This article was published in the daily newspaper Marion Daily Star, of Marion, Ohio, June 19, 1885.
Warning: the airship stories must not be taken at face value as "UFO sightings." Evaluation of such stories is under way here.
Or a Remarkable Story
A Mysterious Body Which Twisted a Tree Off as You Would the Top of a Raddish
CINCINNATI, Ohio, June 17. -- A correspondent says in the Enquirer: "During the wind-storm which passed over the city Monday afternoon [June 15] I noticed a remarkable freak of the heavenly bodies. While passing below the Hopple estate, on the avenue, I emerged from the gale into a space of deathlike stillness. I felt a choking sensation, and experienced a difficulty in breathing, realizing that something unusual was about to transpire. I hurriedly glanced around, and over the south end of Rawson's pork-house I noticed a rapidly descending body, about the size of an ordinary balloon. It revolved within itself, and was of a dull leaden color, with pale white edges, making a seething noise in its approach. It suddenly swept forward with an almost incredible velocity across the avenue. I dropped flat and held onto the track for safety, and was conscious of a dreadful commotion on the other side of the road and a sudden return of the gale. An examination showed that the mysterious body had wrenched a tree, forty inches in diameter, clear off three feet from the ground, as clean as you could twist the top from a raddish. What is more remarkable, not a twig or leaf was damaged on the rest of the tree. After it destroyed the tree it instantly disappeared as mysteriously as it came."
