doctors ;have.': told him his
However, Nobles'said.he '"""'"
. , ' •"•*••"!*!- may
gouty;.arthritis —"~ be!the
"—•"--
, does not plan to file for the in- result of radiation poisoning,
junction at this time and will he says.vi. -. • •'. •',-.';'• v''
not file unless there is reason i The UFQ'was supposed to
to believe the grave will be J>ave crashed_on top of a well;!
disturbed. '•'._ ' on the farm. .When Gates took
". Hewes has'"said the UFO' possession of the place, he
Bureau is consulting its own cleaned the partly filled well
attorneys .. about the .^ legal6u. ., out and used the well for
process involved in exhuming drinking water, for 12 years,
the gravesite, but will, not ... Most 'of. the strange metal
start proceedings until and ' fragments were believed to
unless analysis of t h e , , h,--" a v, ew- .--been
— — -. dredged up when
*•• *.v*^V'«« *»J* Tf »V<t4 ,.
metallic fragments from the " the well was cleaned out and,
crash site points to an extra- Gates thinks the water in the
terrestrial origin. . . ;r v well might have T; been
Nobles said the Aurora radioactive...; .;.•,•-•'. -- • ''••
Cemetery Association would His , gnarled, .... grotesquely
require substantial evidence.. deformed hands baffled doc-
before it •would ' '
consent to the -:'.tors; whom, , he said "tell him
: exhumation, but added that, -.rA, ' they •-have; •'
never fj,e_£h :
if the probability of finding - any thing /like(it. '"( ''-.- - •/
alien in the grave were ,- However,- -• 12 years ago; •
K
... .,...,, VI'. •• * • • ! > • . > ' ,- Ci!
T B ,. cfUastJ
True Believer • • • • • . .
, owner of farm where UFO may have
- - ; • • • -'•••.,:. .^..^.•••.^.\-.- . ,.;,-.•:,... -;,.^..:-s^--^?,^••-.!/• >•>?•
. UFO investigator Tommy Blanij holds up one of remaining.,-.-.;; • ' • : •
Oates, 1
J : crashed, believes the story is true. (Staff Photo by Steve '-{,•.^fragments of metal recovered(from :"crash:sjte:" (Staff Photo , Oi, ;;
• ' by Steve Sisney.) ... . , . , . . . .....,
Sisney.)
O
tn
z n 2
n i D
H
•< i
'. in 9 I
85
21
OP
m
UII
So
C
o Z
" 0
IS
R
3) 2Z
(D
m
l.
31
:'• riayden Hewes, Oklahoma City director pf UFO bureau;Vlistens to:radiqtipn:detect6r ih^<f>i':';/:,
r
chicken coop built over site of supposed .UFO crash. Nothing but normal background:rodia-.:;ii'-r f;;,. ',
'• tion was detected. (Staff Photo by Steve Sisney.) • ;; ; '.. '.'• .W ^[?- :;'. ..[' : j'. ,
4>OT - • . ••••^::-- ' - . . " - . ; j;
.<:.,.;.• , u.czzcczzcee .' - ' - • . . ' ' •,;:•
,ufo 6-7 Is , :Q
"OKLAHOMA CITY UPI!; - ; r
. ..' ' . ' _ . . ' •;,
•
' ?
:The International UFO Bureau/ ;
/headquartered In Oklahoma"-;'{>;
m z0 m City, "believes something happenu
.01 a
> <D
O '5 °I c ed in Aurora, Texas, where leg^.
m siiu
S'
BN
S
=nt\
So , ; end says a fLying object crash!,
01 0 c
?i«c J0 H ed and its pilot was buried, "but :
$
0 the "bureau said Wednesday '
what it was has not "been deter-
;
mined* ... . , . ','•.'
Torany Blann, deputy direct- ; ;
or of the "bureau, issued a state-
ment denying several reports
relating to the bureau's investi-
, gation of the incident which "be- .
V-gan last summer. ^- . - -.. ••-,',.-:-.:..
The statement also said,"A- !.
reporter in the area is hamper-
ing our serious research as we
have "been unable to dispel un-
, founded and unnecessary runl ;
ors that serve no purpose but ; : >
•to fan the fire"."' /. . . , : ; ;
Blann said a well was found
near the . site
.
of the supposed '•/ • " • ." i'~-
H
DIRECTOR
1
ANDF
N m 0 c
i
>
Ined to be not of this earth and
M
™/ m
m
® °
u u r
on
-J - H
ID
d until the grave Is located will an
*
•< t_
O
3J
70 order be sought^** he said.
1
He also denied that an Injunc-
tion was Issued to l&ep bureau
people from digging and said
the area was not radioactive. >
2 Experts Differ
About f897 UFO
By The Associated Press probable MUFON's investiga-
The question of what hap- tion is at its most intensive
pened, if anything, at Aurora, points."
Tex., April 19, 1897, turned THE O R I G I N A L 1897
Saturday into dispute's be- story came from S. E. •Hay-
tween two Unidentified Flying den, cotton buyer and part-
Objects experts. tune newspaper correspondent
The mass of evidence is on at Aurora, a village which has
the side of reports that, some- become a ghost community. It
thing did strike Judge J. S. 1 is between Fort Worth and De-
Proctor's windmill on that catur.
date and exploded. The re- Hayden said the craft went
ports also say some creature to pieces with a tremendous
died in the explosion and was explosion when it hit the wind-
i b u r i e d by the citizens of mill, scattering parts. ov«r
I Aurora. several acres.
] During the weekend, Hayden Hayden said the pilot, de-
Hewes, director of the Interna- scribed as a "small man,"
tional UFO Bureau, Inc., of was dismembered.
Oklahoma City, added fuel to "However, enough remains
the dispute. He said there was were picked up to determine it
nothing to the reports and that was not an inhabitant of this
newspapers were only fanning world," Hayden wrote. "The
the fire to keep it alive. men of the community gath-
This was disputed by the ered it up and it was given a
Midwest Unidentified Flying Christian burial in the Aurora
Network and Bill Case, avia-. cemetery."
tion writer for the Dallas INVESTIGATORS BE-
Times Herald, who has inves- lieve they have pinpointed the
tigated the story deeply. grave — a spot marked by a
, CASE SAID THE TESTS OF handhewn stone. Chiseled into
metals found at the site by the stone is the outline of a
Hewes were not the same cigar-shaped object.
samples found by Case and There has been some talk of
others which several scientists digging into this grave but so
have said are at least puz- far nothing has been done.
zling. Men of the cemetery associa-
Walter H. Andrus Jr. took tion have guarded the grave-
issue with Hewes' statement. yard against molestation re-
Andrus is executive director of cently.
Midwest Unidentified Flying At least three old-timers
Object Network. have been found who heard
A n d r e s told Case, "His direct reports from persons
(Hewes') announcement im- who saw the wreckage.
plies investigation of the re- One is Charlie Stephens who
ported crash of a UFO . . . is said, "My daddy, Jim Ste-
closed simply through analysis phens, said he was putting the
of four pieces of metal. cows out to pasture on pur
"Nothing could be further ranch about 4 a.m. three miles
i from the truth. south of Aurora when he no-
i1 "MUFON investigators and ticed a cigar-shaped airship
reports from the Dallas Times with a white light pass over.
Herald are still vigorously "IT WAS VERY LOW AND
working on the investigation."
just went straight ahead until
ONE POINT OF DISPUTE it crashed at a well site on a
is a fused nugget of aluminum high hill on Judge J. S. Proc-
alloy which metallurgists say tor's farm. He said there
could not be produced on earth seemed to be an explosion and
until this century. a fire that lit up the sky for
The nugget was found be- several minutes.
neath other metal fragments "The next day my father
at Aurora. One speculation is rode a horse into Aurora to
that its depth in the earth look at the scene and said it
shows that it came from the looked like a mass of torn
'- reported flying object. Others metal and burned rubble."
] say that its composition in- Mrs. Mary Evans, 91, says
dicates that it was manufac- her mother and father would
tured well after the crash not let her go with them when
date. they went to the site.
Andrus said, "If we deter- G. C. Curley, 98, said two
mine it is a hoax, we will an- friends went to the reported
i nqunce it candidly. And we crash site and told him4hat
will have the evidence to show sightseers were picking pieces
why we believe in it. But at of metal of a type unknown
N
the moment, our findings in- then. Curley said his friends
Vi dicate the possibility it is a also told of a dismembered
-hoax,is jnore, and.m.ore jm-
4 Counties
gfottene Jta By DANI PRESSWOOD
Beporter-News Staff Writer
Officials in four area coun-
ties are making preparations
for the next step in the crea-
tion or extension of hospital
Comanche judge: B
'not the right tin\
'"WITHOUT OR WITH OFFENSE TO FRIENDS OR FOES W districts approved during the'
63rd Texas Legislature.i election/
Legislators passed bills call-
ing for five new districts and
92ND YEAR, NO. 358 PHONE 673-4271 ABILENE, .TEXAS, 79604, SUNDAY extension of two others. New Although the 12-year-old Co-
districts include Hamlin and manche Municipal Hospital op- st
Anson in Jones County, De erates at 90-98 per cent capac-
Leon and Comanche in Coman- ity, he said, "no patient has m
. ...
••"V.;':By-BILLCASE." ' • * • ' ' : ••.' .By' The Associated 'Press probable,' MUFON's'. invesHga-
;:.-: .Aviation Writer ' ..,' "J , :. ' The question of wha't hanJ tioa is aMts, m°sf intensive
pened, if anything, at Aurora,1 .
' '?,';•;!, Two ,of the nation's'top UFO Tex., April 19, 1897, '; turned '
' V;'iliuthpritles have urged resi-
i;--denis of Aurora, where an uni-
'•':'< 'identified flying - object 'repprt- . Objects experts. : time'neWSp?per'icorres1)oiident
*?"'edly crashed and killed thepi- • ine mass ot evidence,is;on f:,gt Aurora, a village which'has
•/'.' lot'on April 19, 1897, to search ,-the side/of:rejports that,some-;^become a ghost community. It -
-, .their homes, barns and storage thing did strfke. Judge J & •-.,,.ls.between Fort-Worth.ahdDe-,
'".' places for . historic • ,'clues and Proctors.'Windmill oni that;! c'atur ,-;-•'•- "•'.' ; - ''•'• '
'/ souvenirs of the incident.' ' , date and exploded. The--re-'; iHayitea'''sai<J'the^ craft "went .
ports also say. some creature ;i|o pieces,, with :atremendous :
>> /• ''Now that scientific investi- died in the explosion and was expiosiori whert'it hit Jhe wind- ,
''. gallon ijiakesjlt highly improb- b u r i e d by the citizens, of • mill, scattering" parts-.'over •
..." • able that the report is a hoax Aurora. , . -".,.,, ' several acres.-". <•, :;" '.-•
,, ,.as has been reported/so'many During the weekend,
'eekend, Hayden,
Hayden,. r Hayden isaidythe 'bilo|, de- ,
times, we feel' the people of• Hewes, directorr' of the1 Interna-. . scribed": as..' a - "small man,":i.
^>'the ,area may be able to locate tional UFO : Bureau,
lureau,line., of '..was dismembered: - .". •',:,- ..
""rtri,Information-and physical evi-
Oklahoma City, added fuel to •; "However,.'enough/remains
the dispute. He said there was . ; were picked .up'tQdeterrhine it.
,i ^(jence^gathered. and) kept by nothing to the reports and that 'was noi ah- inhabitant of this
^ their fathers and:: grandfath- newspapers were only fanning I world," Hayden, .wrote. ''The .
^ cers,« -said Dr.: J. Alten Hynek.1 -, the fire to keep it alive. ;.; .'.hjeni'of the community gath- '
.,,.'!ichairman of the Department of . This was disputed >i by the . ered.it un, and it'was given a '
,.',.,,; Astronomy at Northwestern Midwest .Unidentified Flying ,i Christian.' burial- jh the. Aurora
jiui.yniyersity iii.Evanston, Dl. •., Network-and Bill -Case, avia- v cemetery/'.,. -[ -v: ' .;;. -;'; ,
tion writer for the Dallas • • -..
•.- Walter H. Andni's, -national Times Herald, who has inves-
;jY.": director >'of MUFON; (Midwest
_o
-H '
, hoax -s more and more im- body.'•••/' . - • • • • ' ; • -.'••* .-' -..-.
'confidential with no publicity
• ,' Identifying themselves or their o .,.
io • •.
families we shall keep the in- ra :(O
11
formation in the strictest con- H- ;; MIDWEST UFO NETWORK
fidence," he said. . 01 05 /"
w < (MUFON)
., Dr. Hynek and Andrus In-
structed the residents to report o ">-r
no
their. findings in writing to • o <i> ^ WALTER H. ANDRUS. JR.
. E a r l F. Watts, Texas state , '. cthi CT
DIRECTOR '
.director, of astronomy forMU-
-' -ii (D W VI pr
• 05 4O CHRISTOPHER COURT
• FON and an investigator, at QUINCY. ILLINOIS 623O1
2 ExpefcrDrfferf
mm ' ''.?" v' '••it. a"'^ ^*^'"*'s'•Uii'
, '.«
fceman
Never Stole a Box Car
By FRANK X. TOLBERT versation pieces of the world recently
IN FORT WORTH in 1897 there lived because some "UFO scientists" have
a railroad man for 1 the Texas & Pacific, been in the village looking for pieces of
named Joseph E. (Truthful) Scully, ."strange metal" around the site of
also widely renowned as "The Honest .Judge Proctor's old water well and
Brakeman — he never stole a box searching for the grave of the 1897 UFO
car." ' pilot alleged to have died in the crash.
* The Honest Brakeman was, I be- When I was in Colorado and New
lieve, the central figure in the so<alled Mexico recently I heard more talk
"Truthful Scully Hoax." - .about the Aurora than I did about Wat-
In April, 1897, railroad telegraphers ergate, an I understand the yarn of the
from middle states all over the nation 1897 visitor from another planet rivals
sent out reports of sightings of gigantic Watergate for space in European peri-
airships. And mind you this was 6 years odicals. -—.
r-r . 1
before the Wright boys got a heavier . The other Dallas newspaper has
been carrying daily stories on the most
recent Aurora investigations, although
only The Dallas News was on the job
AURORA back in 1966 when researchers from the
British Flying Saucer Review came to
Aurora and decided the whole thing was
a hoax. "~"~~
•A.' Still, I found during a visit to Aurora" I
Friday that some of the villagers are/
•'i;, than-air" flying machine off the ground. downright offended if you suggest F. E. \
Hayden's 1897 news stories were a joke./
It/is my belief that Truthful Scully,
because of his reputation of "never tell- ANYWAY, THE Aurora cemetery is
ing a lie," was chosen by the prank- worth a visit. It is in an inspiring set-
sters to' make the first.of hundreds ofting on a high hill planted in old oak
"sightings" of flying machines. Per- trees and with a view of many miles of
haps he was no longer known as The Wise County in the spring.
Honest Brakeman after all the excite- A nice lady with a posse of children
ment died down. following her, Mrs. Steve Boyd, was my
guide as she has been for hundreds of
..LAST.WEEK. I. visited in what has .visitors_Jo._the_cerneJery. _Mrs._Shaw
ment died down. following her, Mrs. Steve Boyd,"was my"
' guide as she has been for hundreds of
LAST WEEK I visited in what has - visitors to the cemetery. Mrs. Shaw
become an internationally known vil- showed me the hunk of rock which is
lage, Aurora, Wise County. Aurora is said, by 2 old-timers, to be the marker
now famous because of 1973 credence for the grave of that pilot who wasn't
being given to a story which appeared "an inhabitant of this world." The
in April 19, 1897, newspapers that grave is under a big oak, ar-d there is, a
"about 6 o'clock this morning early ris- working colony of honey bees in the
ers in Aurora were astonished by the tree. ' . .
sudden appearance of the airship which
has been sailing through the country..." "The bees have been upset by all the
visitors, but now they seem to be get-
The April 19,1897 news story report- ting used to company," said Mrs. Shaw.
ed that the airship collided with "Judge
Proctor's windmill tower'1 in Aurora ON THE grave marker, if such it be,
and the flying machine went to pieces is a delta-shaped carving, 'and inside
in a terrible explosion, scattering met- the triangular pattern there are some
allic debris over 3 acres, wrecking the circular designs. (I'd read that the
windmill and destroying Judge Proc- stone had a "cigar shaped" pattern on
tor's flower garden. (In Decatur last it, but this is certainly not true.) There j
week I did find that a J. S. Proctor of were some artificial flowers by the
Aurora-.was justice of the peace for marker.
Wise County's precinct 5 from 1892 to Mrs. Shaw has relatives iwho once
1902;) : . . . . . ' • .• owned Judge Proctor's home site and
AN AURORA cotton buyer named said they found metal therein when
F. E. Hayden. wrote the story that ap- .they cleaned out the old well. Mrs.
peared in all the papers, and he said Shaw said that one of the strange as
that the body of the pilot of the 1897 air-, pects was that 2 old-timers "located
ship was badly disfigured but a promi- • the pilot's grave "and yet these old-tim-
nent astronomer and Army Signal ers don't know each other, and live a
Corps officer, T. J. Weems, happened, long ways apart."
to be in Aurora and Weems declared I WOULD like to believe in F. E
that the pilot was "not an inhabitant Hayden's news story. Yet I'm wonder
of this world. The town is full of people. ing why the crash of this strange aerial
today .who are viewing the wreck and vehicle wasn't reported in Cliff D
.1 gathering specimens of the strange . Cates' excellent and thorough history ol
metal from the debris. The pilot's fu- • Wise County? And why would the local
neral will take place at noon today..." blacksmith be listed as an astronomer
As I reported about 5 years ago and- and Army officer?
Iso recently T. J. Weems was actually 1 And I wonder if F. E. Hayden and
e village blacksmith in 1897 Aurora.... , old Truthful Scully, The Honest Brake-
Aurora has become one of the cpn- man, werejriends?
—StoH Photo
BOOK PROJECT—Larry Pile, a 14-year-old Boy Scout, The project took three months with most of the boob
finishes packing more than 600 books he has collected coming from Glen Cove area residents.
for the Dallas County Children's Emergency Shelter.
An abandoned cemetery in
Aurora, Tex., is the site of one of the
most intensive UFO investigations
ever. An alien spaceman is believed
to have been buried there when his
unidentified flying object crashed in
1897.
Today 76 years late, a group of
UFO investigators have found what
they say may be pieces of the
demolished aircraft.
The unknown space vehicle
crashed into a rural windmill and
exploded on April 19,1907—six years
before the first air flight made by
man.
SIGNPOST announces arrival to Aurora, Tex./where UFO is believed to have crashed In 1897.
Scientists who studied the metal
fragments from the crash site
"We were living in Aurora at the
revealed that they are an aluminum
time, but my mother and father
alloy "unknown in the U.S. until
wouldn't let me go with them when
about 1910 and not produced on this
they went up to the crash site at
k earth until early in the 20th
century." Judge Proctor's well.
"When they returned home, they
told me how the airship had
TAKING PART in the exploded. The pilot was torn up and
investigation are the International killed in the crash. The men of the
UFO B u r e a u , the National town who gathered his remains said
Investigative Committee on Aerial he was a 'small man' and buried him
Phenomena (NICAP) and the that same day in Aurora Cemetery.
Midwest UFO Network (MUFON).
Hayden Hewes, director of the "THAT CRASH certainly caused a
International UFO Bureau, lot of excitement," added Mrs.
explained: "According to reports at Evans. "Many people were
the time, the airship was scattered frightened. They didn't know what to
over several acres by the explosion expect. That was years before we
'
f
Editorials
Fri.July 13, 1973
IRE D4LMS TIMES HER4LD
/METROPOLIT4N
Fri., July 13, 1973, DALLAS TIMES HERALD
Andrus asks
Aurora case
exhumation
A well-known investigator of uniden- "
tified flying objects has appealed to the
1
~\ , .;
-•'. ' . ' . - > • ' - , • ' • ' "i
£/// Ponerfield this yave — and if not this one then some opinion thai he was a native of the planet
other close by - holds the secret of the Mars.
Aurora
man trorn outer spaee "Papers found on his person - evidently
This is Wise County, Texas, just north of
where the We it begins, and here, upon this The sole authority for all tins hovering the record of his travels — are written in • •
pretty little promontory which divice> the and itching is a seven-paragraph story some unknown hieroglyphics, and cannot
Grand Frame and tne Western Cross which appeared on page five of the Dallas be deciphered
Morning News and on page lour 01 the old "The ship is too badly wrecked to form
Timbers, well here the tov.n of Aurora
once was. I say was because it's gone now, Fort Worth Record 76 years ago The any conclusion as to its construction or
has been for more tlun 7u years. Ch, there dateline was Aurora, Wise County, Texas, motive power. It was built of an unknown
are still a few people around, bat the only April 17, 1897, and the story went as metal, resembling somewhat a mixture of ,
follows. aluminum and silver, and it must have
businessman left is Brjwley Gates, *nd Mr
Gates is not exactly setting the world on "About six o'clock this morning the weighed several tons
early risers of Aurora were astonished at "The town is full of people to-day who
fire. If things continue as they have,
the sudden appearance of the airship which ' are viewing the wreck and gathering
Brawlcy will end his days in that little Arco specimens of the strange metal from the
has been sailing through the country
service station, the only gas stop between
"It was traveling due north, and much debris. The pilot's funeral will take place at '
'* Boyd and Rhome. (Those aren't local nearer the earth than ever before. noon to-morrow."
football heroes, but towns just west and Evidently some of the machinery was out
east of here, towns that nude it when of order, for it was making a speed of only .HAT WAS THE story, and the '
Atftora couldn't - if you call a few ten or twelve miles an hour and gradually man who filed it signed his name at the
hundred people coming together and getting toward the earth. It sailed directly bottom, S. E. Haydon. Haydon, it turns
hanging on for dear life making it.) over the public square, and when it reached out, was an Aurora cotton buyer who on
But back to Brawiey Gates. The one in the north part of town collided with the occasion served as a country correspondent t
the gas station, not the two in the tower of Judge Proctor's windmill and for the city newspapers From time to time '
cemetery. You see the family goes back went to pieces with a terrible explosion, in the years hence, when local news was
some. The first Brawiey Gates — he was a wrecking the windmill and water tank and slow and the national scene was depressing,
lean old patriarch with a long white beard destroying the judge's flower garden feature writers have tended to dig up Mr.
- was in this county, and a power to be "The pilot of the ship is supposed to llaydon's old item and give it another run.
reckoned with, as early as a hundred and have been the only one on board, and It's usually at UFO time, when, for
twenty years ago. The point is that the while his remains are badly disfigured, whatever reasons — perhaps spring and the
Oateses are a patient people who don't run enough of the original has been picked up running sap and the pulling moon - there
away when the going gets tough. And tnis to show that he was not an inhabitant of is a rash of flying saucer reports and people
place has had it, a number of times, this world. begin to imagine we are being visited by
through the years. "Mr, T. J. Weems, the United States creatures from outer space. Jerry
signal service officer at this place and an Flemmons of the Fort Worth
authority on astronomy, gives it as his Star-Telegram has probably gotten more
B.
JUT NOW THINGS are looking
up. People are starting to pay attention to
Aurora again, to buy 335 from Brawby.
And it's all because of the man from Mars
who is buned in the local cemetery, over
there not far from the first two Brawiey
OjtCsCS.
Well. I don't believe it, l)iit a lot of
people ilo, jnd tli.il's what jll the Juss is
about. Whether lo dij; him up or not
i ho t,ooJ Lulus and ^cm.c_uicn o! ilie
Aurora Cemetery Ai-OLi.ition .ay let hi.n
he in peace, whoever or whatever he is
And they are so aJ-.nii.nt -uout it they've
gone to a lawyer over in Deejtur, wnich is
the county Seat, and n-d papers drawn up
to try to prevent disturbance of any bouy
in the cemetery.
On the other side are some characters
who cjh themselves l>. G experts, and who
identify them r clvcs ... ben ^ with vanou.,
unidentified flying ub,ect networks They
haven't -etually Jried disn.u:mcnt yet, but
it is ob/ious they zi^ itui.n.j to go -t
Aurora Cemetery with pick and shovel.
They've been hovering about the graves for
weeks with metal detectors and other
witching rods, and they arc convinced that
r ,' »/j|
impressive, but when one saw their cars
parked around Bradley Gates' service
station, cars and campers with more surreal
HAT, ESSENTIALLY, is what
has been going on here in Aurora since
March. Bill Case or one of the grandsons of
equipment than a deputy sheriffs' Brawley Gates leading the curious through
convention painted by Dali, one could only a bunch of chicken .. . feathers
echo Edith Brown's reaction. "They're Oh, some metal has been found, metal
getting me to where I'm about to believe other than shotgun shell caps, old stove lids
them," she declared. "I didn't think they and horse bndle nngs. The other day
The Garden Hotel* w,ould ever go to the moon, and they did!" Benny Rasberry, Brawley's 12-year-old
Authentic Colonial grandson, found a silver half dollar, minted
Mexican in design ATTENTION was focused in New Orleans and dated 1856. And Case
around Brawley Dates because Brawley and some of the other UFO experts have
and dscor, featuring?, dug up fragments which seem to excite
lives on the place where the airship was
services to tits reported to have crashed back in '97, the them a great deal, enough to qualify them
discriminating few, old Proctor farm The house is up on the for front-page treatment in the Times
hill just behind the service station, and Herald.
/"MEXICO back ol it is the well where our science
writer of old - or science fiction wnter if
Back in Apnl the i treasure hunter,
Kelley, unearthed 12 pieces of lightweight
CITY
In the city s pufcrrcd location, ono
you will - wrote that the airship came to
carlli, a galactic Quixote doing battle with
metal which he said was unlike any metal
he had ever seen. And right alter that is
block IIGIH i'io rtJuinM nctr U S a windmill when Case and the UTO men spotted what
Enibn'iy Pn;£lu narking Delight Ol cc>uise the windmill is gone, and over they feel is the grave of the spaceman.
)ul dining PuniiL'd VAiU;r Uur/ the well is .1 p u m p house which Brawley What led them to it, Case said, were
tulciljininciit Pd jto giidLJi directions trom an oldtimerCase retuses to
exclus.vcly for QJCSU Open year
0-ies has converted into a chicken coop
'round P.ti jaaLIt utos Inquiries 1 his is where the "scientific" scratching unmask with an identification. The other
invited. Rc^r.'ilion: lusQeilcd has been going on, the search for some bit clue that led them to the grave in question
Telo <£-93CO of metal, some piece of proot that old S. E. was the unusual marking on the headstone
Haydon wasn't a liar Let's listen in on No name or anything, not S. E. Haydon's
}10TEL correspondent Case and Earl Watts as they "unknown hieroglyphics," but the image
'senses in liiin a pulling back, a "tendency :• April. '. \ ' ' '• Robbie Reynolds Hanson was a girl of
now to.soft-pedal the scientific probe and i But it doesn't really. One has only to 12 at the time, and she remembers that
to play around with the possibility that it '.(- read the stories to realize that what was in ' Judge Proctor ran a : story, similar to
is all.'an old joke. He has always left himself . the air that Aries was a happy contagion of Haydon's but in the judge's words, in the -.
this out, and will, I predict, paint himself cosmic invention that caught the fancy of little local ,paper he published, , a
'out of .the'corner where the need for a every village Jules Verne. . . . . two-sheetcr called the Aurora News. ,
good story has taken,.him. Out of it he has In Stephenville, out in Erath County, C.: ;•• "Mr. Haydon called Jeff Wcems a Signal
gotten a raise, a fat scrapebook of by-line L. Mellhany, a farmer, talked to. t h e ' Service officer," .Hanson said, "but the
stories, and. a'.promotion in MUFON to :.' two-man crew of an "aerial monster" that only commissioned man in town was m y . '
' state section chairman. .. .' landed in his pasture. Mr. Mcllhany's father, J. D. Reynolds, and he was the
imagination, alas, was not as lofty as our constable. I remember it was around my
own Mr. Haydon's. His airmen were not birthday that Daddy.was reading Judge
•T SEEMS UNCANNY to" me, or •from Mars but from that other weird place, Proctor's 'joke' in the Aurora News and
maybe it's;'canny,'that no one has'cxplorcd :•:.. New York, and they were only testing the ; , laughing about it. 'The judge has gone and ,
the character of1 the three men who were in ; world's first "aeroplane," a cigar-shaped outdone himself this time!'That's just how
on the story,from the beginning 76 years c o n t r a p t i o n powered b y : Daddy put it. ''Course ho one' took 'it
ago. They arc S. E. Haydon, the Aurora- electrically-charged windmill fans. That '; seriously. The Judge and Mr. Haydon were
cotton buyer who wrote the original story; was on April 17.. .•: ' ' known to be men who liked to tease. Why
Judge i.,S. Proctor, into whose windmill , The next day,,over in Waxahachie,' in', they were always .writing satirical little
the thing'was supposed to have crashed; Ellis County, a Judge Love of that city had essays and such for the paper!"
and T. J. Weems, whom Haydon identified . a similar experience, only this time the .•',••:' Ms. Haydon is not the only native who is
,in his . story, as a "United States signal crewmen were long-lost Jews from the Ten - astonished, and a little put out, that
"service officer '. . . and 'authority on "Tribes of Israel. Since Biblical times they 'anyone would take the 1 legend of the
astronomy." .Wecms, you remember, was had been living in the North Pole, had ••Aurora-spaceman as'gospel. It isn't-that"'
the'-one wKd-'decided"that the spaceman .; learned 'English from the explorers Sir they can't cotton to the notion that man ,
w a s a Martian. • • ' ' ' . . ' •Hugh Willoughby and Sir John Franklin, , has company in the'universe. That would
and were on their way to the Centennial „ be presumptuous. But they are storytellers, ,
14 The Texas Observer Exhibition in Nashville to show off their and realize the importance of myth. A
airship. ' . - . - , - . - cock-eyed story'has its place, as does the •
On the stories soared, taking rarefied reality of plain talk, and you have to be
Bookkeeping & Tax Service 'forms, until Dr. E. Etuart of Ennis, Ellis careful how you mix them. Both are too -.
County's foremost metaphysician, declared important to be abused. • : ' :
. ,;. ...
. . 503 WEST 15TH, AUSTIN 78701 in the Morning News that the whole affair
That's the lesson I learned in Aurora, '
, ">'-., •'-'''.. ,.. '"-, (512) 472-6886 was due to hypnotism and bad whiskey. and I came away with a greater
OFFICE HOURS^9 A.M. TO 5 P.M. . appreciation of the reality of those two
AND^Y APPOINTMENT ANYTIME 'good rogues. Judge Proctor and Mr.
lERE IN Wise County, on this Haydoh, than I do of the riddle they left .-'.-
caliche hill, the tale of the flying panatella, us. The answer doesn't lie at Brawlcy
as Jerry Flcmmons calls it, must have been- .'; Oates's wellhead, or even in the cemetery,
as refreshing to S. E. Haydon and J. S. but with Proctor and Haydon, wherever •
.; IDA'PRESS : I Proctor as the promise of rail service had they are. I wish I could.say where they are,
been a few years earlier. Both were men of but I. can't. They seem to have disappeared, •
901 W 24th St Austin some substance, at least in character and : to : have lost themselves, perhaps on
... Multi copy service. leadership. They had staked their future on purpose,, perhaps the better to grin and
;
' . ' C a l l 477-3641 • ; Aurora, had seen it boom and then, within • bear us our. interminable and intruding - ,
a decade, wither before their eyes. Decatur "science." > , ••-•••: " ' . ' . Q ..i
' : - - - - . - : . -
VOL. C No. 11
IAINBOWS FROM,THE EDITO;RVS:DESk'li-::U V. .'ft :-
NOVEMBER 1973
END...
^^begins with a ' .
A BILLION; DOLLAR; BONANZA ,. , 11-'
: UFO CRASH S|IE^6CATED;WlfH^METAL. DETECTOR ;' 16
TREASURE LOCATOR! 21
22
37
DVVSING F O R T H R B S U R E
'j
,1
f »/•
ȣ
,j-jV',r-Jover. and came
^"unusual pieces of
5' testing- the metal
'zling" in that the recovered metal was \
'','75% iron and 25% zinc -with "a" few
£^ \other trace elements -present,, but"!
fr^'-that-the metal exhibited absolutely^
i\" no magnetic properties the way iron.,
^r '' normally would. "It is also shiny and ,r
^^ malleable instead of dull and "brittle.
|t'".'l|ike iron should be,'.'-said Dr-.Tom'j
^^.;Gray, >a physics professor >t North,;
^/''^ Texas University, one -ofithe'scien- •>,.
*%$. tists testing the metal.' Samples are
£T '.-being given a spectroscopic test'and
j;^,'; the information run through a cbmpu-
vC-.".'er bank of all known metals-.. •':\^.-
;"!",/.\According-.to a': radio, report tthe^
&?-•£ . /»i*ae»H f\f iha'*"a!reKin" tionnsM-msJ rlnv~*
uwwwi, . jne . i or/' wrs/ craan.^r.^ -.. , fc -,.; *• --,, . , %• . • . . , ^-- - - • / - ' * •<
ni 2o/^; ;/-^^^-^.'^^;'--^'.'•--r^ !,!'•"« .:;"... '..v - 1 ': .^vr. ;:.;.
t
1897,' report .by H:' E.. Hayden, an-, ferent" laboratories JaridJ to /one' "of ->'final check-by'running . a "detector
/.Aurora-' newspaperman,,.rwho said:^-America's' > largest- / aircraft"manufac-~ over the grave site. The hand-made
'-."The-.remains'' of the, pilot' were J. turers :--for;"-com'pleterf^examiriation' tombstone with the ^r.ude-'outline of •
,'. gatKered together. It was determined ;,,and;'. identification,?."sard a.MUF.ON.'a UFO'''on it: had been; stolen ;in .
"- he'Was not-an inhabitant ; of '''this'";' spokesman!;:The'-metal> Has'be'eri'de-j'-June, and- apparently -the .robbers
;world and he was'giverv'a Christian','scribed-'as very 'light/in.weight; and''•• 'probed-;down through the hole'left.- :
^buriahIn the Aurora Cemetery..";, ,^;.'amazingly.dfd'not;corr^6de_6ver;,the"'by, the stolen tombstone. They must
. ' f\\ta* tl*A \tf*f* *f LJ l\istf*r\1 f* r*lf^r\t \*if^ft i \if\r* m . A «^^v#l^*^«' n^v^xvpft filr*ti~u-i *t-.«*.r%§-*^N'', |"IO\JQ ' I ICOfl ' lonfl ' ^ISndGT ' D O I Htfirf t*
" " S.E. Hayden, who 16st his wife and two of his four '
sons in the spotted fever epidemic has been described as
an egotist, a man who wanted to be important. If there
is a clue to a hoax in H >yden's story,' it is in the signal
service officer's identification. T.J. Weems actually was Jeff-
Weems, Aurora's blacksmith.
Bureau Public Relations Director Dan Garcia then wrote
to Jerry Flemmons of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, who
had written an article about the incident. Garcia requested
any information that might have not been included in the
original article. Flemmons replied by saying. "For the first
(This is the continuation of Hayden C. Hewes' investiga- and last time, no, absolutely not. No space ships. No Martians.
tion into reports that a flying saucer had crashed in Texas in You have my word that if Aurora was indeed the site of an
April, 1897.) ^
Lou Parish,'who spent a great deal of time researching
the reports of the flying saucer crash, feels it was all a hoax
actual Marxian-driven space ship disaster, Holiday Inn would
have one of its motels on the site, billboards would point
the way, and you and everybody would be paying $2 a head
r
perpetrated by S.E'. - Hayden, the local writer-cotton just to look and purchase plastic replicas of the space ship,
buyer. , or plastic ash trays with pictures of Martians on them."
Parish wrote one letter to us, offering his opinions. "I'm The search for the Aurora Astronaut by officials of the
not committed to the hoax explanation but everything has International UFO Bureau, in an effort to determine if the
seemed to point in that direction," he wrote. legend is true or not, have resulted in the following conclusions.
In another letter, Parish related to the author that the It is the opinion of the Bureau that the entire story is
reason for the hoax was that Hayden hoped "to cash in not a hoax; that in fact something was observed. But no evi-
on publicity from the genuine airship sightings in many parts' dence has been presented to establish the indentiftcation of
of Texas at this time. Aurora was iifdanger of being bypassed, what the object was or what grave the 'alien' is buried in,
by the railroad, and he was hoping the publicity would cause if there was an occupant.
the railroad company to change its mind." One thing remains; Brawley Oates is a true believer in
In June, 1972, Daniel Garcia of the International UFO , the story. Oates says he first moved to the farm in 1945,
Bureau wrote to the Texas State on Aurora. Library and and didn't hear anything about the UFO incident until a'n
obtained historical information on Aurora. article came out in a newspaper about it 12 years ago. "At
The report stated: "During these 'boom days' of Newark the time, I didn't think anything about it," he said. "I didn't
(a neighboring town), Aurora, the best Wise County town think there was any such things as flying saucers. But I sure
at that time, began a demise. There were three very good do now."
reasons for this. The roadbed for a railroad to be known ~ One~thing that weighs heavily with Oates is that doctors
as the 'Dallas-Albuquerque' was surveyed through their dis- have told him his arthritis may be the result of radiation 4
trict. Construction was slow, due to the fact that there was poisoning. i
1
no power equipment, only 'team power', and hand power When Oates took possession of the place, he cleaned the
with pick and shovel. The horse-drawn scoop did the excava- partly-filled well and used it for drinking water for 12 years.
tion work. Oates thinks the water in the well may have been radioactive.
"The 'Dallas-Albuquerque' never reached completion. . His gnarled, grotesquely deformed hands baffled doctors "
Some old-timers attributed the failure to a fund depletion. who, he said, have never seen anything like it.
This was a set-back to Aurora. The second reverse to progress Geiger counters used by the Bureau failed to detect any-
came on a windy day when the entire western business section thing but normal background radiation.
. was destroyed by fire. On the heels of this tragedy, a greater The-controversy in the Aurora incident continues but aV
catastrophe occurred in the form of the 'spotted fever this point in time, it is only the unexplainable legend of
epidemic' that caused a virtual stampede of the populace
(1890)." . _ ,--,... . "... . _ . -
me World The story of a mysterious crash that demolished a
00
' in a county where the biggest town has 3750 mains " -'."However,", Hayden reported^^'enough*, re- 'they say.-- '<-. . , • • ' • ' • . - • • ' » U;v*" '^.t.1^''^
m^
SvT^—•
Presidents and the biggest event is the annual
Chisholm Trail Days eachJj,
were'picked up to determine it was not an " i , , , - - • , . ' , , - • • > - , \ : -.- i > . ' ; ' ^ > - ( V ' " ; s f "'i- \'t
""'We exhume bodies on 'much-iless.» cogent
, legal and scientific grounds than'this," said-Ray
1
Instea<Lj»eeirtB*J»^xasperation of many of The Now Society Stanford, director of Project Starlight Interna-
its residents, Aurora Safe become a* shrine to ' tional in Austin. \"If it's not a human body, .then
'watchers gtainidentified"flving objects, the scene we have the first remains of an extraterrestrial
:of periodic attempts to dig up the remains of being. If it is, then we can once and for all say-it's
': what is reputed to be the only being from outer a bunch of baloney." '' ' . ~
^",c*In fr
! ] space said to be buried on earth. , y .', The little man's grave marker, was stolen ;
\\ H.R. Idell, the town's marshal and attendant several years'ago, and there'is now some dispute
'•at Bonnie Oates's Arco station, right in front of about exactly'where the grave is and much doubt
'the bluff where the little man supposedly fell to about what could remain in it. — t 4 •; '>-r ' * .^,*
> earth, says he's not sure if the story is true but his • Of 'the two living residents who-'werje
' wife's grandmother used to say she heard the children in 1897, one is all but deaf and-the other
'•crash. . is hospitalized'with a heart condition. Neither
, . -"Me, I'd like to see what's down in there," he has claimed to have .witnessed 'the crash., '^ "
•*»<>H*<«*"> •_,'•---. ' >-~ r ^ ' '.p it
• •T..V»*i»»<4i'3
says. „ ' - -•, And as.the-years go by, the debate pver^the
• Such remarks are enough to send many Aurora spaceman gets increasingly obscure,-jthe
residents into fits of- profound depression. facts aJl^but unobtainable, and the whole .thing
Members of the local cemetery association have becomes an exercise in reading'headstones-that
spent evenings camped out at the site to prevent have long since been weathered smooth.,'',,*?'£ '4 '
i the "body from" being exhumed. The "association Chances are a definitive answer to the riddle
(•has been threatened with suits and subjected to of the'Aurora spaceman is about as likely i as ;a
^verbal abuse. And-members are unanimous in suitable explanation'to the question posed in^ttfe
saying there was ""no spaceman, there was no epitaph of Nellie Burris, dead at 18 months^and
,'• spaceship. Judge Proctor didn't even have a - He made a dulcimer and played'it for me one buried in the same cemetery. - , ; .*_•"'«••
. window, they say, and there's only a ludicrous summer, evening—the Vair smelling of - lawn, ;
, - - '. i . ; •* ' • ' ' . * ' \>
p hoax kept alive in UFO, newsletters and newspa- • sparkling, with fireflies}/And 'I *aid to myself, - "As I was so soon done,'' it Breads, "I don't
• per reports. , ' '.' '"Why am I listening to this awful music?', know why I was begun.'\ .'„.,'
^ ' '""It's not true," said one member, who asked New York Time*
-1 By'MIKEJAMEpr-?
' THERE is a spacemarifburfed in
if ." -say.-a;greatspace ship fell from the ... TX Weems. The latter told -the
'"sky andicrashed here: the pilot of r' former that the'crash was observed
;
'' the craft-was supposed to have been
"'. killed and then buried for the ages in
and verified by numerous early
risers in the community. .-• ;••:.'
the oddity is that it was said to be!
buried 'too deeply to .be -of modern j .-
- origin.-Aluminum was'not'in com-ij
UFO watcher* consider Aurora '. mon use in 1897. • .-."f ;- • _ ; ' ; .;['.
this place. ;~ ,• . ... Hayden wrote that the UFO was a ' a shrine . to- their convictions. Additionally, the spaceman-theo- .
'--• .The.tourists.-ithen,-come to find • ..space craft, and smashed into prop- According ten-published reports - ry is supported by the only mam in. }'.^.
.-..the .body;.-or what's left of it. They erty belonging to J.S. Proctor, .a r at the time, a'spaceship alleged- - Aurora who personally remembers j
search the reported crash,site! on a judge. He quoted Weems .as: saying ly crashed in the middle of.town . the crash Charles Stevens-was just \u
hill behind the gas station, and they the' explosion lit up the morning sky. April 6.., 1897. Reportedly, a" a''child then, but he says his father £,
study the grave markers at Auro- and left-debris over three acres.' body, found in. the debris was saw something fall into Judge Proc- -,
ra's small cemetery. If even a.bitof ,Weems added there was a body buried in-this cemetery. : tor's property, and, he adds. "There W»
bone can.be found.'they say. jt will v among the debris, and it was "not might have been two or three i^
change the .course. of numan . . : of this world." • -> the community gathered it up.'and spacemen,' I don't know:"-''' -" j^',
thought. .' • "- -' "• The body was thought to be^the it w'as'given a Christian burial in the .• ' No one knows. And it's unlikely .v
A bit of bone? Mos.t locals snicker ship's pilot. It was identified., as Aurora cemetery " that anyone ever will."The space-.K^
up theirsleieves at.the visitors. The .being dressed in a blue uniform.'not •: - The grave .is said to have been - man's gravestone was stolen years | "
opinion among townsfolk .is,that the • unlike a sailor suit Weems. told :• small to,-have--been distinguished ago. and the grave itself.-has been [';,.
story of the dead spaceman' is a . Hayden the corpse was .badly with a hand-made stone which was - erroded and'lost. Rest In. peace, £^
hoax. At the same time, residents mangled, but. happily. "The men of inscribed with a drawing of a cigar- whoever you_are _J^ _^._,—p.-
™" '-^^^^r^^^.-: K
': ' ' 't'' ''"''V.'•'•>•>•••-' J-W-'i' ' ~" •" , '"£
•-:..--4.)w^S'.^ "V:;^'V;; ,.-^7
^i»-,^,r-.::*-. --, -. v>,-<'
*.'?• ?.. ,V:' ""';,* ^£..^."{>-r?:^--
2G—Las Vegas Review-Journal—Friday, October 12, 1979
Witness saw 'huge black monster r-\ and gathering specimens of the ra, twice saw airships settle in
strange metal from the debris. her nearby pasture.
"The pilot's funeral will take They didn't stay long — only
Stunned eyewitnesses offered graphtcdescrip- rays far into the night ahead. A row of windows place at noon tomorrow." minutes — but perhaps it was
tions of the incredible Aurora Incident. -Some along the side gave out smaller lights the source of Many years later, an old-tim- long enough fora v i s i t to the last
likened the airship to a bird. Others said it looked which must have been stored electricity, as there er, G.C. Curley, told a reporter resting place of a loved one.
like a cigar. One said rt was a "huge black was no smoke, nor was there even a sign of a how friends had seen the airship
monster." - . ' • • ' • smoke-stack." - and the dead pilot. ' .,
"'"-Among the eyewitness accounts in the April 18, -.Lawyer J. Spence Bounds, of Hillsboro Hill, "They said it was difficult to
1897, issue of the Dallas Morning News were these: Tex., reported he was driving home from visiting a describe the pilot. They saw
• '. '. A "gentleman and lady, whose reputation for client when "I was- astonished by a brilliant flash only a torn-up body. I don't
truthfulness cannot be assailed," spotted a bright from an electric search light which passed directly know "what happened to the
light crossing the sky near Denton, Tex. - • over my buggy. I was almost frightened to death by pilot's body." \ " "
~-- '.The man, who was not identified, told the U • L ^-fc-.- .
*'•' r ' t ~ •, * Most stories say', however,
paper: •' „ '"My horseVas also frightened and came near that the body was buried in the
' -_ "I at first thought it was a meteor, but upon overturning 1 the buggy. He snorted, reared and Aurora cemetery. ,
closer examination, discovered that it was moving plunged madly. My hair stood straight up.
slowly in a southeasterly direction. '" [
In 1973, The International
'"Fortunately the light rested on us scarcely a UFO Bureau tried to get a court Next week:
,".,"At this slow rate of speed, the ship'continued second, but glided along over the fields and the order- to exhume the space
its course for a few minutes, and then, with almost country until it was suddenly turned upward to- creature's body which they be-
a jump, started off at a terrific rate and disap- ward the heavens.
Is this the
lieved was in a grave in a.n ob-
peared in the southeast." •' •-"'•_.•.- * J-"Then I beheld, about 1,000 feet above me, a scure corner of the cemetery.
He described the object as being cigar-shaped, huge black monster from which a light emanated. But local cemetery associa-
face of a
about 50 feet long with a'"long beak or blade -^It was in a shape something like a cigar. The tion ^leaders, successfully re-
.resembling a cutwater on a ship." | .,-_ search light was presently shut off and a number of sisted. • -
.a.-; He added: "At the point where the beak joined incandescent lights flashed around the lower edge
the main body, a powerful search light threw its of the body of the vessel or whatever it was.^-*
r. i ~\ VWi,>-.-. y
Later "a marker onxth€^sus^|WEEKLY WORLD N h w s
pected £pace creature/srgrave | October ie. 1979 _r i. : -
'' " ^
——'•- By DENNIS STACY
The tiny North Texas farm-
ing community of Aurora sits
astride Highway 114, in Wise
county, just above Fort
Worth.
At the edge of town, ringed, with a low
wrought iron fence and dotted by an oc-
casional oak tree, is the city cemetery.
More than 80 years ago, say the sto-
ries, someone or something, not of this
earth, was laid to final rest thei-e. A
crude tombstone which 'once marked
the spot has since been stolen, but the
questions and controversy remain.
What really lies buried below?
Students of history and hoax have
been trying to answer that question,
without notable success, since the turn
of the century.
The answer could stand the scientific
world on its embarrassed ear and re-
write the history of aviation on this
planet. It could just as easily reaffirm
one's faith in human gullibility.
Back in '97
Just before sunrise, on April 17, 1897,
C.C. "Charlie" Stevens and his father
were putting their cattle out to feed.
The two men looked up in time to see a
huge, cigar-shaped airship sail over- Troubles first began when a team of
head.
Bearing a brilliant white searchlight,
TEXAS investigators composed of Case and
members of the Mutual UFO Network
the airship was making straight for the
town of Aurora. Young Stevens remem-
bered watching the object sink lower
STRANGE (103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, Texas)
tried to verify the buried metal deposits
As a consequence of the on-going pub-
and lower in the still dark sky. licity, someone had stolen the ancient
Suddenly, it crashed and exploded on
the high hill topping Judge J. S. Proc-
Fourth of headmarker showing the airship. To
complicate matters further, the metal
tor's farm. A blazing ball of fire mush-
roomed up through the darkness, light-
a series detector now failed to register.
"Someone with some very sophisti-
ing up the landscape for miles around. cated equipment apparently came
The following day Stevens' father along, located the metal in the grave,
rode into town, but by the time he ar- Two of the reports ended with and extracted it," Case said. "It would
rived at the crash site, all that remained crashes, but neither quite rivalled the be interesting to know who," he added.
of the airship was "a mass of torn metal unique flair of the Aurora incident with
_andjaurned rubble." Stevens never said its dramatic dismemberment and bur-. Dig up body *_
anything about seeing a body in the
wreckage. Yet how factual were the old newspa- In July of 1973, MUFON director Walt
The newspapers heard about it, per reports? In 1972, people began try- Andrus Jr. inspected the Aurora ceme-
though. A few days later the old Fort ing to find out in earnest. tery and requested permission to ex-
Worth Register carried the following hume the body.
story: UFO probers "Let's put this thing to bed once and
"At 6 o'clock this morning, the early First on the scene at Aurora were in- for all, because either it happened or it
risers of Aurora were astonished at the vestigators from the International UFO didn't," Andrus said.
sudden appearance of the airship, which Bureau, out of Oklahoma.
has been-sailing throughout the country. "Someone's already removed the
Then Bill Case, aviation writer for the headmarker, someone else has driven a
"It sailed directly over the public Dallas Times Herald, got wind of the three-inch pipe in the ground and taken
square, and when it reached the north story. out any metal down there, so let's dig up
part1 of town collided with the tower of Case visited the cemetery and the al- what left and find out whether this is a
Judge Proctor's windmill and went to leged crash site L'9 times, searching out hoax or not."
pieces with a terrific explosion, scatter- oldtimers, taking interviews and run-
ing debris over several acres of ground, But> Aurora's city fathers thought
ning a metal detector over the ground. there had been enough impromptu dig- £
wrecking the windmill and water tank,
-,-.„ .Case was^t . gmg already. As the town historian told F
den." with Charlie, Stevens, now neanng his ' Andru$:'"Nowjwait-aaminuter' *~
Now came the blockbuster: "The pilot nineties. In early 1973, he published a se- - The Oklahoma investigators said iV I
of the ship is supposed to have been the ries of articles revealing his investiga- was that grave over there, you're saying j
only one aboard, and while his remains tions. it was this one. Whal if somebody comes i
are badly disfigured, enough of the orig- The same year he took a team of re- along in 10 years and says, no, it's that I
inal has been picked up to show that he porters and photographers on a tour of one over there and9 we have to dig up the t
was not an inhabitant of this world." the once tranquil cemetery. Electronic whole area again "
readings taken over the grave itself in- "He had me stumped," Andrus, ad-
Remains buried dicated the presence of at least three mitted. "How do you answer a question
According to later accounts, the pi- metal fragments buried below. Jike that?"
lot's remains were hurriedly buried in At the time, Frank Kelley, a profes-
the Aurora cemetery. As a last resort, Andrus sent regis-
sional treasure hunter from Corpus tered letters to the members of the Au-
A headmarker, bearing the outline of Christi, was going over the crash site rora Cemetery Association, again
the strange contraption which had with a similar device. seeking permission to exhume the
crashed into the judge's windmill, was Several fragments were recovered body or whatever was buried below.
rudely chiseled out and put in place. and later subjected to chemical analy- "All we got back was a notice from
Photographs were taken of it still in sis. According to scientists at McDon- their attorney saying if we tried it, we
place as recently as 1973. nell -Douglas laboratories, the metal would be cited for trespassing," An-
pieces showed evidence of an unusual drus remembers.
By itself, the story of the Aurora air crystalline structure which they called
ship crash would have probably merited "curious." Injunction
an .honorable niche in the Dubious Jour- Case later described the fragments as
nalism Hall of Fame. a type of metal "which could not have For good measure, the association
*But oddly enough, reports of a gigan- been produced on earth until early in sought an injunction through the of-
tic, dirigible-like contrivance sailing the 20th century. . fices of Decatur attorney Bill Nobles,
through the skies of the mid and south- "to resist any attempt to disturb the
western United States were rampant in Question Aurora Cemetery grounds by any third
the spring of 1897. The question was, of course, how long parties seeking to investigate the al-
had the fragments been in the ground leged airship crash in 1897."
The airship was seen over Illinois, before their discovery? Some of the
Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, And there the matter stands — or
pieces were found embedded in the nat- lies — today. To overrule the associa-
Texas, and as far west as California at a ural limestone, lending credence to the
time when the Wright Brothers were tion's veto would require an act of the
theory of an airship crash and explosion. Texas legislature, a situation Andrus
still building bicycles. Still, the evidence was inconclusive; and other UFO investigators don't
Details differed. In general, the air- the fragments could have found them- readily foresee, mainly as a conse-
ship was described as more than 100 selves there at a much later date by quence of the time and money that
feet long and capable of speeds in ex- what ever means. would be involved in such a procedure.
cess of 60 mph. Eyewitnesses said it With the metallurgical leads'at a dead
carried a blinding white light in its bow. end, attention naturally returned to the What really happened on that fara-
gravesite itself. What about the metal way spring morning in 1897?
Others spoke of red and green running down there?
lights seen along the side of.the ship, Indeed, what about whatever else was No one knows for sure, but the final
and of a huge pair of wings, "like those down there? Shouldn't there be pieces of. answer, protected by law and the
of a butterfly." bone, a suit, or something equally con- sands of time, lies somewhere beneath
Where the airship came from or clusive? the surface of the Aurora cemetery.
where it went, no one knew, although As investigators soon discovered,
theories abounded. One newspaper at- however, putting a body in the ground THURSDAY in The Express-News:
tributed it to Thomas Edison, since he was much easier than getting it out Strange livestock mutilations
had invented everything else. again. (C) 1980 Texas Strange
x .•- -
By John Scnuessler
BINGO BUGLE 9
FEBRUARY, 1984
VOL 1 NO 6
HOUSTON GULF EDITION
TX
000) Aff.ll- II,
Books
t
Thousands of St. Looiaaaa
cited OT«T the »«ial
Visitor.
luou» vmrrom, :D
o
Pnfewor* Coafes*
They An Ponied by th*
Ippeanaee.
of Xo, Voaua
dnn Zzpnnd Tucday
The Air Ship As Photographed In Chicago. Vha th. SMTOS VOI Be
-From th« ChlcMffo TlnM Ifmld. Wttchrf Vn
cf Ttataf*.
many ye*r» u that of the so-called
Ma 17 thouia.ndm.have seen what they call an
airship, or a balloon, with varioua colored LOOKED OBLOHG_AT MT. CARROLL, ILL
lights attained, but apart rrom o> %.wi»y»>»-
tlvely few persons no one c»n say he ha» aecn A l r s h l i i •! Tli*l 1'olnf \\ •• Moiioai
the thing closely enough to describe It. \\r»t •< • rvrrlflo Ilitl* of
For the purpose of ascertaining something Bprrd.
definite from those Who really saw the stron-
ger In tbe clouds I have Interviewed several Mour t c«rrull. I l l , April 0 — ISp-tUI J—
men Among thosa who talked waa Walter llumlrt-ds uf p»r»oii« on th<* *tree:s (onlKht
McCsnn. a newsdealer In Roger* Park, who -l'»r«on« » h o > r hontsl} tnij i r u i h f u l n t u
Trying to SO!T« th« Mystery'of the took a snap shot at the object when It waa I in L-A)uii'J OHpult— \ l»n»J Hie alrnh'p
within five or six hundred fe«t of the earth a t o m * 40 u rloik It i nine from tht n o r t h -
Strange Thing Seta ia "I had read for several days about the air- ! i u » i and «lim oppon.tr thl* c i t y changed
j l'« roiir** uiiJ »>nt rtu» rteii at a ter'iflc
ship," jsajd he. "I laughed over It and wai >l"-0 It H H » In «'trhi nl Irax trrt nr.Inuu*.
the Sky. sceptical on the subject. On Sunday morhlng, 11 m i x a n d ulilunK In »tiapo u.nJ rarrlcd a
at half-put 'flve o'clock, I saw a strange tf'01 rt-.| l'i;lii In l e n g t h It did not appear
looking object In the sky doming; from thr t<> be ovrr >'Kht or trn f i e t . and t»o or
south. It looked like a big clgur. It carmj t irce f i t t liliru Bo many people saw U
FLYING MACHINE OR STAR? nearer, and I saw at a,glance thtt It was net
a, balloon. Quick a* a nasb I realized It was
t.irn- U no J u p u t l n g th» fact th»l sorne-
II.Ing unuiUHl apprarvd.
the much talked at airship.
8coraj bf Pereons^HaTB Washed It, aad CAVOUT A SNAP »UOT. '
' My boy ~w~3n~~£icarn»-a not lon3~Bjfb~ln <f EGG-SKAPED JoTUEN isEES IX WiSCOKSIrl
Are Snre It's an contest tor getting subscriber*! to a paper
It was in the store, f i f t y feet from where I M y e l r r l o n a A*ylail \ I t l t o r Appvari 1st
Airship.' stood gazing at Ihe object. I ran a ml cot
It aj the thing approached. The sUy »AS Two S t a i r * \ V l t h t s i • I*>rlo«l
cleur Conditions favored a Rood photo- at H a l f SIB Hoar.
graph. A plate was ready. I ran to Ureon-
USUALLY FLIES AT NIGHT. leaf avenue and Market street niul KOI a
Rood shot at It With G A Overocker. whose Wausiiu, \VI»., April 0—[Special I—Th*
attention waa attracted to II, 1 ran down tho a l m h l p mu<l« If opiKaranit In \VuiiP(iuTa«l
Northwestern tracks und we got u uccond rltlit atoXii I'l o c.uck aid tins vit««-d b> At
When It Appeared Over an Iowa Town picture a few minutes later Icutt 1"O rlilii-n*. U ram* frum tlir »outh-
"E L. Otborne und William Hoodies* also i u M . |IUJ»IIIK u x i r thi iJt> Kulnic nortlinnt.
in tho Morning Two Men saw the alrvhip, I am no longer a Hceptlc I I
distinctly saw the outlines or a man In (lie l..kh.< rui Kl be ^>-rn atta< h«il (u itu »hlp
rear of the machine Ho pnlletl a revolving A dim ollllil p of It itaud lie win. R tilth up-
i Nearly Caught It rudder, or »omc sort of contrlvanca which P^arrd l» IK >l ap«d like un t»:K
ateerrd the course of Hie airship V i l n n » k a ("l>. Nfli . April <» -(Sl"-rlal ]—
'This stritnKO Invention came w i t h i n six At 0 in o'.luik Um ti'Klit » c \ r r « . p rjoru
hundred feut of the ciirlh us near as 1 could
, (at estimate It The lourr portion of (he airship b'j»rivil tin IU'i!« o' llu-mi-punnl a l r t n l p
CHICAOO. Ill „ April 1\ 1M7.—Th.e moat -«•«- was thin, and made of some light white a|i|>ruarlilni; f u m Ihi- riiutlii UM and n.'trr
illng and Interesting question reildenla jf the mctul.,llko aiiimlmim The upper portion nua IkiKSlnit m t r tin c i i > I t d i v a i innrti,',
ilurk, and Ions, ilko a big cigar pointed in due norilm.j,! ^'irn luit >.m
Western Btatea have had to deal with for front and K i t h «ornc klml of urr.inRfmi'nt
In the nitr to H h l r h cuhlen wcro Httaehetl
The pilot pulletl theHtt und tttperfil thr COUMU ( CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 10 Apr 1897)
from south to northeun(
10
( NY HERALD, 16 Apr 1897)
MONTY GREENLY
3740 Elm #A
Long Beach, CA 90807
/A
Ck
•H«.\
s
KFRBS^WS;$mAntenia;Iexai;Tuei<lQy,J»ne»,'199a-f--
N
ot long ago, I had the opportu- theories. Although many of the tales have on their way to Cuba to bomb the Spanish.
nity to appear on the late night since been shown to be jokes, there are a They had landed to make some repairs and
radio show, Coast-to-Coast. I few that are repeated in the UFO literature soon took off. Their immediate destination
bring this up only because, ap- with such regularity, and almost with such was the Ozarks, where they planned to train
parently, the next night the host awe, that it is necessary to provide, once for their self-designed mission.
had on Jim Marrs, who talked again, all the information about them so In fact, there were dozens of stories of
about the Aurora, Texas, airship crash of , that we can work to remove them from that the Great Airship landing throughout the
1897. I wouldn't have known this, but same literature. The two most famous, and South and the Midwest in March and April
someone who heard my interview the night probably the most reported, are the Aurora, of that year. One of the earliest appeared
before mentioned to me in an email that , Texas, UFO crash that had been the subject in the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Evening Gazette.
Marrs had talked about Aurora and sug- of that email correspondence and the According to the story, a large, cigar-shaped
gested that it was a real event. That person Alexander Hamilton story of an airship and craft had landed on the Union Station in
wanted to know if Marrs was correct and calf-napping that occurred about two days the "wee morning" hours and several lo-
if there is anything to the story of the crash. after the Aurora events. cals were taken on board. Charley Jordan
And this provides us with an oppor- quickly made his story known to the news-
tunity to examine one of the major prob- Typical Airship Accounts paper and even signed an affidavit attest-
lems in UFO research. No case ever dies, Back when I lived in Texas, I didn't live ing to the reality of his flight. He was de-
no matter how many times it is exposed as all that far from Aurora. I was interested in scribed by reporters as "never telling but a
a hoax. This is true even when those ex- UFOs even then, and I prowled the few lies and then only about things of im-
posing it range from the skeptics to the be- morgues of various newspapers searching portance."
lievers in extraterrestrial contact. And it for stories of the great airship. There were He was accompanied by W. R. Boyd,
continues even when no evidence for the lots of these stories from Texas, including whose whole purpose in going along, ac-
reality of the case has ever been found... or interviews with the crews of some of the cording to the newspaper story, was to "get
none was found until people began to re- airships and even repeated tales of the air- as high as possible so that he could learn
alize they could get their names in the ship's destruction. ' about the condition of the post office."
newspaper or their faces on television if • Typical of the airship sightings was that The airship's crew confessed that they
they said something to confirm the case. told by Patrick Barnes to the Fort Worth were tired from their long journey, though
The stories of the flight of the Great Air- Register, "which hardly cares to repeat it." they offered no revelations about their
ship of 1897 provide us with proof of both He claimed that he was traveling near Cisco, home base or their purpose. They did
ut-Q
PILOTS REPORT
NEW WAVE OF a southerly direction for about two
minutes" Just as he reported the
UFO SIGHTINGS encounter to flight controllers in an-
ticipation of making an emergency
landing, the UFO disappeared from
view.
Newspaper accounts of UFOs In late July scores of people in
appear almost daily in various parts Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, described a
of the world. Many of these ac- reddish and rounded object hover-
counts are considered less than ing at an altitude of 7,000 feet above
credible because of the background the city. Two Zimbabwean Hawk jet
or educational level of the witness- fighters were scrambled from the
es. However, there remains a signif- Thomhill Air Base. The pilots had
icant number of highly credible UFO visual contact with the UFO as they
encounters - many of them report- tried for an intercept Suddenly, the
ed by pijpts. object climbed -vertically 'at high
" The new wave of pilot reports is speed, easily avoiding the approach-
both exciting and puzzling. For ex- ing jeta The Air Commodore report-
ample, the Chinese newspaper, ed that the UFO then followed the
People's Daily, reported that a Chin- jets as they returned to Thomhill,
ese Boeing 747 jetliner encount- and hovered over the base for sev-
ered, a large, bright unidentified fly- eral minutes before flying east
ing object over the city of Gansu on And if that is not enough, Iranian
June 11, 1985. The UFO and the antiaircraft batteries fired on a UFO
aircraft were both flying at an alti- over northeastern Tehran in early
tude of 32,800 feet when the inci- August Iran's Islamic Republic
dent occurred. News Agency quoted a source at the
The pilot described the object as Joint Staff Command as saying the
30 feet in diameter, encircled with shining object flew from west to east
brilliant light and having an extreme- over Tehran at 8:15 p.m. on August
ly bright spot radiating from its cen- 5th. There were no reports that the
ter. He said, "the object traveled UFO had been hit or downed.
extremely fast, pacing the aircraft in
BY JOHN F. SCHUESSLER
P. O. BOX 58485
HOUSTON, T E X A S 77258-8485
Silence»• broken
on UFO crash crashed Into Judge Proctor's windmill
By BILL CASE
Aviation Writer and exploded.
An Aurora farmer-rancher told The "It wasn't a windmill," he said. "It
Dallas Times Herald Saturday' his late was a wooden windlass built over the
father was an eyewitness to the crash well about IS feet high used to haul up
of an unidentified flving object at a well the sump. But it was destrojed "
site outside the North Texas hamlet Stephen's father apparently was the
April 19. 1897 only eyewitness t-> the highly publi-
"During the years I was grow ing up cized UFO crash. He said there had
he told me the story many times." C. been numerous reports of so called
C. (Charlie) Stephens, 83, said in an 'airships" in the Aurora-Rhome-New-
exclusive interview. ark area of \Vise County in North Tex-
"My dadd), Jim Stephens, said he as during that period.
was putting the cows out to pasture on Investigators for The Midwest UFO
our ranch about 4 a.m. three miles Network (MUFONi and International
south of Aurora when he noticed a ci- UFO Bureau and Times Herald report-
gar-shaped airship with a white light ers have been questioning Aurora resi-
pass over." dents and digging around the well on
"It was very low and just w e n t property now owned by Brawley Dates
straight ahead until it crashed at a for pieces of unidentifiable metal wreck-
well site on a high hill on Judge J. S. age without much success. v
Proctor's farm. He said there seemed Wednesday Fred N. Kelley, a scien-
to be an explosion and a fire that lit tific Texas treasure hunter and lost
op the dp for several mitratA metal locator from Corpus Qirtsti, vis-
*Tbe next day my father rode a ited the site with highly sophisticated
horse into Aurora to look at the scene metal detectors and/unearthed about 12
and said It loolnd Ura • man ef torn nitre* of HghtwHfftit metal which he
. metal and burned nibble. said, "I cnn't k]p*lfy M any mPtnl
Stephens, who stlO ranches actively, I've ever seen ••takf I've been in the
bad declined to discuss until Saturday business 25 yeajgiV'.' ' '
the crash even with close friends, re- Times HeratyU reporters also re-
porters or UFO investigators during covered some M the same type of
the three months they have been seek- t fragments Saturday. They will be ana-
ing details to verify the crash. lyzed to d&eriAine their origin. They
He said he nad lived all his life in resemble no 'known metal and were
the quiet valley where he was born dug out 'ft the well when it was
and "just didn't want to get involved." cleaned ip UK. by Aurora Town mar-
"I have nothing to say," he had re- shal H. RJdel!
peatedly told questioners since March. Working * iotfependcntly, i epni ters
His story, however, varied from and UFO inve;-;galors lorr'el a re-
publfehcd reports printed in Dallas and mote grave In thn Aurora Cemetery in
Fcrt Worth papers after the ballvhooed which they bflie e- the UFO pilot
moid nt The story by correspondent might h.ivo been-biiried.
H E Havdi-n said the UFO pilot's dis- Both Hdyden Hone- of the ILTOB
r-.<. nbc;rd Ijrdy WBS lecmered from and iiensurr hiyittr Krlley vid their
tr cra=h <n.<l ;;'\en"a "Christian burial moul d.ftciMis reflected the ^nne
1:1 Aurora C .r.clciy '' type of signal from (he ijnve Ihry
' My father didn't rumtiun jny occu- were receiving at the crash M;C b> the
pants in the anship," he said. "Of well
««rse he didn't get to the site until "\Ve nro more convinced than c\cr
the next day and by that lime if there (fiat a UFO crashrd h< re ,nul the pilot
, . were somr cjcumrn they would have was killed and burled in this crme1-
i been buried. tery." Hewes said Saturday. "Our at-
I "Thc'c might have born two or torneys arf already checking to learn
three as far ;is I know. All he nicni- how we might have the body ex-
ttoned was the debri mil the burned hunied."
i"
phens disputes rlan.i-. by UFO
im " ,.it»rs that the UFU reportedly
r DCLWKT
o
0
By HERM NATHAN astronomy, gave it as his opinion that hotels. was left crippled.
the pilot was a native from the planet Hayden, in addition to writing for the Boll weevil, fire, disease, railroad
mars. Papers were found on this big Dallas newspapers, was something failure ... one by one, Aurora residents
person .. evidently a record of his of a luminary with his local columns. were giving in, loading their belongings
S.E. Hayden filed 86 years ago a travels .. and are written in some Mrs. Pegues believes-based on and heading out.
newspaper report that a cigar-shaped unknown heiroglyphics and cannot be reading his other literary efforts, As a modern writer may put it,' not
spaceship smacked into a Aurora deciphered' The ship was too badly particulary his poetry-that Hayden was even a Martian would be caught dead
(Wise County), Texas, windmill. wrecked to form conclusions as to its quite an egoist. in Aurora in 1897.
Hayden, chronicling the ill-starred construction or motive power. In the 1890's, bad things started But in April of that year, statewide
trekker from outer space for Dallas and The town is full of people today who happening in aurora and this may newspapers began printing eerie
Fort Worth newspapers on April 18, are viewing the wreck and gathering explain about Hayden reporting about dispatches now believed to be the
1897, wrote: specimens of strange metal from the the man from outer space. work of practical-joking railroad men
"The airship which had been seen debris. The pilot's funeral will take Overplanting of cotton had depleted with access to the telegraph. From all
previously was sighted over Aurora place tomorrow.' The story traveled the land and erosion carried away the parts of texas .. Forney, Mansfield,
early on the morning of the fatal crash around the world ... and it is topsoil, Then boll weevils invaded Whitney, Tioga, Waxahachie, Denison,
(April 17) travelling a much lower resurrected every so often. You can Wise County in great, decimating Beaumont and Garland .. came reports
attitude and only about 10 to 12 mph. find straight - faced recounting of it in armies. Times were getting hard. The of a 'mysterious flying object1 seen m
"In the north part of town, it collided most UFO publications. sought-after railroad went bankrupt the sky.
with Judge J.S. Proctor's windmill and Adding some credibility is the Texas and a fire burned down the west end of During this disastrous period in
went to pieces with a tremendous Historical Commission Marker erected town. All these events played havoc Hayden's life and Aurora, he then
explosion. Parts scattered over acres in 1976, commemorating it as'legend', with the town's economy and with wrote the story that he may have
of ground. The windmill, a watering not fact. Hayden's livelihood. thought would put Aurora back on the
trough and the judge's flower garden Wise County historian Etta Pegues Hundreds of graves there were filled map ... about a spaceman, and a
were destroyed.' believe that the story began not in by an 1890's epidemic of what they windmill and Weems, 'U.S. signal
Hayden reported that the men who Mars, but in the mind of Hayden. called 'spotted fever.' It may have, in Service officer, an authority on
ventured onto the scene saw the pilot, Today Aurora's population is 376, fact, been" meningistis. The residents astronomy' and his opinions of the
'a little man' who appeared to be the but it was once a thriving town, its didn't know the cause; many of them 'little man's' Martian origins.
lone occupant. Hayden went into great wealth revolved around cotton. blamed the water supply. Hayden's Mrs. Pegues finds many factual
detail in his account of the adventures Hayden made his living as cotton wife and two~so"ns died of 'spotted holes in Hayden's story. She has been
of the otherwise - undocumented alien: buyer.. Aurora then claimed two fever.' unable to find any survivor of that era
-'T.J. Weems. U.S. Signal Service lawyers, one undertaker, a brass band, Another of Hayden's sons was who ever saw Proctor's property
officer at this place and an authority on three cotton gins and a couple of blinded by the disease; yet another adorned with a windmill, and Weems
did exist but he was only the village
hlacksmith .
Hayden's newspaper story'did not
' succeed drawing the citizens back.
In 1966, someone stumbled across
an ancient clipping of Hayden' s
account and sent it to a Dallas
newspaper columnist known for his
humor. Again the tale of the stogie-
shaped object was flying once again. ."
Excitement ran high when bits of
'strange metal' were found in Aurora,
until an expert examined them and
pronounced them to be an alloy
frequently used in the 1920s for stove
lids.
Interest peaked again in the mid-
1970s, fanned by diligent mediawa
coverage of quotable UFO groups,
which descended with more 'in-
vestigations.'
By day, curiousity-seekers came into
town and clever entrepreneurs sold
them pieces of rusted tin cans and
other aged alloys, telling them they
were Pieces of the True Spaceship
Reporters harried the older
residents, some of them in rest homes,
for 'memoirs' concerning the
spaceship.
.By night, vandals stole or defaced
tombstones until cemetery-association
members began nightlong vigils to
ward off trespassers and to prevent
exhumation. .
Then the. UFO groups lost interest,
newsmen found other stories to cover.
Though rumor and tradition keeps
the spaceman tale alive in Aurora,
nobodyn seems to be unable to pin-
Local legend says a spaceman is buried here, in the Aurora, Texas, cemetery. point the site of the grave with any
1' " ? i • ii i * o i » i 'j '• i •• f « » * «.1 n |.; I! • -t c sji» .1J > < «• J«. ( precision.
12-Twas Weekly MagMlne/TVb1chid[ •'pietidmber 4 ?'D««^ber 10.198$'
• , . * / • • • • . - - : J---,"".:.^.'-?.-'/^I}:TIJ~V:.V " -.-Yr"i*="f-''Y-;/"'"''-'?- ' toe legislt
.5, I struck, the astronauts complet- .'circuits failed in a way, that
l 1 Ground1, «d man*fir^orbita}.survey.jf .blocked the'flow of eyen solar tiqnally m
Skylab's 'as- the earths resources-?*'17,114'. cell generated power through it, of educatii
to conserve mile an hour pass that fiathered the second such failure in 1
of a new' 'formation in the United States Skylab. Four other, batteries ' • Pro\
md renewed were knocked out-temporarily, bargaining
I's resources Coast and continued across and had to be restored to the • Provic
the day.- Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. system by remote control from within whi
. , But to aim the station's the ground. In all, the space regulate alt
•ing awakened cameras earthward, the craft station was without one third of , Walker
P e
f° «p t10" had to be t'PPed nose-down so its power for a little more than pending in
rles fete • ^s soiar panels no longer faced an hour. grant tax
Houston, jf yje sun anc j (.0^,} not produce "It's that one revolution cuts in th
Ists working
working eiectricity. Skylab carries bat- without getting any power and medii
t had found teries to take over in such (from the sun or the turned off Minority
me the new situations, but the battery batteries) that eats your Choate, D^
system partially failed. lunch," said flight director Neil bill that \
)lied Robert One of the craft's 18 battery Hutchinson. • , ., Plans t
-Jl-lookirsg-at,
:oncern and modi
cohcentra
ninate some
itill haven't UFO advocates study income g
The gf
»--
" quipped
slief in
Kerwin.
he day off 1897 'airshi come for
— this
•ippen said, policy."
ts will be AURORA, TevjXUPI) - A Walker
lule Friday Ql^year old woman says she favored 1
ient work remembers the night on April a right (
19, 1897, her parents went to
strike.
j developed the spot where an airship "Not ii
•dnesday of crashed into Judge Proctor's strike foi
tteries that well and the pilot was buried in volved in
erated from the community cemetery. he repliec
•d Skylab's "That crash certainly caused Walker
by another a lot of excitement," Mary of his n
ded a new Evans said Wednesday. "Many mi
with one
just when people were frightened. They session tl
3d to be didn't know what to expect. January-
That was years before we had
lawmakers
sis added any regular airplanes or other got down t
plans for a kind of airships."
"I would
o free the UFO advocates have combed
ing," Walk
•ating wing the Aurora area with metal
tier by half detectors, radiation meters and
auts were other scientific devices in re- PHYSICIST TOM GRAY
cent months in an attempt to . . . examines metal sample
nd Paul J. get some tangible evidence to
ey may be file with a court order to ex- one pince and said it was
television hume the body of the alleged
airlock on pilot. Pieces of metal taken
unusual because it was 75 per
cent iron but lacked many of
opei
an in a day from the area have been sent the properties common to iron. By JA
rs can see to various scientists and The professor. Dr. Tom Gray. WASHINC
to open the metallurgists for examination. said it \\HS not magnetic and mer White
A physics professor at North was shiny and soft instead of Ehrlichman
lew troubles Texas State University tested dull and brittle like iron. Nixon—wit!
Watergate
dally cor
! ro; o
K!
afe
_TOTO
^ 3 O-
ST 5>'
a«
£» _0 - 0<
|ll!P:iE< & 3
0 ~
<V2
en .
3
>m E; -on• *o• "
< "" s »
HmVJ
^^ (D^ Its?
£.£z£
~- a •< o , HI TO S- n> 3 yTO"§ S,.^ ^^ ^ft-
; VJIQ -£<^£
^ ts
£- : :m o> ~- ct
it Q. Q*
•S.3
cu o ~• ^3
m
TO <f\
* >,
f?S'c-tS*-»
r— O TO
fl)
5 o r»
2; 3 <»
s'» E o ;
^ ("3 C/i ^t |X CQ
go* ., C/> C i«* "< * £ L -£. —
™ ?§
?
- 3S
Q.
5' 3 5 5 Q. 3
3
5T-ra tV 3
McKmney, TX
Courier Gazette
(Cir. D. 6,512)
(Cir.S. 6,819)
AURORA, Texas (NEA) - the dead spaceman is a hoax. The body was thought to be aluminum, and the oddity is
There's almost nothing to do At the same time, residents the ship's pilot. It was that it was said to be buried
in this 'north Texas farm admit the hoax is founded on identified as being dressed in too deeply to be of modern
community. The nearest city a vague fact; records in- a blue uniform, not unlike a origin. Aluminum was not in
is Dallas, 45 miles to the East, dicate that something of this sailor suit.' Weems told common use in 1897.
and the nearest beach is on sort may indeed have hap- Hayden the corpse was badly The spaceman theory is
i the Gulf Coast, down towards pened here. mangled, but, happily, "The supported by the only man in
/Mexico. The only business in The year was 1897. And men of the community Aurora who personally
town is a service station — though the first flight of the gathered it up, and it was remembers the crash.
and it's not open much Wright brothers was still given a Christian burial in the Charles Stevens was just a
anymore. eight years away, people Aurora cemetery." child then, but he says his
Yet each summer, when across America were sighting The grave is said to have father saw something fall into
Americans are touched by propelled objects in the sky. been small and round. It is Judge Proctor's property;
warm weather wanderlust, For example, several Texans also said to have been and, he adds, "There might
hundreds of tourists motor reported seeing a cigar- distinguished with a hand- have been two or three
into Aurora. They bring their shaped vehicle, lighter than made stone which was in- spacemen,! don't know."
sun glasses, their cameras air, cruising low over cowboy ' scribed with a drawing of a It's unlikely that anyone
-and their_walking shorts, and country. , cigar-shaped object. Aurora will ever know the truth. The
they stay for a few hours, or a" -No one-in-Aurora-paidLat-Lresidents say the marker was spaceman's gravestone was!
few days, prowling roads and tention to the sighting "not really handmade;'-am grave itself has been erro'ded}
observing natives as if it were reports. This was a bustling that the inscription closely and lost. Rest in peace,'
Tampico. region at the time, growing resembled the scrape of a
They aren't looking for a with the nation, and there was plow. whoever you are. i
,goo_d_time, however. little pause for nonsense. The residents concede the
They are looking for the Then, on April 9 of that year, crash of 1897 probably oc-
man from outer space. reportedly at 6 a.m., a UFO curred. But that's as much
The tourists in Aurora are allegedly slipped from the credence as they'll allow the
UFO watchers. They believe heavens and exploded in the story of the dead spaceman.
this wide spot in the road is a middle of town. They believe the town was hit
shrine to their convictions. The record of the occasion by a meteorite, and Weems
Many years ago, they say, a was compiled by a Dallas and Hayden embellished the
great space ship fell from the newspaper correspondent moment; they say Hayden
sky and crashed here; the named F.E. Hayden. He was a well-known writer of
pilot of the craft was sup- apparently got most of his satirical fiction.
posed to have been killed and information from Aurora This local opinion was
then buried for the ages in resident T.J. Weems. The bulwarked a few years ago by
this place. latter told the former that the Dr. Alfred Krause, a Texas
The tourists, then, come to crash was observed and researcher; he dug at the
find the body, or what's left of verified by numerous early crash site and found nothing
it. They search the reported risers in the community. more extraterrestrial than a
crash site, on a hill begind the Hayden wrote that the UFO 1932 license plate. As for the
gas station, and they study was a space craft, and spaceman's grave, it's 'of-
the grave markers at smashed into property ficially" occupied by an
Aurora's small cemetery. If belonging to J.S. Proctor, a itinerant named Carr who
even a bit of bone can be judge. He quoted Weems as died of yellow fever.
found, they say, it will change saying the explosion lit up the True believers have theirt
the course of human thought. morning sky, and left debris own side of it, of course. For(
A bit of bone? Most locals over three ares. Weems one thing, some visitors have;
snicker up their sleeves at the added there was a body reported finding "odd
visitors. The opinion among among the debris, and it vtns metals" at the crash site. One
townsfolk is that the story of "not...of this world." piece of metal , was'
iI
AURORA, Texas (NEA) — There's almost nothing; from the sky and crashed here; the pilot of the,craft
to do in this north Texas farm community. was supposed to have been killed and then buried for
The nearest city is Dallas, 45 miles to the east, and the ages in this place
the nearest beach is on the Gulf Coast, down towards The tourists, then, come to find the body, or what's
Mexico. The only business in town is a service station left of it They search the reported crash site, on a hill
— and it's not open much any more behind the gas station, and they study the grave
Yet each summer, when Americans are touched by. markers at Aurora's small cemetery.
rm weather wanderlust, hundreds of tourists motor If even a bit of bone can be found, they say, it will
o Aurora. They bring their sunglasses, their change the course of human thought.
meras and their walking shorts, and they stay for a A bit of bone? Most locals snicker up their sleeves at j
w hours, or a few days, prowling roads, and the visitors. The opinion among townsfolk is that the]
iserving natives as if it were Tampico. story of the dead spaceman is a hoax At the samel
time, residents admit the hoax is founded on a vaguel
' They aren't looking for a good time, however. fact; records indicate that something of that sort mayj
They are looking for the man from outer space. indeed have happened here.
The tourists in .Aurora are UFO watchers. They The year was 1897. And though the first flight of the
believe this wide spot in the road is a shrine to their Wright brothers was still eight years away, people
bonvictions. across America were sighting propelled objects in thj
Many years ago, they say, a great space ship fell sky.
For example, several Texans reported seeing
cigar-shaped vehicle, lighter than air, cruising lov
over cowboy country. J.
No one in Aurora paid attention to the sighting
reports. Then, on April 9 of that year, reportedly'at 6
a.m., a UFO allegedly slipped from the heavens and
exploded in the middle of town.
The record of the occasion was compiled by a Dallas
newspaper correspondent named F.E. Hayden. 'He
apparently got most of his information from Aurora
resident T J Wgems. . „ .
The latter 'told the "former that the crash was
observed and verified by numerous early risers in the
community
Hayden wrote that the UFO was a space craft, and
smashed into property belonging to J S. Proctor, a
judge. He quoted Weems as saying the explosion lit up
the morning sky, and left debris over three acres.
JWeems^added there was-a body among the debris,
and it was "not. . . of this world."
The body was thought to be the ship's pilot. It was
identified as being dressed in a blue uniform, not
unlike a sailor suit. Weems told Hayden the corpse
was badly mangled, but, happily, "the men of the r
community' gathered it up, and it was given a
Christian burial in the Aurora cemetery."
The grave is said to have be.en small andjound It is
also said to have been distinguished with a hand-made
stone which was inscribed with a drawing of a cigar-
shaped object.
. -»Auf6?a4"rigs"idents say the marker was not really
handmade, and that the inscription closely resembled
the scrape of a plow.
The residents concede the crash of 1897 probably
occurred But that's as much credence as they'll allow
The cemetery at Au the story of the dead spaceman. They believe the town
was hit by a meteorite, and Weems and Hayden
spaceman is reputed embellished the moment; they say Hayden was a well-
own writer of satirical fiction.
:al opinion was bulwarked a few years ago by
use, a Texas researcher; he dug at the
found nothing more extraterrestrial
:ence plate.
fe spaceman's grave, it's "officially"
occupied'Bf' an itinerant named Carr, who dieid of
yellow fever.
True believers have their own side of it, of course.
For one thing, some visitors have reported finding
"odd metals" at the crash site. One piece of metal was
aluminum, and the oddity is that it was said to be
buried too deeply to be of modern origin. Aluminum
-w,as not in common use in 1897
f •• Additionally, Uftf.spaceman theory 4s supp'ofted-by
the only man in Aurora who personally remembers
the crash Charles Stevens was just a child then, but
TtXAs
'•RESS CLIPPING BUREAU
DALLAS
Established 1910
Terrell, TX
Tribune
(Cir. D 5,061)
3> Tom Tiede supposed to have been killed with the nation, and there
yTris ;5 another in a series of and then buried for the ages was little pause for non- i cemetery."
anicles regarding events
from America 's pastf /
in this place.
The tourists, then, come to
sease. Th^n, on April 9 of
that year, reportedly at 6
„. /e is said to have
been small and round. It is
TOM TIEDE
find the body, or what's left a'.m., a UFO allegedly also said to have been distin-
_AURORA, Texas f N E A ) - of it. They search the re- \*
irere's almost nothing to do ported crash site, on a hill
slipped from the heavens
\ guished with a hand-made
in this north Texas farm behind the gas station, and
community. The nearest they study the grave mark-
city isDallas, 45 miles to the' ers at Aurora's small ceme-
and exploded in the middle
of town.
The record of the occasion
was compiled b/£i Da'las
\- stone which was inscribed
with a-drawing of a cigar-
shaped object. Aurora resi-
des.*.! 1' "ay the marker was
£ast,Tnd the nearest beach tery. If even a bit of bone can nW .'colly handmade, and
• on the Gulf Coast, down be found, they say, it will newspaper correspondent
-^rds "*ic\i> (• The only change the course of human named F.E. Hayden. He ap- that the inscription closely
,-iess in town i<: a service thought. parently got most of his resembled the scrape of a
plow.
— and it's not open
anymore. A bit of bone? Most locals
information from Aurora
resident T.J. Weems. The The residents concede the THE WAY IT WAS
snicker up their sleeves at I C- crash of 1897 probably metals" at the crash site.
Vet each summer, when the latter told the former that
visitors. The opinion the crash was observed and UFO watchers consider Aurora occurred. But that's as One piece of metal was alu-
•jnencans are touched by among townsfolk is that the a shrine to their convictions. much credence as they'll minum, and the oddity is
--arm weather wanderlust, story verified by numerous early
of the dead spaceman risers in the community. According to published reports allow the story of the dead that it was said to be buried
-•-ndreds of tourists motor • is a hoax. At the same time, at the time, a spaceship spaceman. They believe the too deeply to be of modern
r.:o Aurora. They bring residents admit Hayden wrote that the town was hit by a meteorite, origin. Aluminum was not in
.r.c.r 'u.n glasses, their cam- founded on a vague the hoax is UFO was a space craft, and allegedly crashed in the middle
fact; of town at 6 am. on April 9, and Weems and Hayden em- common use in 1897.
^ras and their walking records indicate that some- "smashed into property be- bellished the moment; they
:"iorts, and tliey stay for a thing longing to J.S. Proctor, a 1897. There was a body among Additionally, the space-
of this sort may indeed judge. the debris. Townsfolk burled it say Hayden was a well- man theory is supported by
ew hours, or a few jajs, have happened here. He quoted Weems as known writer of satirical the only man in Aurora who
'."c-viling roads a;:d observ- The year was 1897. And saying the explosion lit up in the town's small cemetery. fiction.
•g natives as if it were though the first flight of the the morning sky, and left personally remembers the
" ampico. This local opinion was crash. Charles Stevens was
Visi^ht jsijothers was ( still , debris over three acres. bulwarked a few years ago just a child then, but he ^ffs
'7he> aren't looking for a eight years away, people • JVeemcflr.Jded there was a b> Li. Alfred Krause, a his father saw something
"•d time, however. across America were sight- itbody among the debris, and
was "not...of this world."
Texas researcher; he dug at fall into Judge Proctor's
7he> are looV.i^g for the ing propelled objects in the the crash site and found property; and, he adds,
•J • :rom outer space. sky. For example, several The body was thought to nothing more extraterres- "There might have been two
:"he tourists in Aurora are Texans reported seeing a "be the ship's pilot. It was trial than a 1932 license or three spacemen, I don't
~O watchers They believe cigar-shaped vehicle, lighter identified as being dressed plate. As for the spaceman's know."
~ 'in a blue uniform, not unlike grave,_it's "officially" occi'^_ _ _No_ one-known.—A.-sd-'ii'S' •*
lo
*" y*an_s:r r cruicisg^lwv— avc? —Hi—Sdiior -'Stri r."SV elnfis^'dlor*'
cowboy country. pielT'Dy an itinerant named unlikely that anyone ever
J
-?r> si s ..; ' they say, a Hayden the corpse was Carr who died of yellow will. The spaceman's grave-
No one in Aurora paid , badly mangled, but, happily, fever.
•s=: space - .[> fell from attention to the .... sighting
__„ stone was stolen years ago,
": ssy and crashed here; 0 "The men of the community True believers have their and the grave itself has been
s pilot of the craft w-as reports. This was a bustling - 'gathered it up, and it was own side of it, of course. For erroded and lost. Rest In
region at the time, growing ,|iven a Christian burial^ one thing, some visitors peace, whoever you are.
have reported finding "odd (NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN /