The Unsolved Mystery Of The 1561 Nuremberg "UFO Battle"
Updated: Dec 30, 2022
In April 1561 the residents of Nuremberg, Germany, ran out of their homes and witnessed a gathering of unexplainable lights and loud noises. In broad daylight, the locals stared in awe at the sky as they witnessed what was later described as some type of airborne battle.
The reports from the day state that the event lasted for approximately an hour, An artist, named Hans Glaser detailed this astonishing event for the German Nuremberg Gazette. In his article describing what had happened, he refers to multi-coloured objects, globes, wheels, tubes, and crosses in the sky above the city, hundreds of them, everywhere. The sky was filled with smoke, some of the objects would disappear, while others would appear to crash into the ground. The smoke could be seen from miles around.
The descriptions, as well as the image, have caused dispute for centuries, what could explain these aerial phenomena that were witnessed by so many people on that day back in 1561.
Did A Natural Event Cause The Incident At Nuremberg?
Many people are quick to dismiss all of the reports and put it down to the appearance of comets or meteors, or other natural events, but when you look at how unique the incident at Nuremberg was, it eliminated many interpretations of what could have actually happened.
The detailed description that was given by Hans Glaser doesn't appear to line up with anything natural that could have caused this event.
"..the dreadful apparition filled the morning sky with cylindrical shapes from which emerged black, red, orange and blue-white spheres that darted about. Between the spheres, there were crosses with the color of blood. This frightful spectacle was witnessed by ‘numerous men and women.’ Afterwards, a black, spear-like object appeared. The author of the Gazette warned that ‘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 avert His wrath, including the well-deserved punishment, on us, so that we may, temporarily here and perpetually there, live as His children." - Abstract from the Nuremberg Gazette.
The events that were described are something that you could picture seeing in a modern-day battle in the skies or even a sci-fi movie, however, crosses, cylinders, and a black spear-shaped object in the sky are not something that you would expect to witness over 400 hundred years ago.
Was It A Simple Case Of Bad Reporting?
In 1566, five years later, a similar event occurred in Basel, Switzerland, this time the reports stated that black orbs appeared in a sky skirmish above the city. This event was recorded in the city's gazette at the time.
In 1697, in Hamburg, Germany, another similar event took place, this time the witnesses watched two huge glowing wheels in the sky above the city.
Unfortunately, in these times no one had a camera to take video or photo evidence of what actually happened, meaning that drawings and newspaper references are the only evidence we have to work with, however, when so many witnesses claim to have seen the same phenomena in the sky over major cities, one cannot help but assume that something extraordinary certainly took place.
The available evidence that we have today remains open to many different interpretations, as well as to various differing descriptions of the eyewitnesses, nevertheless, something happened in the sky that day that still hasn't been explained.
The Sun Dog Explanation
Recently a researcher by the name of Frank Johnson made an attempt to debunk the Nuremberg UFO Battle, claiming that it was caused by sky reflections and the "sun dog" lighting effect produced by the Sun, he made this claim without offering any explanations as to what could possibly have caused the sounds, the smoke, or the objects that appeared to crash, he merely hypothesized that these particulars were likely people imagining or simply nothing at all.
Another interpretation of the events that took place claimed that the whole description could have been that of a battle on the ground, with the cylinders being cannons and the spheres being cannonballs.
Frank Johnson stated that the newspapers of the time, "contained the news of the weird or violent, and they had no problem stretching the truth to sell a few copies."
It remains a fact today that a terrestrial explanation has still not been found or confirmed as to what actually happened at Nuremberg on that day, many theories float around but the truth is that we don't actually know.
When you look at the probabilities of a natural incident causing what was seen that day, the possibility of a fight between extraterrestrials or some other unknown entities doesn't sound as unlikely as you first thought. We would love to hear your opinions on what you think happened during the 1561 Nuremberg UFO Battle, let us know in the comments section below.
After reading this article, make sure you check out the report on the disappearance of Australian pilot Frederick Valentich.