For this week’s political primary-free Tigwissel Tuesdays, we look at one of the earliest modern UFO sightings — and quite possibly the earliest to be lampooned by cartoonists — the Illinois UFO Mania of 1897.

Above, a close-up from the cartoon, Appearance of the Air Ship is verified from Various Localities (in full, below). Click on the below cartoon, to enlarge its detail, and to see that the various “astronomers” pointing their “telescopes” at the mysterious air-ship are, in truth, all sticking their faces into giant bottles of alcohol…! (With the exception of one person, who is “viewing” the air-ship via an opium pipe.)

The above & below cartoons, come from a scrapbook of early 1897 Chicago-area cartoons (mostly clipped from the Chicago Tribune).

Beneath, a second cartoon depicting the incident, titled A Day with the Air-Ship.

Click on the above & below pictures, to enlarge the cartoons and view them in detail.

Doug Wheeler

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