http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picture ... tures.html

An interesting curio...one I have not seen before. I know that that a photograph taken in Chicago during the Great Airship Flap was lost and that only a drawing based on it from a newspaper still exists. Although this photograph predates the Flap, it seems to have a form similar to that of a dirigible. I would love to see an in depth analysis of this "ancient" photo. Whats also interesting when I look closely at the image doesnt it seem to have outrigger pods like a Zeppelin, or am I just overly imaginative?

That 1870 photo resurfaces every few years. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not totally convinced it is a photo. It looks more like an illustration of some type. And, as much as it looks like an airship, it looks almost as much like a long shed of some type.

I wonder who owns the original of this. As you say, it might make for some interesting analysis.

S

Skeptical wrote:That 1870 photo resurfaces every few years. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not totally convinced it is a photo. It looks more like an illustration of some type. And, as much as it looks like an airship, it looks almost as much like a long shed of some type.

I wonder who owns the original of this. As you say, it might make for some interesting analysis.

S

One option was that it was a "snow shed" used to prevent railroad tracks from being over-run but it doesn't match the profile. The oblong shape could have been a stable but there's no outlying buildings. The shaded portions on the far right look much like stabilizers.I agree, that while intriguing, a long overdue analysis would be fascinating, As a drawing or painting it just seems too abstract for the times as a practical piece of work...as well as being in advance of the airship flap. I wounder where it was "found". Another question is when, is this a modern backdating of a hoax?

I've seen this photo from time to time over the years but I've never gotten a good feel for its origins or provenance. It would be interesting to see just how it first became classified as a "UFO" photo and what the original photographer thought it was.



I too was thinking that this might have been a railroad shed of some type. The right end does seem to be sporting dirigible-like stabilizers but that may be a trick of light as much as anything else.

Here is a close-up of the object itself done by Jim Morris of UFOCA:



You can see the fins better but others have remarked that a swastika appears in the center of the object (although that may be an artifact of the digital reproduction of the original photo).

The same site that hosts this close-up provides this tidbit of background on the photo:

"1870-MT. Washington, New Hampshire. This photo is dubbed, "the oldest UFO photograph ever taken." This item was the subject of bidding on Ebay in 2002, when it was purchased for $385.00 by Samuel M. Sherman, who was the president of Independent-International Pictures Corp. This was originally a "stereo" photograph. The description reads: Summit MT Washington winter 1870-1871 entered according to act of Congress in the year 1871, by CLOGH & KIMBALL,in the Office of the Librarian of Congress,at Washington."

S

Skeptical wrote:I've seen this photo from time to time over the years but I've never gotten a good feel for its origins or provenance. It would be interesting to see just how it first became classified as a "UFO" photo and what the original photographer thought it was.



I too was thinking that this might have been a railroad shed of some type. The right end does seem to be sporting dirigible-like stabilizers but that may be a trick of light as much as anything else.

Here is a close-up of the object itself done by Jim Morris of UFOCA:



You can see the fins better but others have remarked that a swastika appears in the center of the object (although that may be an artifact of the digital reproduction of the original photo).

The same site that hosts this close-up provides this tidbit of background on the photo:

"1870-MT. Washington, New Hampshire. This photo is dubbed, "the oldest UFO photograph ever taken." This item was the subject of bidding on Ebay in 2002, when it was purchased for $385.00 by Samuel M. Sherman, who was the president of Independent-International Pictures Corp. This was originally a "stereo" photograph. The description reads: Summit MT Washington winter 1870-1871 entered according to act of Congress in the year 1871, by CLOGH & KIMBALL,in the Office of the Librarian of Congress,at Washington."

S

What this could be is left over construction material staged ( lumber, etc) for the construction of the Mt Washington Cog Railroad in the previous year.All of this had to be staged as it was hauled up the mountain by mule teams.What looks like stabilizers might be stacked timbers used in the construction of trestle work, which is used instead of fill for the majority of the line. Looking closely, there appears to be what could be a tarp in the center...what is assumed to be clouds, might be snow drifted against this "pile" which seems to be a conglomeration of geometric shapes. No way to know for sure...but then I thought about the speed of glass plate cameras then...it took a full minute for an exposure..of absolute stillness without doing so, the image would have such severe blurring it would be an indistinguishable ...It looks like quite a ride to the top. This seems to be the most likely scenario. Look at this photo of the construction and the lumber shed.

Wow - I think that I may actually have solved the mystery of this photo. Clough & Kimball were commercial photographers in Concord, New Hampshire who, in the winter of 1870 and 1871, undertook a picture-taking expedition to a weather station that was built on Mount Washington. Here is their original, uncropped stereoscopic photo:



The caption for this image says "frost architecture". The point is, however, that this is not a picture of the mountain but of a mound of ice crystals that was fairly close to the photographer. The cropped version of the photo causes you to lose that perspective and perceive the dark object to be much larger than it actually was. Not sure what it was but it certainly is no dirigible-sized UFO.

Here is the link so you can see the whole series of photos:

Clough & Kimball Photos

S

Skeptical wrote:Wow - I think that I may actually have solved the mystery of this photo. Clough & Kimball were commercial photographers in Concord, New Hampshire who, in the winter of 1870 and 1871, undertook a picture-taking expedition to a weather station that was built on Mount Washington. Here is their original, uncropped stereoscopic photo:



The caption for this image says "frost architecture". The point is, however, that this is not a picture of the mountain but of a mound of ice crystals that was fairly close to the photographer. The cropped version of the photo causes you to lose that perspective and perceive the dark object to be much larger than it actually was. Not sure what it was but it certainly is no dirigible-sized UFO.

Here is the link so you can see the whole series of photos:

Clough & Kimball Photos

S

Solved. Great piece of detective work.

Hey Skep, have you emailed the Telegraph with your findings? I'm sure they would be interested. However, I wonder if they would mention it as this newspaper is seen as an upperclass paper here in the UK, and as such, I'm surprised that they even produced this article.

However, you may get your name in the paper as the one who solved it. Well researched Skep!

Frankly, I think it's quite a coincidence that this set of photos was actually on the Internet. The Internet really and truly is an amazing tool.

S

I've often doubted that photo, but have seen it on UFO sites from time to time. Sadly, the whole great Airship flap of the later Nineteenth century was mired in newspaper hoaxes, such that it's hard separating the true reports of something strange (or even something normal but misidentified) from the simply made up.

Now, with the mystery airships over Britain just prior to the First World War, there might be photographs, but I've never seen any.

Fascinating look at the Scareship age, providing proof that the Psychosocial Hypothesis is not totally offbase:

The second 'curiouser' is because Britain was not the only country where mystery airships were seen. Other times and places where something comparable (multiple and often widespread sightings of non-existent aircraft) occured include:

* Russia: 1892, 1912-3
* United States: 1896-7, 1904-10, 1914-8
* Canada: 1896-7, 1914-7
* South Africa: 1899, 1914
* France: 1903, 1912
* Denmark: 1908
* New Zealand: 1909
* Australia: 1909
* Sweden: 1909
* Belgium: 1913
* Netherlands: 1913
* Germany: 1913
* Romania: 1913
* Austria-Hungary: 1913
* Norway: 1914-6

Forget about old, weird America -- there's clearly an old, weird world thing going on here. A veritable Scareship Age, in fact, 1892-1918. Later instances could be adduced (the Scandinavian ghost flyer of 1932-4, the Battle of Los Angeles in 1942, the Scandinavian and Greek ghost rockets of 1946) but clearly, activity peaked during the years of flight's infancy.

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/33237.html

Now, that's a subject the Telegraph should cover in depth!

Of course, Keel, that old curmudgeonly occultist, believed that the Phenomena was mimicking emerging human technology. He illustrates that view with the airships,the ghost planes and rockets, as well as black helicopters (he wrote that a sketch of a black helicopter was identified by an engineer as almost identical ot one on the drawing board at the time). The more recent black tri sightings also fit into the mix.