Mysterious objects which appear in the sky or in the woods are considered usually UFOS. And most people believe that UFOS are spaceships. The typical pattern is the legendary “Flying Saucer”. However, countless reports about sightings tell us about abstract objects. They are often very rural shapes of spheres, tubes, cylinders or cubes. They are not like any design of a spaceship we know. What are they?
Objects like cylinders, orbs, or simple shapes appear more like the raw version of the phenomena.
These things are seen both in the sky and in the woods. Most of the time there is a discussion about whether a sighting is real or not. Sometimes people look for natural explanations like swamp gas, distant car lights, or a mirage. There are psychological explanations too. There is often a cultural or religious context. Some researchers say that today’s Ufo is the apparitions of the holy virgin of former times.
The orbs, cylinders, or triangle-shaped objects appear more like a raw version. Is it possible that some people see a more original version of celestial phenomena and other witnesses are quick to interpret them in a certain way?
The celestial phenomena above Nuremberg 1561
One of the most prominent sightings of mysterious flying “raw objects” was the 1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg. This was a mass sighting of celestial phenomena above Nuremberg. Many interpreters saw this event as a UFO sighting or even an “aerial battle of extraterrestrials”. Psychologists as C.G. Jung interpreted this mass sighting in a symbolic way.
A broadsheet – the very early form of today’s newspapers – illustrated with a woodcut engraving and text by Hans Glaser describes the event in detail.
Many men and women of Nuremberg saw around the dawn of 14 April 1561 an aerial battle “out of the sun” followed by a large triangular object and spheres falling to earth in clouds of smoke. “The broadsheet claims that witnesses observed hundreds of spheres, cylinders, and other odd-shaped objects that moved erratically overhead. The woodcut illustration depicts objects of various shapes, including crosses, small spheres, two large crescents, a black spear, and tubular objects from which several small spheres emerged and darted around the sky at dawn” (Wikipedia).
The original text translated by Ilse von Jacobi speaks of a “dreadful apparition”. There were mentions of “two blood-red semi-circular arcs” or “a round ball of partly dull, partly black ferrous color”, a “torus”, “globes” and “Blood-red crosses”.
The Nuremberg sighting is not the only one describing a battle or more or less abstract objects. Mass Sightings of celestial phenomena occurred in 1566 above Basel, too. The scene sounds similar: “Numerous red and black balls in the sky fought before the rising sun”.
Leaflets in the 15th and 16th centuries describing “sky spectacles” were a common thing. It is impossible to figure out what exactly real. The point is the unique imaginery. The events are very unlike religious wonders. There are no angels or other figures. The celestial phenomena are mostly geometric shapes which behaved erractically.
The interesting thing is that the same phenomenon happens on a smaller scale many times in different circumstances. People have seen the oddest things in the woods. Orbs are very common. But there have cylinders and other more abstract things too. A good example is the stories of the hunters in the Sierra Camp in David Paulides’ Missing 411 – The Hunters. During one night a group of hunters witnessed not only incredible strange noises but also some sort of flying cylinder.
Usually, if it comes to paranormal sightings we expect at least something “meaningful” from flying saucers, Bigfoot to White Ladies. Abstract shapes like spheres or triangles appear somehow meaningless.
The Rendlesham Forest incident in the UK is a good example. There was a flying saucer but also lights and other strange objects, which don’t make much sense.
Are these strange shapes some sort of sign? This would make some sense. In ancient and medieval times they were signs of God of course. There is no clear indication here but what if these objects appear wherever there is some sort of change of reality like the shift of one dimension to another? If we look at the very building blocks of our world we find more and more abstracts forms for example in the microcosmos or in certain shapes in nature.
On the other side these sightings tells us that the shapes are intelligible. They behave like machines or like living beings. Are they some sort of communication? Something sent to us from a higher dimension? And is it possible to decipher these signs? A good idea might be to see them as images which contain information.
Are they projections of the collective consciousness as C.G. Jung said? In a higher dimensional universe there are a lot of options. An interesting thought – introduced also by Jung – is that they seem somehow connected to moments and times of crisis.
The times of Hans Glaser’s celestial phenomena above Nuremberg were definitely a time of crisis. It was the end of the Middle Ages. Extreme social changes raised fears. A climate change, the “little ice age” led to poverty and even more fear. War was on the horizon. The plague eradicated whole populations. It was a real dark time with superstition and witch hunts on the rise. If there is any connection here these dreadful apparitions were a warning.
Perhaps this is what they are. This is why they appear in abstract forms. Because they give us something to think about. Aren’t the abstract apparitions much more unsettling as any Bigfoot or White Lady? The trick is that they appear meaningless at first sight but they leave an impression. Jacques Valle assumed they are reality changers and they might also manipulate us in a subtle way. The question remains if they are warnings are we still able to read these signs?
