Aurora (Texas)
| Aurora | |
|---|---|
 Location in Texas
|
|
| Basic data | |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Texas |
| County : | Wise County |
| Coordinates : | 33 ° 3 ′ N , 97 ° 31 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) |
| Residents : | 1,383 (as of 2008) |
| Population density : | 164.6 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 8.4 km 2 (approx. 3 mi 2 ) of which 8.4 km 2 (approx. 3 mi 2 ) are land |
| Height : | 249 m |
| Postal code : | 76078 |
| Area code : | +1 817 |
| FIPS : | 48-04672 |
| GNIS ID : | 1329842 |
| Website : | www.auroratexas.gov |
| Mayor : | Terry Solomon |
Aurora is a settlement in Wise County , Texas , about 25 miles northwest of Dallas . The place became known worldwide in 1973 because of the activities of ufologists who claimed that a UFO had crashed here in 1897. However, later investigations suggest a very high probability of a hoax .
The Aurora UFO incident
The freelance journalist SE Haydon wrote in the Dallas Morning News on April 17, 1897 that the day before at around 6 a.m. there was a spaceship over the town of Aurora, which had obvious maneuvering difficulties. It flew slowly in a northerly direction, lost altitude and then exploded after a collision with a windmill. The windmill was damaged and the front yard was devastated. The remains of the pilot gave the impression that he was "out of this world". Other related reports from the time of the accident do not exist. Many years later, residents reported that the remains were buried in the town's cemetery on the day following the disaster.
In 1973, Hayden Hewes, director of the said International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City , at a press conference that in a grave of the cemetery of Aurora the remains of astronauts from another world befänden. This sparked a major media campaign. However, local authorities prohibited any exhumation of the deceased in Aurora. Metal parts were found on the site of the crash site, the alloy of which could not be technically produced in 1897 (but it was from the 1940s). Several elderly residents of the village said independently in interviews that their relatives had told them about the UFO incident. There were no real eyewitness reports.
Independent research by Time Magazine revealed that there had never been a windmill in the town. However, later in an episode of UFO Hunter, the remains of a windmill were found in the place.
While the vast majority of researchers have long assumed a hoax , some still advocate the UFO crash thesis. The state of Texas listed the Aurora Cemetery and installed a corresponding bronze plaque.
Individual evidence
- ↑ mufon.com
- ↑ In the original text: airship
- ↑ In the original: "[...] while his remains were badly disfigured, enough of the original has been picked up to show that he was not an inhibitant of this world."
- ↑ Americana: Close Encounters of a Kind . In: Time . March 12, 1979 ( content.time.com [accessed July 16, 2016]).
