Editing Unidentified flying object (section)

===Early history before the 20th century===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2024}}
People have always observed the sky and have sometimes seen what, to some, appeared to be unusual sights including phenomena as varied as [[comet]]s, bright [[meteors]], one or more of the [[Classical planet|five planets that can be readily seen with the naked eye]], [[Conjunction (astronomy)|planetary conjunctions]], and atmospheric [[Optical phenomenon|optical phenomena]] such as [[sun dog|parhelia]] and [[lenticular cloud]]s.{{Citation needed|reason=secondary sources needed connecting any of this to UFO history|date=August 2023}} One particularly famous example is [[Halley's Comet]]: first recorded by Chinese astronomers in 240 BC and possibly as early as 467 BC as a strange and unknown "guest light" in the sky.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.wired.com/2011/03/0330ancient-chinese-see-halleys-comet/|title= March 30, 240 B.C.: Comet Cometh to Cathay|author= |date= March 30, 2011|publisher= Wired|access-date= June 23, 2024|archive-date= February 13, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210213020656/https://www.wired.com/2011/03/0330ancient-chinese-see-halleys-comet/|url-status= live}}</ref> As a bright comet that visits the inner solar system every 76 years, it was often identified as a unique isolated event in ancient historical documents whose authors were unaware that it was a repeating phenomenon.{{Citation needed|reason=missing source for facts or claim|date=August 2023}} Such accounts in history often were treated as [[supernatural]] portents, [[angel]]s, or other religious [[omen]]s.{{Citation needed|reason=source needed for claim and for connection to UFO history|date=August 2023}} While UFO enthusiasts have sometimes commented on the narrative similarities between certain religious symbols in medieval paintings and UFO reports,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/16589 |title=Do UFOs Exist in the History of Arts? |last=Giordano |first=Daniela |date=November 13, 2006 |work=American Chronicle |publisher=Ultio, LLC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819213933/http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/16589 |archive-date=August 19, 2012 |access-date=September 6, 2013}}</ref> the canonical and symbolic character of such images is documented by art historians placing more conventional religious interpretations on such images.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cuoghi |first=Diego |date=2004 |title=The Art of Imagining UFOs |journal=[[Skeptic (U.S. magazine)|Skeptic]] |volume=11 |issue=1 |publisher=[[The Skeptics Society]] |url=http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/archives/vol11n01.html |access-date=September 6, 2013 |archive-date=October 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003170149/http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/archives/vol11n01.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some examples of pre-contemporary reports about unusual aerial phenomena include:
* [[Julius Obsequens]] was a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] writer who is believed to have lived in the middle of the fourth century AD. The only work associated with his name is the ''Liber de prodigiis'' (Book of Prodigies), completely extracted from an epitome, or abridgment, written by [[Livy]]; ''De prodigiis'' was constructed as an account of the wonders and portents that occurred in [[Rome]] between 249 and 12 BCE. An aspect of Obsequens' work that has inspired excitement in some UFO enthusiasts is that he makes reference to things moving through the sky. The descriptions provided bear resemblance to observations of [[meteor showers]]. Obsequens was also writing some 400 years after the events he described, thus the text is not an eyewitness account. No corroboration with those amazing sights of old with contemporary observations was mentioned in that work.<ref>Julio Obsecuente, ''Libro de los Prodigios (restituido a su integridad, en beneficio de la Historia, por Conrado Licóstenes)'', ed. Ana Moure Casas (Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas, 1990)</ref><ref>Giulio Ossequente, ''Il Libro dei prodigi'', ed. Solas Boncompagni (Rome: Edizioni Mediterranee, 1992)</ref>
* [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095), a [[Song Dynasty|Song Chinese]] government [[Scholar-bureaucrat|scholar-official]] and prolific polymath inventor, wrote a vivid passage in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' (1088) about an unidentified flying object. He recorded the testimony of eyewitnesses in 11th-century [[Anhui]] and [[Jiangsu]] (especially in the city of [[Yangzhou]]), who stated that a flying object with opening doors would shine a blinding light from its interior (from an object shaped like a pearl) that would cast shadows from trees for ten [[Li (unit)|miles]] in radius, and was able to take off at tremendous speeds.<ref>Dong, Paul. (2000). ''China's Major Mysteries: Paranormal Phenomena and the Unexplained in the People's Republic''. San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc. {{ISBN|0-8351-2676-5}}. pp 69–71.</ref> [[File:Basilea1566.jpg|thumb|220px|The celestial phenomenon over Basel in 1566.]]
* A woodcut by Hans Glaser that appeared in a broadsheet in 1561 has been featured in popular culture as the [[1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg|"celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg"]] and connected to various [[ancient astronaut]] claims.<ref name="Vallee">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XINLC2ubHqwC&pg=PT71 | title=Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times | publisher=Tarcher |author1=Vallee, Jacques |author2=Aubeck, Chris | year=2010 | isbn=978-1585428205}}</ref> Skeptic and debunker [[Jason Colavito]] argues that the woodcut is "a secondhand depiction of a particularly gaudy sundog", a known [[Sun dog|atmospheric optical phenomenon]].<ref name=Colavito-121212>{{cite web | url=http://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2012/12/the-ufo-battle-over-nuremburg.html | title=The UFO Battle over Nuremburg | website=jasoncolavito.com | date=December 12, 2012 | access-date=July 12, 2013 | first=Jason | last=Colavito | author-link=Jason Colavito | archive-date=December 20, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220012851/http://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2012/12/the-ufo-battle-over-nuremburg.html | url-status=live }}</ref> A similar report comes from [[1566 celestial phenomenon over Basel|1566 over Basel]] and, indeed, in the 15th and 16th centuries, many leaflets wrote of "miracles" and "sky spectacles" which bear resemblance to natural phenomena which were only more fully characterized after the scientific revolution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Borchert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rPRTzgEACAAJ |title=The book of miracles: Facsimile of the Augsburg manuscript from the Collection of Mickey Cartin |date=2013 |publisher=Taschen |isbn=978-3-8365-4285-2 |language=de |access-date=July 8, 2024 |archive-date=July 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730031603/https://books.google.com/books?id=rPRTzgEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* On January 25, 1878, the ''[[Denison, Texas|Denison]] Daily News'' printed an article in which John Martin, a local farmer, had reported seeing a large, dark, circular object resembling a balloon flying "at wonderful speed". Martin, according to the newspaper account, said it appeared to be about the size of a saucer from his perspective, one of the first uses of the word "saucer" in association with a UFO. At the time, [[Balloon (aeronautics)|ballooning]] was becoming an increasingly popular and sophisticated endeavor, and the first controlled-flights of such devices were occurring around that time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/17732 |title=Before the Wright Brothers ... There Were UFOs |last=Booth |first=B J |work=American Chronicle |publisher=Ultio, LLC |date=December 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819213938/http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/17732 |archive-date=August 19, 2012 |access-date=September 6, 2013}}</ref>
{{multiple image
| perrow            = 2
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| header            = UFO-like alleged sightings before the 20th century
| image1            = Himmelserscheinung über Nürnberg vom 14. April 1561.jpg
| caption1          = [[1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg]] as printed in an illustrated news notice.
| image2            = Mystery airship SFCall Nov 22 1896.jpg
| caption2          = November 22, 1896 illustration of a "[[mystery airship]]" published in ''[[The San Francisco Call]]''
| image3            = Mystery airship SFCall Nov 29 1896.jpg
| caption3          = November 29, 1896 illustration of another "[[mystery airship]]" published in ''[[The San Francisco Call]]''
| image4            = Mystery airship The Saint Paul Globe (Minn) April 13 1897.jpg
| caption4          = "[[Mystery airship]]" illustrated in ''[[The St. Paul Globe]]'', April 13, 1897
}}
* From November 1896 to April 1897, United States newspapers carried numerous reports of "[[mystery airship]]s" that are reminiscent of modern UFO waves.{{sfn|Cohen|1981|p=1}} Scores of people even reported talking to the pilots. Some people feared that [[Thomas Edison]] had created an artificial star that could fly around the country. On April 16, 1897, a letter was found that purported to be an enciphered communication between an airship operator and Edison.{{sfn|Cohen|1981|p=86}} When asked his opinion of such reports, Edison said, "You can take it from me that it is a pure fake."{{sfn|Keel|1996|pp=29–31|ps=, stating date of April 22, 1897}} The coverage of Edison's denial marked the end of major newspaper coverage of the airships in this period.{{sfn|Cohen|1981|p=88}}