1896 city map section of Dublin, TX showing crash site at W. R. Wasson Flour Mill & Cotton Gin in lower left hand corner.

The recent sightings near Stephenville and Dublin, Erath County, Texas, have sparked a new or renewed sense of wonder in many hearts and minds not only in the immediate area, but across the country and world. Some of the "old timers" of ufology are a bit amazed that the Erath phenomena are being taken so seriously by the routine media, whereas twenty years ago television reporters would have at least given a humorous wink with their story, if not total ridicule. The times are a changing. The Erath event in January 2008 was witnessed by many conservative Christian farmers and folks in a rural community, but also by university professors, respected business people and law enforcement officers. There are yet many more that will not go on record as witnesses because of past connotations associated with being a "UFO nut" for those with the courage to come forward. However, this latest occurrence could truly be a turning point in how the general public and mainstream science begins to perceive the possibility of extraterrestrial or extra-dimensional visitations, whatever they may turn out to be. In the minds of many nonbelievers, MUFON has proven to be a scientifically viable organization, handling the investigation in a professional manner with no bias and drawing no conclusions as to what it was.

So what about the military flip flop on the recent event? It is also a bit unique for a sighting. Air Force Major Karl Lewis of the 301st Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Ft. Worth essentially admitted a short-term cover up of the phenomenon. He initially said that it most likely was an illusion caused by setting sunlight reflecting off of two commercial airliners. He stated later that he should not have said anything like that. Lewis also admitted disinformation when professing that the Air Force did not have any military operations in the area at that time. He supposedly wasn't in the loop and later said that a communications error led him to not know that there were ten F-16 fighter jets over Stephenville that night. How often does the U.S. military have ten F-16s in an exercise over a populated area? Being a resident of Stephenville myself for about 25 years, I recall military jets flying over town about three or four times a year, and then only a single plane or two at the most. Nothing has been stated why the military, both large Army helicopters refueling at the municipal airport, confirmed F-14 Navy Tomcats, confirmed F-16s, a possible B-52 bomber and other military craft continued operations in the area were heavy for the week or two following the January 8th event. Major Lewis stated that it was just a military exercise in the Brownwood Military Operating Area (MOA) on that night, after his official initial denials. It can be easily noted on an FAA map that Stephenville and the area to the East toward Selden are well outside the MOA described. This is the area where, as pilot Steve Allen and others have described, F-16s were chasing an approximately 2000 foot long craft that traveled around an incredible speed of 3000 miles an hour, which stopped, turned, disappeared, then reappeared. It is quite understandable indeed how military officials could be confused and suffer communication problems in the wake of something this monstrous and dramatic. Almost half a mile long, a quarter mile wide, and traveling over Mach 4! That was one huge, fast vehicle, and “nothing of this world”, as Allen stated.

A long video of the craft and part of the event has surfaced on the internet, reportedly taken by David Caron. This video is posted on Angelia Joiner's website http://stephenvillelights.com. Angelia is the reporter who broke the story in the local Stephenville Empire Tribune. She was interviewed and featured in international media including Larry King Live and major network news programs, along with Allen, the businessman and pilot who first came forward with the story publicly and several others. Mainly because of my political office on the Stephenville City Council, I also was interviewed on ABC’s Good Morning America and for a future episode of History Channel’s UFO Hunters. At least fifty other credible witnesses have been interviewed by MUFON at the time of this writing. Allen and several others state that the Caron video is a true and accurate depiction of what they witnessed, but that the craft traveled very fast at one point. The video seems to show the object prior to the time it was being chased by F-16s and its disappearance. The multicolored lights appear to be laser or plasma in nature, but that is left to interpretation, and they look like neon worms dancing in the night sky. Was this an extraterrestrial craft, plasma craft from our future, inter-dimensional portal ship, or just a bunch of laser lights on some type of cloaking device of a military stealth-type secret weapon? It certainly happened, what ever it was, and may never be fully disclosed or vetted publicly.

There are now other reports of Erath county sightings coming in, or being released to the public. A small, dark oval with multicolored lights traveling up the Bosque river, then hovering over a group of about twenty college students by an evening campfire occurred in March of 1982. There was absolutely no noise or wind as would be expected from even a "silent" helicopter. As the object hovered, it was not an airplane. The object accelerated at great speed up at an angle after hovering for over a minute. Another craft, exactly as described by Allen and the current witnesses, was reported to the sheriff of Erath County in 1969 by several local residents. Nothing was investigated. Other events and crafts have been spotted over the years, some relating to the many diaries in the area (Erath is the largest dairy county in Texas and seventh in the nation). Some events have been tied to Native American activities near the border with Comanche County on Erath's West side, others to the Comanche Peak nuclear plant near Glen Rose, and even more around abandoned military bases in the area. Is North Texas a hotbed of activity? If so, why? How long has this been going on? A follow-up study is being done on events passed down through the ages witnessed by members of the Comanche and Cherokee tribes in the area. Sightings are still reported from these Native Americans today. More to come on this.

The event recently uncovered about the 1891 crash may be the oldest on record in modern times (read attached transcription). This craft was spotted and exploded in Dublin in 1891, a full six years before the Aurora, Texas crash and subsequent burial of an assumed ET entity. The Aurora event, along with the Texas Ships of the 1890s, has been well documented and reported often. It may be surmised by some that the Aurora incident and other sightings around 1897 are attributed to the testing of dirigibles. The Dallas Morning News reported in 1897 that Stephenville farmer C. L. McIlhany (for whom a street in town is now named) actually spoke with the pilot and engineer of one of grounded airships. Their names were S.E. Tilman and A.E. Dolbear, and they were experimenting with the dirigible for an investment group out of New York. "They are confident that they have achieved a great success and that within a short time navigation of the air will be an assured fact," said McIlhany. Between April 13 and 17, 1897, there were 38 reported sightings of "airships" in 23 counties, mostly in North Central Texas, the location of Erath County. The late 1890s were also a busy time for dirigible invention testing across Europe. The “Golden Age” of airships did not actually begin until 1900. The bicycle making Wright brothers first flew in 1903. However, the descriptions of the 1891 incident do not match any possible connection to dirigible testing, and the Dublin crash appears to never have been reported, at least on a widespread scale.

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