Chronology
Discover our designs featuring UFO cases spanning centuries. Dive deeper into these fascinating incidents with additional information and links to external sites provided below. Please do your own research as well.
March 13. 1997
Phoenix Lights, USA
The so called “Phoenix Lights” is a series of UFO incident that occurred in the evening and night on March 13, 1997 in the states of Arizona and Nevada. Various lights were observed by thousands of witnesses. In particular, there were reports of a huge object in the shape of a V-shaped object with lights visible on the underside. For many witnesses, the otherwise dark object’s shape was only recognizable because it obscured the stars of the night sky behind it. The sighting of the large angular shape spanned 300 miles (480 km) from Nevada to Phoenix to the edge of Tucson, Arizona.
In a brief press conference after the incident, Arizona Governor Fife Symington III initially made fun of the event. Years later, however, he admitted that he wanted to prevent panic among the population. He was able to observe the phenomenon himself. Since he was a pilot and served in the Air Force, he said, “I know pretty much every plane that flies. It was bigger than anything I’d ever seen. It remains a big mystery. Other people saw it, responsible people…” He confirmed that it was a large object dismissing subsequent attempts of explaining it as signal fire from a military exercise.
Sept. 16. 1994
Ariel School, Zimbabwe
62 students, aged between 5 and 12, reported seeing a silver disc-shaped craft land near the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe. The children claimed that small beings with large, black eyes emerged from the craft. According to the witnesses, the beings communicated with them through telepathy, sending messages about the Earth’s environmental issues and the need for humanity to take better care of the planet.
One notable aspect of the Ariel School incident is the remarkable consistency in the children’s accounts. Despite their young age, the students independently provided similar details about the appearance of the craft, the beings, and the messages conveyed.
Many of the witnesses, now adults, continue to stand by their accounts, asserting that the event had a profound and lasting impact on their lives. Some have pursued careers related to the paranormal or environmental activism.
The incident gained attention from UFO researchers and investigators. The late Dr. John Mack, a Harvard psychiatrist, conducted interviews with the children and concluded that they genuinely believed in the reality of their experiences.
Miss Judith Bates, the longstanding head of the school, recently acknowledged that she, too, experienced unusual phenomena during the days surrounding the main event. This revelation serves to substantiate the experiences described by the pupils.
If you want to know more about the incident you can watch the documentary „Ariel phenomenon“ or simply search on youtube.
Dec. 1980
Rendlesham Forest, U.K.
The Rendlesham Forest incident took place in December 1980 near the twin military bases of RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England. It is one of the most well-documented and controversial UFO events in modern history.
On the initial sighting in December 26, 1980 U.S. Air Force personnel stationed at RAF Woodbridge reported seeing strange lights in the nearby Rendlesham Forest. It occurred late at night, and the witnesses described the lights as resembling a glowing object or craft. Its form was somewhat close to a pyramidal shape with a triangle base. It left physical evidence like indentations in the ground and brocken branches and burn marks in trees and higher-than-normal levels of radiation.
The following night, military personnel investigated the area where the lights were spotted. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, the deputy base commander, led a team into the forest. They reported encountering a series of unusual lights, some of which seemed to be moving intelligently and exhibiting unconventional behavior.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt documented the incident in an official memo to the Ministry of Defence. In the memo, he detailed the events of both nights, describing the sightings and the physical evidence found. He recorded his investigation on a micro-cassette recorder. The renowned Halt Tape vividly showcases the astonishment felt by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt as he personally encountered peculiar lights during his investigation. At first, Halt is calmly reporting. But towards the end of the tape you can sense the growing awe in his voice. Especially in his sentence „Now we are observing what seems to be a beam to the ground … this is unreal.“
Here is a link to the tape. Listen for yourself.
April 6. 1966
Westall High School
Melbourne, Australia
This incident occurred on April 6, 1966, in Westall, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia and it involved a large number of witnesses, primarily students and teachers at Westall High School. Around 11:00 am students and staff at Westall High School reported seeing a silver, saucer-shaped object in the sky. The object was described as shiny and metallic and descending and then landing in a nearby paddock. Witnesses reported that the object stayed on the ground for a brief period before taking off again at high speed leaving a circle of flattened grass where it had landed. Some witnesses claimed to have seen the object being surrounded by five light aircraft.
Despite the absence of an official investigation into the Westall UFO incident, witnesses later claimed that they were pressured into silence by authorities, including government and military personnel. One teacher, in particular, claimed to have faced threats of career repercussions as a deterrent from discussing the event.
If you like to know more about the incident we recommend watching „The Phenomenon“ by director James Fox. This documentary includes content related to the Westall High School incident.
12. to 29. July 1952
Washington D.C. Flyover, USA
From July 12 to 29, 1952, a series of UFO sightings were reported in Washington, D.C. The most publicized sightings took place on consecutive weekends, July 19–20 and July 26–27. Beginning on the night of July 19, reports of UFOs flooded in from various sources, including air traffic controllers, military personnel, and civilians. Radar operators at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base tracked unusual blips on their screens corresponding to the reported visual sightings. Jet fighters were scrambled to investigate, but they reported no visual contact with the objects, which displayed maneuvers beyond known aircraft capabilities.
This incident is also referred to as the „Washington merry go round encounters“. Parallel to these armadas of UFOs there was an explosion of reports of individual craft sightings.
April 8. 1665
Stralsund, Germany
On the 8th of April 1665, six fishermen were out on the Baltic Sea near the coastal town of Stralsund. In the early afternoon, they witnessed an extraordinary event unfolding before them. In the sky above, two opposing groups of ships engaged in what appeared to be a fierce battle. Various-sized ships pursued one another amidst billowing smoke and flames.
The fishermen observed this aerial conflict for approximately four hours, after which one of the factions appeared to retreat. Next their attention was drawn to an unusual flat shape resembling a plate or a large man’s hat, hovering over the town’s church of Saint Nicholas. This peculiar sight prompted the fishermen to seek refuge in their homes.
The following days they experienced severe trembling and illness, which was attributed to the unsettling events they had witnessed. The account of these six men was documented through a public interrogation. Later their narrative was illustrated (and thus interpreted) by others.
July 27./28. and Aug. 7. 1566
Basel, Switzerland
dIn the summer of 1566, a series of mass UFO sightings occurred over Basel, Switzerland. Unusual sunrises and sunsets are reported and numerous red and black balls are said to have battled in the sky. The event is depicted and described on a broadsheet and was translated as following:
It happened in 1566 three times, on 27 and 28 of July, and on August 7, against the sunrise and sunset; we saw strange shapes in the sky above Basel.
During the year 1566, on the 27th of July, after the sun had shone warm on the clear, bright skies, and then around 9 pm, it suddenly took a different shape and color. First, the sun lost all its radiance and luster, and it was no bigger than the full moon, and finally it seemed to weep tears of blood and the air behind him went dark. And he was seen by all the people of the city and countryside. In much the same way also the moon, which has already been almost full and has shone through the night, assuming an almost blood-red color in the sky. The next day, Sunday, the sun rose at about six o’clock and slept with the same appearance it had when it was lying before. He lit the houses, streets and around as if everything was blood-red and fiery. At the dawn of August 7, we saw large black spheres coming and going with great speed and precision before the sun and chattered as if they led a fight. Many of them were fiery red and, soon crumbled and then extinguished.
April 14. 1561
Nürnberg, Germany
In the early hours of April 14, 1561, in Nuremberg, Germany a mysterious event that took place. This incident is primarily documented in an illustrated broadsheet pamphlet from the same year, known as the „1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg“ or the „Nuremberg Celestial Event.“ According to the broadsheet, the event involved a complex aerial display in the early morning sky. Witnesses reported seeing a variety of celestial objects, including spheres, crosses, cylinders, and other odd shapes, engaged in a large-scale aerial battle. Also depicted is a black triangular object at the center of the celestial event, with smaller objects engaged in what appears to be a battle or skirmish. Witnesses reportedly observed these celestial phenomena for about an hour.
Given the cultural and religious context of the time, the event was interpreted in apocalyptic terms by some observers. The pamphlet’s description and illustrations suggested a heavenly battle or an omen of divine wrath.
The Nuremberg Celestial Event is considered one of the earliest and most detailed accounts of a mass UFO sighting in history. The broadsheet provides a visual record of these events.
The text of the broadsheet has been translated by Ilse Von Jacobi as follows:
In the morning of April 14, 1561, at daybreak, between 4 and 5 a.m., a dreadful apparition occurred on the sun, and then this was seen in Nuremberg in the city, before the gates and in the country – by many men and women. At first there appeared in the middle of the sun two blood-red semi-circular arcs, just like the moon in its last quarter. And in the sun, above and below and on both sides, the color was blood, there stood a round ball of partly dull, partly black ferrous color. Likewise there stood on both sides and as a torus about the sun such blood-red ones and other balls in large number, about three in a line and four in a square, also some alone. In between these globes there were visible a few blood-red crosses, between which there were blood-red strips, becoming thicker to the rear and in the front malleable like the rods of reed-grass, which were intermingled, among them two big rods, one on the right, the other to the left, and within the small and big rods there were three, also four and more globes. These all started to fight among themselves, so that the globes, which were first in the sun, flew out to the ones standing on both sides, thereafter, the globes standing outside the sun, in the small and large rods, flew into the sun. Besides the globes flew back and forth among themselves and fought vehemently with each other for over an hour. And when the conflict in and again out of the sun was most intense, they became fatigued to such an extent that they all, as said above, fell from the sun down upon the earth ‚as if they all burned‘ and they then wasted away on the earth with immense smoke. After all this there was something like a black spear, very long and thick, sighted; the shaft pointed to the east, the point pointed west. Whatever such signs mean, God alone knows. Although we have seen, shortly one after another, many kinds of signs on the heaven, which are sent to us by the almighty God, to bring us to repentance, we still are, unfortunately, so ungrateful that we despise such high signs and miracles of God. Or we speak of them with ridicule and discard them to the wind, in order that God may send us a frightening punishment on account of our ungratefulness. After all, the God-fearing will by no means discard these signs, but will take it to heart as a warning of their merciful Father in heaven, will mend their lives and faithfully beg God, that He may avert His wrath, including the well-deserved punishment, on us, so that we may temporarily here and perpetually there, live as his children. For it, may God grant us his help, Amen. By Hanns Glaser, letter-painter of Nurnberg.