The mystery airship or phantom airship was a phenomenon that thousands of people across the United States claimed to have observed from late 1896 through mid 1897. Typical airship reports involved nighttime sightings of unidentified flying lights, but more detailed accounts reported actual airborne craft similar to an airship or dirigible. Mystery airship reports are seen as a cultural predecessor to modern claims of extraterrestrial-piloted UFO's or flying saucers.

Continued here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_airship

NOTE: The earliest rigid airship, and what we would typically recognize as a zeppelin, was the LZ 1, built by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. The LZ 1 was completed in 1900 and made its first successful flight on July 2, 1900. It was the first airship with a rigid structure, meaning it had a framework made of metal (aluminum), unlike earlier airships which were non-rigid or semi-rigid, i.e., hot air balloons.