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You're listening to episode 279 of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World.

Where we look at mysteries from the twin perspectives of faith and reason.

In this episode, we're talking about the mystery airships of the 1890s.

I'm Dom Betanelli and joining me today is Jimmy Akin.

Hey Jimmy, howdy Dom. At the end of the year 1896, residents of California were startled

to see an unknown airship appearing in their skies. This was before the Wright Brothers

conducted their first powered flight in 1903, and although balloons had been used for years,

these new airships displayed unusual flight characteristics that were

beyond other craft in their day. In recent years, many have proposed that the wave of the 1890s

airships were early UFO sightings that heralded contact with extraterrestrials.

But others have said that it was all a giant hoax. What's the truth about the 1890s airship mystery?

Was it aliens? Was it a hoax? Or was it something else?

That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World.

So Jimmy, what do we need to say to begin?

Today's episode is the first part of a two-parter. Today we'll be discussing the origins of the 1890s

airship mystery and we'll go a good way towards solving it. We'll be looking at many of the theories

regarding them and we'll be able to eliminate most of the theories as good general

explanations of the reports, but not all. So next week we'll go back to the very beginning of the

mystery looking at the earliest reports and seeing whether we can solve it completely.

...