The REALL News - March 1998

<body> <div id="main-title"><img src="/images/main-title.gif" width="329" height="81" alt=""></div> <div id="global-navbar"> <ul> <li><a href="/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/about/">About Us</a></li> <li><a href="/newsletter/">Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="/letters/">Letters</a></li> <li><a href="/calendar.html">Calendar</a></li> <li><a href="/links.html">Links</a></li> <li><a href="/search.html">Search</a></li> <li><a href="/email.html">E-Mail</a></li> </ul> </div>  <p align="center"><font size="2"><i>(<a href="./">Toggle Frames</a>)</i></font></p> <h1 align="center"><img src="/images/anthony/std_news.gif" alt="*" align="middle" WIDTH="64" HEIGHT="54">The REALL News<img src="/images/anthony/std_news.gif" alt="*" align="middle" WIDTH="64" HEIGHT="54"></h1> <p align="center"><i>"It's a very dangerous thing to believe in nonsense." -- James Randi</i></p> <hr> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td width="50%"><b>Volume 6 Issue 3</b></td> <td align="right" width="50%"><b>March 1998</b></td> </tr> </table> <hr> <h2 align="center">In This Issue</h2> <div align="center"><center> <table border="0" width="80%"> <tr> <th align="left">Features</th> <th align="left">Departments</th> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="50%"><ul> <li><a href="illinois-ufo-mania-of-1897.html">The Illinois UFO Mania of 1897</a>,<br> by Robert Bartholomew</li> <li><a href="letter-to-the-editor.html">Letter to the Editor</a></li> <li><a href="reallity-check.html">REALLity Check</a>,<br> by David Bloomberg</li> </ul> </td> <td valign="top" width="50%"><ul> <li><a href="chairman.html">From the Chairman</a> - David Bloomberg</li> <li><a href="editor.html">From the Editor</a> - Bob Ladendorf</li> <li><a href="masthead.html">Masthead</a></li> </ul> </td> </tr> </table> </center></div> <p> </p> <div align="center"><center> <table border="1" width="80%"> <tr> <td width="100%"><h2>The Illinois UFO Mania of 1897</h2> <h3 align="center" style="text-align: center">Why We Should be Leery of Modern-Day UFO Reports</h3> <p align="center"><b>by Robert Bartholomew</b></p> <p>Between November 1896 and May 1897, scores of Americans became convinced that one of their citizens had perfected the world's first heavier-than-air flying machine. As this widespread belief spread, airship mania swept across the United States. This little-known episode in American history was extraordinary, in that at the height of the rumors, it is estimated that tens of thousands of Americans in many states actually reported that they had seen the craft in various points across the nation  thousands of miles apart  at the same time! The maneuvers described by witnesses, were far above any technology of the period  even by today's standards. While the episode in general has been examined as a case of "mass hysteria," in this article I will document the airship wave in Illinois, and suggest an explanation. It was typically described as oval or cigar-shaped with an attached undercarriage, having a powerful headlight and giant fans or wings protruding from both sides. Some observers even claimed that the wings slowly flopped up and down like a bird! <a href="illinois-ufo-mania-of-1897.html"><img alt="More" border="0" hspace="2" src="/images/anthony/hpoint_right.gif" WIDTH="33" HEIGHT="14">More</a></td> </tr> </table> </center></div> <p>   </body>