Based on the Aurora, Texas UFO crash of April 17, 1897, "TRAVELER" by Kerry Trent Haggard is a newly published novel which pays homage to the crash.  

In 1897, a very strange incident occurred in the tiny North Texas town of Aurora, on Saturday, April 17, 1897 at 6 o’clock in the morning. A  UFO or “flying machine” as it was referred to at that time in history, metallic silver in color, appeared suddenly in the sky above Aurora and collided with a windmill with a terrific explosion. Scattering debris over several acres of ground, the crash destroyed the windmill, the adjacent water tank and a local judge’s flower garden. Among the wreckage, the townspeople found the dead body of the ship’s pilot. Although damaged severely in the crash, it was clear that “he was not an inhabitant of this world”. A Dallas newspaper article, published two days after the crash, stated that “the pilot’s funeral would take place the following day”, April 18th. Another Fort Worth paper said, “The pilot, who was not an inhabitant of this world, was given proper Christian burial at the Aurora Cemetery.” When the pilot was buried, a marker was placed on his grave. In 1973, newspaper reporter Bill Case described the marker as “having a strange design on it resembling a flying saucer with portholes.” Shortly after Case wrote a story describing the grave marker, somebody stole it. Today, some claim the story is not true and was created by Aurora residents to boost tourism; many others do believe that a spaceship crash-landed there. The case of the alien that fell from the sky in Aurora, Texas, continues to fascinate people to this very day and in today's MUFON community the story is now for the most part considered a historical fact.

Set in 1997, the new novel “TRAVELER” is an entertaining tale based on the crash and an in depth look at how the story possibly played out in the old west. A long time enthusiast of classic horror and UFOs, author, Kerry Haggard first  learned of the Aurora alien crash from Texas native John Cochran in 2015. Due to an incident which Kerry witnessed during his childhood of a flying saucer landing in his small hometown, the story hit him with such passion that he and John spent the next several months working day and night to form an outline for a screenplay based on the fictional hunt for the buried extraterrestrial 100 years later. From there it grew into today's novel and screenplay.

24 year-old Gainesville Texas newspaper columnist Bonnie Reynolds has been handed an assignment. Finding the resting place of a 100 year old extraterrestrial buried in the small town of Aurora. According to local reports published in both Dallas and Fort Worth papers of the time, a small being clipped the edge of a local windmill with his silver flying machine and slammed head on into the town's only water tower. Good-hearted folks of the time realized that he was “not of this world” but did the one thing they could for the fallen traveler. They gave him a proper Christian burial. The quest to locate his grave turns out to be more than an ordinary newspaper assignment. What she finds is a select few members of the town struggling to keep an ancient secret from corrupt federal agents determined to do harm and by the time its over the reporter wishes she had never seen the ancient article which led her down this road. That is until an outlaw named Tombs rides in to save the day.

The 1897 sections of the novel are heavily based on documented historical facts detailing the town of Aurora at the time and the single alien crash in the early morning of April 17th, 1897. Written in the past tense, they are, however, Haggard’s own interpretation of how the actual events may have played out in the old west at the close of the 19th century. He tried to imagine how the good people of a small south-western town may react to such an unprecedented happening. How they may deal with and comprehend the phenomenon of an honest to goodness extraterrestrial craft falling from the heavens in a time when nothing but birds ruled the sky. How they may come together to cope with such an occurrence and its aftermath not only physically but mentally and how it would go down in their history.

Reported in both the April 19, 1897 Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Observer, stories concerning the event were subsequently handed down from elders of the time. Some accounts swore it was the most astonishing thing to have ever happened in the community. Others claimed it was all a lie, made up to try and save a town that was in serious trouble due to fire, crop failure and epidemic. The good people of Aurora today must feel certain the story is true. In the local cemetery there is an official monument detailing the graveyard’s history which mentions the event. Placed there by the Texas Historical Commission in 1976, the inscription concerning the alien is as follows, “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.”

Taken from real life occurrences and situations from their vastly different pasts for the purpose of creating the novel and screenplay, the 1997 sections of the book, all written in the present tense, were created by Odessa, Texas native, Johnny Cochran Johnny Cochran from whom much of this story is based, including not only the Johnny character but Tombs as well, and Haggard during the summer of 2015. The two backgrounds combined tell some pretty wild accounts to give the reader an entertaining fictional tale based on a substantial historical event. Many of the stories included in this work such as the railroad tie thrown in the road, the angry Pomeranian locked in the van, the misguided hand grenade and the visit from the reptiles truly took place!

Kerry Trent Haggard is the founder, writer and host of “Wheels of the Past” productions based in Beaver Falls, PA. Relocating there to begin the project from his home state of Georgia in 2017, the show is currently under production in the Pittsburgh area. "Wheels of the Past" is a historically accurate and entertaining series devoted to the history and preservation of classic cars, trucks and motorcycles which have informative stories to tell. Haggard's novel, TRAVELER is out now on Amazon and he has multiple book signings and speaking engagements lined up around the country (USA) this year.

During his extensive 3 year research in relation to the event, Kerry discovered that in the early morning hours April 17th 1897 a single alien spacecraft lost control over the sky's of Texas in the United States and clipped the edge of a fast moving windmill above the small town of Aurora just north of Fort Worth. It veered into the path of the town's only water tower and crashed with a terrific explosion which awakened many of the residents. Reported in both Dallas and Fort Worth newspapers of the time, the story of the downed Aurora TX "Traveler" was not the first of such occurrences to be sure. There were hundreds of UFO sightings witnessed and documented in newspapers throughout the old west beginning shortly after the Civil War from San Francisco to Louisiana coming to a head in 1897.

Original news article

“Just over a year ago.” Haggard states, “I spoke to dedicated Aurora researcher Jim Marrs before his death and he as well as I believed that the Aurora TX alien crash was totally authentic and that the unfortunate alien killed in the crash is still buried in the local cemetery till this day. He was thrilled with my work and the recognition it would bring concerning the event and in writing my novel I have striven to handle the story and the incident with the utmost respect. To articulate the 1897 sections with the same feelings and reactions which the residents of Aurora may have felt with the realization that the fallen traveler was indeed from another world in our universe. To tell in their own words how they would have reacted and coped with such a tragedy. "TRAVELER" has been a passion of mine since the day it was decided upon and I hope it brings great enjoyment to those who read it"

TRAVELER is out now via Amazon and more details can be located at FLYING DISK PRESS:

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