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them spread the word. To add support to it, notes would be dropped occasionally confirming what the contactees were saying, and even a few ordinary artifacts such as half-peeled potatoes and foreign newspapers could be added to the stew. Because some—or maybe most—of the ultraterrestrials looked very much like us, they would be assigned to occupy the decoys. The other objects, the real vehicles to be employed in this operation, would careftilly remain aloof. To lend further confusion to the situation, some of the contactees would be told ridiculous things that would discredit not only them but the whole mystery. Knowing how we think and how we search for consisten- cies, the ultraterrestrials were careful to sow inconsistencies in their wake. And they staged some outrageous stunts, such as singing loudly as they flew over Farmersville, Texas, on April 19, or playing a phonograph or other instrument over Fontanelle, Iowa, on April 12. When the startled townspeople reported hearing an orchestra playing in the sky, newspapers whooped and heaped ridicule on the story. Was there an airship or wasn’t there? Thousands saw it and became Ao Lie 2A oe a 2 ne bane feet ante. 2-4 convinced, but millions read all of these conflicting tales and remained skeptical. Obviously, to the uninformed reader of 1897, there was only one airship and it was experimental—it was always breaking down somewhere. But what were those great, multilighted forms hurtling back and forth across the sky every night? Oh, just the airship. Where were they going? Where were they coming from? Well, they were built by a secret inventor in Nebraska—or Tennessee—or Iowa—or Boston. Take your pick. That inventor kept his secret well. He never filed for his patents. Like a gentleman, he waited until Count Zeppelin took off in his first rigid airship on July 2, 1900, and flew 3 1/2 miles at 18 mph before his steering gear failed. Recently a great British authority, Charles H. Gibbs-Smith, MA, FMA, stated: ‘‘Speaking as an aeronautical historian who specializes in the periods before 1910, I can say with certainty that the only airborne vehicles, carrying passengers, which could possibly have been seen anywhere in North America in 1897 were free spherical balloons, and it is highly unlikely for these to be mistaken for anything else. No form of dirigible [i.e., a gasbag propelled by an airscrew] or heavier-than-air flying machine was flying—or indeed could fly—at this time in Amer- ica.” But if there was no secret inventor, and if there’s no such thing as unidentified flying objects, then who or what was buzzing Eldora, Iowa, The Grand Deception / 91