Page 52, March 14, 1979 - North Shore News

our mysterious world

by George Cc unningham-Tee |

\

The first UFO flap in
America. reads more like a
Marx Brother’s script than a
serious report...and there
were certainly some ‘funny’
things going on for a few
months in 1897.

On the morning of April
15th of that year, William
Megiveron reported a
Strange experience to the
State Republican newspaper
in Lansing, Michigan.

He had been awakened
during night, he said, by a
tapping on his bedroom
window; he went to the
window and a very bright
light was shone on him. He
then heard a voice ‘from
above’ asking him to prepare
48 egg sandwiches and a
kettle of coffee!

. The voice also asked for a
corkscrew, then offered the
information that ‘they’ were
hovering overhead while
repairs were being made toa
wing that had been damaged
by a hunter’s bullet.

Megiveron couldn’t see
anything because of a fog or
a very low cloud but,
probably thinking he was
talking to a group. of
adventurous angels, he made
the food as requested.

A rope was then lowered
with a bucket attachment
containing several Canadian
coins as payment and the

meal was hauled adroitly
aloft..He asked if he could

come aboard but the request

was greeted with hoots of

laughter. = -

This almost unbelievable
event was but one of many

reported that year. From
March to May a mysterious

flying object was seen in the -

skies above —-.Michigan,
Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas,
Missouri and Arkansas. It
was nearly always described
as being cigar-shaped with
three revolving wheels
attached and a row of bright
lights along its side.

Many people also claimed
to have seen the crew,
consisting of three men and a
woman, and to have actually
spoken to them in ‘good
American’.

One observer reported he
had heard the crew singing
‘‘Nearer My God to Thee’”’ as
it sailed overhead at about 60
mph. Another report told

_ how three men had seen the

flying machine’s crew throw
a lasso down and haul a
young heifer up into the
vehicle. Later, the head, legs

and hide were found some.

miles away..

What tales!

Egg sandwiches, a cork-
screw, steaks on the hoof and

hymn singing in the clouds?

Surely we should dismiss
this whole episode as sheer

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nonsense. And yet we can’t;
there’s just. too much evi-
dence available from very
reputable witnesses, even
crowds, to.refute it.

. We must remember that in
1897 there were supposedly
no known powered flying
craft in the United States and
consequently this sequence

_of sightings has remained a
mystery for 80

years —

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wee

although some researchers

have suggested that it was a’

space craft from an alien
world. .

Well a UFO it certainly

was, being unidentified and
flying, but. its origin was
terrestrial, not. galactic. .Al-
‘though there is no proof-

positive evidence to say who
the mastermind was, a Britsh
UFO researcher has put
forward ideas and _ specu-
lations which point quite

‘convincingly to an American

inventor: hamed Edward J.
Pennington.

Born in Franklin, Indiana
in 1858, Pennington showed

remarkable engineering apti-

tude very early and by the
age of 23 had patented his
first invention — ‘a recipro-
cating head for planing
machines — and before. his
death in 1911, had patented a
steady flow of ideas includ-
ing the first balloon tire.

In 1885 he began operating
several companies, manufac-
turing pulleys and wood

working machines...and a

four-cylinder . radial -engine

- “for the propulsion of ‘an

aerial vessel’’. He let it be
known that he was designing
a vessel ‘‘to fly from Mount
Carmel to New York’

By 1891 he had exhibited
an airship some 30 feet long.
and six feet in diameter,
propelled by an electrically
operated airscrew. The ship

_ was tethered and flew in a

controlled circle.

Three
Pennington
patents

years later
submitted his
for. a full-sized

CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

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