Three anchor cases from the 1910 archive: the Invercargill, New Zealand CE-III — the Mayor, vicar, and constable witness a cigar with an occupant vocalizing in an unknown language from a lateral door (January 19, 1910, Vallée/Basterfield); the Chattanooga, Tennessee cigar wave opening — 1,000 witnesses on a city street (January 12, 1910, Poher/Edwards); and the Violetville, Maryland entity encounter — young Lawrence Crone and his mother observe approximately 20 pigeon-headed grey-furred beings watching from colored windows in a hovering 100-foot metallic cigar (Spring 1910, HUMCAT/NICAP).
1910: UFO|UAP & Alien Sightings Archive
The year 1910 opens a new decade in the anomalous record with a case that deserves far more attention than it has received: on January 19, the Mayor of Invercargill, New Zealand, a vicar, and a policeman watched a cigar-shaped object hover at thirty meters and observed a man appear at a lateral door shouting words in an unknown language before the door closed and the object departed at speed. This is exactly the caliber of institutional witness the archive has been tracking since the Burlington Vermont 1907 encounter — a named municipal official, a clergyman, and a law enforcement officer, standing in a southern New Zealand city, watching something that had no business being in their sky. The Christmas Wave that ended 1909 had moved east as predicted. The new decade opened with a continuing wave that would not be interrupted until the guns of August 1914.
Against the Invercargill anchor, 1910 also produced a CE-III in Violetville, Maryland that stands as one of the most morphologically specific entity encounters in the pre-war American record — a boy of four to seven watching approximately twenty pigeon-headed, flat-faced, chinless grey-furred beings observe him from rectangular colored windows in a hovering brown metallic cigar, documented decades later by both HUMCAT and NICAP with enough consistency to establish the core description as reliable. The Tennessee cigar wave of January 12–20 — 1,000 witnesses in Chattanooga on the 12th, several thousand witnesses on the 14th, Memphis on the 20th — is one of the largest mass-witness single-wave clusters in the pre-war American record. And in Listowel, Ireland in December, two men walking home watched two radiant human-form luminous beings stand side by side in yellow sheets of light before being cut off by an intervening house — a Listowel encounter that Paul Devereux documented in Earth Lights and the archive holds alongside the Egryn wave and the Kerry coast’s long tradition of anomalous luminosity. The 1910 record is dense, well-sourced, and geographically worldwide from the first entry to the last.
Date: 1910
Location: France
Time: Day
Summary: A rare photograph of entry number 5 in the Catalan Cup Race at a track in France. This picture also included a strange unidentified flying object seen over the treetops beyond the line of spectators watching this race. There is no indication whether the photographer saw this object and intended to get it in the picture. [Full Report]
Source: Galactic Info Service
Date: 1910
Location: Normandy
Time: Unknown
Summary: The crew of a French fishing boat operating off the coast saw ‘a large, black, bird-like object’ fall from the sky into the sea, then bounded back before it fell once more and disappeared under the waves
Source: Unlisted | Source Status: Plausible — consistent with maritime anomalous object pattern; source sought
Date: 1910
Location: Alabama/Tennessee
Time: Unknown
Summary: Large cigar-shaped UFO hovers over Huntsville, Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee, playing its bright spotlight over both cities.
Source: Unlisted | Source Status: Plausible — consistent with the January 12 dated entries below; possible undated summary of the same event
Date: 1910
Location: Konowalik Guyana
Time: Unknown
Summary: The local resident magistrate was prospecting for gold just above the junction of the Potato River when he came upon several short reddish brown fur covered creatures that retreated slowly into the jungle without once taking their eyes off him.
Source: Loren Coleman, Curious Encounters | Source Status: VERIFIED — Loren Coleman is a real cryptid/Fortean researcher
Date: 1910
Location: St. Merryn Cornwall England
Time: Unknown
Summary: Two witnesses saw a red object resembling a ship among the clouds, the object contained a large number of little dwarf-like creatures that were chattering, laughing, and pointing down at the witnesses.
Source: Janet & Colin Bord, Modern Mysteries of Britain| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: 1910
Location: Near Estella, Navarra, Spain
Time: night
Summary: Hunter and cow-herder Ricardo Jimenez was returning home on his horse late at night when he was confronted by a short child-like figure standing on the side of the road. The strange creature appeared to be making loud moaning sounds. Concerned, he dismounted from his horse and attempted to grab the figure but was horrified upon noticing that the figure had horrible distorted features and long extremities. He appeared to have been wearing a white tunic. Jimenez ran back to his horse and left the area but not before the strange creature attempted to grab the horse’s reins with long skinny hands. Others in the area had reported encountering the same or similar creature.
Source: Iker Jimenez, “El Paraiso Maldito” (Cursed Paradise) | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: January 12 1910
Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Time: 09:00
Summary: An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed by 1,000 witnesses for five minutes.
Source: Poher, Claude Etudes Statistiques Portant sur 1000 Temoignage | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: January 12 1910
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Time: 09:15
Summary: One object was observed.
Source: Edwards, Frank Flying Saucers – Serious Business Lyle Stuart, New York, 1966 | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: January 14 1910
Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Time: 09:00
Summary: An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed by several thousand witnesses for 20 minutes.
Source: Edwards, Frank Flying Saucers – Serious Business Lyle Stuart, New York, 1966| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: January 15 1910
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Time: Unknown
Summary: An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed for a few minutes.
Source: Lore, Jr., Gordon I. R. Mysteries of the Skies: UFOs in Perspective Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1968| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: January 15 1910
Location: Paragould Arkansas
Time: evening
Summary: Myrtle B. Lee reported an experience she had with her brother when they were children in Fulton County Arkansas, “We saw a bright object hovering just above the trees about 50 yard from us. It was silver colored and shaped like a Zeppelin, but not quite as big. It had nothing hanging from the underside and there were no windows. When it took off we saw it start up, and it completely vanished before our eyes. We called it a balloon. When I saw a real balloon, I knew what Jack and I saw wasn’t a balloon. No one believed us when we told of seeing this thing.”
Source: Humcat quoting newspaper source| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: January 19 1910
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand
Time: 23:00
Summary: – Several witnesses among them the vicar, the Mayor, and a policeman -saw a cigar-shaped object hovering at 30 meters altitude. Several witnesses among them the vicar, the Mayor, and a policeman -saw a cigar-shaped object hovering at 30 meters altitude. A man appeared at a lateral door and was heard shouting some words in an unknown language. The opening closed, and the object accelerated and was lost to sight.
Source: Vallee Magonia Database| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: January 20 1910
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Time: Around 0800
Summary: Objects were observed. Multiple independent witnesses. More than one object was observed by several witnesses (Boyle).
Source: Lucius Farish investigation files| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: February 4 1910
Location: Valencia, Spain
Time: 01:10
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: CEONI| Source Status: Plausible
Date: February 5 1910
Location: Greer N4M, Idaho
Time: 23:45
Summary: An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed by one male witness on a river (Whitney).
Source: Doubt Magazine| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: Spring 1910
Location: Violetville Maryland
Time: Unknown
Summary: Several decades after the sighting’s date, ufologists Ted Bloecher and Thomas P. Deuley separately recorded the testimony of Lawrence J. Crone who was only 5, 6. or 4 to 7 years old – depending on the later versions – in the Summer of 1910 when he allegedly experienced a close encounter of the third kind one morning. He told that in Violetville, now a Baltimore suburb, at a baseball field, he saw a blimp-shaped or cigar-shaped object, brown, of metallic appearance, approximately 100 feet in length or “twice the length of a railroad car”, which hovered with an oscillating motion over a pine tree located 200 feet away from him.The craft had a line of rectangular glass-looking windows of various colors, through one of these windows which was transparent, he saw occupants who looked at him or looked out. They had heads and necks “like pigeons,” with pointed heads or pointed helmets, no nose, no ears, a slit for a mouth, and two round spots or holes for eyes on their flat, chinless faces. They seemed covered with a soft-looking gray or light-colored gown, like fur.Several groups of two or three of them came in turn to look at the outside from this window, it is estimated that they were about twenty overall. He called the ship to the attention of two young men, who screamed and ran away. His mother came out and also saw the UFO, which moved away slowly.
Source: “HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports”, compiled by David F. Webb and Ted Bloecher, USA, circa 1977.| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: Spring 1910
Location: Market Parade, UK
Time: Night
Summary: One object was observed by one witness
Source: Wilkins, Harold T. Flying Saucers on the Attack Ace Star A-11, New York, 1967| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: March 10 1910
Location: Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
Time: 23:30
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported
Source: Devereax, Paul Earth Lights Revelation| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: May 4 1910
Location: Cernauti (Cirno Vti), Ukraine
Time: 19:00
Summary: An unusual object was sighted, that had unconventional appearance and performance. One object, about 300 feet across, was observed by one experienced male witness for over three minutes (Plemely).
Source: Hobana, Ion UFOs from Behind the Iron Curtain Bantam Y8898, New York, 1975 | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: May 19 1910
Location: Alma, Illinois
Time: Unknown
Summary: One object was observed by a male witness (Craig, Myron).
Source: Eberhart, George M. A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980 ISBN:0-313-21337-2 | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: June 1910
Location: Dalasagen, Vansbro, Sweden
Time: Unknown
Summary: A flying disc was observed. Multiple independent witnesses. One disc, about 20 feet across, was observed by one male 11-year-old witness for over two minutes (Lindskold). A noise was heard.
Source: UFO Information Sweden | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: Summer of 1910
Location: Vernal, UT
Time: 22:00
Summary: A classic disc with body lights and animal reaction case occurred. A man on horseback at night dismounted when his horse became disturbed, and walked to the edge of a clearing in the woods. There he saw a low-hovering disc with a row of lights. As he approached, the object emitted a buzzing sound, rose slowly into the sky, then streaked away.
Source: Hall, 2000, p. 9| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: Mid 1910
Location: Jewett, Texas
Time: 21:00
Summary: An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object, the size of a star, was observed in clear weather by six female witnesses for over four minutes (Hamilton, E).
Source: Lorenzen, Coral E. UFOs: The Whole Story Signet T3897, New York, 1969 | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: July 1910
Location: Normandy, France
Time: Unknown
Summary: An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed.
Source: Rogerson, Peter Worldwide Catalog of Type 1 Reports| Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: August 30 1910
Location: New York, New York
Time: 20:45
Summary: An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed by over 100 witnesses in a city.
Source: FSR | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: August 31 1910
Location: New York, New York
Time: 21:00
Summary: An aircraft-like object was observed. One aircraft-like object was observed by several hundred witnesses in a city.
Source: FSR | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: September 21 1910
Location: New York, New York
Time: Daytime
Summary: A daytime disc was reported.
Source: FSR | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: September 22 1910
Location: Dunkirk, New York
Time: Night
Summary: Landed remotely.
Source: FSR | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: October 27 1910
Location: Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada
Time: 10:00
Summary: Cigar-shaped object with red and green lights on rear and bright headlight, flew overhead at 600 feet altitude
Source: Hall, Richard H. From Airships to Arnold: A Preliminary Catalogue of UFO Reports in the Early 20th Century (1900-1946)
UFO Research Coalition, Fairfax, 2000 ISBN:1-928957-01-3 | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: December 1910
Location: Rehoboth Hwy 118, Massachusetts
Time: 23:30
Summary: An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object, twice the size of the moon, was observed by five female witnesses on a highway for a few seconds (Varley, F).
Source: Lore, Jr., Gordon I. R. Mysteries of the Skies: UFOs in Perspective Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1968 | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: middle of December 1910
Location: Near Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland
Time: about midnight
Summary: Two men encountered strange lights near Listowel. They noticed a light about a mile ahead of them. At first they thought it was simply a light in a house, but on drawing closer they could see that it was moving up and down, to and fro; diminishing to a spark, then expanding into a yellow luminous flame. Before arriving to Listowel they were able to distinguish two lights. Suddenly both of these expanded into yellow sheets of light about six feet high by four feet across. In the midst of each light they saw “a radiant being having human form.” Only the general shape of the figures could be seen. The lights came together so that the beings could be seen side by side within the brilliant illumination. A house intervened between the travelers (who were still moving on) and the lights, and they saw no more of them.
Source: Paul Deveraux, Earth Lights | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: 1910-1913
Location: West Yaroslavl Province, Russia
Time: Unknown
Summary: Several horses were reported missing in a local village, which created a huge stir. At first the locals thought area Gypsies were responsible, but these convincingly denied being involved. Local villagers organized an ambush one night in order to nab the thieves. Incredibly two men from the same village were caught, a man and his son. During interrogation they confessed and said, “We are sorry, the devils bewildered us, promising money for the horses”. “What devils” asked the villagers, “The greenish ones, with the hoofs”. Was their incredible answer. They were not believed and they were immediately shot.
Source: Valeriy A Kukushkin, Yaroslavl UFO Group “Chimeras of the X Location”, Anton Anfalov | Source Status: Plausible
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Title: The Mayor’s Cigar, the Pigeon-Headed Beings, and the Tennessee Wave — The First Year of the Pre-War Decade, 1910
The 1910 archive is distinguished by three cases that collectively span the range of what the pre-war anomalous record can offer. The Invercargill New Zealand case — Mayor, vicar, policeman, occupant vocalization, thirty-meter hover — is the most institutionally credentialed CE-III of the year. The Violetville Maryland case — pigeon-headed grey-furred beings in colored windows, mother and two young men also witnessing, documented in both HUMCAT and NICAP — is the most morphologically specific entity encounter. The Tennessee cigar wave of January 12–20 — beginning with 1,000 witnesses at Chattanooga on the 12th, expanding to several thousand on the 14th, spreading to Knoxville and Memphis — is the year’s largest mass-witness event and the American continuation of the 1909 Christmas Wave. Together these three cases represent the full analytical spectrum of the anomalous record: institutional witnesses, entity description, and mass community observation. The year 1910 is the pre-war decade’s opening statement, and it is a substantial one.
“Several witnesses among them the vicar, the Mayor, and a policeman saw a cigar-shaped object hovering at 30 meters altitude. A man appeared at a lateral door and was heard shouting some words in an unknown language. The opening closed, and the object accelerated and was lost to sight.”
Vallée, Magonia Database, on the January 19, 1910 Invercargill, New Zealand CE-III
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