Lake Elmo, MN being encounter — April 13, 1897

Frederick Chamberlain and O. L. Jones were travelling by horse-drawn buggy near Lake Elmo on the night of April 13, 1897, during the American mystery-airship wave. A later historical timeline, citing the St. Paul Pioneer Press of April 15, places them on the road from Lakeland toward Hudson at roughly 11–11:15 p.m.; the imported catalogue gives 9 p.m. The men reportedly noticed a figure carrying a lantern in a clearing. When they turned toward the light, the figure disappeared among the trees. Crackling and rushing sounds followed. A long grey-white object then rose steeply above the trees, its covered upper section compared with the canvas of a wagon. Two rows of coloured lights, including red and green, were visible. The account does not identify a modern saucer or describe an alien face. Fourteen large impressions were reportedly found in two rows of seven. Their nature was not established, so they should not automatically be called footprints. Farmer Adam Thielen separately reported a dark object with coloured lights overhead; that observation did not include the lantern carrier. The episode survives as a newspaper-era airship account, with a humanlike figure inferred to be associated with the departing object, rather than a documented abduction.