"Impact" Rating = 13
"Credibility" Rating = 4
"Expert" Rating = 5
"Strangeness" Rating = 13
Alleged airship crash in Aurora, Texas on 17th April 1897 involving reports of a badly disfigured pilot not an inhabitant of this world.
Reported in the 19th April 1897 edition of the Dallas Morning News.
Claims to fame
This incident is Case 51 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article, since it was referred to in 53 of the books covered by that article.
Isaac Koi’s “ICES” Rating for this sighting = 3,380 (out of a potential score of 14*14*14*14 i.e. 38,416)
(1) “Impact” Rating of 13 (out of a potential score of 14), because it is Case 51 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article.
(2) “Credibility” Rating of 4 (out of a potential score of 14), because several authors have given considerable evidence that this incident was a hoax..
(2) “Expert” Rating of 5 (out of a potential score of 14). It is given this relatively low rating because (at the time of writing) it has not been included in any of the short lists of the best cases produced by various UFO researchers that have been compiled by Isaac Koi (see the “Best UFO Cases" article at PART 3: Existing lists by various individuals), and it is sometimes mentioned by UFO researchers as a good example of a hoax. For example, Jerome Clark has written several items giving evidence for his conclusion that this was a hoax.
(4)“Strangeness” Rating of 13 (out of a potential score of 14): While the true nature of the "bodies" shown on the photograph are not immediately obvious upon looking at the Bonilla photos, there are no details or structures visible that rule out a number of mundane explanations (e.g. birds or insects). Similarly, Bonilla's accompanying account does make a specific mundane source clear but does not provide any details which (even if they are all true and accurate) would exclude a number of mundane explanations. The Bonilla photos are therefore given a relatively low “Strangeness” Rating. It would be helpful to have the photos considered by somone familiar with taking photos of the Sun and/or to compare the Bonilla photos with photos of various objects crossing in front of the Sun.
Sections below:
Contemporary press article:
Photo of Aurora cemetry:
Web Resources
Wikipedia article at : Aurora, Texas airship crash (1897)
This incident is discussed on the AboveTopSecret.com (“ATS”) internet discussion forums in Thread 270137.
There is a rapid turnover of UFO material on the Internet. Many links to material on UFO websites quickly become out of date. Therefore, instead of giving many links to specific webpages I have instead included below a search box which can be used to search various leading UFO websites at the same time. You can then click on tabs at the top of the search results to list only results from forums, only results from websites I have labelled as "skeptical" etc. I have included tabs for a couple of specific websites that I find particularly useful, including the valuable archives of the UFO UpDates email discussion List. The relevant websites are all listed in the discussion of the "UFO Searchillion" search engine in Section 2.4 of the "Free UFO Researcher Starter Pack" and continues to evolve...
The relevant search box is one of the two main tools on this website which are intended to help reduce the amount of reinvention of the wheel within UFOlogy. The other main tool is the collection of tables of references to discussion of UFO incidents, personalities and other matters in various books. Those tables can be sorted by author, length and date. I hope these tools are useful.
Book References
Reported in 19th April 1897 Dallas Morning News. Image of article, and complete text, available online at: http://ufologie.net/press/dallasmorningnews17apr1897.htm . Complete text also presented in full in “The UFOs that never were” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) by Jenny Randles and Andy Roberts and David Clarke at pages 25-26 (in Chapter 1, “Once Upon a Time in the West” by David Clarke) of the London House hardback edition.
The table below includes references to relevant discussions in UFO/SETI books noted by Isaac Koi during a review of approximately 963 UFO/SETI books during the period 2003-2006 (with a few later additions). The table can be sorted by author, date and length of discussion by clicking on the relevant word in the top line of the table.
Many of the tables of references on this website are considerably longer than the references to books found on most other UFO websites. Indeed, some are probably the longest that have been collated in relation to some events and personalities. Together with the "UFO Searchillion" search box, I hope that these tables are found to be a useful contribution to UFOlogy.
For discussion of the alleged crash at Aurora see the following:
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Year |
Discussion by:
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No. of Pages |
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Andrews, George C in his “Extra-Terrestrials Among Us” (1986) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 81-82 (in Chapter 2) of the Llewellyn softcover edition, at pages 92-94 of the Llewellyn paperback edition. |
2 |
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APRO in “The Encyclopedia of UFOs” (1980) edited by Ronald Story (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 32 of the NEL hardback edition in an entry entitled “Aurora (Texas) airship hoax”. |
1 |
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Bartholomew, Robert E and Howard, George S in their “UFOs and Alien Contact” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 203-204 (in Chapter 9) of the Prometheus hardback edition. |
2 |
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Bartholomew, Robert E. and Radford, Benjamin in their “Hoaxes, Myths and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking” (2003) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 41, 43 (in Chapter 3) of the Prometheus softcover edition. |
2 |
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Clark, Jerome and Coleman, Loren “The Unidentified” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 27 (in the unnumbered section entitled “UFOland: Other Worlds and the Otherworld”, part 2) of the Warner paperback edition. |
1 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “Extraordinary Encounters : An Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrials and Otherworldly Beings” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 34-35 (in an entry entitled “Aurora Martian”), 81-82 (in an entry entitled “Dead extraterrestrials”) of the ABC-Clio hardback edition. |
4 |
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Clark, Jerome in “The Fringes of Reason” (1989) (edited by Ted Schultz) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 153 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Crashed Saucers: The Ultimate Secret?”) of the Harmony Books softcover edition. |
1 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 1 – UFOs in the 1980s” (1990) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 57 (in an entry entitled “Crashes of UFOs”) of the Apogee hardback edition. |
1 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 2 – Emergence of a Phenomenon” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 110-113 (forming part of an entry entitled “Crashes of UFOs in the Nineteenth Century”), 192 (in an entry entitled “Hoaxes Through 1959”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
5 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning - 2nd edition” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 261-263 of Volume 1:A-K (forming part of the entry entitled “Crashes and Retrievals of UFOs in the Nineteenth Century” at pages 257-264), 504 (forming part of an entry entitled “Hoaxes” at pages 504-519) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
4 |
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Clarke, David and Roberts, Andy in their “Phantoms of the Sky: UFOs – A Modern Myth?” (1990) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 125 (in Chapter 6) of the Hale hardback edition. |
1 |
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Clarke, David in “The UFOs that never were” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) by Jenny Randles and Andy Roberts and David Clarke at pages 25-31 (in Chapter 1, “Once Upon a Time in the West” by David Clarke) of the London House hardback edition. |
7 |
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Cohen, Daniel in his “The Great Airship Mystery” (1981) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 103-121 of the Dodd Mead hardback edition (in Chapter 8 generally, “The Texas Spaceship Crash”). |
19 |
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Fitzgerald, Randall in his “The Cosmic Test Tube” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 183 (in Section 2), 280 (in Section 4) of the Moonlake Media softcover edition. |
2 |
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Gansberg, Alan and Gansberg, Judith in their “Direct Encounters: The Personal Histories of UFO Abductees” (1980) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 41 (in Chapter 2) of the Walker & Co hardback edition. |
1 |
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Gaulding, Lyle in “Extraterrestrial Intervention: The Evidence” (1975) (edited by Bergier, Jacques and the Editors of INFO) at page 41 (in Part 2, unnumbered chapter entitled “Mysteries of the Airship Age”) of the Signet paperback edition. |
1 |
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Hall, Michael David in his “UFOs : A Century of Sightings” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 4-5 (in Chapter 1) of the Galde Press softcover edition. |
2 |
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Holzer, Hans in his “The UFOnauts” (1976) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 35-36 (in Chapter 2) of the Fawcett Gold Medal paperback edition. |
2 |
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Hynek, J Allen and Vallee, Jacques in their “The Edge of Reality” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 181-183 (in Chapter 6) of the Henry Regnery hardback edition. |
3 |
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Jacobs, David Michael in his “The UFO Controversy in America” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 16-17 of the Indiana hardback edition, pages 13-14 of the Signet paperback edition (Chapter 1). |
2 |
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Keel, John A in his “The Mothman Prophecies” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 15 (in Chapter 2) of the 1991 I-Net softcover edition, at pages 21-22 of the Panther paperback edition entitled “Visitors from Space”. |
1 |
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Klass, Philip J in his “UFOs Explained” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 259-263 (in Chapter 24, “Mysterious Airships of the 1890s”) of the Random House hardback edition, at pages 307-311 of Random House paperback edition. |
5 |
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Klass, Philip J in his “UFOs – Identified” (1968) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 280-281 (in Chapter 24) of the Random House hardback edition. |
2 |
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Kurland, Michael in his “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Extraterrestrial Intelligence” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 80-81 (in Chapter 8) of the Alpha Books softcover edition. |
2 |
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Marrs, Jim in his “Alien Agenda” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages xix-xxv (in the Introduction) of the Harper Collins paperback edition. |
7 |
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McWane, Glenn and Graham, Davis in their “The New UFO Sightings” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 98-99 (in Chapter 4) of the Warner paperback edition. |
2 |
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Moffitt, John in his “Picturing Extraterrestrials : Alien Images in Modern Mass Culture” (2003) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 256 of the Prometheus hardback edition. |
1 |
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Moseley, James and Pflock, Karl in their “Shockingly Close to the Truth!” (2002) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 321 (in Chapter 17) of the Prometheus hardback edition. |
1 |
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Nickell, Joe and Fischer, John F in their “Mysterious Realms” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 82 (in Chapter 6) of the Prometheus hardback edition. |
1 |
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Nixon, Neil in his “Pocket Essentials : UFOs” (2002) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 18 (in Chapter 1) of the Pocket Essentials softcover edition. |
1 |
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Peebles, Curtis in his “Watch the Skies!” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 196-199 of the Smithsonian hardback edition, pages 237-241 of the Berkley paperback edition (Chapter 13). (Contains relatively lengthy extract of relevant Dallas Morning News report). |
5 |
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Picknett, Lynn in her “The Mammoth Book of UFOs” (2001) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 14-17 (in Chapter 1) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
4 |
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Randle, Kevin and Russ Estes and William Cone in their “The Abduction Enigma” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 118-119 (in Chapter 7) of the Forge hardback edition. |
2 |
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Randle, Kevin and Estes, Russ in their “Spaceships of the Visitors” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 29-30 (in Part 2) of the Fireside softcover edition. |
2 |
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Randle, Kevin D and Schmitt, Donald R in their “UFO Crash at Roswell“(1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK)at page 265 (in Appendix C) of the Avon paperback edition. |
1 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “A history of UFO crashes” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 175-176 (in Appendix A, “The UFO Crash Data Base”) of the Avon paperback edition. |
2 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “Case MJ-12” (2002) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 51-52 (in Chapter 3) of the Harper Torch paperback edition. |
2 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “Conspiracy of Silence” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 10 (in Chapter 1) of the Avon paperback edition. |
1 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “Scientific Ufology” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 201-202 (in Chapter 7) of the Avon softcover edition. |
2 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “The October Scenario” (1988) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 107, 109-110 (in Part 3, unnumbered section entitled “From Ancient Astronauts To The Great Airships”) of the Berkley paperback edition. |
3 |
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Randles, Jenny and Hough, Peter in their “The Complete Book of UFOs” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 21-22 (in Chapter 1) of the Piatkus softcover edition. |
2 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “The Little Giant Encyclopedia of UFOs” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 24 (in Part 1, “A UFO Timeline”) of the Sterling softcover edition. |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Retrievals” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 14-18 (in Chapter 1) of the Blandford softback edition. |
5 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “UFOs and How to See Them” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 10 (in Chapter 1) of the Brockhampton Press hardback edition. |
1 |
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Roberts, Andy in “Phenomenon“ (1988) (edited by John Spencer and Hilary Evans) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 98 (Part 2, in the unnumbered chapter entitled “The Legend of the Crashed Saucers”) of the MacDonald hardback edition. |
1 |
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Roberts, Andy in “UFO: 1947-1987” (1987) (edited by Hilary Evans with John Spencer) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 157 of the Fortean Tomes softcover edition (in Chapter 2.6.2, entitled “Saucerful of Secrets”). |
1 |
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Sachs, Margaret “The UFO Encyclopedia“ (1980 (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 23-24 of the Corgi softback edition in an entry entitled “Aurora, Texas”. Also Included in a list entitled “Chronological list of UFO sightings” at page vii. |
2 |
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Schellhorn, G Cope in his “Extraterrestrials in Biblical Prophecy” (1989) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 363 (in Chapter 17) of the Horus softcover edition. |
1 |
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Steiger, Brad and Whritenour, Joan in their “Flying Saucers are Hostile” (1967) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 92-93 (in Chapter 6) of the Tandem paperback edition. |
2 |
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Story, Ronald in his “UFOs and the Limits of Science” (1981) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 37-39 (in Chapter 1) of the NEL Hardback edition. |
3 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact” (1990) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 39-40 (in Chapter 2) of the Ballantine Books paperback edition. |
2 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Passport to Magonia” (1970) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 184 (in the Appendix entitled “A Century of UFO Landings (1868-1968)”) of the Regnery hardback edition, with the relevant Appendix omitted from the Tandem paperback edition. |
1 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 21 (in Chapter 1) of the Ballantine Books paperback edition. |
1 |
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Vallee, Jacques in Peter Sturrock’s “The UFO Enigma“ (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 237-238 (in Chapter 27, section entitled “The Alleged Crash at Aurora, Texas”) of the Warner Aspect hardback edition. The relevant chapter is based on the following article: Jacques Vallee “Physical Analysis of Ten Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects with Material Samples” Journal of Scientific Exploration (1998) 12 at pages 359-375 and is available online at: “http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/ufo_reports/vallee_phys/toc.html |
2 |
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Watson, Nigel in “UFO: 1947-1987” (1987) (edited by Hilary Evans with John Spencer) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 27 of the Fortean Tomes softcover edition (Chapter 2.1.3, entitled “Before the Flying Saucers Came”). |
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Wood, Ryan in his “MAJIC Eyes Only” (2005) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 3, 24-32 of the Wood Enterprises hardback edition. |
10 |
Other Material
Please use the comments section below to share references to any particularly interesting relevant articles.