Extraterrestrial aircraft identified in the California Sky

6 November 1886. As the sky above Sacramento (the capital of California) filled with starry diamonds, on a calm and restful night… a shape suddenly blotted it. The inhabitants couldn't believe it; what stood out before their eyes (6 years before the aeroplane was invented) was a UFO! 

Curious people gathered in the city's streets, some in stunned silence, others yelling to the sky that the end of the world was near. It looked like an aircraft with aluminium contours, flying over the city, equipped with a gigantic spotlight focusing on the surrounding rooftops, reports Belgian media outlet RTBF. 

A mysterious object in the celestial vault

A UFO? Really? This resolutely modern word was unknown at the time. Witnesses of the scene spoke rather of a flying ship, or airship in English. In Sacramento, but also in Oakland and San Francisco, hundreds saw this strange object break through the celestial vault. On 22 November of the same year, it was reported that a kind of cigar, with a front spotlight, had been seen in the dark sky, confirming the idea that there were several models of aircraft. 

Fears at the police stations

In the police stations, questions overflowed, citizens shouted their worries. Why the sudden airborne invasion? The phenomenon was set to repeat itself several times, while mechanisation wasn't yet a topic in the United States.

German espionage, a few years before the First World War? A hoax? A vision of Venus or the Moon, a little too close? To this day, the mystery remains… 

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: RTBF - Illustration: ©Unsplash)