There were thousands of reports: strange aircraft, floating through the sky. A retrospective sum of press accounts finds that some 100,000 people were reported to have witnessed aerial intruders. Despite the scant details associated with most reports, an eager press repeated the claims with fervor. The claims became more fantastical. Prominent people claimed secret knowledge of the origins of the crafts. This was 1896. The airship had just barely been invented, and already the public was seei...
