1897 UFO Encounter in Jenny Lind, Arkansas

By Margie Kay

May 4, 1897 – Jenny Lind, Arkansas. 7:30 PM

The entire community gazed skyward as an enigmatic airship cut through the twilight, traveling from northeast to southwest. This wasn't some distant glimmer or remote dot—it descended close enough, tangible enough, that three local cyclists mounted their bicycles and pursued it.

They overtook it when it touched down near a spring, approximately three miles beyond town.

What transpired next resembles something from a science fiction story… yet it was documented as factual news in 1897.

Two human-appearing occupants emerged. They communicated in flawless English. They identified themselves as: Joseph Eddleman & George Autzerlitz (occasionally spelled Auzterlitz).

The individuals claimed they were engaged in "catching birds" — and that they consumed birds they overtook and captured mid-flight while airborne.

One occupant informed the astonished cyclists he was simply pursuing birds. Then they extended an extraordinary proposition:

"Want a ride?"

One of the three locals agreed. He was transported aboard and flown approximately 13-15 miles to Huntington, Arkansas, in what must have been an extraordinarily rapid journey for that period.

The account appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on May 5, 1897. It originated from a letter by two Jenny Lind residents, who urged the publication to confirm it with R.M. McDowell, general manager of the Western Coal and Mining Company. McDowell verified he recognized the individuals involved but stated the entire incident was "very strange."

This wasn't some rural fabrication published in a minor local newspaper. It generated regional attention during the extensive 1896–1897 Mystery Airship Wave—hundreds of observations across the U.S. of cigar-shaped vessels with illumination, propellers, and human-like operators.

Jenny Lind wasn't isolated. That spring, comparable accounts emerged from California to Texas to the Midwest:

·         Grounded airships with operators repairing equipment or collecting water

·         Occupants providing peculiar names and stranger justifications

·         Propositions of rides

·         Vessels that exceeded anything known technology could accomplish in 1897 (decades before the Wright brothers' initial flight)

Doubters at the time (and presently) labeled it mass delusion, fabrications, or newspaper exaggeration. Believers reference the substantial volume of consistent descriptions from unconnected witnesses.

Most 1897 -1915 airship accounts were remote observations. Jenny Lind represents one of the uncommon close encounters with interaction—dialogue, names provided, a passenger transported aboard, and a confirmable destination (Huntington). The witnesses were ordinary residents in a small Arkansas coal mining community, not recognized hoaxers.

Did three individuals genuinely pursue an unknown vessel on bicycles, converse with its bird-consuming pilots, and observe one of their companions get transported away?

We may never determine conclusively. But the account has persisted in UFO documentation for over a century, referenced in publications like Jerome Clark's The Unidentified and Philip L. Rife's It Didn't Start with Roswell.