''The mystery airship or phantom airship was a phenomenon that thousands of people across the United States claimed to have observed from late 1896 to mid 1897. Typical airship reports involved night time sightings of unidentified lights, but more detailed accounts reported flying objects comparable to an airship or dirigible.[1] Mystery airship reports are seen as a cultural predecessor to modern claims of extraterrestrial-piloted flying saucer-style UFOs.[2]
Reports of the alleged crewmen and pilots usually described them as human-looking, although sometimes the crew claimed to be from Mars.[3] It was popularly believed that the mystery airships were the product of some inventor or genius who was not ready to make knowledge of his creation public.[4]''
