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March 26, 1880 Lamy, New Mexico, USA, four people:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

The newspaper Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, for March 29, 1880, headlined that a mysterious aerial phenomenon appeared at Galisteo Junction. Three or four people apparently reported that a balloon of "monsterous" size, fish-shaped, propelled and directed by a fan, probably from Asia, was visible overhead, and that there were 8 to 10 people on board, normal human beings, singing and talking in a foreign language, and music, as if there was some party. After a while, it rose up and departed to the east at fast speed. Elegantly-drawn characters were discerned on the outside of the balloon, but not understood and thus the newspaper speculated that it must have been an air ship from Asia.

Moreover, allegedly, people on board the balloon's car tossed out stuff that was picked up by the alleged witnesses. Apparently, the stuff was a beautiful flower with some silk-like paper with characters which reminded the witnesses of designs they had seen on Japanese tea chests.

The next morning, a cup was also found. The witnesses had seen it thrown out of the balloon but failed to locate in the darkness. The newspaper reported the cup to be of very peculiar workmanship, entirely different to anything used in the United states. The items were allegedly put on display.

A week later, the same newspaper reported that the mystery is solved: the balloon, or "Aerial Monster", was the first of a regular line of airships from China to America. A party of tourists which included a wealthy young Chinaman had stopped in the vicinity. The young man was excited on seeing the articles dropped from the airship and on display at the station, because among them was a note in his fiancée's hand. He of course could read it and thus he explained that Chinese experiments in flying had succeeded and the airship which crossed the skies of Galisteo Junction was actually the first flight of a China-to-America airlines. That claimed had already been made previously in US newspaper.

In the sixties, ufologists found about the newspapers articles and their nonsensical claims, and quite generally unaware of the sensationalistic claims so usual in the press of the time, called the story almost anything from secret US inventors revolutionary secret blimps to alien UFO landing to paranormal intervention and the so-called wealthy young China man who bought the flower and the tea cup was even considered as one of these "Men-in-Black" from some other realm of reality who are supposedly engaged in the "confiscation of the hard evidence for UFOs".

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. jv1:] JACQUES VALLEE:

Jacques Vallée indicates in his catalogue of UFO landing cases that on March 26, 1880, in the evening, in Lamy, New Mexico, four men walking near Galisteo Junction were surprised as they heard voices coming from a "strange balloon," which flew over them. It was shaped like a fish and seemed to be guided by a large fanlike device. There were eight to ten figures aboard. Their language was not understood. The object flew low over Galisteo Junction and rose rapidly toward the east.

Vallée indicates as source "FSR 65, 3."

[Ref. cc1:] JEROME CLARK AND LOREN COLEMAN:

The authors indicate that on March 26, 1880 was a quiet Friday night in tiny Galisteo Junction, N. Mex. (now the town of Lamy). The train from nearby Santa Fe had come and gone and the railroad agent, his day's work finished, routinely locked up the depot and set out with a couple of friends for a short walk.

Suddenly they heard voices which seemed to be coming from the sky. The men looked up to see an object, "monstrous in size," rapidly approaching from the west, flying so low that elegantly-drawn characters could be discerned on the outside of the peculiar vehicle. Inside, the occupants, who numbered 10 or so and looked like ordinary human beings, were laughing and shouting in an unfamiliar language and the men on the ground also heard music coming from the craft. The craft itself was "fish-shaped" - like a cigar with a tail - and it was driven by a huge "fan" or propeller.

As it passed overhead one of the occupants tossed some objects from the car. The depot agent and his friends recovered one item almost immediately, a beautiful flower with a slip of fine silk-like paper containing characters which reminded the men of designs they had seen on Japanese chests which held tea.

Soon thereafter the aerial machine ascended and sailed away toward the east at high speed.

The next morning searchers found a cup - one of the items the witnesses had seen thrown out of the craft but had been unable to locate in the darkness.

"It is of very peculiar workmanship," the Santa Fe Daily New Mexican reported, "entirely different to anything used in this country."

The depot agent took the cup and the flower and put them on display. Before the day was over, however, this physical evidence of the passage of the early unidentified object had vanished.

In the evening a mysterious gentleman identified only as a "collector of curiosities" appeared in town, examined the finds, suggested they were Asiatic in origin and offered such a large sum of money for them that the agent had no choice but to accept. The "collector" scooped up his purchases and never was seen again.

[Ref. cc3:] JEROME CLARK AND LOREN COLEMAN:

In a continuation of their article in [cc1], the authors discuss the case of one Dellschau who claimed that real airship were secretly being built by some kind of secret organization of aeronauts who lived and worked in the United States and possibly Germany as well during the 19th Century. They note that this is unlikely, but also that the mysterious "collector of curiosities" who showed up in Galisteo Junction, in 1880 the day after an airship had flown over, and stole away with the evidence it had left behind may have been associated with that organization.

[Ref. cf1:] JEROME CLARK AND LUCIUS FARISH:

The two ufologists write that a first known mystery airship in the U.S. passed over Galisteo Junction, now Lamy, New Mexico, on March 26, 1880. The craft's 10 occupants were of normal appearance and they dropped a flower, a cup, and a slip of fine silk-like paper overboard, and then flew away. The next day a man who identified himself as a "collector of curiosities" arrived on the scene and disappeared with this physical evidence of the passage of an early unidentified flying object.

[Ref. cc2:] JEROME CLARK AND LOREN COLEMAN:

The authors publish in their 1975 book the report as was in [cc1]. About another case of "voices in the sky" from airship people, they note that the alleged witnesses in that case have maybe not heard of "Galisteo Junction's merry pranksters."

[Ref. mb1:] MICHEL BOUGARD:

The author indicates that on March 26, 1880 a machine in the shape of a fish was seen in Lamy in New Mexico. It flew over four witnesses who managed to detect occupants speaking in an incomprehensible language, before it quickly disappeared.

[Ref. mb2:] MICHEL BOUGARD:

The author indicates that on March 26, 1880, in Lamy, New Mexico, four men who walked in the evening close to Galisteo Junction were surprised to hear voices coming from a strange balloon flying above them, which had the shape of a fish and seemed guided by a system resembling a ventilator. There were apparently eight to ten characters on board who expressed themselves in an language incomprehensible for the witnesses. The UFO passed at a low altitude above Galisteo Junction and quickly rose towards the est.

[Ref. yn1:] YVES NAUD:

Yves Naud indicates that on March 26, 1880, in Lamy, New Mexico, four men heard a voice coming from a strange balloon; which flew above them. According to these witnesses, it had the shape of a fish and seemed guided by a mysterious navigator, and there was eight or ten people on board, speaking an incomprehensible language. The balloon flew at low altitude then rose quickly towards the East.

[Ref. pm1:] PAUL MAUCLAIR:

The author indicates that on March 26, 1880, in Lamy, in New Mexico, United States, an aerial apparatus in the shape of fish was spotted, flying so low and so slow that the witnesses had time to see occupants inside and even to hear them speak in obviously "incomprehensible" language.

[Ref. tb1:] THOMAS E. BULLARD:

Folklore specialist and ufologist Thomas Bullard indicates that several precocious flying machines sailed the skies during 1880. In late March several citizens of the unlikely place of Galisteo Junction, New Mexico heard voices overheard and saw a fish-shaped balloon driven by a fan-like apparatus.

"A cup and several other artifacts fell from the ship as it passed, but the next day a collector of curiosities, a man unknown in town, appeared and paid a large sum of money for the items."

The story ends on this note of mystery, BUT THE FOLLOWING WEEK another installment CLARIFIED THESE STRANGE PROCEEDINGS.

A party of tourists which included a wealthy young Chinaman stopped in the vicinity and found the stranger engaged in archaeological work. The young man grew excited on seeing the articles dropped from the airship, because among them was a note in his fiancee's hand, and he explained that CHINESE EXPERIMENTS IN FLYING HAD AT LAST SUCCEEDED, meaning the airship which crossed the skies of Galisteo Junction was THE FIRST FLIGHT OF a CHINA-TO-AMERICA airline.

[Ref. jw1:] JIMMY WARD:

The author indicates that one of the earliest man-made airship stories appeared in the Santa Fe Daily New Mexican of March 26, 1880. It told of an enormous airship that swept over this tiny town of Galisteo Junction. It was cigar shaped with a tail and was driven by a huge propeller. The occupants were described as inebriated and a couple of items were thrown overboard - a beautiful rose fastened with a slip of fine silk-like paper containing what was thought to have been "Oriental characters" and a cup "of very peculiar workmanship."

The next morning the items were on display at the railroad depot. That evening a stranger appeared, pronounced them of Asian origin and made the "owner" a financial deal he could not refuse. The man and objects then disappeared as would happen again and again in the future of UFOs.

[Ref. sr1:] SOVIAK-RUDEJ:

[Special note about this source: puzzled by the reference to a "Figure 9", not appearing with the part of the text, 2005 I asked to the editor if the original printed article really comprised a drawing relating to the apparatus, since there is no mention of such anywhere else. The editors told me what the drawing was. There was a drawing indeed, but it was a well-known drawing related to another "airship" case.]

[Ref. tp1:] T. PETER PARKS:

The authors says attempted abductions and occupant sightings date at least from 1880, and cites that witnesses near Lamy, New Mexico saw and heard a "balloon" with figures speaking an unknown language.

[Ref. dw1:] WAS ON THE WEB:

In 2004, I recorded a listing of newspaper articles about the airship mystery from a website since disappeared. The website provided the names of the newspapers, the date of publishing, and the headlines of the articles. The Galisteo Junction affair appeared in two newspaper articles.

The first was the Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, for March 29, 1880. The headline was:

"GALISTEO'S APPARITION.
Mysterious Aerial Phenomenon Appears at the Junction.
Balloon Becomes Mysteriously Visible Overhead, and After a Short Stay Departs for the East.
From Asia Probably."

The second was the Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, for April 5, 1880. The headline was:

"Solved at Last.
The Explanation of the Balloon Mystery Which Has Been Perplexing Galisteo.
The Aerial Monster, The First of a Regular Line of Air-Ships from China to America.
Special to the New Mexican."

[Ref. tp2:] T. PETER PARKS:

[Ref. ww1:] WERNER WALTER:

Werner Walter indicates that among the tradition of faked stories in the American newspapers of that time, is that of the Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican about a big balloon of the fish kind in the evening of the day before in Galisteo Junction, New Mexico, which hovered and was allegedly seen by observers on the ground on March 29, 1880. It was thereafter reported that the witnesses perceived and obtained the impression of men laughter, as if a party was taking place on board.

The balloonists also threw some junk stuff overboard, including a large paper flower of Chinese style. Under the discovered pieces, a Chinese china cup and a piece of paper with signs of Chinese writing were also allegedly found. As the newspaper reported, a local Chinese man undertook and read a translation revealing that this balloon carried a wedding party from China, via America.

Werner Walter points out that such stories still emerged thereafter just like before in the newspapers of America, and were used to divert the readers. The editors also found that very amusing and did not refrain to print fantastic fictions of this kind, that are nowadays admitted to be obscurantists, absurd and fantastic tales. He concludes that fantastic lies are an American tradition; "thus perhaps coresponsable" that America became "a half century" later "the fatherland of the flying saucers."

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Galisteo Junction, New Mexico, on March 26, 1880, at night, on a quiet Friday night three friends were taking a short walk when suddenly they heard voices, which seemed to be coming from the sky. The men looked up to see an object, "monstrous in size," rapidly approaching from the west, flying so low that elegantly-drawn characters could be discerned on the outside of the peculiar vehicle. Inside, the occupants, about 10 or so that looked like ordinary human beings, were laughing and shouting in an unfamiliar language and the men on the ground also heard music coming from the craft. The craft itself was "fish-shaped" - like a cigar with a tail - and a huge "fan" or propeller drove it. As it passed overhead one of the occupants tossed some objects from the object. Soon thereafter the aerial machine ascended and sailed away toward the east at high speed. One of the items thrown down was a beautiful flower with a slip of fine silk paper containing characters, which reminded the men of designs they had seen on Japanese chests, which held tea.

Albert Rosales indicates that the sources are Mystery Airships of the 1800's, Jacques Vallee "Passport to Magonia."

[Ref. dj1:] DONALD JOHNSON:

Donald Johnson indicates that on March 26, 1880, in Lamy, New Mexico, four men walking near Galisteo Junction in the evening were surprised as they heard voices coming from a "strange balloon," which flew over them. It was shaped like a fish and seemed to be guided by a large fanlike device. There were eight to ten figures aboard. Their language was not understood. The object flew low over Galisteo Junction and rose rapidly toward the east.

Donald Johnson indicates that the source is Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 180, citing Flying Saucer Review, May 1961; Santa Fe New Mexican, March 27, 1880.

[Ref. cm1:] CHRISTIAN MACE:

Christian Macé lists cases of "Men in Black" and indicates that on March 26, 1880, in Galisteo Junction, south of Santa-Fe, New Mexico, four men saw a UFO above their village; an object fell from there, a sort of vase covered with unintelligible hieroglyphs.

[Ref. um1:] UNMUSEUM NEWSLETTER:

The UnMuseum Newsletter for March 2006 mentions that an article in the Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican for March 29, 1880 is the first known reference to a mysterious "airship" in the press. The newsletter notes that people reported blimp-like objects piloted by humans, not extraterrestrial craft, and thus asks whether there could have been some mysterious inventors exploring aviation secretly, which "seems a very unlikely, but intriguing possibility."

[Ref. ni1:] NICAP WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on March 26, 1880; Lamy, New Mexico, in the evening, four men walking near Galisteo Junction were surprised as they heard voices coming from a "strange balloon," which flew over them. It was shaped like a fish and seemed to be guided by a large fanlike device. There were eight to ten figures aboard. Their language was not understood. The object flew low over Galisteo Junction and rose rapidly toward the East.

The source are indicated as Magonia #6, FSR 65, 3.

[Ref. jb1:] JEROME BEAU:

Jerome Beau indicates that on March 26, 1880, in the evening in Lamy (New Mexico), 4 men walking near the Junction of Galisteo were surprised by the sound of voices coming from a strange balloon, flying above them. The object has the shape of a fish and seems directed by the use of a fan. One distinguished between 8 to 10 figures on board. Their language is unknown, they speak and laugh and release over the edge various objects: a splendid flower, a paper ribbon of silk appearance with inscriptions in Asian characters, and a cup of a very odd manufacture. The object flies at low altitude above the Junction of Galisteo and disappears quickly in the direction of the East. Only a few hours after the objects were shown in the display window of a nearby station, a man arrives who states to be an amateur of curiosities. He identifies the articles as being of Asian source and offers a considerable sum of money to buy them. The deal made, he takes them away. Jerome Beau wonders whether this is a first case of Men in Black.

Jérôme Beau indicates that the source is GREPI.

[Note: GREPI is a Swiss UFO investigation group with ufologists of various profile, including excellent field investigators. In a "conspiracies" section of their website, they have an article on the so-called "Men-in-Black", unsigned but whose author is, in my opinion a Swiss ufologist/conspiracy buff, member of the GREPI, who tells many stories on Men-in-Black and so-called mysterious assassinations of ufologists, picked up from books of the John Keel or Jimmy Guieu kind and the web and generally unverified. However, the Galisteo Junction story does not appear there as of 2007, or maybe was removed previously. In any case, the story should not be alloted to GREPI per se.]

He adds as a footnote that Hershel G. Payne, a librarian of Nashville, spent many years to try to validate this story, but could not find any clue at all of the existence of a Lang family or even of August Peck having lived in the area. He concludes that the tale was a journalistic hoax created by a sales representative named Joseph Mr. Mulholland., etc.

[Note: this footnote has no relation with the case, it is about another case.]

Points to consider:

Originally named Galisteo Junction, the village of Lamy was formed in 1880 by the junction of the Santa Fe branch line with the AT&SF main line there, 18 miles from Sante Fe. It was renamed after Jean-Baptiste Lamy, a French Catholic priest who arrived in New Mexico in 1851 and became archbishop of the Territory and played a major role in the region's development. The picture on the left is the station depot mentioned in the airship story.

With this kind of old stories, it would be extremely advisable to be careful as of the interpretations to be made. But many ufologists do not care about that, and these stories become like Rohrshach tests that each one tells in his own manner as "case" for defending this or that thesis: a "UFO landing" for Jacques Valley whereas there is no landing and no UFO, ultraterrestrial UFO beings to link to visions of fairies to plead that reality itself is not real or interferes with some sort of "other dimensions" for the others, or early inventors of real airships, and on top of all story of "Men-in-Black" of the old times, by wishful thinking in order to allege that the aforementioned characters existed long before any CIA existed to confer a less "commonplace" nature to the "MIBs", as extraterrestrial or paranormal phenomena - whereas no man in black is described and some paper flower and tea cup from China hardly constitute evidence of anything from another realm or another planet that should be "confiscated".

No! Before speculating endlessly about such stories, instead of "transporting" in one's universe of personal theory about UFOs, it is advisable to check about the real context they occurred in. Here some elements that are unnoticed concerning that story.

Galisteo Junction was so named because it was indeed, literally, a junction, between two railroad lines, the terminus of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. Railroad which precisely made their junction there when the construction was done in 1880.

And what kind of "strange" people likely to speak an "unintelligible" language and write some "hieroglyphs" quite as unintelligible built the railroad? People from another planet? "Men-In-Black"? Not as all; Chinese workers, of course!

What was the press of the time worth in terms of credibility? Nothing. In the times of the wild, wild West, between miracle cures, extraordinary flying machines, airship lines between China and America with tickets sold to the gullible before the aforementioned airship existed, various monsters, ghost, treasures, oil snake men, to take in the literal sense a story in a local newspaper of the time is too naive. What probably occurred? A story of some Chinese objects found or stolen somewhere, and some rumors on mysterious "Asian" foreigners who dropped them from a balloon, probably a made-up background story for what might have been some swindle around Asian objects to sell to naive visitors, an extraordinary story to the support of the objects to sell them for the best price. Admitted, there is no "evidence" in support of this line of explanation, but is there any evidence that the story is about aliens, time traveler, secret inventors, men in black?

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Journalistic hoax.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? Article in the newspaper Sante Fe Weekly New Mexican, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, March 29, 1880.
• [---] ? Article in the newspaper Sante Fe Weekly New Mexican, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, April 4, 1880.
• [---] ? Article in the ufology magazine Flying Saucer Review (FSR), U-K., May 1961.
• [---] ? "An 1880 UFO, article by Lucius Farish in the ufology magazine Flying Saucer Review (FSR), U-K., May-June 1965.
• [jv1] * "Passport to Magonia - On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds", book by Jacques Vallée, Contemporary Books publisher, USA, page 180, 1969.
• [cc1] * "Mystery Airships of the 1800's", article by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman, in Fate magazine, USA, May 1973.
• [cc3] * "Mystery Airships of the 1800's", continued, article by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman, in Fate magazine, USA, June 1973.
• [cf1] * "The Phantom Airship of 1913", article by Jerome Clark and Lucius Farish, in Saga's UFO Report, USA, Volume 1, #6, page 36, Summer 1974.
• [cc2] * "The Unidentified", book by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman, Warner Paperback Library publisher, USA, pp 130-131, 1975.
• [mb1] * "Des Soucoupes Volantes Aux OVNIS", book by Michel Bougard, Jean-Pierre Delarge - SOBEPS publisher, France, page 15, 1976.
• [mb2] * "La Chronique des OVNI", book by Michel Bougard, Delarge publisher, France, page 140, 1977.
• [yn1] * "Les OVNIS et les Extraterrestres Dans l'Histoire", Volume 2, book by Yves Naud, page 220, Famot publisher, Switzerland, 1977.
• [---] ? "Le Triangle des Bermudes, Base Secrète des OVNI", book by Jean Prachan, Belfond publisher, France, page 146, 1978.
• [pm1] * "Le Mystère des OVNIS", book by Paul Mauclair, Vernoy publisher, France, pp 156-157, 1979.
• [tb1] * "Mysteries in the Eye of the Beholder", chapter 10 in "Loose in an Airship - The Age of Phantom Dirigibles and Ghost Airplanes, 1880-1946", doctoral thesis by Thomas E. Bullard, USA, page 205, 1982.
• [jw1] * "The Great Airship Inventors - Fact and Fancy", article by Jimmy Ward, in Aero club in the mid 1850, part 6, page 2, December 1, 1991.
• [sr1] * "Cloud Cigars and Cigar Shaped UFOs", article by Sowiak-Rudej, in the ufology bulletin UFO REPORTER, UFO Research New South Wales, Australia, Volume 1, #2, June 1992.
• [tp1] * "Good-Bye Mermaids, Hello Crop Circles? - Part I", by T. Peter Park, on the Forteana List, 2004.
• [---] ? "UFOs Over Galisteo and Other Stories of New Mexico's History, paper by Robert J. Torrez, University of New Mexico Press, USA, 2004.
• [dw1] * "The Mystery Airship Log", newspaper articles listing, was in 2004 at members.bainbridge.net/~cflood/TheArchives/index.htm
• [tp2] * "Re: Cultural origins of Men in Black?", message by T. Peter Park, February 18, 2005, at www.mail-archive.com/mythfolk@yahoogroups.com/msg00075.html
• [ww1] * "UFO-Historie: Die Airship-Saga, bevor die UFOs kamen - Essay zum Oster-CR: Von der Antigravitation bis hin zur Zeitmaschine", article by Werner Walter, in his bulletin CENAP Report, Germany, #304, April 2005.
• [ar1] * "Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2005, electronic document.
• [dj1] * "Encounters with Aliens on this Day - March 26", web page compiled by Donald Johnson, USA, circa 2005, at www.ufoinfo.com/onthisday/March26.html
• [cm1] * "Les MIB - Les Hommes En Noir, les Extraterrestres qui Sont Parmi Nous", web page by Christian Macé, France, October 2005.
• [jb1] * "1880", web page compiled by Jérôme Beau, France, circa 2005, at www.rr0.org/data/1880/index.html
• [um1] * The UnMuseum Newsletter, USA, mars 2006.
• [ni1] * "Pre-1947; 19th Century UFO Sighting Chronology", web page on the NICAP Website, USA, December 17, 2006.

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