Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, ancient artifacts, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
When a tin foil spaceship crashed all over Roswell, New Mexico, the residents there must have been overcome with anticipation of the tourist dollars that would soon stuff their wallets. As Roswell sat back and watched the green fly in (pun intended), Aurora, Texas must have felt slighted.
After all, they had a spaceship crash like 50 years previously – and theirs included a now-buried little green body.
Aurora, Texas was a quiet little town that once had something they termed ‘an airship’ smash into a windmill then explode all to pieces. The sight of an airship was by no means new – after all, a rash of the things had been reported all over the country. Texasescapes.com finds the words to describe things:
“The Aurora crash was, in fact, the culminating event in a rash of ?airship? sightings in East and Northeast Texas, Oklahoma, North and Central Louisiana in the period between 1895 and 1898. Robert Atkinson, of Center, Texas, a veteran of the Spanish American War, often told of seeing, as a teenager, strange, ?flashing lights? in the sky, as did Polk Burns of the same city. Similar incidents were recountered by Bud Knight, a prominent resident of San Augustine, Texas, who died in 1981 at the age of 108. Lee Choron, who died in 1976 at the age of 94 recalled seeing ?moving lights flashing in the sky? while living in Swift, Texas… while in his ?teens?.”
Keep in mind these sightings were happening in 1897 or before. The Wright brothers first flew on December 17th 1903 – not that airplanes were the first human-made vehicles to cross the sky. Hot air balloons and dirigibles had been around for who-knows how long. Let’s not forget though, that the above witness account claimed flashing lights – not flickering candles. Electricity, is of course, implied here. Although Ben Franklin‘s key had been first lit up by it several decades earlier, surely a balloon from that time couldn’t be suited up with light bulb wiring.
Now on to more interesting fare, the Aurora crash was reported in newspapers, diaries and letters to friends. One such newspaper article still exists. It’s from the Dallas Morning News:
“About 6 o’clock this morning the early risers of Aurora were astonished at the sudden appearance of the airship which has been sailing around the country. It was traveling due north and much nearer the earth than before.
“Evidently some of the machinery was out of order, for it was making a speed of only ten or twelve miles an hour, and gradually settling toward the earth. It sailed over the public square and when it reached the north part of town it collided with the tower of Judge Proctor’s windmill and went into 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 were badly disfigured, enough of the original has been picked up to show that he was not an inhabitant of this world.”
Did you read that? The newspaper article said there was a body. What’s more – they buried it in the local cemetery. No really – we wouldn’t lie to you. Here’s a splurb from the historical marker screwed to the cemetery’s gate, or whatever:
“…This site is also well-known because of the legend that a spaceship crashed nearby in 1897 and the pilot, killed in the crash, was buried here…”
With a known location for an alien body one would suppose that concrete proof of alien visitation was just a couple shovelfuls away. We would that it was that simple. There was a tombstone at one point, allegedly – acting like the X on a pirate’s map. According to CBS11tv.com:
“There was a tombstone, with a marking that appeared to be half of a saucer, or the cigar-shaped object. Researchers ran metal detectors over the site where the ship was said to crash. Some say the grass hasn’t grown there since. In a nearby shed, there’s a well where wreckage, small bits of metal, was reportedly thrown. But in 1973, the tombstone and the metal in the ground disappeared.”
Still, it shouldn’t be that tough to find, right? A couple strong backs could probably have the whole place dug up within a few weeks.
If the locals would let them. You see, they’re conveniently tired of all the attention, and refuse to let anyone dig. And as for the owners of the well with all the debris down in it – well they cemented it over. Things really aren’t looking good here, are they?
So unfortunately, the mystery of the Aurora spaceship crash will remain just that – a mystery.
PS. Check out this detailed original newspaper article regarding the crash. We think you’ll quite enjoy it if you’ve got good vision.
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Avinash Machado says
Actually the mystery seems to have been solved already. A few months back the “UFO Hunters” team visited Aurora and did some digging around. You can watch a video of the investigation on my site here.
http://avinashmachado.blogspot.com/2008/12/first-contact-aurora-airship-crash.html