The Top 10 Strangest Encounters
Ten reports that puzzled witnesses and investigators, in date order. Each links to the full story, with what people reported, what investigators found and the sources.
The 1561 Sky Battle over Nuremberg (1561)
At dawn on 14 April 1561, a Nuremberg broadsheet reported, many people saw blood-red arcs, globes, crosses and rods around the sun that seemed to fight for over an hour before falling in smoke. The famous woodcut is often called a UFO battle; atmospheric scientists see a spectacular solar halo display.
The Great Airship Wave of 1896-97 (1896)
From November 1896 to May 1897, thousands of Americans reported cigar-shaped airships with wings and searchlights crossing the night sky, years before anyone could actually fly one. Historians blame newspaper hoaxes, misidentified stars and balloons, and a public convinced an inventor was about to unveil the first practical airship.
The Aurora, Texas Airship Crash (1897)
On 19 April 1897 the Dallas Morning News printed a dispatch claiming an airship had hit Judge Proctor's windmill in Aurora, Texas, and that its pilot was 'not an inhabitant of this world'. Historians regard it as a hoax written to draw attention to a dying town during the great airship craze of 1897.
The Battle of Los Angeles (1942)
In the early hours of 25 February 1942, Los Angeles blacked out and anti-aircraft guns fired about 1,440 rounds at reported enemy planes. No bombs fell and nothing was shot down. The Navy called it a false alarm; the Army's own historians later blamed weather balloons, searchlit shell bursts and jittery nerves.
The Flatwoods Monster (1952)
On 12 September 1952 a group of boys and a local woman in Flatwoods, West Virginia, chased a fireball to a hilltop and reported a towering creature with a spade-shaped head and glowing eyes. A sceptical investigator later suggested a meteor, an aircraft beacon and a barn owl.
The Kelly-Hopkinsville 'Little Men' Siege (1955)
On 21 August 1955, eleven people fled a Kentucky farmhouse to the Hopkinsville police, saying small glowing creatures with huge eyes and talons had besieged them for hours and shrugged off gunfire. Police found no trace; the Air Force listed it as unidentified, and a sceptical investigator later proposed a meteor and territorial great horned owls.
The Socorro Landing (1964)
On 24 April 1964, police officer Lonnie Zamora of Socorro, New Mexico, reported a shiny oval object on legs that roared, flamed and flew off. The Air Force's Project Blue Book believed him and listed the case as unidentified.
The Rendlesham Forest Lights (1980)
In late December 1980, US airmen at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk reported strange lights in Rendlesham Forest, and their deputy commander recorded his search on tape. Sceptics point to a lighthouse whose beam flashed at the same rate.
The Ariel School UFO Encounter (1994)
On 16 September 1994, during morning break at Ariel School near Ruwa, Zimbabwe, 62 pupils said they saw silver craft land in the bush beyond the playground and small figures dressed in black. The sighting followed a week of UFO excitement after a Russian rocket booster re-entered over southern Africa, and investigators still disagree about what the children saw.
The Phoenix Lights (1997)
On the night of 13 March 1997 thousands of people across Arizona reported a V of lights and a row of hovering lights over Phoenix. Months later the Maryland Air National Guard said its A-10s had dropped flares that night.
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