1916: Mysterious airships spotted in Caribou night sky

115 Years Ago – March 13, 1901

     Pointers — A man living north of here and across the St. John River in New Brunswick visited this village one day and registered at one of the area hotels. He was shown to his room at night, and about 15 minutes later, the night clerk was surprised to see the guest step up to the counter, looking half dressed.

“What kind of lamps do you run in this town? I tried to blow one of ’em out but could not do so,” exclaimed the man.

The clerk smiled and proceeded to enlighten his guest to the proper way in which to manage electric lights.

AR LOOKINGBACK 11 16 17092459

File photo 1966

Caribou High School science fair winners and runners-up were, from left, front: Mike Ouellette, Jeff Dow and John Bush. Back: Suzan Margeson, Timothy McCarthy, Raymond Lund and Sally Thayer. McCarthy was winner in the biology category, Thayer was second and Margeson third. 

100 Years Ago – March 16, 1916

     Seeing things — Some of our people have been seeing airships around 9:30 in the evening in the northwest. The airships have been observed in Caribou by several parties, or at least they think they have.

     Low prices — 100 cords dry wood for sale for $3.50 per cord and can be delivered anywhere in the village.

75 Years Ago – March 13, 1941

     Recruiting officer to visit — On Thursday of next week for one day only, Vaughan G. Bates of the recently opened Navy Recruiting Station will be in Caribou at the post office. Any young men between the ages of 17 and 31 who are physically fit and interested in enlisting may contact him there.

     One-act contest — Caribou High School has entered in the state one-act play contest sponsored by the Maine Principal’s Association, and under the direction of Miss Lalah Bailey, dramatics instructor, will present “Submerged”, a submarine drama, at the preliminary contest at Bridgewater, March 20.

50 Years Ago – March 16, 1966

     Sales leader — The J.C. Penney store in Caribou won high honors in the company chain in 1965 by achieving the highest percentage of sales increase in the northeast district, it was announced today by R.H. McCarthy, manager of the Sweden Street retail outlet. The district includes all New England states plus parts of New York and Pennsylvania.

     Budget vote — Caribou’s 96 representative government members, including 32 who will be elected in Monday’s civic voting, will gather for the annual Town Meeting in the High School Auditorium Tuesday night to vote on a $2,169,944 budget and to ballot for or against a change in the town’s charter.

25 Years Ago – March 13, 1991

     Coming home — More than 500 Loring Air Force Base troops returned home from the Persian Gulf War Sunday as well over a thousand relatives, friends and well-ushers turned out for the homecoming. The first of four C-141 transports bearing 125 Loring personnel arrived at 6:46 a.m., with the others following.

     Winter arrives, again — The old saying that March comes in like a lion has proved true as far as the recent weather picture goes, with Old Man Winter gifting the area with 11.5 inches over a five-day period. The total precipitation for the first 11 days of March this year, recorded at 15.9 inches, far outweighs that of the same period last year, which stood at only .2 inches.