April 16th, 1897, around 2 o'clock in the morning. A night watchman in the town of

Paris, Texas is coming home late from work.

As he's letting his dog out, the Night Watchman

catches sight of something strange and unsettling in the sky.

A giant luminous cloud is moving toward his house.

A little freaked out, he runs across the street to alert his neighbor,

and together they look up. In horror they see a 200

foot long ship slicing through the air. His neighbor describes it as like the

return of Noah's Ark with wing-like attachments.

And these two were not the only ones who saw strange lights flashing above the sky in the west. Between 1896 and

1897, unusual flying objects were reported in newspapers all over California,

Texas, and Oklahoma.

Some onlookers described a cigar-shaped craft

with a searchlight brighter than the moon.

Others saw indistinct shadow objects moving at a chilling unnatural speed.

In any case, the day after Noah's arc, the sequel, was spotted in Paris, Texas,

that thing, whatever it was, the sequel was spotted in Paris, Texas,

that thing, whatever it was,

would touch down in the small nearby town of Aurora.

And this crash landing would transform the town forever.

I'm Amanda McGowan and this is Atlas Obscura,

a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and

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