Sighting record / 1897
Garland County, Arkansas. A rainy night in May 1897. Constable John J. Sumpter and Deputy Sheriff John McLemore were riding outside Hot Springs when a brilliant light appeared high in the heavens. It vanished. Then it came back, lower, descending behind a hill. Their horses refused to go on. Ahead stood a cigar-shaped craft about 60 feet long, with figures moving around it carrying lights. A man with a long dark beard stepped forward holding a lantern. The stranger said they were traveling through the country on an airship, and offered the lawmen a ride to where it was not raining. They declined. Both officers later swore they saw it.
In the spring of 1897, America was watching the sky. A wave of mystery airship reports had been building since 1896, and newspapers printed engravings of the craft people claimed to see. Near Texarkana, J. F. Floyd reported "a huge ball of fire." Railroad conductor Capt. Jim Hooton described meeting a landed airship and its pilot. Then came Hot Springs.