Air prowler over Delaware: How bright planets sparked wartime airship scare
“Albert J. Parsons, a captain of guards at the [duPont] Carney’s Point plant,” the Feb. 2, 1916 issue of the Wilmington Evening Journal reported, “has informed high officials of the powder company that he heard and saw the airship as it roamed above the powder plant, and officials who heretofore were skeptical now place the fullest faith in Parsons’ story.”
Parsons claimed the airship hovered over the plant for 15 minutes, before it disappeared in a southeasterly direction, toward Atlantic City.
Delaware residents watches skies with wary eye in World War I
In February 1916, World War I had been raging for nearly two years, and the United States had managed to remain out of the European conflict.
Numerous reports, however, of aerial raids by German Zeppelins on England were featured on the front pages of Delaware newspapers, and the constant bombing reports of civilian areas caused First State residents to watch the sky with a growing sense of apprehension.
Albert Parsons was not the only one to see strange lights in the sky. Several residents of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, 30 miles north of Wilmington, claimed that they also saw a mysterious aircraft.
The Evening Journal speculated, “That the aeroplane may have come from a warship stationed off the Atlantic coast … but this has been thrust aside as unlikely.” The newspaper theorized, “There is a feeling that it is secreted in some backwoods section, from which it sallies [forth] at night and to which it returns at daybreak without fear of detection.
"That there are many places in the pines of southern New Jersey or in Pennsylvania or Delaware where an aeroplane could be assembled and secreted is admitted, and the task of trying to trace such an air prowler is conceded to be most difficult.”
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The accounts of the mysterious object in the sky spread from Wilmington to as far south as Dover, and crowds of people turned their eyes skyward to catch a glimpse of the unidentified flying object. Oddly, there were no reports of the mysterious nocturnal craft from Lewes, Rehoboth or other coastal towns.
Story of unknown aircraft quickly discredited as 'auto-hypnosis'
The idea that there were unknown aircraft flying in Delaware skies was discredited shortly after they first appeared. The day after the Evening Journal published the first account of the strange objects in the sky, the newspaper printed a correction.
Quoting a spokesman for the duPont Company, “While we give Parson credit for honesty and sincerity … Men familiar with aeroplanes say these machines do not carry lights … As all guards had been instructed to look out for these mysterious craft, it is believed that the captain was keyed to such a pitch that he really was a victim of auto-hypnosis and honestly believed that he saw such an airship.’”
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The constant barrage news of bombings in Europe by Zeppelins and fixed wing aircraft infected many people in Delaware with the same “auto-hypnosis” long after the story had been debunked.
The mysterious lights in the night sky were explained by the close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the early night sky. The close proximity of the two planets created an unusually bright celestial object that some observers thought was the light of an aircraft.
The residents of Sussex County were not fooled by the dazzling light caused by the close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Looking out over the ocean, coastal residents had a clear view of the bright planets, which appeared to be stationary.
Lewes was also home to mariners who had spent years navigating their ships by the stars; and the proximity of Venus and Jupiter was not apt to be mistaken for bomb-laden enemy aircraft flying over Cape Henlopen.
Principal sources
Evening Journal, Feb. 3, 1916; Feb. 4, 1916; Fe. 5, 1916; Feb. 7, 1916; Feb. 14, 1916; Feb. 25, 1916.
Robert E. Bartholomew, “War-Scare Hysteria in the Delaware Region in 1916," Delaware History, Vo. XXVII, No. 1, Spring-Summer, 1998, pp. 71-74.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: When shining planets sparked UFO scare in Delaware
