2009 Welcome to Wise.indd - Wise County Messenger

80
AURORA Alien (continued)
Researchers at the University of North
exas in Denton said pieces of metal
ound at the reputed crash site were
ade of fused aluminum — a substance
hat didn’t exist on Earth in 1897, Marrs
aid.
“Even in 1973 the people who were alive
t the time were divided between those
ho thought it was real and those who
hought it was a hoax,” Marrs said.
Marrs’ stories about the Aurora alien
ttracted organizations that research
FOs, as well as many other visitors. The
lien’s headstone was still visible at the
ime, and all of the out-of-town visitors
ad hoped the authorities would dig the
ody out of the ground and see what, if
nything, was really there.
“The representatives from the Aurora
emetery got angry — they feared we
ere trying to dig up grandma, so they
ot an injunction against anyone who
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would try to dig the body up.
“A lot of people began driving around
the cemetery, so law enforcement had
to stand guard out front. The story died
down after two weeks, and the police
guard went away. The alien’s headstone
went missing later that night and hasn’t
been seen since,” Marrs said, adding visitors
can still find the burial site directly
beside an old oak tree.
Former Aurora Mayor Barbara Brammer
calls the legend “a good story, but one
without proof.”
She has her own theory as to what may
have really happened.
The town had once thrived with almost
3,000 residents, but many had left for
other opportunities by the end of the
19th century.
“There are rumors that someone made
up the story as a reason to get people to
move back to Aurora,” Brammer said.
A and
While Brammer remains skeptical,
Marrs said there are good reasons to believe
the story is true.
“There were witnesses. This was six
years before the Wright brothers flew, so
there was nothing man-made in the air,”
Marrs said, adding many newspapers
across the country at the time also published
reports of a “cigar-shaped” spaceship
seen flying across the country, with
some of the reports coming from as far
north as Seattle.
“There were no more stories (about
the UFO) after the crash. This does not
prove that a ship crashed in Aurora, but it
proves something was flying around the
skies of Aurora, six years before airplanes
were around,” Marrs said.
Books have been written about the supposed
alien crash, and a 1985 movie, “The
Aurora Encounter,” was based upon the
story that originated in Wise County.
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