After a UFO crashed in 1897, this Texas town buried the dead alien!?
Fifty years before an alien spacecraft crash-landed in the desert of Roswell, New Mexico, the rural town of Aurora, Texas had to deal with its very own unexpected visitor from outer space. It is a Famous well known story that has gone down in history as one of Texas’ weirdest, which is not surprising really, considering it’s the only UFO crash where a funeral was held for the extra-terrestrial pilot!
The location where the ET being is believed to of been buried!
April 17th,1897, a strange UFO spacecraft apparently smashed into a windmill belonging to a local Judge, a man by the name of J.S. Proctor. This crash ended up grounding the craft and killing the pilot, a small sized humanoid being, that a local Army officer described as a “Martian” and “not of this world”. Among the wreckage, first responders discovered what they believed to be the spaceman’s writings, records written in an unknown hieroglyphics!
Hitting the papers.
Not too sure of exactly how to handle this bizarre situation, the townsfolk did what they felt was appropriate and gave the alien a funeral, burying him in their local cemetery. Shortly thereafter, the locals disposed of the crash debris by tossing it down Judge Proctor’s well. Out of sight, out of mind…so they believed!!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axe4wFjyPnU
You might all think that such an incredible historical event, would have been covered extensively and be known by many, but other than a few newspaper articles announcing the crash and a single historical marker near the Aurora Cemetery, the story remains a little-known piece of the town’s history. Its time for the world to learn about this important event!
From the historical marker:
The oldest known graves, here, dating from as early as the 1860s, are those of the Randall and Rowlett families. Finis Dudley Beauchamp (1825-1893), a Confederate veteran from Mississippi, donated the 3-acre site to the newly- formed Aurora Lodge No. 479, A.F. & A.M., in 1877. For many years, this community burial ground was known as Masonic Cemetery. Beauchamp, his wife Caroline (1829-1915), and others in their family. An epidemic which struck the village in 1891 added hundreds of graves to the plot. Called “Spotted Fever” by the settlers, the disease is now thought to be a form of meingitis. Located in Aurora Cemetery is the gravestone of the infant Nellie Burris (1891-1893) with its often-quoted epitaph: “As I was so soon done, I don’t know why I was begun.” This site is also well-known because of the legend that a spaceship crashed nearby in 1897 and the pilot, killed in the crash, was buried here. Struck by epidemic and crop failure and bypassed by the railroad, the original town of Aurora almost disappeared, but the cemetery remains in use with over 800 graves. Veterans of the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam conflicts are interred here.
The Truth from the Past
Given that this crazy story was reduced to only a single line of text, it’s very easy to see that Aurora doesn’t exactly like to promote it’s very own brush with the extraterrestrial. In fact, if anything, each attempt to exhume the grave of the alien pilot has been met with strong opposition. In the 70’s, the International UFO Bureau arrived in town with plans to finally dig up the truth, but were met with some very, very angry townsfolk, many toting guns….clearly wanting the past to stay in the past!
“There was quite a mess,” one of the residents, Karen Tedrow, told NPR’s Eyder Peralta. “The residents had guns and everything, because they didn’t want them to do it. And I understand, because my parents are buried there, and I don’t want them digging around. Earthly body or not, they ought to let it rest in peace.”
Hitting the Big Screen
Years later, some of the cast members from the short-lived television series UFO Hunters visited Aurora, and though they couldn’t convince the cemetery board to allow an exhumation, the crew made use of ground-penetrating radar in order to locate the grave. Unfortunately, the remains appeared badly deteriorated, and without DNA testing from a proper examination, the results proved inconclusive, but more mysterious than ever.
Clearly, there was someone small buried there, something which was obvious to all of the crew!
The Stranger from the skies
Today, visitors who wish to visit the grave of the small Alien pilot can do so much more easily than before. Now a small headstone, devoid of a name or date, sits beneath the shade of a tree, one of the very few reminders of Texas’ first close encounter with a visitor from space.
Is there really an Alien buried in this ancient burial ground?
U.I.P Summary
This is a story I remember reading about a fair few years ago, and one which fascinates still to this day! Without meaning to sound morbid, but I would so love to know what is buried beneath that unusual headstone. To be fair the only was we could determine how true this story is, would be by seeing what lied below!
I am going to try and reach out to any residents who live in that area to see what they know about this ‘silent’ myth. This is a story which not many people know about and one which requires a lot more digger in order to get a clearer image of what actually could of happened all those years back…..we at U.I.P are ready to go digging in order to discover the Truth!
Please feel comment below on what your thoughts are on this, or if you know any more about this story.
U.I.P