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23 Sightings continued strong into the 1800s. In July 1868, residents of Copiago, Chile, observed an unidentified “aerial construction” fly overhead. It was described as having shiny scales and making a noise we 1 A dramatic account from the summer of 1883 was published in the West German magazine, Der Stern. According to the report, “All the children and the teacher in the public elementary school at Sege- berg, saw in the sky two fiery balls, the size of full moons, traveling side by side, not very swiftly, from north to south, on a clear and sunny day.” Despite the many sightings, most people still didn’t view UFOs as aliens from space. More popular explanations included angels, demons, or signs from God or the Devil. At this time, humans had still not learned how to fly, so the idea of space-travel and life on other planets hadn’t en- tered the public consciousness. It wouldn’t be until airplanes and rockets were invented in the early twentieth century that people began to seri- ously consider that UFOs might be creatures from other planets. Then in 1896, the United States experienced its first UFO wave when residents across northern California reported seeing an “airship” in the sky. The first sighting to gain widespread attention occurred on November 17, 1896. As reported in the Sacramento Bee: “Last evening between the hours of six and seven o’clock, in the year of our Lord 1896, a most startling exhibition was seen in the sky in this city of Sacramento. People standing on the sidewalks at certain points in the city between the hours stated, saw coming through the sky over the housetops what appeared to them to be merely an electric arc lamp propelled by some mysterious force. It came out of the east and sailed unevenly toward the southwest, dropping now nearer to the earth, and now suddenly rising into the air.” Several witnesses said they heard voices. Among the many Ancient Astronauts UFOS IN THE 1800S like a machine. witnesses was the daughter of the mayor of Sacramento.