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This was well before practical powered aircraft, but the object seen at Oakland was quickly named "the airship." It was soon seen in many other parts of California, where people lined up in the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of it. Often it behaved exactly like a modern flying saucer, accelerating quickly and changing its direction suddenly.
During 1897, the "airship" was seen in many other parts of the U.S., including Salt Lake City, Denver and the Midwest. On April 10, reported the New York Herald, thousands of people in Chicago saw lights like an airship in the northwest. Some saw two cigar-shaped objects with green and red lights.
Unknown Lights. Even before this turn-of-the-century flurry, says Menzel, flying saucers were reported. In 1893, the British warship Caroline saw mysterious lights just south of Korea. They "flew" in a long line, sometimes changing their formation. Through a glass they appeared "to emit a thin smoke." On reaching Kobe, the officers of the Caroline learned that these "Unknown Lights of Japan" had been observed by fishermen and were even described in Japanese schoolbooks.
A search of literature, Dr. Menzel suggests, would turn up many flying saucers. There may even be some in the Bible: the "wheels" seen in the air by the Prophet Ezekiel.* Saucers have been seen more often of late, he thinks, because the U.S. Southwest, where atmospheric conditions are most favorable, has only recently been occupied by a large, alert population. The men who man its air bases, rocket ranges and laboratories are just the sort of observers that would notice flying saucers.
One aspect of his saucer research saddens Dr. Menzel. People like sensations, he says. The marvelous ships from space, manned by wise little people from Venus or Mars, brought a kind of frightening diversion into a jittery world. Dr. Menzel is aware that a debunker is not always a popular man. "I," he says sadly, "am the man who shot Santa Claus."
* Light moves slower in a denser medium. So when a "wavefront" of light passes at an angle from dense cold air into less dense warm air, the part that reaches the warm air first races ahead of the remainder. This "refraction" has the effect of bending the wave-front toward the cold air.
*Reported frequently over Lubbock, Texas. They look like "V"-shaped formations of bright spots in rapid motion.
* Ezekiel 1: 15-21.