The Aurora Crash
Date: April 17, 1897
Location: Aurora, Texas, United States
The first reported UFO crash of modern times occurred in 1897 in Aurora, Texas. It was in the early hours of April 17 when local judge J.S. Proctor was awoken by a loud, explosive sound coming from outside his house. When Proctor walked out of his house, he noticed debris scattered all over his property, and saw that an object had hit the windmill next to his house. Proctor described the debris found on his property as being metallic, similar to aluminum. Many people from all over Aurora began gathering around his house, as they too had heard the explosion.
With several witnesses reporting seeing the debris, some even seeing an extraterrestrial body, word of the crash spread quickly. By the time authorities arrived at the scene, a portion of the debris had already been dumped in the well, which was situated below the windmill. The remaining debris was buried with the alien body, which had allegedly been found at the crash site. Although many have questioned whether an alien body was truly recovered from the site, a number of witnesses reported seeing the humanoid body. Investigations at the local cemetery also revealed a grave marker locating where the alien body had been buried.
The people of Aurora placed a large stone with a flying saucer engraved on it at the grave where the humanoid body was allegedly buried. A proper funeral and burial also took place. S.E. Haydon, writer for The Dallas Morning News wrote the following on the front page of the newspaper on April 19, 1897: “About 6 o’clock this morning the early risers of Aurora were astonished at the sudden appearance of the airship that has been sailing through the country.
“It was traveling due north, and much closer to the ground than ever before. Evidently some of the machinery was out of order, for it was making a speed of only ten or twelve miles an hour and gradually settling toward the earth. It sailed directly over the public square, and when it reached the north part of the town collided with the tower of Judge Proctor’s windmill and went to pieces with a terrific explosion, scattering debris over several acres of ground, wrecking the windmill and water tank and destroying the judge’s flower garden.
“The pilot of the ship is supposed to have been the only one on board, and while his remains are badly disfigured, enough of the original has been picked up to show that he was not an inhabitant of this world.
“Mr. T. J. Weems, the United States signal service officer at this place and an authority on astronomy, gives it as his opinion that he was an inhabitant of the planet Mars. Papers found on his person—evidently the record of his travels—are written in some unknown hieroglyphics and cannot be deciphered.
“The ship was too badly wrecked to form any conclusion as to its construction or motive power. It was built of an unknown metal, resembling somewhat a mixture of aluminum and silver, and it must have weighed several tons.
“The town is full of people to-day who are viewing the wreck and gathering specimens of the strange metal from the debris. The pilot’s funeral will take place at noon tomorrow.” 81
Eyewitness Reports
Since this incident occurred over a century ago, authorities did not carry out an investigation, or if they had done so, there are no records indicating it. With that being said, witnesses were tracked down and interviewed by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in 1973. The two witnesses interviewed were Charlie Stephens and Mary Evans, who were both young at the time and recalled their parents visiting the crash site.
Jim Stephens, father of the then ten-year-old Charlie, was one of the individuals who went to the crash site after he had seen a bright light, followed by a fire on Proctor’s property. Charlie recalled that in the early hours of the morning, his father noticed a large fire emerging from more than three miles away. Once his father arrived at the scene, he reported seeing metallic-like fragments scattered all over the ground. When interviewed by the MUFON investigative team, Charlie did not recall his father mentioning having seen any alien bodies. On the other hand, Mary Evans, who was fifteen years old at the time, recalled her parents telling her that they had seen a torn alien body beside the metallic debris, which was scattered all over Proctor’s property. Evans explained how the metallic fragments were compared to aluminum, and also that a funeral was going to be held for the alien body, which was found at the site.
Although Charlie’s father did not recall seeing an alien body at the crash site, this was confirmed not only by the article Haydon wrote just a couple of days later, but also by Aurora Town Marshal H.R. Idell. Perhaps the most credible witness of this case is Idell, who confirmed that a stone with a flying saucer was indeed placed upon the humanoid’s grave as a marker. He also confirmed to the MUFON team that, before it was stolen, the marker had been there for over fifty years and that this was not a fabrication of any kind.
The Debris
In 1973, Bill Case, the director for MUFON and an author for the Dallas Times, initiated an investigation to determine whether this story was simply part of Aurora’s folklore, or something otherworldly. The investigation did, indeed, prove that an explosion had occurred and that the recovered debris displayed unusual characteristics.
Before discussing the findings of the analysis, it is important to note that the goal behind this investigation was not to prove whether the metallic debris was extraterrestrial or not, but rather to find out if the crash had truly happened. Using highly sophisticated metal detectors, the MUFON team was able to locate metal fragments just 100 meters from the crash site. John F. Schuessler, an aerospace engineer and a director for MUFON wrote the following: “From all indications there was definitely an explosion. The pattern established by metals recovered indicates the craft exploded on the lower right side, first blowing bits and pieces over a two- or three-acre area east and northeast of the well site on top of a rocky limestone hill. Immediately, the rest of the craft exploded, throwing other samples to the north and west.” 82
The metal sample was analyzed using x-ray fluorescence, soft x-ray spectroscopy, and optical metallography. These three methods showed that the metal had unusual properties when compared to regular aluminum. The analysis showed that the metal contained large grains, indicating that the metal had melted, and then proceeded to cool back down. This detail proved the material was exposed to temperatures that were high enough to cause metal to melt. Moreover, the analysis also showed that the metal had an unusually high purity level of aluminum and only a slight presence of iron. The reason why this finding is unusual is due to the fact that the commercial aluminum that we are all familiar with, which contains iron, is also composed of copper and zinc. The absence of these elements indicate that the metal was unconventional.
A more recent investigation, carried out by the television series UFO Hunters in 2008, came to even more interesting and remarkable findings. During the investigation, Tim Oates, the grandson of Brawley Oates (who was the current owner of the property previously owned by Proctor) was interviewed and gave the investigative team permission to unseal the well to take a water sample. The sample taken from the well, where the debris had been deposited just after the crash, was analyzed and the findings showed that it had an abnormally high level of aluminum and that the water was immensely contaminated. This revelation also indicated, or rather provided a reason, for why Brawley Oates developed cysts, goiters, and severe arthritis when he first moved to the property.
The Grave
As part of the investigation, the MUFON team also searched the local cemetery where the humanoid remains were allegedly buried. When the team’s metal detectors were placed over the grave where the marker was located, the detectors immediately picked up a signal. So far in the investigation, it was apparent that the crash truly did happen. However, in order to prove or disprove whether an alien body was truly buried or not, the investigators needed to exhume the grave.
Since the MUFON team had been granted permission from the cemetery association to investigate the grave, they assumed that they would also be granted permission to exhume the grave. Upon requesting access, not only did the association deny them permission, but they also denied them further access to the cemetery altogether. Making the situation even more suspicious was the fact that in their last visit to the cemetery, the MUFON team was unable to locate the grave marker and they also noted that there was a three-inch wide pipe going into the grave. Furthermore, when the metal detector was placed over the grave, no signals were picked up, indicating that the metal that was buried in the grave had been transported elsewhere.
Conclusion
Did the cemetery association remove the debris and perhaps the body from the grave site because the investigative team was too close to reaching the truth? More importantly, what had been buried in the grave that was so secretive that the investigators were denied permission to exhume it? Having no other option, the MUFON team had to terminate the investigation.
Although the investigators did not have sufficient evidence to prove that an alien body was buried in the grave, they were able to prove that a crash did indeed happen, and the analysis of the debris showed that the metal had unconventional characteristics.
With that being said, we must keep in mind that this incident occurred over a century ago and thus, the evidence is scarce. Although we cannot come to any definite conclusions, the following factors support the story that local residents have recounted for over a century; the story of how an interplanetary aircraft crashed and, together with the debris, an alien body was recovered:
1. Metal fragments were retrieved from the crash site, just 100 meters away from the windmill where the unidentified object had allegedly crashed.
2. The metal sample showed that it was exposed to high temperatures, proving that it was involved in an explosion.
3. The analysis of the metal and water samples showed that the debris had an unusually high aluminum purity level. The high aluminum levels were also the reason why Brawley Oates had developed severe arthritis, goiters and cysts.
4. The presence of a grave marker was confirmed by the town marshal, the eyewitnesses and the MUFON investigative team. The marker was a large stone with a flying saucer engraved on it.
5. The metal detectors proved that metal was buried in the grave.
6. After MUFON were denied access from exhuming the grave, the metal detectors were no longer able to detect any signals when placed over the grave, indicating that whatever was buried in the grave had been placed elsewhere.