DISPUTEDCRAFT · PRINTS & COINS
The Black Spheres over Basel
1566 · Basel · Switzerland
WHAT IT IS
Five years after Nuremberg, Basel reported large black spheres racing across the sky at sunrise, some turning red and fiery.
THE ALIEN READING
Ufologists read black spheres 'coming and going at great speed' as craft in combat, a second documented sky battle in the same decade.
WHAT THE RECORD SAYS
The sheet reports unusual sunrises and sunsets on several days. Atmospheric optics, read as an omen in the manner of the time, is the standard explanation.
WHERE IT STANDS
Disputed. What it shows, or how old it is, is still argued over by specialists.
STATUS IS OUR CURRENT ASSESSMENT, NOT A VERDICT · REVIEWED 3 OCT 2026
THE RECORD
- DATE
- 1566
- PLACE
- Basel · Switzerland
- MADE BY
- Samuel Coccius, printed by Samuel Apiarius
- MEDIUM
- Prints & coins
- TECHNICAL
- Woodcut broadsheet · Wickiana collection, Zentralbibliothek Zürich
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FOLIO 22 · EXPLAINED
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FOLIO 19 · DISPUTED
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FOLIO 20 · DISPUTED
The Hollow Ship, Bakin's Version
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FOLIO 13 · EXPLAINED
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