On a frontier alien

 

A fascinating blog post about what could be the first reported "UFO crash" in the United States. The report is from 1865, and the crash presumably happened either then or in 1864. The newspaper reports of the incident are confusing (surprise). The "crash" could have been a meteorite impact - although a fairly big one - but the trapper witnessing it claims to have seen a mysterious stone with hieroglyphics on it. The newspaper then speculates:   

>>>Astronomers have long held that it is probable that the heavenly bodies are inhabited—even the comets—and it may be that the meteors are also. 

>>>Possibly meteors are used as a means of conveyance by the inhabitants of other planets, in exploring space, and it may be that hereafter some future Columbus, from Mercury or Uranus, may land on this planet, by means of a meteoric conveyance, and take full possession thereof—as did the Spanish navigators of the New World in 1492, and eventually drive what is known as the "human race" into a condition of the most abject servitude. 

>>>It has always been a favorite theory with many that there must be a race superior to us, and this may at some future time be demonstrated in the manner we have indicated.

Note that this was written in 1865! The author of the blog post (writing in 2023) fills in:  

>>>Lumley's account is actually quite startling when you consider its similarities to modern UFO lore and the fact that it was reported nearly a century earlier. 

>>>The Roswell crash debris was said to have material covered with strange hieroglyphics, much like the surface of Lumley's object. Socorro, New Mexico police officer Lonnie Zamora similarly stated that the egg-shaped craft he witnessed in 1964 was emblazoned with a strange red insignia. 

>>>The image of Lumley examining the crashed object and its path of destruction across the landscape echoes the story of young José Padilla and Reme Baca, who discovered an avocado-shaped craft that had plowed across San Antonio, New Mexico ranchland in 1945. Their claims are today known as the Trinity crash. 

None of the above proves that UFOs or aliens are real, of course. Anymore than the Aurora crash in 1897 (which I have discussed in a previous post on this blog). Still, it´s certainly intriguing that this kind of lore goes back all the way to the Civil War era! The idea that hieroglyphics are somehow supernatural is of course even older - compare Joseph Smith and the Mormons. 

Montana, 1865 - the first American UFO crash?