Ancient UFO Sightings

Most of us tend to think of UFO sightings as a fairly modern phenomenon. Surprisingly accounts of UFO sightings flow all the way back through history. Here are a few of the more notable ones:

The Aurora, Texas UFO incident

Fifty years before the now infamous incident at Roswell, New Mexico a UFO was spotted in the small city of Aurora Texas. A local judge named J. S. Proctor spotted a glowing disc-shaped object hovering above his farm early one morning. He reported that the object clipped an arm of a windmill on his property and crash-landed.

The Dallas Morning News reported on the story adding some dubious embellishments such as the craft containing strange hieroglyphs and a Martian pilot. In spite of the dubious details it does seem credible that something did indeed crash land on the judge’s property. Was it extra terrestrial or something more mundane?

Roman UFO Accounts

Perhaps the first written account of UFO phenomena was from the historian Livy who wrote in detail about phantom, glowing ships seen gleaming and sparkling in the sky. Soon after Livy’s reports came writings from Pliny the Elder speaking of a spark falling from the sky and increasing in size as it fell then returning to the sky from whence it came.

Several years after Pliny’s accounts came more rumblings and rumours about strange crafts in the skies over the Roman Empire. Plutarch of Chaeronea wrote of an unexplained aerial phenomenon that appeared during a bloody battle between two armies in Asia. He described a massive blazing object in the sky between the armies that was silver and shaped like a wine vessel.

Several other Roman authors have discussed similar event at length leading us to believe that UFOs are not just a modern phenomenon.

Spaceships over Nuremberg

In 1561 in Nuremberg eyewitnesses report seeing an extraordinary display in the sky. This even not only involved multiple crafts but was witnessed by hundreds of people making it one of the largest mass UFO sightings in history.

Early in the morning on the 14th of April witnesses described seeing what appeared to be a battle between hundreds of glowing shapes in the sky until a massive bang brought an end to the spectacle. It was said to have lasted for over an hour and left behind masses of black smoke.

CHARIOTS IN THE SKY

In his writings ancient scholar Titus Flavius Josephus described a "miraculous phenomenon, defying belief" in the first century AD. He recounted a story of flaming chariots shooting across the sky seen by many eyewitnesses. He himself acknowledged how unlikely his story was even stating he wouldn’t have believed it himself if it wasn’t for multiple eyewitness accounts. This account stands out from other writings of religious experiences of the time due to the almost apologetic tone of the author. It does not seem to be connected to a religious context but simply a retelling of events that occurred.

If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy learning about the Kaikoura Lights or Ball Lightning.