Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery Hardcover – January 31, 2004

I had heard of the airship mystery on History channel so thought I would research it. This book was great and dispelled the myth of an alien spaceship!

I first learned of the 1897 airship mystery many years ago, through my interest in (and study of) unusual phenomena, particularly the UFO phenomenon. I've read what I've seen published on the topic, including works by Daniel Cohen and Wallace O. Chariton. I was eager to read an analysis of the sightings by a non-ufologist (Busby refers to Nevada's Area 51 as "Area 54").
Aside from the alleged Aurora incident, my own take on this episode was that the sightings were real (Cohen thinks it was all a hoax), were not extraterrestrial (as Chariton believes them to be), but were likely the product of enterprising, creative people. The descriptions given by witnesses depicted an almost Rube Goldberg type craft, with "undulating wings...like a huge bird..." coming from a cigar-shaped object, a powerful search light, fan-like propellers and an undercarriage. There were numerous reports of mechanical sounds, humans being seen (and conversed with), notes dropped from the airship, sightings of repairs being made, etc. No, I was always pretty sure that the airships were of human origin. In 'Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery', author Michael Busby tackles the problem from the perspective of an engineer, coupled with a solid military background (he's a former Marine). He sets out to prove that the airships were in fact built and flown by specific individuals. "Real people, real patents, real flight demonstrations," Busby writes. Has he made the case? Probably 'yes'. But could there be more to the whole episode?
While Busby has constructed a reasonable and logical explanation for the 1897 airship sightings, there are still some facets of the matter that do not fit into his scenario. For example, while there were generally consistent descriptions by witnesses of the airship(s) appearance, size (between 100-200 feet in length) and speed (135-150 mph), there are some reports that do not comport with these descriptions. Some witnesses describe a craft 20 feet in length, some 50 feet; one even said it was "eight feet." The typical report has a craft moving slowly, building up speed, yet at least one eyewitness stated the object took off "like a shot." Busby does not reconcile these differences.
While Busby uses logic and reason to flesh out his thesis, he occasionally takes supposition and speculation to the stretching point. This is most evident in his effort to show that the supposed 'Aurora incident' actually happened (many ufologists think it a hoax), but that it was an airship reportedly seen earlier that day experiencing mechanical difficulties near another Texas town. As those familiar with the Aurora "crash" will recall, the craft that allegedly exploded was piloted by what was described by witnesses as "a Martian." Busby seems convinced that this was in fact a human being, "burned beyond recognition." However, the reports published at the time state that the "Martian" pronouncement was based upon witnesses finding "enough of the original" (i.e. non-burned body parts, probably limbs) to determine that the pilot was not human. It seems reasonable that a scant 30 years after the carnage of the Civil War, people could identify a human body, regardless of how badly burned.
Busby is to be commended for the obvious time, effort and attention to detail that went into this book. He lays out the day-by-day reports (from the actual newspapers), and uses this information most effectively in tracing the probable movements of airships (there were several, according to Busby). He applies his no-nonsense, analytical background and pieces together a fascinating scenario involving very real people who did some truly amazing things well before the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk. He offers people, places, connections, resources, motivation and execution. One could comfortably be done with the mystery by accepting Busby's thesis, and it is tempting to do so. Yet there is still something nagging about the whole thing.
During the reading of this book, I received an unexpected phone call, which led me to later pull out my copy of John Keel's 1970 book 'Operation Trojan Horse' (in which Keel offers his reading of the 1897 airship mystery). I'd read it many years ago, but found myself putting Busby's book aside and quickly re-reading Keel. I then went back and finished Busby's book. For those unfamiliar with Keel, he offers a very provocative, intriguing but very "fringe" solution to the airship mystery. According to Keel, the 1897 airship mystery was but one series of manifestations of a continuum of strange experiences, which include everything from poltergeists to fairies, from 'foo fighters' and 'ghost rockets' to contemporary UFO sightings. Keel rules out hoaxes, mass hallucinations, extraterrestrials and terrestrial humans. Rather, they (and everything associated with them, including the occupants) are a kind of three-dimensional projection that are actually seen and experienced by people, but are illusory. They are, in Keel's mind, injected into the human experience by entities he termed 'ultraterrestrials' who are denizens of a world of different "vibrations" that occupy the same space as we do. He posits a purpose behind these illusory constructs. I found that as I read "Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery', I was assessing it on two levels: Busby's nuts-and-bolts solution and Keel's paranormal take. It was an interesting experience.
As stated earlier, Busby has presented a 'solution' that is easy to accept, and that does provide a rational, logical and somewhat conventional explanation for the 1897 airship mystery. For those who like a neat, tidy and conventional explanation for the seemingly inexplicable, Busby's book is recommended. But there are still sufficient loose ends and contradictory elements to leave the door open to the possibility of other 'solutions'. Still, 'Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery' is a good read, and is well worth adding to your library.
Add-on comment, July 15, 2004: In response to 'Semper Fi'...he apparently did not read my review very thoroughly. I stated at the outset that I'd always thought the whole episode was likely of human origin. I am not in the business of "selling UFOs" or anything else to the public, do not have my head in the sand, and certainly do not need his nor anyone else's "forgiveness." However, it sure was swell of him to be so magnanimous.

A lot of things about this book began to make sense when I found that Busby was also the author of a couple of technical manuals.He's done an excellent job of bringing together the primary sources concerning the Airship sightings of the 1890s,in the form of newspaper articles that appeared in the Texas/Louisiana/Oklahoma area in the spring of 1897. However,reading newspaper article after article after article is unbelievably tedious;only a determined reader is going to be able to hack his way through all of the material that Busby includes.Busby also uses tables to present his theories of the locations of landing strips used by the Airships and to draw together their supposed crew members and owners,and that adds to the intimidating tone of the book. In addition,Bubsy is very credulous. Even when the tone of an article is clearly humerous Busby quotes the events noted as if they were being reported in today's New York Times,and that includes the one printed story about the alleged "Aurora crash".If an Airship had crashed in Aurora surely there would have been extensive follow up by the local papers-but there wasn't. Which brings us to another problem-journalistic ethics were much looser in the 1890s than they are today,and Busby seems to be unable to grasp this.To further illustrate his uncritical use of sources;on one page he makes the absurd statement that anyone swearing out a false deposition would be subject to penalties of law.What penalties? What law? A Kansas farmer,member of a "Liars Club", did exactly that-swore a statement concerning the theft of one of his cows by the crew of an Airship-and had his fellow club members sign on as witnesses. Busby refers to this incident in his book,so he was aware that people swore false depositions for amusement.This book will be valuable to future researchers because of the body of primary sources it includes.But this isn't a book for the average reader curious about the Airship mystery.And Busby should fire his editor. He really does refer to "Area 54 in Nevada." There's no excuse for an editor letting a whopper like that get by him.

This book claims to have solved the Great 1897 Airship mystery. Not so fast. If you take a hard look at the case the author dreams up, I am not convinced anything is solved at all. The so-called facts are not well supported and some of the patent information in the back of the book is basically gibberish. I'm not saying people shouldn't read this book, as there is some good information. In my opinion, it solves nothing at all.

Fascinating story! This book just left me wanting to know more. Unfortunately the mystery ends without any definite explanation or answers, but the theories are most likely correct! Definitely worth reading.

This is THE definitive book on the subject - This is the one you buy, get the rest from the library.