Case file · Close encounter
Hot Springs airship
During the 1896–97 airship craze, two Arkansas lawmen near Hot Springs, Constable John Sumpter and Deputy John McLemore, said in May 1897 they met a landed airship and its bearded pilot, a young man and a woman.
1897 CE · 34.50, -93.06 · status: claim
The account
The pilot reportedly said they would stop in Nashville after the Tennessee Centennial. Their sworn statement was printed in Arkansas newspapers.
The sceptical view
Newspapers of the airship wave printed many tall tales and hoaxes; no airship of the kind existed in 1897.