Pilots have reported unusual objects criss-crossing their flight paths. An unidentified flying object was  
not part of the lexicon when folks looked to the skies years ago. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the
only "flight objects" were balloons. On November 17, 1896,  hundreds in Sacramento watched three lights,
illuminating a dark and stormy sky. The unusual object traveled 350 yards as it skirted rooftops. Five days 
later a similar object took a half-hour to cross another town where spectators claimed that the image 
replicated two men, peddling a bicycle-type frame, that was attached to the top of the object. Later that 
night another similar object was sighted above San Francisco and was witnessed by thousands. The airship 
cruised above  the Cliff House and was identified by a searchlight. Numerous sightings of airships were reported 
until May, 1897. It was the Mongolfier brothers who began flight balloons in 1783. The Wright brothers experimented 
with flights in 1896 with their first flight in 1903.