Leroy entity encounter — April 19, 1897

The Le Roy cattle-abduction story was published in the Yates Center Farmer’s Advocate on April 23,1897, describing an event four nights earlier. Rancher Alexander Hamilton supposedly went outside with his son Wallace and hired hand Gid Heslip after hearing a disturbance among the cattle. They allegedly found an enormous cigar-shaped airship above the corral, with six strange occupants in an illuminated carriage beneath it. The newspaper story claimed a cable from the airship caught a calf, which was carried away after becoming entangled in the fence. Animal remains were supposedly identified the following day. Affidavits from local men vouched for Hamilton’s character, helping the tale circulate widely. Later UFO writers revived it as an early example of cattle mutilation. There is direct evidence that this was a manufactured newspaper tale. In 1943, former editor Edward F.Hudson described how he and Hamilton had invented it after discussing a new gasoline engine. The admission was rediscovered and discussed in 1970 s research, including APRO’s June 1977 bulletin. The Atlas preserves the historical story together with that hoax finding. Its plate is explicitly labelled as a hoax illustration and shows an unharmed animal rather than dramatizing the fictional injury.