When you hear the phrase 10 fascinating early UFO sightings, you might picture modern sci‑fi movies, but the truth is that people have been looking up at strange lights for centuries. From the deserts of ancient Egypt to the decks of Columbus’ ships, curious witnesses have recorded bizarre aerial phenomena that still spark debate. Below, we dive into each of these early accounts, re‑telling the tales with a dash of humor and a heap of detail.
12 Edmond Halley
Astronomer Edmond Halley – the same mind behind the famous comet that bears his name – reported not one but two unidentified craft during his career. The first encounter occurred in March 1676 when Halley described a “vast body apparently bigger than the moon” streaking across the heavens.
Based on his own calculations, Halley estimated the object to have hovered roughly 64 kilometres (about 40 miles) above him. He noted an eerie sound accompanying the sighting, likening it to “the rattling of a great cart over stones.” After timing its travel over several minutes, Halley concluded the craft was moving faster than 15,500 kilometres per hour (9,600 miles per hour) – a speed that would make today’s jets look like snails.
11 Alexander The Great
In 329 BC, while Alexander the Great was leading his army across a river during a fierce campaign, his troops reported a bewildering sight. Silver‑shaped shields, each encircled by flames, appeared to hover in the sky. These luminous objects repeatedly swooped toward the soldiers, startling the war elephants and horses alike.
Frightened by the aerial assault, Alexander ordered his men to abandon the crossing and wait until morning. The mysterious shields vanished with the sunrise, leaving the Macedonian commander and his army to wonder whether they had witnessed a divine omen or an early extraterrestrial encounter.
10 Aurora, Texas
Long before the famed Roswell incident, the tiny town of Aurora, Texas, experienced its own crash in 1897. At roughly 6:00 a.m., a mysterious craft slammed into Judge Proctor’s windmill, exploding into a scattering of debris.
When townspeople cleared the wreckage, they claimed to have uncovered alien‑like hieroglyphic symbols etched into the metal. Even more sensational, a severely deformed “Martian pilot” was allegedly recovered and interred in the local cemetery – a grave marker that was later reported stolen under mysterious circumstances.
9 Marseilles, France
On the evening of August 25, 1608, residents near Marseilles, France, witnessed a single spacecraft behaving erratically. After the craft halted mid‑air, two bizarre beings emerged and seemed to engage in a fierce melee.
The same aerial skirmish was reported over nearby Nice, and a similar confrontation unfolded a few miles away in Genoa. The following week, a heavy, red rain fell across the region, adding an eerie meteorological twist to an already uncanny series of sightings – all at a time when powered flight was still centuries away.
8 Nuremberg, Germany
At dawn on April 14, 1561, citizens of Nuremberg, Germany, were treated to a spectacular sky show. Two massive black cylinders launched a barrage of black and blue spheres, blood‑red crosses, and pristine white discs.
The chaotic display lasted about an hour before several of the shapes vanished into the Sun itself. Witnesses also reported seeing some of the objects plummet to the ground outside the city. A contemporary newspaper chronicled the event, describing the objects as “large pipes” and “blood‑colored crosses” that seemed to battle one another in the heavens.
7 Basel, Switzerland
Just five years after the Nuremberg spectacle, on August 7, 1566, the people of Basel, Switzerland, observed a dramatic aerial clash. Large black spheres raced across the sky, turning and colliding as if locked in combat.
According to Samuel Coccius, who recorded the event in Basel’s gazette, many of the spheres turned a fiery red before burning out and disappearing. The sky‑borne battle persisted for several hours, leaving onlookers both terrified and fascinated.
6 New Zealand
During the winter of 1909, New Zealand was abuzz with reports of “airships” of varying sizes cruising the night sky. Newspapers across the country printed dozens of eyewitness accounts, and entire towns became known as hotspots where residents would stare upward, hoping to catch a glimpse of the so‑called “phantom ship.”
These sightings occurred both day and night, yet no observer ever got within 30 metres (about 100 feet) of the objects. No known airships existed in New Zealand at the time, and the phenomenon seemed to migrate northward before eventually heading toward Australia.
5 Boston, Massachusetts
In 1639, a curious light was observed darting over Boston. The luminous object zipped back and forth between the Back Bay Fens, across the Charles River, and toward Charlestown. Governor John Winthrop even recorded the phenomenon in his journal.
The primary witness, James Everell, a reputable Bostonian, described the light as three yards square when stationary, then shrinking to the shape of a swine as it raced “as swift as an arrow” toward Charlestown. The light’s erratic behavior persisted for two to three hours, with several other credible townsfolk confirming the sighting.
4 Windsor Castle, England
At 9:45 p.m. on August 18, 1783, four observers perched on the terrace of Windsor Castle witnessed a luminous object that defied ordinary meteor explanations. While the description matches a meteor’s trajectory, the object remained stationary for a time and even changed colors.
The following year, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society published a detailed account: an oblong cloud moved parallel to the horizon, beneath which a glowing sphere grew brighter, halted, turned pale blue, then intensified before shooting eastward, later altering direction again before vanishing to the southeast. Its light was said to illuminate everything on the ground.
3 Jose Bonilla
In 1883, Mexican astronomer José Bonilla observed a series of mysterious objects crossing the Sun’s disc through a hazy mist. He meticulously recorded the event and captured photographs, yet never offered an explanation.
Three years later, a French astronomy journal dismissed the images as high‑flying birds or insects on the camera lens. In 2011, three Mexican astronomers revisited Bonilla’s notes, suggesting the objects could have been fragments of a comet – Bonilla had counted 447 distinct fragments over a two‑day span.
2 Thutmose III
The Tulli Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian document, preserves one of the earliest recorded UFO sightings. It chronicles the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III (c. 1504–1450 BC) and describes a strange event around 1480 BC.
Scribes wrote of a “circle of fire” descending from the sky, emitting a foul breath yet lacking any discernible head. The fiery disc measured roughly one rod in length and width. The scribes bowed before it and reported the sighting to the pharaoh, who later meditated on the phenomenon. Days afterward, the sky was filled with even more fire circles, prompting the army to watch as the luminous orbs rose higher. Incense was burned, and Thutmose ordered the incident be recorded as a moment of great importance.
1 Christopher Columbus
On October 11, 1492, while navigating the deck of the Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus reported a “light glimmering at great distance.” He called out to his crew member Pedro Gutierrez, who also saw the phenomenon.
The mysterious lights vanished and reappeared several times throughout the night, moving up and down in “sudden and passing gleams.” Columbus interpreted the eerie display as a favorable omen, proclaiming that it signaled the discovery of new land. True enough, four hours later, his fleet sighted the shores of the New World.