List of reported UFO sightings

4 min readMar 25, 2021

This is a partial list by date of sightings of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including reports of close encounters and abductions.

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A photo of a purported UFO over Passaic, New Jersey in 1952

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Second millennium BCE[edit]

DateNameCity, StateCountryDescriptionSourcesca. 1440 BCEFiery disksLower Egypt Ancient EgyptAccording to the disputed Tulli Papyrus, the scribes of the pharaoh Thutmose III reported that “fiery disks” were encountered floating over the skies. The Condon Committee disputed the legitimacy of the Tulli Papyrus stating, “Tulli was taken in and that the papyrus is a fake.”[1][2][3]

Classical antiquity[edit]

DateNameCity, StateCountryDescriptionSources218 BCEships in the skyRome, Italia Roman Republic Livy records a number of portents in the winter of this year, including navium speciem de caelo adfulsisse (“phantom ships had been seen gleaming in the sky”).Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita Libri[4][5]76 BCEspark from a falling starunknownRoman RepublicAccording to Pliny the Elder, a spark fell from a star and grew as it descended until it appeared to be the size of the Moon. It then ascended back up to the heavens and was transformed into a light.[6][5]74 BCEflame-like pithoi from the skyPhrygia, AsiaRoman RepublicAccording to Plutarch, a Roman army commanded by Lucullus was about to begin a battle with Mithridates VI of Pontus when “all on a sudden, the sky burst asunder, and a huge, flame-like body was seen to fall between the two armies. In shape, it was most like a wine-jar, and in colour, like molten silver.” Plutarch reports the shape of the object as like a wine-jar (pithos). The apparently silvery object was reported by both armies.[7][5]196 CEangel hair Rome Roman EmpireHistorian Cassius Dio described “A fine rain resembling silver descended from a clear sky upon the Forum of Augustus.” He used some of the material to plate some of his bronze coins, but by the fourth day afterwards the silvery coating was gone.[5]

16th–17th centuries[edit]

DateNameCity, StateCountryDescriptionSources1561–04–141561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg Nuremberg Holy Roman EmpireResidents of Nuremberg saw what they described as an aerial battle, followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object and then a large crash outside of the city. The broadsheet claims that witnesses observed hundreds of spheres, cylinders and other odd-shaped objects that moved erratically overhead.[8]1566–08–071566 celestial phenomenon over Basel Basel SwitzerlandA broadsheet published in 1566 depicted numerous spherical objects appearing out of the sun. This event is depicted in a 16th-century woodcut by Samuel Coccius (Samuel Koch) and Samuel Apiarius.[8]1609–09–22Gwanghaegun period UFO TurmoilGangwon Province Joseon(Korea)On September 22 in 1609 multiple witnesses reported seeing UFO in Goseong, Wonju Gangneung at 사시(9am-11am), Chuncheon County at 오시(11am-1pm), Yangyang County at 미시(1pm-3pm). It looks like a Halo or washbowl and It’s divided into two.Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty

[9]

1668Levoča ChroniclesLevoča Hungarian Kingdom (Present-day Slovakia)The first mention of UFOs in Slovakia is from 1668 from the Levoča town’s Chronicles, where the chronicler describes a silver lizard flying in the sky.[10]

19th century[edit]

DateNameCity, StateCountryDescriptionSources1803–02–22 or 03–24Utsuro-bune at Haratono-hamaEastern shoreJapanOn February 22 (or March 24) in 1803 local fishermen reportedly saw a vessel drifting in close by waters. They say when they investigated it, “a beautiful young woman” they described as having red and white hair and dressed in strange clothes appeared. The fishermen claim she held a square box “that no one was allowed to touch” and she spoke to them in a language they never heard before. Some UFO believers think this story was a credible document of a close encounter of the third kind in Japan. Historians and Ethnologists consider it folklore.[11][12]1883–08–12José Bonilla ObservationZacatecas Observatory, Zacatecas MexicoOn August 12, 1883, the astronomer José Bonilla reported that he saw more than 300 dark, unidentified objects crossing the sun disk while observing sunspot activity at Zacatecas Observatory in Mexico. He was able to take several photographs, exposing wet plates at 1/100 second. It was subsequently determined that the objects were high-flying geese.[13]1896–1897Mystery airships United StatesNumerous reports of UFO sightings and attempted abductions that took place around the United States in a 2-year period.[14]1897–04–17Aurora, Texas, UFO incident Aurora, TexasUnited StatesA tale of a UFO crash and a burial of its alien pilot in the local cemetery was sent to newspapers in Dallas and Fort Worth in April 1897 by local correspondent S.E. Hayden.[15][16]

List of reported UFO sightings

Contents

Second millennium BCE[edit]

Classical antiquity[edit]

16th–17th centuries[edit]

19th century[edit]

Written by Vexare