The Worcester airship of 1909

On the night of 22 December 1909, thousands of people in Worcester, Massachusetts, reported seeing an airship. The sightings followed inventor Wallace Tillinghast's claim to have built a fast aeroplane.

On the night of 22 December 1909, an airship was reported over Worcester, Massachusetts, by thousands of people. The Museum of Hoaxes records that it supposedly hovered above the town, its powerful searchlight sweeping the ground. One man said he could see its frame quite plainly, and another reported two men seated aboard. Wikipedia notes that the Worcester sighting was reported nationwide.

Wikipedia says the sighting came after inventor Wallace Tillinghast said he had built an aeroplane capable of 120 miles per hour. Between 12 December 1909 and February 1910, New England newspapers filled with sightings of the aircraft he was said to have designed with two unnamed mechanics. A local history from Willimantic says Tillinghast had been telling people he had made the Boston to New York trip in his secret aeroplane, which had a lamp aboard. There, around 500 people stood in the streets watching a light in the sky, and some asked whether it was the Tillinghast airship.

The Museum of Hoaxes and Wikipedia both present the Tillinghast story as a hoax.