The Vortex Aurora, Texas

Aurora, Texas

Aurora, Texas – A Legendary Western Town! As their official city logo states, Aurora is known for its legendary story of a spaceship crash and spaceman grave from 1897. The story originally appeared in the April 19th edition of the Dallas Morning News, along with over a dozen other airship reports from all across Texas. “A Windmill Demolishes It.” by S. E. Haydon describes an object crashing into a windmill, causing an explosion of metal debris, and the recovery of the remains of the pilot as well as his burial. The legacy of this legend is chronicled in the publication AURORA: The History of a Texas Legend from 1897 by Daniel Alan Jones also which features contribution by researchers, locals, and city officials.

The story did not get much attention after its debut in 1897 until the 1960’s, when reporters and investigators became interested after the original story had resurfaced. Various organizations descended upon Aurora in hopes of reaching a conclusion as to the factual accuracy of the legend, in 1973 an attempt to legally exhume the body was made but dismissed. A historical marker was erected in 1976 which includes a statement about the legend.

There was a movie made in 1986 called Aurora Encounter which used some creative liberties for a live action portrayal. The 100th anniversary of the event was recognized by various media platforms, Jim Marrs featured the Aurora legend in his book Alien Agenda. Marrs would continue to work on the case and produced a documentary in 2002 called Aurora: The UFO Crash of 1897.

After working with Jim for a few years already, I helped him edit in some additional material into a new release of the documentary during the event we helped the city put together, the Aurora Alien Encounter. This one-time event featured a number of speakers including Jim Marrs, Noe Torres, Stephen Andrasko, Nick Redfern, Tui Snider, and Travis Walton along with me as Master of Ceremony, Daniel Alan Jones.

Jim Marrs gives an introduction at the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter on Saturday, April 16th in Aurora Texas. This event commemorated the 1897 UFO crash and burial of an alien body.
In 1897 a UFO crashed in Aurora, Texas where it hit a windmill and exploded. The remains of an alien body were recovered and buried in the local cemetery. This documentary was premiered at the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter on Saturday, April 16th, 2016 – An event to commemorate the historical incident
Travis Walton shares about his UFO abduction experience as dramatized in Fire in the Sky during the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter
Tui Snider gave a presentation entitled “What on Earth were They Thinking? Public Reaction to the 1897 Texas Airship Mystery” during the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter on Saturday, April 16th, 2016.
Stephen Andrasko gives a presentation on Noe Torres’ book ‘Real Cowboys & Aliens: UFO Encounters of the Old West’ at the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter on Saturday, April 16th, 2016.
Noe Torres gives a presentation on ‘The Del Rio UFO Crash of 1955’ (which took place along the Texas Mexico border) during the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter on Saturday, April 16th, 2016. Noe wrote a book on the subject titled The Other Roswell
Nick Redfern gives a presentation on Famous UFO Cases in Texas during the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter on Saturday, April 16th, 2016.
Aurora City Administration Dr. Toni Wheeler guided tours to the 1897 UFO Crash site and Alien grave burial site in the local cemetery during the first annual Aurora Alien Encounter on Saturday, April 16th, 2016

The City of Aurora, Texas erected a monument the following year in 2017 but the Aurora Alien Encounter event was canceled. Eventually, the city had a new project which began construction near the new monument near the “crash site”, this turned into the Area 114 party patio. The new installation featured a number of themed businesses including Martian Margaritas, Smoking Windmill BBQ, and others.

Unfortunately, the town has dealt with some major challenges over recent years and has undergone new administration. With the city hall burning down in 2021, it left the city and its council, along with some of Aurora’s history, in a very difficult place. Although, while Area 114 is no more, for the time being, the city of Aurora just held a grand opening ceremony for their new city hall.

The Aurora Legend has been the subject of much ridicule over the years but I have taken the time to document as much as possible regarding the history of the legend, thanks to my good friend, the late Jim Marrs, who originally told me the many details of the story along with having shown me the original sites on location in Aurora. The material I have accumulated for this research project is being used for a publication about the cultural history of the Aurora legend, to showcase all the ways in which this story has been featured in all multimedia forms, and has been an ongoing work-in-progress. I am in the process of working towards the completion of this publication regard the legend’s history and helping to provide the references and resources for the public to have access to. AURORA: The History of a Texas Legend from 1897
– Daniel Alan Jones