by Charles Lear
A lot of people are familiar with the mysterious airship wave over the United States that began in 1896. Beginning in California and continuing throughout the rest of the country, people reported seeing large ships in the sky, often described as cigar-shaped and with bright lights when seen at night. There were reports of landings and meetings with human-looking occupants and most thought they were seeing the results of some great inventor’s work. The sightings were reported in many newspapers of the day and they remain an intriguing part of American history. What many people are not aware of is that, in 1909, New Zealand experienced a similar wave of sightings.
As with the American sightings, the New Zealand sightings are preserved in newspaper articles and these are an excellent means of establishing a timeline. New Zealand took a special interest in creating a national archive to preserve its newspapers and there is a wealth of material available to researchers at paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. A 2015 article written by Bryan Dickeson that appears on the UFO Focus New Zealand Research Network website, goes into detail about the news coverage. He noted how researchers have consistently favored the coverage by northern island sources and that this has resulted in the loss of important details as the first sightings occurred on the south island. The very first sighting was reported in the July 13, 1909 edition of the Clutha Free Press, but Dickeson described being unable to find the original article after a 25-year search. Fortunately, enough of the article was reprinted in other papers, that he was able to reconstruct it.
The article begins with a statement regarding the witness’ credibility:
“A resident of Stirling whose veracity we have always been accustomed to look upon as absolutely unimpeachable called upon us yesterday with the story of a strange light seen in the sky over the Wangaloa Hills on Sunday night.”
The witness described the light as “a white light with a reflector” and that it changed altitude and direction seeming to move “with as much ease, and even grace, as a bird on the wing.” He stated that he and others with him, thought they could make out an opaque outline and he came to the conclusion that they had witnessed an airship making an experimental flight.
