Intae the 18ct century wi mair fowk writin, an braidsheets takkin on the look o newspapers, whiles lichts an objects wis reportit as curious asides, tho as yet awmaist naebody jaloused objects micht come fae ither warlds. Mair an mair weel-lared fowk noo took sic things wi a pinch o saut, an pit them doun no tae God or the deil, but raither tae peasant tradeetions an tales. Deed, ane o the meenisters o Aiberdeen in writin for the Statistical Account of Scotland said that in Dezember 1792:

...many of the country people observed very uncommon phenomena in the air (which they call Dragons) of a red fiery colour, appearing in the North and flying rapidly towards the Earth.

Sae tae the peasants an fermers, thir ‘draigons’ haed been aboot for a lang time an wis taen for grantit. But aince in a whilie something ither, that naebody cuid accoont for, wis seen bi sindry fowk o aw clesses. It was reportit in the braidsheet Strange and Wonderful Apparitions that on 19 Mairch 1719 the fowk o Aiberdeen seen

...a great lightning amongst the Clouds, which were of divers Colours, as Red, Yellow, Green, etc. And there was a great fire amongst the Clouds, which issued out from them like sheets enfolding one another. The People thought that the Cloud touched the Earth, and Came down with a great Noise, which made many of the beholders run into their Houses, for fear the Fire have devoured them.

A ferlie fae nature, or aiblins something ither? Whit wis it ahin the cloods? In anither instance, fae 1787, a curious baw o fire wis seen tae flee throu the air ower the city o Embra, gauin for a while stracht alang easin-gaits until syne it drappit, rose up again, gaed ahin a clood an burstit in licht. If we can lippen on this report, the object didna shoot or drap stracht doun like ony natural rock fawin fae aff-warld an burnin up, but chenged its gait twa-three times awmaist like it wis driven. Some thirty year efter this, in 1816, mony fowk in Embra spottit anither orra object up in the lift, a muckle object, lut up, with the shape o a crescent, an fleein alang. On the 18t o September 1848, the Lunnon Times newspaper reportit that unkent objects haed been seen fleein aboot no faur fae Innerness in the Heilans. Whiles the objects flittit fast, thay said, an whiles thay devalled an jist hung in the air, a description that haes the eerie ring o accoonts fae mair modren times o bricht objects hingin ower lanesome roads. No lang efter, in 1850, fowk in Aiberdeen seen a rid object in the air that gied aff a yella an orange plume, that soonds muckle like a reek o fuel. At ane pynt a sma object cam oot fae the bigger ane an wis seen tae gae at an angle conter tae the bigger ane. Aboot the same time as this happent in Scotland, appearinly the same kind o object wis spottit ower the Cote d’Azur in Fraunce.

Bi noo, in the second hauf o the 19t century, the war a screed o regular reports anent orra objects, on sea, on land, an maistly in the air. We doot mony maun’a been natural, a wheen aiblins pratticks bi the airmy or the scientific-mindit, but a sma nummer haes left us clawin oor heids tae this day. Here we shuid mak mention that the notion o humans fleein throu the air wis something that the publict haed come tae hear aboot, an a can that the weirin pouers haed come tae ettle at, stertin fae the end o the 18ct century. The Scot Jeems Tytler haed been the first in the hail o thir islands tae mak a successfae flicht in a hot air balloon, back on 27 August 1784, gauin hauf a mile fae Comely Gairdens by Halyrood, in Embra, an ootby the gait o Restalrig. The haed been unsuccessfae pratticks in steam-driven craft in the 1840’s, an wi gliders fae the 1880’s, but it wisna til 17 Dezember 1903 that the first, pouered, manned flicht haed held-gauin. Thon day the Wright brithers in North Carolina flew the Kitty Hawk a hail fower mile afore haein tae land aince mair. Sae the notion that an orra object seen in the air taewards the end o the 19t century micht be man made didna come ower as haivers.           

On 17 August 1870 The Scotsman newspaper reportit that a bricht baw o bluish licht wis seen tae hing ower the toun o Dunbar an that it haed twa tails comin aff it. Whiles ane o the tails wis seen tae brek aff an move aboot on its ain for a wee, afore the hail object stertit aff taewards the sooth wast, slaw like. Awthegither this ‘air shaw’ lastit aboot twinty meenits an wis weel seen tae mony fowk. The Scotsman reportit that

...it attracted a great deal of attention, and was witnessed with a great deal of excitement by the inhabitants of the villages to the west.

The object here descrived daesna soond like ony prattick we ken aboot, bi the airmy or ony ither body, an is ane we jist canna accoont for. In the mid 1890’s the war a puckle o sichtings o unkent ‘airships’, maistly ower the USA, but twa-three wis seen ower Scotland an ither pairts o thir islands forby. Whiles feegurs wis seen associate wi the ships, keekin doun, or climmin doun fae cables, an whiles the war lichts comin aff o them. War thir ships secret airships years aheid o thair time, as a wheen screivars haes threapit, or something mair aff-warld? The war anither puckle sichtings, something like it, in August o 1909. The Linlithgowshire Gazette reportit at length anent orra lichtit objects mony fowk in sindry places haed seen gauin ben Wast Lothian an ayont ower a puckle nichts. In parteeclar, the wark men at Torbanehill colliery cuid seen a muckle bricht licht movin throu the lift at nicht, gauin eastwards tae stert wi, but syne makkina turn sooth. The paper said the men cuid see

...the body of the machine, which was indistinctly seen in the darkness of the night.

Here a clear reference tae fowk makkin oot a machine o some kind, gauin throu the air. Wis it secret airships that the fowk o Wast Lothian seen, or something ither? Alang wi thir newspaper reports o sichtings o objects at nicht we whiles read o fowk thair lane spottin an object that wis gey orra. For ae instance, on 2 November 1912 a body in Leith cuid see fae thair windae a bittie licht traivellin alang in the air taewards them. As it grew nearer the witness cuid see that it wis a ceegar in shape, an no lang efter it a second object muckle like a crescent follaed on, baith dwynin awa in the lift. The ‘ceegar’ an the ‘crescent’ daesna soond like ony aircraft that belanged the time an the description soonds mair like a modren UFO report. As the 1920’s an 1930’s gaed by antrin reports o this ilk kythed on an aff in the papers, but in the same time airships an planes becam common. It wis noo a mair quirkie business gettin tae set the rael unkent objects apairt fae the ordnar aircraft whiles misreportit.