UFO sightings in Greece

This is a list of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in Greece.

404 BC

A fiery pillar appeared near Athens in 404 BC on a moonless, stormy night.

1946

Main Article Ghost rockets
Ghost rockets were witnessed in Thessaloniki by British Army units in Greece. In an interview on September 5, 1946, the Greek Prime Minister, Konstantinos Tsaldaris reported a number of projectiles had been seen over Macedonia and Thessaloniki on September 1.

The Greek government conducted their own investigation, with their leading scientist, physicist Paul Santorini. The government believed they were Soviet missiles over Greece but the Greek Astronomical Society announced in 1967 that they were not missiles. Regrettably, after conferring with the U.S. Department of Defense the investigation was stopped.

1954

The Great 1954 Greek UFO flap. In 1954 a considerable amount of UFO sightings occurred throughout South America and Europe. Clusters of UFO sightings are called “flaps,”

• 6 October (Vrisa, Lesvos). The residents and president of the community reported via telegram to the police station of Lesvos that at 3:15 pm, the community witnessed a small star-like object maneuver over the village for 15 minutes. The object traveled north west then north and it finally disappeared.
• 8 October (Anemotia, Lesvos). The main police station of Lesvos received another telegram two days later from a village 50 km north of Vrisa reporting that a large luminous object with a tail was hovering over the small village at around 6:00 pm. The UFO was the size of a full moon and emitted gold and white light beams and disappeared after 3 minutes traveling north east.
• 9 October (Stipsi, Lesvos). A luminous cigar-shaped object moving horizontally was witnessed by a 12-year-old boy hunting with his father S. Horiatellis. The object started moving vertically and broke into two cigar-shaped parts moving together. Turkish newspapers also reported the phenomenon was witnessed by Turkish scientists.
• 12 October (Agios Georgios Nileias, Thessaly). Another large luminous cigar-shaped object appeared in the night sky. Mr. Helias Voyagis reported it to the authorities. The UFO moved from east to west traveling slowly disappearing into the horizon.
• 15 October (Agiasos, Lesvos). The fourth UFO sighting on the island of Lesvos occurred nine days after the first. The police station of Agiasos received reports of a luminescent UFO hovering over the village via telegraph. The incident was witnessed by hundreds of locals. The object was hovering at 2 to 3 thousand meters or 6 to 9 thousand feet for half an hour. The object disappeared and appeared after ten minutes dividing into two separate parts which vanished in two different directions.
• 17 October (Doxato, Greece). A bright tail moving in circles was observed by Athena Gelemiris and Sophia Capaouras. The strange object was red and changed colors as it was moving and disappeared in the horizon after five minutes. The same UFO event was witnessed by hundreds of residents in the nearby village of Choristi.
• 23 October (Didymoteicho, Greece). A UFO landing was witnessed by residents of the local village. According to testimonies, the UFOs were two cigar-shaped objects that landed at a particular point and stayed on the ground for 20 minutes, and took off with incredible velocity.
• 26 October (Antimachia, Kos). A flying object emitting a blinding light shaped like a basket was witnessed by Irene Sarris and Socrates Caraliamis. The UFO was heading toward the village but it changed directions and flew away at high speed. That same evening according to news sources George Cacamoundis reported seeing a winged man flying across the sky at the same village.
• 27 October (Rhodos, Greece). A disc was reported over the island traveling at high speeds.
• 27-31 October (Moudros, Lemnos). A flying frying pan was reported.
• 1 November (Pyrgos, Peloponnese). Three witnesses observed a blinding flash in the sky around 6 am traveling toward the Ionian Sea. One of the witnesses reported a small rocket-looking portion.
• 7 November (Alissos, Patras). A very bright luminous object was witnessed by a group of hunters at 4:45 am. The object briefly emitted a strong flash leaving behind a pink tail. The object vanished towards Mount Erymanthos at high speeds.
• 7 November (Pagasetic Gulf, Volos. A silvery flying saucer was witnessed by Nikolaos Diamantis and A. Yaprakis at 10:30 pm. The saucer was moving over the gulf rotating at high speeds. The UFO eventually exploded with a loud sound and a bright cloud was formed which lit up the entire night sky.
• 7 November (Komotini, Greece. A flying saucer was observed moving in circles leaving behind three luminous dots.
• 11 November (Athens, Greece. According to a witness named Stefanopoulos a luminous UFO was traveling over Faliro and Athens.
• 11 November (Plagiari, Pella, Greece. A local priest named Rev. Nicholaos Exarchos along with village residents witnessed a flying saucer emitting bright flashes of light for three minutes.
• 12 November (Athens, Greece). According to witnesses, a silvery object stood still in the air for 5 minutes at a height of 10 meters or 30 feet. The object moved upwards and became invisible emitting a frozen exhaust gas similar to jet planes.
• 16 November (Halki, Greece). Two farmers George Spirou and Mitsos Dimitriou saw a bright object traveling at high speeds in the clear sky.
• 20 November (Titani, Greece. An 84-year-old man named Helias Coromilas claimed to see a small object resembling a car at 7:00 am rolling on a field. The witness ran to warn the driver that he was heading for a steep cliff. The car suddenly took off without making a sound flying into the sky leaving a trail of dust.

1955

• September or October (Agrinio, Greece). A truck driver and hotel manager were driving over a mountain road and saw a luminous flying object overhead. The truck engine mysteriously stopped.

1959

• 9 December (Kalymnos, Greece). At approximately 8:30 pm a strong flash of light was observed in the skies over Kalymnos island lasting 30 seconds followed by a loud bang that shook the island for a minute. Afterward, a rocket-shaped object appeared in the skies moving from east to west at a very hi altitude. According to news sources, the sound and flashes were also heard in nearby Turkey.

1968

• Mid-May (Xiromero, Greece). An automobile mechanic observed a bullet-like UFO object hovering overhead while also ascending and descending vertically with a flat bottom emitting smoke and flames around 7-8 pm. The object then flew horizontally traveling west towards Italy. The mechanic was on a motorcycle during the encounter.

1985

• 3 October (Komotini, Greece). Fifteen fisherman farmers witnessed a very dark flying object shaped like a huge cigar moving slowly. The object stopped over the area standing still. After a brief pause, the object began to travel north. The fisherman canceled the evening fishing trip and returned to their coastal villages to tell their story.

• 14 December (Naxos, Lemnos, Corfu, Greece). Three independent air traffic controllers at three different locations reported witnessing a UFO cigar-like object passing above head at extremely high speeds over 3000 miles per hour. The sightings were close to each other in time and the incident was documented at the Hellenic Air Force Headquarters. The conclusion drawn by officials was that it was a spaceship of some kind or American laser tests by the Strategic Defense Initiative.

1990

• 2 September (Megaplatanos Fthiotida, Greece). Georg N. Pantoulas interviewed witnesses of a UFO crash near the village of Megaplatanos close to Atalanti. Around 3 am, shepherds and a small group of villagers observed 6 UFOs approaching from the north. One of the UFOs looked unstable. Bizarre lights emitted from the ships which did not make noise. Trantos Karatranjos stated that the troubled UFO lost altitude and crashed 500 meters or 1/3 of a mile from his position. He did not hear any noise the wooded area caught fire. The remaining UFOs stopped over the accident while two landed near the destroyed UFO. The fire was instantly put out and during the entire evening, there was unusual traffic from the ground to the hovering UFOs, light spots went up and down collecting debris until sunrise. The UFOs disappeared right before sunrise. The entire village saw the event. The ground featured an oval-shaped burn with a cut pine tree in the center. There were also very small metallic pieces and wires around the crash site. The oval fire was put out in a unique way leaving an unusual mark. The Hellenic Air Force arrived hours later and informed the village that it may have been a Soviet satellite that crashed or a plane. The Hellenic Air Force took some of the pieces. Argyris Alevantas sent a piece of the UFO to the Space Research Institute in Brussels.

See also

• List of reported UFO sightings
• National Observatory of Athens
• UFO sightings in the Canary Islands

Bibliography

• Keyhoe, Donald Edward (1973). Aliens from Space The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects. New York, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385067515.
• Vempos, Thanasis (22 November 2002). "The Great 1954 Greek UFO flap". Athens, Greece: Vembos. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
• Day, Marcus (1997). Aliens Encounters with the Unexplained. London, UK: Colour Library Direct. ISBN 9781858336626.
• Stothers, Richard (2007). "Unidentified Flying Objects in Classical Antiquity". The Classical Journal. 103 (1). The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc. (CAMWS): 79–92. JSTOR 30038660. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
• Kyriakidis, E. (2005). "Unidentified Floating Objects on Minoan Seals". American Journal of Archaeology. 109 (2). Archaeological Institute of America: 137–154. JSTOR 40024508. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
• Wright, Dan; Harzan, Jan (2019). The CIA UFO Papers 50 Years of Government Secrets and Cover-Ups. Newburyport, Massachusetts: Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 9781590033029.
• Hall, Richard (1964). The UFO Evidence (Unidentified Flying Objects). Washington D.C.: National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena.
• Vempos, Thanasis (8 November 2012). "The Greek Ghost Rockets of 1946". Athens, Greece: Vembos. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.