Arkansas UFO Folklore: Airship Sightings from the 1890s to 1965

To the point

Arkansas has a long-running interest in unidentified aerial phenomena, from 19th‑century airship reports like Captain Jim Hooton near Texarkana and Hot Springs’ Constable John J. Sumpter with Deputy Sheriff John McLemore, to a 1965 wave across several towns with up to about 1,500 observers noted by Project Blue Book, with explanations ranging from experimental airships and balloons to hoaxes or misidentifications, which helped spur ongoing investigation by MUFON and NICAP and the Ozark Mountain UFO Conference.