Was It An Airship?

Woodland [California] Daily Democrat, 24 novembre 1896

Curious Phenomenon Witnessed by Two Reputable Citizens of Woodland

Three Bright Lights Followed by a
Brilliant Train Passed Directly
Over This City

That there is a mysterious light moving about in the upper atmosphere, there seems to be no doubt. So many reputable and truthful people have seen it at various times and places that it does not seem reasonable that they can all be victims of a hallucination.

We do not take any stock, however, in the generally accepted theory that the mysterious visitor is an airship. It is more reasonable to
suppose that it is some aerial phenomenon produced in a perfectly natural way and susceptible of a rational and scientific explanation.

In the [San Francisco] Examiner of today is a story of a mysterious light seen navigating the air in the vicinity of Woodland on an uncertain date. The DEMOCRAT is able to throw some light on this story.

About three weeks ago, and several days before the phenomenon was first announced from Sacramento, L. Charmak and a gentleman who requests us to withhold his name were standing in front of Mr. Charmak's place of business. The hour was between 8 and 9 in the evening. Suddenly a moving light, or, more properly, lights, appeared to the southwestern portion of the city. Mr. Charmak's attention was called to it. The unusual visitor was traveling in a northeasterly direction, and when first seen was apparently over the residence of A. D.
Porter.

As it reached Main street it suddenly arose 100 feet or more, but continued its forward movement in the same direction. It traveled very slowly and it was half a minute from the time it came to sight until the Capital Hotel shut it out from view.

While it was traveling broadside Mr. Charmak and his friend had an opportunity to get a good view of it. There were three distinct lights, closely resembling an arc light. They were close together and a uniform distance apart, and were followed by a long train of light like that which usually follows in the train of a shooting star, except that it was white.

Their first thought was that it was a meteor, but its proximity to the earth, eccentric movements and unusual form hardly warranted such a theory. The more they thought about it the more their doubts increased. The circumstance was not mentioned at the time except by the gentleman who was with Mr. Charmak. In the family where he boarded he spoke of it, expressing the opinion that if it was a meteor it was the most extraordinary phenomenon of that character he had ever witnessed.

Neither of these gentlemen pretends that the mysterious light they saw was an airship. They have no theory to account for it. They related what they witnessed, and people can draw their own conclusions.