Single witness

Date uncertain: late February or early March 1913. A ’scareship’ with two lights on either side of its dark body flew over the head of a Grimsby police constable at night, but he subsequently found that it was a box-kite flown by two young men.

Globe, 6 March 1913, p. 7.

A coastguard saw lights in the sky.

The Times, 28 February 1913, p. 5

An airship was seen at night for five minutes by a manufacturer.

Standard, 25 February 1913, p. 9.

At 7.40pm, Mrs. Schofield, the wife of the manager of Singer’s Machine Company in Selby, saw two very powerful lights, one in front ‘like the headlight of a motor car’ and one 30 to 40 feet to the rear approaching while being driven to the village of Cawood. Having seen a flight of army airmen on their way to Montrose in Scotland the day before, she was able to estimate the airship’s height at some 1500 to 2000 feet. It disappeared from view within three or four minutes.

Standard, 26 February 1913, p. 7. On the flight to Montrose, see Globe, 21 February 1913, p. 12, 22 February 1913, p. 7.

The train driver on the express from Wistow Gates to Selby, Fred Head, reported that an airship with a bright headlight kept pace with his train, to the front and side, until it was lost in the fog.

Standard, 25 February 1913, p. 9; Globe, 25 February 1913, p. 10.

Nine miles east of Selby, a man and his horse were startled by the bright light of an airship between 10pm and 11pm heading very quickly towards Bridlington.

Standard, 24 February 1913, p. 9.

Between 2am and 3am, Walter Hack heard engine sounds overhead.

Norfolk News, 25 January 1913, p. 10.

Date uncertain: 13 or 21 October 1912. A man saw ‘what in shape had every appearance of a Zeppelin airship’ over the sea which was visible for fifteen minutes and flew off to the east. The sky was overcast.

Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12.

Just before 11.30pm, a ‘well-known gentleman’ had stopped to repair the headlight on his motorcycle, when he was dazzled by a light shining on him from above for about thirty seconds. It was apparently travelling towards Norwich. He did not see or hear anything else.

Globe, 20 May 1909, p. 7; Norfolk News, 22 May 1909, p. 13.

A cyclist named Chatten — an assistant in a local grocery and drapery store, ‘a brisk, intelligent person, who does not in the least impress one as a dreamer of dreams and a viewer of visions’ — riding home at around midnight was dazzled by a bright, bluish light shining from above. He saw a ‘long cigar-shaped object’ three or four hundred feet above him. There appeared to be some sort of framework beneath it with a yellow light at either end. No sounds could be heard. The sky was dark but the airship could be seen outlined against it.

Norfolk News, 22 May 1909, p. 13.

At 1.30am a man cycling home saw an airship with two brilliant lights flying at speed to the southwest. (Kingstown is now Dún Laoghaire.)

Globe, 20 May 1909, p. 7.

At about 11pm, a travelling Punch and Judy showman named C. Lethbridge encountered an airship on the ground, about 45 feet in length, on the summit of Caerphilly Mountain, just to the north of Cardiff. He also claimed to have met its crew, two young men in heavy fur coats who ‘jabbered furiously to each other in a strange language — Welsh, or something else. Certainly not English’. The airship rose into the air, the men jumped into a carriage suspended underneath, ‘two lights like electric lamps’ switched on, and it flew towards Cardiff. There was a whirring sound which came from a fan at the back of the carriage. The next day, Lethbridge accompanied a journalist to the landing site where the ground appeared disturbed; a collection of strange objects was found, including a kind of plug with a label in French (including the ominous word obus, “shrapnel”), paper scraps on the letterhead of a firm of London stockbrokers, and a number of newspaper clippings concerning ‘airships or the German army’. Also found were fragments of notes ‘bearing a mass of figures and letters of the alphabet formed in a style distinctly different to that of the average English hand’.

Manchester Guardian, 20 May 1909, p. 7; Standard, 20 May 1909, p. 10; Globe, 20 May 1909, p. 7.

A solicitor’s clerk named Edwards who had missed the last train and was walking home from Sheringham to Lowestoft spied an airship just after midnight over North Walsham; he initially saw two or three lights a short distance above the ground, but only paid close attention after hearing a ‘peculiar noise’ and then saw a ‘glaring light’. He was able to observe ‘a dark object ascending’ which headed in the direction of Yarmouth or Lowestoft.

Norfolk News, 22 May 1909, p. 13.

At 7.30pm Captain Hervey, a local government board inspector, witnessed a cigar-shaped balloon at a height of a quarter of a mile and some three of four miles distant, flying east against the wind.

Norfolk News, 22 May 1909, p. 13.

A man named Kelf reported an airship.

Standard, 17 May 1909, p. 9. The date is from David Clarke, “Scareships over Britain: The airship wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6 (1999): 51.

Mrs. Fricker, a nurse, saw something at around 1.20am, flashing white, green and red lights, which was visible for an hour.

Standard, 14 May 1909, p. 9.

Date uncertain: before 14 May 1909. Aeronautical expert Patrick Alexander ‘heard at night sounds apparently of an airship in motion’.

Standard, 14 May 1909, p. 9.

At 11.20pm a woman, H. M. Boville, saw an ‘almost motionless’ ‘large, black object, oblong in shape’ about a quarter of a mile above the houses. It suddenly rose in the air after a minute or two, and then moved very fast towards London, briefly showing two brilliant lights.

Norfolk News, 15 May 1909, p. 15; Standard, 17 May 1909, p. 9.

Egerton Free saw a long sausage-shaped airship manoeuvring over the cliffs for a few minutes at dusk (one report says 10.30pm); it remained stationary at a an estimated height of 600 feet for a few minutes and then headed north-east. At the same location the next day he found ‘a curious object made of steel and India-rubber’ weighing 35lb, stamped with the words ‘Müller Bremen Fabrik’.

Manchester Guardian, 20 May 1909, p. 7; Norfolk News, 15 May 1909, p. 15; Standard, 17 May 1909, p. 9; Globe, 17 May 1909, p. 7.

Date uncertain. The brother-in-law (possibly named Strange) of ‘prominent Peterborough tradesman’ Herbert Neaverson was so impressed by the airship he saw that he travelled to London to inform the War Office. He saw a light coming from towards the sea in the early hours of the morning. He could not see the shape of the airship but he could hear the engine and a ’swishing’ noise.

Norfolk News, 15 May 1909, p. 15; Standard, 17 May 1909, p. 9.

The witness was Mrs. Rush. No further details.

Standard, 17 May 1909, p. 9.

The witness was Mr. Deacon. No further details.

Standard, 17 May 1909, p. 9; Manchester Guardian, 20 May 1909, p. 7.

Police constable Kettle saw an ‘oblong-shaped airship with a powerful light pass over the town’ at 5am.

Standard, 17 May 1909, p. 9; Manchester Guardian, 20 May 1909, p. 7.