World history is full of mysterious events. Depending on the level of development of societies, many incidents have remained both unexplained and unrecorded. As a result, such enigmatic events have been attributed either to religious beliefs or to beings more powerful than us. What really happened in Nuremberg in April 1561? What do you think this celestial secret over Nuremberg was?

The truth is that this strange and largely forgotten happenings was not taken seriously by anyone until Carl Jung wrote about it in 1958. Jung recounted this incident in his work Flying Saucers: A modern myth of things seen in the skies, basing his account on a newspaper article published in 1561 by Hans Wolff Glaser. Thanks to Jung, this event found its place in popular culture and has survived to this day.

According to the article, the entire city of Nuremberg witnessed a surprising incident. On the morning of April 14, 1561, at dawn, a bright red sun appeared. It was described as blood red. Then, two crescent-shaped objects appeared in front of the sun. Bright spherical objects were moving rapidly across the sky, two massive crescent-shaped objects in front of the Sun were cutting the light into strange shapes, and spear-shaped objects all seemed to be fighting each other. According to the report, this ancient celestial battle lasted about an hour, with some objects in the sky falling to the ground in smoke and disappearing.

Before explaining the details of the Nuremberg incident, let us note that this event was not the only strange happening seen in Europe. It is said that a similar event took place over the city of Basel in Switzerland in 1566. According to the accounts, red and black spheres fought in the skies above Basel.

Some believed these events to be battles between alien groups, while others considered them divine occurrences. Ultimately, both are remembered as legends years later. Now let us turn to the detailed text accompanying the painting by Hans Glaser, who attempted to depict the celestial battle in Nuremberg.

On the morning of April 14, 1561, at dawn, between 4 and 5 o'clock, a terrifying image appeared in the sun and was seen by many men and women in the city of Nuremberg, in front of the walls and in the countryside. At first, in the middle of the sun, two blood-red semicircles appeared, like the last quarter of the moon.

Above, below, and on either side of the sun was a round sphere, blood red in color, partly matte, partly black iron in color. Similarly, on either side of the sun and around it, these blood-red spheres and others were numerous, approximately three in a row and four in a square, with some standing alone. Several blood-red crosses were visible between these spheres, with blood-red stripes between them, thickening at the back and flexible like reeds at the front. Between them were two large rods, one on the right and one on the left, and within the small and large rods were three, four, and more spheres.

They all began to fight among themselves, so the spheres in the first row in the sun flew towards those standing on both sides, then the spheres standing on the small and large rods outside the sun flew towards the sun. The spheres also flew back and forth among themselves and fought fiercely with each other for over an hour. When the clashes inside and outside the sun reached its most intense stage, they became so exhausted that, as mentioned above, they all fell from the sun to the earth “as if they had all been burned,” and then vanished in a great cloud of smoke on the earth.

After all this, something like a very long and thick black spear was seen; its shaft pointed eastward, its tip westward. Only God knows what such signs mean. We have seen many kinds of signs sent by the Almighty God in the sky, urging us to repent, but unfortunately, we are still so ungrateful that we despise God's lofty signs and miracles.

Or we speak mockingly about them and dismiss them, so God sends us a terrible punishment because of our ingratitude. Ultimately, those who fear God will never dismiss these signs; they will engrave them in their hearts as warnings from their merciful Father in heaven, mend their lives, and plead faithfully to God that He may turn away His wrath from us, including the punishment we deserve, so that we may live here temporarily and there eternally as His children. May God help us to this end, Amen.

Author Jason Colavito expressed the view that, according to Jung, this image is most likely a natural phenomenon superimposed upon religious and military interpretations. “If UFOs were living organisms, one would think of a swarm of insects rising with the sun, not to fight each other, but to mate and celebrate their nuptial flight.”

A military interpretation views the tubes as cannons and the spheres as cannonballs, emphasizing the black spearhead beneath the scene and Glaser's statement that the spheres fought fiercely until they were exhausted. A religious perspective emphasizes the crosses. Jung believes that the image of four spheres connected by lines symbolizes cross-marriage quartets and forms the “primitive cross-cousin marriage” model. He also suggests that this could be a symbol of individuation and that its relationship with the sunrise symbolizes the “revelation of light.”

In ufology, this brochure has been cited repeatedly as evidence or proof of UFO encounters and alien visits in the early periods of human history. Numerous witness statements interpreted as “violent images” and “war” are used as justification to claim that UFOs engaged in combat in the sky.

We may never know exactly what happened on the morning of April 14, 1561. The only thing we know is that countless residents of Nuremberg witnessed this event. The accounts told in a medieval context make it even more difficult to fully understand what they saw. The truth is that this event was extremely unusual. It bore many characteristics of an epic battle in the sky.

Levent Aslan