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t was the morning of April 19, 1897, when 10-year-old Charlie Stephens and his father were shocked to observe a large, metal- lic, cigar-shaped object with bright lights passing overhead at a low elevation. The unidentified craft flew to the north, heading toward the town of Aurora, Texas. Suddenly, Charlie and his father heard a huge explosion and saw a bright flame. At the same time, numerous other citizens in town were also watching the object, and saw it crash into a local windmill and explode. The craft was destroyed and the sole occupant was killed. The townspeople gathered and witnessed the wreckage of the weird craft and the body of the airship pilot. The apparent alien was given a proper burial at the local cemetery. While this story may sound unusual, it is actually the world’s first known UFO crash. At the time, the United States was in the middle of a wave of sightings involving hundreds of these mysterious craft. The Aurora UFO crash, however, is the only known case of a crashed airship. It may seem surprising that something so advanced as an inter- planetary vehicle could crash. However, if UFOs are truly physical spacecraft from other planets, then it should also be possible that they might malfunction or even crash. While UFOs appear to be techno- logically superior to our own aircraft, apparently sometimes things go wrong. Reports of UFO crashes are extremely rare, but investigators have currently gathered more than 50 separate cases. Unfortunately, 81 UFO Crashes