ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IN HISTORY
The 1890's Airship Mystery
A Case for a Secret Aeronautics Group in Post Civil War America with International Connections
The reports of mysterious airships were widespread and well documented, but disappeared quickly. While some dismiss it as hoax, misidentification, or mass hysteria others have gone so far as to speculate extra-dimensional ultra terrestrials. Some of the stories were pretty bizarre with the occupants allegedly telling the eyewitnesses they were from Mars. Of course, others have speculated that these were in fact secret prototypes of advanced (for the time) air craft. This is the most logical speculation and it turns out it has a fairly convincing amount of evidence that can not only lead down a very interesting rabbit hole, but may be an important example of just how far back the trend of secrecy around the topic of aeronautics goes as well as the confusion of it with mass hysteria or aliens.
A Mystery with a History
The explanation that these could be human test flights of man made objects is even recounted in a wiki article as frequently argued as unlikely with the argument “it would have been impossible, not to mention irrational, to keep such a thing secret.” Ever heard that argument before? It’s a weak argument as it rests upon an understanding of the motivations behind the people involved and even worse ignores the actual evidence. Truth be told, this mystery is very interesting as it relates to the UFO (or now UAP) discussion. Here is a case of fantastical stories, media frenzy, and public fascination with mysterious objects in the sky before the term UFO was coined in the 1950’s. The parallels with today are uncanny. Actual claims of aliens from Mars were even thrown in the mix. The subject was ridiculed and largely written off as hoax or hysteria until ufology rediscovered it and brought back up.
What if I told you that there is in fact evidence that airships very similar to what were being reported were in fact in existence? It’s not controversial to state that such technology would in fact be recognized and unveiled to the public in the not too distant future. Therefore, is it really so far fetched as to speculate that some of these eyewitnesses may have actually seen some early test flights? Is it not normal to keep a competitive advancement in technology temporarily secret for business purposes? The rational reader would answer no that’s not far fetched at all.
Before we look at the evidence, I want to take a moment to point out that this is not a dig at the UFO community. In fact, I find it fascinating that even the argument that this is man made technology was and still is apparently highly disputed. People hate this idea for some reason. Perhaps it’s a form of cognitive dissonance. Perhaps there’s an interesting lesson in the details. I want to quickly address my frustration with the extraterrestial and especially the ultraterrestial hypotheses for the 1890’s airship mystery. Normal looking humans were seen flying these machines and allegedly spoke to people after landing (usually to make repairs.) Sometimes they allegedly told eyewitnesses they were from Mars. Does that sound like ET? The rational answer is no. It sounds like (assuming an honest eyewitness and journalist) a man flying a man made machine simply lied to the eyewitness. Perhaps in jest knowing how bewildered they were at the sight. Some eyewitnesses reported being told it was in fact a new invention on test flight. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if some eyewitnesses in their utter amazement believed they spoke to martians. Keep in mind that the famous Wright Brothers hadn’t flown the first plane let. A human flying was a brand new thing. It certainly could’ve flabbergasted some people.
By 1970 John Keel wrote a book called ‘Operation Trojan Horse’ in which he put forward the notion that everything from poltergeist and fairies to foo fighters and contemporary UFO’s including the mystery airships are a kind of projection that are seen and experienced by people, but are illusory. This general idea that all these things may have some sort of connection was also put forth around the same time by Jacque Vallee. George Knapp even once said he believes the phenomena can take the form of helicopters to disguise itself. I have respect for Vallee and Knapp, but applying this interpretation to this particular mystery is ridiculous. It’s a very problematic idea fundamentally as well. To be clear neither Vallee nor Knapp have specifically attributed this to the 1890’s airship mystery to my knowledge the way Keel has, but it seems to have become a widespread idea that it’s a valid interpretation with even Lue Elizondo at one point speculating that perhaps the phenomena can take the form of whatever technology we most understand at the time. Or perhaps, eyewitneses were in fact describing the technology of their time. Which sounds more reasonable?
Evidence
A steerable airship called the Aereon was flown in the US as early as 1863. Interestingly, the author offered it’s use to Abraham Lincoln for the war effort and referred to it’s propulsion as “gravitation.” It reportedly was not of interest for this purpose as the war was almost over. The post war economic collapse apparently made the company go bankrupt. Regardless, here is a perfect example of such technology being considered for a military application before the reports even took place. If we think logically, a military application makes perfect sense as it would be great for recon and the technology would likely be too risky in it’s early stages for a commercial public application. Only the military would likely be interested in such a high risk, high reward contraption. Furthermore, the use of the word “gravitation” is likely the result of its operating principle being in the controlling of specific gravity or in more common parlance, buoyancy.
In 1884 the French Army flew an electric powered airship called La France. It had a reported 7 successful flights and although was not likely one of the reported mystery airships in the US, it’s another example that the technology existed and was being developed with military applications in mind.
David Schwarz experimented with aluminum airships with limited success in Germany and Russia around the same time as the height of the airship reports in the US. He offered his ideas to the Austro-Hungarian war minister. He also apparently worked with a member of the Russian military. Once again, not only is the technology being developed in other countries, but specifically with military applications in mind.
In 2004, Michael Busby published a book called ‘Solving The 1897 Airship Mystery.’ The back cover reads,
In Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery, Michael Busby reveals the truth about a secretive group of inventive men whose flying machines enthralled the nation six years before the Wright brothers flew at Kittyhawk, North Carolina. He has researched the backgrounds of the numerous individuals involved, including such prominent figures as San Francisco attorney George Collins, who professed to be legal representative for the airship inventors; Dr. Elmer Benjamin, San Francisco dentist and inventor; Prof. Amos Dolbear, chairman of Tufts University’s Department of Astronomy and Physics; Prof. and Brig. Gen. Samuel E. Tillman, professor of chemistry (U.S. Military Academy — class of 1869) and U.S. Military Academy superintendent (1917–19); U.S. Marshal John Shelby Williams, federal marshal for the eastern district of Texas; California attorney general William H. H. Hart, immigrant, orphan, boy soldier, Indian fighter, and California pioneer; Dr. Solomon Andrews, the Perth Amboy, New Jersey, mayor, inventor, and physician; and San Francisco physician Dr. Charles A. Smith, who, with Dr. Andrews, pioneered aviation. A call to duty from a divided country brought these men together during America’s deadly fratricidal war. Serving in the Army of the Potomac, they forged lifelong friendships in the mud and blood of battle. After the Civil War they returned to their civilian professions, ultimately uniting again to design, build, and fly the amazing airships of 1897. Featuring exhaustive research and numerous tables, illustrations, and maps, Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery is a startling addition to the history of flight.
NYMZA and the Sonora Aero Club
Hopefully, you have began to notice the trend. Multiple groups all over the world were working on exactly this kind of airship with military applications in mind. Thus providing plenty of evidence to explain the mystery as man made. But, I promised you an international group. And for that evidence we have to turn to an author named Walter Bosley who broke the story with his primary research on NYMZA and the Sonora Aero Club. This story is far more obscure than the ones above and far more interesting. The Sonora Aero Club is disputed to have even existed at all, but the accounts behind its mythology are rooted in some verified information that was even covered by The Atlantic. I offer this tidbit before jumping into the details of Bosley’s work because his analysis will have us disembark into a world many will immediately recoil as far too conspiratorial to entertain. This is where the secretive high technology of the time meets the politics of the time and we face the admittedly speculative possibility that German nationalists connected to occult groups affiliated with the Nazis may have been involved in airships witnessed in the US in the 1890’s. Where’s the person that said there was no reason to keep any of this secret?
Much of the information below is adapted from a discussion Bosley had about his book ‘Empire of the Wheel II: Friends From Sonora. It’s admittedly full of speculation, but is based on evidence and primary research. Bosley had a career in FBI counterintelligence and is a private investigator. Even the skeptical article in The Atlantic concludes that there is corroborating evidence that this mysterious group may have existed, with the caveat that it “is not exactly an accurate recounting of fact.”
According to Bosley, this group which is made up of German immigrants dates back to the 1850’s in Sonora, California and were reportedly interested in antigravity machines. The more well known Germans among them were involved in finance and banking. The more mysterious group was called NYMZA. Charles Dellachau brought this group onto the limelight when his journals were inadvertently discovered. These journals by Dellschau were personal and not published. They were found in the 1970’s by a junk dealer and the subject was pursued by Peter Navarro.
According to Bosley, Dellschau describes NYMZA as an organization based in Germany and backed several flying clubs in addition to the one in California. Dellschau reportedly was sent to California on behalf of NYMZA. There are correlations to players in the 1890 airship mystery such as Solomon Andrews of the Aereon airship. Bosley points out The Kuhn brothers were backers of American railroads in the middle of the nineteenth century who came to the midwest and that the airship sightings happened to follow closely where the railroad lines were. This then leads Bosley’s research into South America where there’s gold mining occurring. He connects this to the fervent search for gold in that era and the international gold standard which started in 1873. Around this same time there was a serious German interest in South America that he connects to subsequent Nazi hideouts in the 20th century after WW2. It’s also pointed out that there was interest in gold for the gold standard and a known Nazi interest in forgotten technology in South America. Bosley claims NYMZA owned the real estate in South America the Nazi’s would later use for their ratlines. Nazis’s were obsessed with Antediluvian civilizations and occultism. This is an undeniable fact and it certainly played a part in it’s rise and decision making.
NYMZA was originally assumed by researchers to be an acronym for a NY based organization. Bosley looked for a German acronym instead in which he explains in German it’s NJMZA, but the J is turned to a Y for the English transliteration. His literal translation is roughly The Nationalist Hunting Pursuit Airship Finance Production Office. He points out the nationalist is important because it’s not national, but nationalist which was on the rise at the time and also that this is a private club. He also identifies German Hermeticists and occultists in the mix and that these guys in his opinion created the environment from which the early Nazi occultists sprang from.
Bosley believes some time in the 1870’s American associates of NYMZA broke away and a division started. He thinks by the 1890’s there were two secretive groups in the US building airships and thinks they created two rival breakaway civilizations. His interpretation of the situation is certainly interesting.
Conclusion
The airship mystery of the 1890’s has plenty of evidence to support the very logical argument that it was advanced secretive human technology for it’s era with potential military applications in mind, wealthy backers, and multiple groups across the world interested in the subject. In light of this information there is very little reason to seriously consider an extraterrestrial or ultraterrestial hypothesis for this particular mystery. It’s also interesting to note that even the extraterrestrial hypothesis was seeded back then as well as arguments of misidentification, hoax, and mass hysteria. This is a great example of not only how far back secret aeronautics groups go back in history, but also the popular public discussion around such subjects. There’s also some very interesting potential connections between these players and Nazism. Establishing those connections further requires a deeper dive into both the rise of Nazism, which requires an exploration of the related occultism, and the ratlines to South America after WW2.
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