by Noe Torres
The Real
Cowboys
& Aliens
UFO Encounters of the Old West
By
Noe Torres and John LeMay
Illustrated by
Jared Olive and Neil Riebe
2nd Edition
Edinburg, Texas
© 2012 by Noe Torres and John LeMay. All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1477501894
ISBN-10: 1477501894
2nd Edition
Front Cover Art by Joe Calkins of CerberusArt.com
Chapter Heading Illustrations by Neil Riebe
Printed in the United States of America
To all the amazing monsters, fictional and otherwise, that gave us cold sweats and kept us awake at night as kids.
Contents
Introduction
1. Rocky Mountain UFO Explosion (1864)
2. The Flying Serpent (1873)
3. The Farmer and the Flying Saucer (1878)
4. The Ghost Lights of Marfa, Texas (1883)
5. The Cowboys Saw a UFO Crash (1884)
6. Bigfoot From Outer Space (1888)
7. The Pterodactyl That Terrorized Tombstone (1890)
8. UFO Explodes Over Texas Cotton Gin (1891)
9. The Crawfordsville Flying Monster (1891)
10. The Underwater UFO (1893)
11. The Mysterious Airships of 1896
12. The Second Airship Wave (1897)
13. Alien Body Recovered in North Texas (1897)
14. Alien Cattle Rustlers (1897)
Afterword: The Cactus That Ate the World
About The Artists
Bibliography
Introduction
From the beginning of time, human beings have seen strange things in the sky. For example, the Bible tells the story of the prophet Ezekiel seeing an astonishing flying object landing and blasting off right in front of him. Several paintings of the Renaissance era clearly show flying saucers streaking across the sky. Also, ancient sea farers and explorers reported seeing UFOs hovering above them. Even the cowboys and ranchers of America’s Old West occasionally witnessed strange flying objects.
Many people think that the flying saucer phenomena began in the 1940s. The idea that cowboys of the Old West may have encountered aliens seems very unlikely to them. Cowboys meeting aliens seems to be a theme strictly for comic books and blockbuster movies. But in reality, there exist many newspaper and magazine accounts from the 1800s telling of strange sightings and encounters from America’s cowboy era. Included in these stories are sudden encounters with strange beings that were clearly not human.
What is especially interesting about these historic UFO sightings is that they took place before airplanes were invented and before manned flight was common. Although hot air balloons had been around since the 1700s, it was closer to 1900 before balloon airships became widely known.
Because airplanes and spaceships were unknown in the 1800s, people who saw strange things in the sky usually described them by comparing them to known objects like “cigars” and “balloons.” The term “flying saucer” was not generally used for UFOs until the 1940s, but a Texas farmer who saw a UFO in 1878 described it as a “large saucer.”
Since this was long before the era of jet planes and spacecraft, the cowboys and farmers of the 1800s often struggled to put into words what they had witnessed. Unless a UFO slowed down enough to where they could observe it carefully, most of the Old West residents probably didn’t take much notice. Vapor trails in the daytime and streaks of light at night likely did not make much of an impression on these hardened pioneers. These sights were just part of the “signs and wonders” that often appeared in the heavens.
Based on the historical records of these unexplained sightings, it seems that UFOs were quite common in the 1800s. We have found hundreds of newspaper and magazine accounts about people seeing strange objects and lights in the sky. We have also found articles that mention face-to-face encounters with creatures that seemed human but were clearly not.
So when the 2011 motion picture Cowboys & Aliens was released, some UFO researchers were upset because they felt the film was not a true depiction of these Old West UFO cases. Truthfully, though, director Jon Favreau and the film’s writers were probably not even aware that there were actual UFO sightings in the 1800s. Favreau’s entertaining, fictional film was never meant to depict reality. Based upon a comic book by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the film was meant to blend the action of a “Western” with the intrigue of a science fiction “alien invasion” movie.
Did the film, even just by coincidence, have any similarities to the real UFO encounters described in this book? Well, sort of. Admittedly, the UFOs in the movie were not based on any ships seen by actual people. However, the UFOs in the film were certainly more “cigar shaped” rather than “saucer shaped.” Cigar-shaped objects were definitely common in the UFO sightings of the 19th century.
Also, in the film’s abduction scenes, the aliens used a sort of “lasso” to capture people and pull them up into their ships. In 1897, witnesses described a cigar-shaped UFO that “lassoed” a cow and took it away into the night (see Chapter 14).
As is typical of recent Hollywood alien movies, the extraterrestrials in Cowboys & Aliens came to Earth to steal our natural resources – in this case, gold. That idea may sound silly, but it makes sense when you consider that so many Western movies were about mining gold or finding buried treasure. To have aliens engaged in the same sort of activity is a nice, clever twist.
Actually, ETs looking for gold is not as weird a concept as you may think. According to legends from ancient Sumer [modern Iraq], a race of extraterrestrials called the Anunnaki reportedly extracted gold from the bowels of the Earth about 400,000 years ago.
In reality, some of the “true” UFO reports you are about to read may actually be stranger than fiction. Among the many bizarre stories is the one about a man from outer space whose spaceship crashed in North Texas and whose body was buried in a lonely Texas cemetery where it may still remain today. You will also read about a flying monster shot by two cowboys outside of Tombstone, Arizona. There is also a tale about an underwater UFO that came up to the surface and nearly electrocuted two men. You will also hear the tale of a strange flying beast that terrorized a small Midwest town. Did these strange encounters really happen as recorded, or were they the products of overworked imaginations? We’ll let you, our readers, decide for yourselves.
1. Rocky Mountain UFO Explosion (1864)
The Rocky Mountains are a huge mountain range that stretches more than 3,000 miles from Canada all the way to faraway New Mexico. The Rockies play an important role in many Old West stories and legends. The Rockies were home to many Native American tribes and to the “Mountain Men,” true pioneers of the Old West who braved nature’s elements to survive. Many of these men were fur trappers who dedicated themselves to catching animals like beavers so that they could sell their fur. It is with a fur trapper that we start our look at UFO encounters in the Old West.
James Lumley was a fur trapper in Montana, who witnessed what many people now believe was the crash landing of a UFO in the Rocky Mountains. What he experienced is one of the most interesting UFO cases of the 1800s.
In September 1864, Lumley was high in the mountains, trapping in an area known as Cadotte Pass. One night, after the sun had gone down, he saw a bright object streak through the sky. A newspaper article that appeared later in the Cincinnati Commercial described the object as a “bright, luminous body in the heavens, which was moving with a great rapidity in an easterly direction.”
About five seconds after Lumley spotted it, the large object in the sky split into
several smaller pieces with a flash like a “sky-rocket.” Is it possible that the large object was a “mother ship” and that several smaller scout ships were expelled from it to the Earth below?
Moments later, Lumley heard and felt a tremendous explosion that shook the ground below his feet. This was followed by an eerie wind that swept through the forest with a loud rushing sound. There was also the distinctive smell of sulfur in the air, as when gunpowder is lit.
Typical Egyptian Heiroglyphics (Wikipedia)
The newspaper said, “A few minutes later he heard a heavy explosion, which jarred the earth very perceptibly, and this was shortly after followed by a rumbling sound, like a tornado sweeping through the forest. A strong wind sprang up about the same time, but as suddenly subsided. The air was also filled with a peculiar odor of a sulphurous character.”
The next morning, Lumley went out to investigate. What he found was astonishing. Two miles from his camp, as far as the eye could see, was a wide path of destruction. “A path had been cut through the forest, several rods wide – giant trees uprooted or broken off near the ground - the tops of hills shaved off, and the earth plowed up in many places. Great and widespread havoc was everywhere visible.” Lumley followed the trail of destruction until finally he found the mysterious object he had seen explode the night before. Embedded in the side of a mountain was what he described as “an immense stone.”
It was soon clear that the object was not a fallen meteor. Lumley claimed that it was “divided into compartments” and parts of it had been “carved” with hieroglyphics, similar to the writings of ancient Egypt. The newspaper said, “He [Lumley] is confident that the hieroglyphics were the work of human hands, and that the stone itself, although but a fragment of an immense body, must have been used for some purpose by animated beings.” Interestingly, strange writing that looks like hieroglyphics is seen very often in UFO cases. This was one of the very first cases where such mysterious writing is said to have been seen by an observer at the scene of a crashed UFO.
Lumley also found, littered around the crash site, fragments of glass. In addition, the ground around the crashed object was stained with some type of mysterious liquid. Maybe it was some kind of fuel that had leaked from the ship’s engines?
The newspaper article went on to say, “Strange as this story appears, Mr. Lumley relates it with so much sincerity that we are forced to accept it as true.” The article also mentions several other sightings of similar objects in the same time period, including another case where a large object split into several smaller ones.
The newspaper continued, “Astronomers have long held that it is probable that the heavenly bodies are inhabited -- even the comets -- and it may be that the meteors are also. Possibly, meteors could be used as a means of conveyance by the inhabitants of other planets, in exploring space, and it may be that hereafter some future Columbus, from Mercury or Uranus, may land on this planet by means of a meteoric conveyance, and take full possession thereof -- as did the Spanish navigators of the New World in 1492, and eventually drive what is known as the human race into a condition of the most abject servitude. It has always been a favorite theory with many that there must be a race superior to us, and this may at some future time be demonstrated in the manner we have indicated.”
Portion of the Newspaper Article Published in 1865
So what is one to make of James Lumley’s mysterious space stone? Interestingly, in the first major novel about an alien invasion of Earth, H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (1898), the first alien spaceship that arrives is mistaken for a meteor. Its exterior is encrusted with dirt and rocks. Only when the aliens inside it began to unscrew the lid did the humans realize that the object was an artificial cylinder.
Even our own spacecraft, when they return to Earth, are often burned and distorted by their journey through the atmosphere. Is it possible then that what Lumley saw was a spaceship? Or was it merely a very strange rock from outer space that somehow became etched with markings that looked like hieroglyphics?
The mystery remains.
2. The Flying Serpent (1873)
Before airplanes were invented, people who saw UFOs often described them in strange ways. Sometimes they compared what they saw to an animal. For example, they might refer to them as giant birds or flying serpents.
At sunrise on June 26, 1873, residents of Fort Scott, Kansas, reported seeing what looked like a “huge serpent” encircling the sun. They saw the object when the sun was about halfway above the horizon. It remained visible “for some moments.”
Image of Flying Serpent from 1589
The incident was printed in the local newspaper, the Fort Scott Monitor, on the following day, June 27. According to the newspaper, the sighting was reported by two very reliable witnesses. The witnesses were willing to sign sworn statements that they actually saw the flying serpent. The apparition was also seen by several soldiers of the U.S. Cavalry, who were stationed in Fort Scott.
Also in June 1873, at about the same time, something very similar was seen by a farmer named Mr. Hardin, who lived a few miles east of Bonham, Texas. A serpent-like object appeared in the sky above where Hardin was working. It was also seen by several other workers who standing in nearby fields. What they saw was unusual indeed, and the farmers became “seriously frightened,” according to the local newspaper.
They described what they saw as an “enormous serpent” that seemed to float upon a cloud. “It seemed to be as large and as long as a telegraph pole, was of a yellow striped color, and seemed to float along without effort,” the newspaper reported.
As the farmers continued to watch, the giant snake seemed to drift off toward the east. As it moved along in the sky, the serpent seemed to behave just like a real snake does. It would coil itself up, turn over, and thrust its head forward just like a snake does when it is about to bite.
The witnesses stated that the flying snake would “thrust forward its huge head as if striking at something, displaying the maneuvers of a genuine snake.”
In his 1950 book The Flying Saucers Are Real, Donald Keyhoe argued that the sky serpent over Bonham was actually a flying saucer. Keyhoe wrote, “It was broad daylight when a strange, fast-moving object appeared in the sky, southwest of the town. For a moment, the people of Bonham stared at the thing, not believing their eyes. The only flying device then known was the drifting balloon. But this thing was tremendous and speeding so fast its outlines were almost a blur.”
According to Keyhoe, terrified farmers hid under their wagons and townspeople fled indoors. Only a few people remained outdoors to view the object. The UFO circled the town twice before moving off to the east and disappearing.
The sighting appeared in the New York Times, but the story about it poked fun at the witnesses. The New York newspaper said that the farmers who claimed to see the flying serpent must have been delirious.
The New York Times also commented about the flying serpent seen in the skies over Fort Scott, Kansas. The writer said that if people continued to see flying snakes, the nation should consider banning the sale of alcoholic drinks.
Some years before these two cases, back in 1857 and 1858, settlers in Nebraska claimed to have also seen a huge flying serpent. Historian Mari Sandoz said that the creature was seen hovering in the sky over a steamboat. The serpent, which appeared to be “wavy,” slipped in and out of the clouds. It also seemed to breathe fire and had streaks of light coming out of its sides.
The sighting in Nebraska was later put in a folksong. The song describes the serpent as a “flyin’ engine / Without no wing or wheel / It came a-roarin’ in the
sky / With lights along the side / And scales like a serpent’s hide.” To some people, this sounds more like a flying saucer than a living creature.
Aztec Sculpture of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl (Courtesy of Neil Henderson, Wikimedia)
Flying objects described as “flying serpents” have been seen throughout human history. For example, even the
Bible mentions a “fiery flying serpent” (Isaiah 30:6). Paintings and sculptures of flying serpents have been found among artifacts of very ancient cultures, such as the Chinese, Maya, and Aztecs. The feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl was a most important part of Aztec religious beliefs.
The June 1873 incidents remain very interesting for a number of reasons. First, the witnesses seem believable. Second, the descriptions of both events were very similar.
What exactly was it that they saw in the sky? Was it really a snake-like creature or was it some kind of spacecraft that looked like a serpent?
3. The Farmer and the Flying Saucer (1878)
Strange flying ships seen in the sky were first called “flying saucers” in the late 1940s. But, long before that, back in 1878, a farmer in North Texas saw something in the sky that he described as a “large saucer.” It was the first time in history that the word “saucer” was used for a UFO.
The farmer, John Martin, was hunting on his property near Dallas, Texas. It was morning on Wednesday, January 2, 1878. Suddenly, Martin noticed a dark object in the sky to the south.
When the farmer first saw it, the UFO was about the size of an orange. But, it grew in size rapidly as it approached his position. The local newspaper said, “The peculiar shape and velocity with which the object seemed to approach riveted his attention and he strained his eyes to discover its character.”
Since it was morning and yet the object looked dark, it seems that the UFO did not have any lights. Instead, it appeared as a dark shape against the bright blue of the sky. Martin kept staring at it as it moved rapidly toward him. Martin said the UFO “appeared to be going through space at wonderful speed.”
