In 1897, the tiny town of Aurora, Texas reported a mysterious airship crash — complete with wreckage, a pilot “not of this world,” and a grave said to hold the remains of an extraterrestrial visitor. This episode dives into the legend, the newspaper article that started it, and what really happened on that quiet Texas morning.
Episode Summary
Long before Roswell, before Area 51, and before UFOs became pop-culture icons, there was Aurora. In April 1897, a Dallas Morning News report claimed that a strange, cigar-shaped airship collided with a windmill on a rural farm. The wreckage was scattered, the townspeople were shocked, and the pilot — described as “not an inhabitant of this world” — was buried in the local cemetery.
The story spread nationwide. Skeptics dismissed it. Believers embraced it. And over time, Aurora became one of the earliest and most enduring UFO legends in American history.
But the truth behind the story is far more tangled: a town hit hard by disease, crop failure, a collapsing economy, and a railroad that never came. Some say the alien crash was a hoax — a desperate attempt to save a dying town. Others insist the grave once held something real before it mysteriously disappeared.
This episode breaks down the original 1897 article, the inconsistencies in the eyewitness accounts, the cemetery controversy, and why a single newspaper story has managed to keep Aurora on the map for more than a century.
Quick Facts
Location: Aurora, Texas
Date of Event: April 17, 1897
Source of the Legend: Dallas Morning News article by S.E. Haydon
Reported Details: Airship crash, destroyed windmill, recovered “alien” pilot, buried remains
Controversy: The grave marker vanished; modern research suggests a hoax or satirical article
Episode Runtime: 5:23
Primary Sources:
- Dallas Morning News (1897)
- Newspapers.com archival research
- Local interviews and historical markers
- MUFON reports and cemetery investigations
Behind the Story
I traveled to the Aurora Cemetery and the farm site where the crash allegedly occurred, much of which has changed since 1897. Standing among the quiet headstones, it’s easy to understand how a small town burdened by hardship might grab hold of a story this strange — or invent one. Visiting the site firsthand gives the legend a weight that’s impossible to feel from a distance, and it highlights how folklore lives on long after the facts fade.
Credits & Sources
- Historic newspaper clipping courtesy of the Dallas Morning News
- Additional 19th-century newspaper archives via Newspapers.com
- All modern cemetery and location footage captured on location in Aurora, Texas
- Images and archival materials belong to their respective owners
- Stock footage licensed through Envato Elements