Looking up we beheld three strange beings

The persistent attempt to make the public believe that the air in this vicinity is populated with airships.

On the evening of November 17th, R.L. Lowery looked to the heavens. The lights above were bright, moving slowly through the skies above Sacramento. More surprising was the voice. “Throw her up higher,” it demanded, “she’ll hit the steeple!” What apparently baffled Lowery the most about the situation, however, was the fact that there was no church in the vicinity. Instead, he suggested with an implied wink,  it was the nearby brewery they were concerned about clipping.

The event made the papers the following day. Both the Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Call offered reports of the phenomenon, proving that Lowery was not the only one to witness whatever had just transpired. Others heard sounds, as well, though it was more like singing than shouting. It was what was attached to the lights that truly made Lowery’s report, stand out.

Where some had described a barely visible black silhouette, he saw a cigar shaped object, carrying what appeared to be a group of passengers. Below this, a pair of men peddled with great fury, apparently propelling the object through the sky.

The account might have been remembered as a footnote, were it not for the events of November 26th, 36 miles away in Lodi. Colonel H. G. Shaw’s encounter was not limited to the sky, however – it was parked next to the road, like a carriage with a broken axle. It was a large thing – 150 feet long and 25 feet in diameter. Aside from its shape, little about it matched the description of the craft a week prior. This was entirely metallic, sharp at both ends, with little in the way of distinguishing features, save for an apparent rudder that jutted out the side.

Two years before H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds saw publication, Shaw – a Civil War veteran-turned journalist – wrote about the experience for Stockton’s Evening Mail.

“For more than a week, the papers all over the coast have been reporting the presence of an alleged airship or flying machine, which many reputable people claim to have seen on several occasions in the heavens at night,” the paper noted in a disclaimer. “Whether or not there really is such a contrivance navigating the air, the Mail is unable to satisfactorily determine, but some of the papers have taken the matter seriously and others have been disposed to make light of the statements.”

Shaw, for his part, was entirely serious. He was not alone in the encounter – if he were, he notes, he’d have kept the story to himself. In the passenger seat was Camille Spooner, a recent Nevada transplant. The pair took the horse and buggy out in search of supplies for a display at Fresno’s Citrus Fair. Around six in the evening, the horse was startled, stopping in the middle of the road.

“Looking up we beheld three strange beings,” Shaw writes. “They resembled humans in many respects, but still they were not like anything I had ever seen. They were nearly or quite seven feet high and very slender. We were both somewhat startled, as you may readily imagine, and the first impulse was to drive on. The horse, however, refused to budge, and when we saw that we were being regarded more with an air of curiosity than anything else, we concluded to get out and investigate.”

Shaw asked where the trio hailed from, receiving a “warbling” in response. They spoke among themselves for a moment, before investigating the men and their mode of transport. The Colonel seemed especially intrigued by the creatures’ feet, which were double the size of a humans and possessed with hands more akin to those of a monkey. Shaw touched one of the creatures, only to discover he was able to lift it with ease. All seven feet of the being weighted less than an ounce.

Their skin, he adds, was like velvet and their noses looked more like polished ivory. They had a small mouth and ears, large eyes and no hair. That they possessed no teeth, led him to surmise that they survived on fluid or gas. Shaw insisted that, despite the strange description, the creatures was beautiful and graceful, possessing an “indescribable beauty.”

They held out a glowing, egg-shaped object that emitted an intense light.

Under orders from what appeared to be the leader, one of the creatures tried – and failed – to lift Shaw. Their apparent abduction plans were foiled by an absence of upper body strength.  “I have a theory, which, of course, is only a theory,” Shaw added, “that those we beheld were inhabitants of Mars, who have been sent to the Earth for the purpose of securing one of its inhabitants.”

The piece concluded as it began: with a shot at lawyers, who he believed were fabricating a flurry or recent reports that followed the Sacramento sighting. “I feel safe in asserting that the stories being told by certain San Francisco attorneys are clumsy fakes, and should not be given credence by anyone.”

No less an authority in journalist malpractice than William Randolph Hearst would concur in an editorial published early the following month, writing,

"Fake journalism" has a good deal to answer for, but we do not recall a more discernible exploit in that line than the persistent attempt to make the public believe that the air in this vicinity is populated with airships. It has been manifest for weeks that the whole airship story is pure myth.

Sources:

Three Strange Visitors https://www.newspapers.com/article/91983371/

UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture by Gregory L Reece