Mystery airships, also known as phantom airships, were a strange phenomenon of UFO reports. The most famous of which occurred from late 1896 to early 1897. The sightings were publicized through a series of newspaper reports, and originated in the western United States before spreading east. These types of sightings were also reported worldwide during the 1880s and 1890s.
It was popularly believed that the mystery airships were actually a genius' or inventor's projects, but he wasn't ready to share his creation with the world. Thomas Edison was so widely considered to be the mind behind the ships that he "was forced to issue a strongly-worded statement" denying his responsibility in 1897.
These airships couldn't be test flights of human-manufactured aircraft, because there was no record of successful sustained or long-range airship flights during this time period.
A historian named Mike Dash described the airship sightings as this: "Not only were [the mystery airships] bigger, faster and more robust than anything then produced by the aviators of the world; they seemed to be able to fly enormous distances, and some were equipped with giant wings...
"The general conclusion of investigators was that a considerable number of the simpler sightings were misidentification of planets and stars, and a large number of the more complex the result of hoaxes and practical jokes. A small residuum remains perplexing."
After 1897, these sightings mostly faded from public view until the revival of the UFO craze in the 1960s.
