History Has Forgotten This Bizarre Nebraska Event From 1884

There are a lot of funny, unusual, and just plain weird things in Nebraska’s history, but one in particular is so odd that it’s been all but forgotten. In 1884, something otherworldly happened in Dundy County…and almost no one knows about it.

By Grant-Kohrs Ranch Historic Collection, bought by the National Park Service in 1972 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

As reported two days later in the Nebraska Nugget (published in Holdrege), the cowboys heard a "terrific whirring noise" overhead. They looked up and saw a fiery, hulking object falling rapidly to the earth; after passing over their heads, the object crashed into the ground in a ravine just beyond a hill.

By Charles O'Rear, 1941-, Photographer (NARA record: 3403717) (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The men all approached cautiously, but the object was so intensely hot that one herdsman was badly burned when he got close. The men observed a strange kind of hissing, bubbling liquid on the ground all around the wreckage. Cogs, scraps of machinery, and bits of metal were strewn all about, but everything was simply too hot to approach. They took the injured man back to Ellis' home to treat his burns, prepared to return the following day after the heat died down a bit.

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They described the glow as being nearly as bright as the sun. The cowboys returned the next morning, this time with district brand inspector E.W. Rawlins in tow. Rawlins took notes about what he observed there, including some pieces of wreckage he inspected closely. The pieces of metal appeared similar to brass, but they were remarkably light.

Of the main piece of wreckage, Rawlins wrote in his journal, "the Aerolite or whatever it is, seems to be about fifty or sixty feet long, cylindrical, and about ten or twelve feet in diameter. Great excitement exists in the vicinity and the round-up is suspended while the cowboys wait for the wonderful find to cool off so they can examine it. Mr Ellis is here and will take the first train to the land office with the intention of securing the land on which this strange thing lies, so that his claim cannot be disputed".

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The afternoon after the crash, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered at the crash site to marvel at the sight and speculate on its origin. At around 2 pm, a tremendous storm struck suddenly. Rain fell heavier and faster than anyone had ever seen. The wind whipped the rain around and reduced visibility to nearly nothing. The storm carried on for about 30 minutes before ending as abruptly as it had begun. And when the onlookers were again able to see the crash site, they were absolutely shocked.

flickr/PJ Nelson

The few little bits and pieces that were left behind were said to dissolve into the ground. After the three foot deep stormwater was cleared from the ravine, not one trace of the debris was left.

Since the incident, this bizarre story has resurfaced at least a few times. The first was in the 1960s when a copy of the original newspaper article was discovered. Reporters and ufologists flooded Dundy County to question local citizens and uncover the whole story. But they were met with steely silence; no one would say that they had ever even heard the story of the UFO crash.

Interestingly, this story from Nebraska seems to predate every other UFO sighting reported in newspapers at the time. Little Dundy County could very well be the place where UFO mania started so long ago.

If you can’t get enough strange history, here are 8 things you never knew happened in Nebraska and 5 of the most shocking things that have ever happened here.