Columbus' Lights of 1492

Hours before sighting land in the New World, Christopher Columbus and crewman Pedro Gutiérrez noted a 'light glimmering at a great distance' rising and falling on the western horizon. Columbus documented the observation in his log. The light has been variously explained as Taino fires, bioluminescence, or, by modern researchers, an unidentified aerial phenomenon predating the modern UFO era by 450 years.