On the morning of April 14 1561 residents of Nuremberg Germany awoke to an extraordinary sight in the skies above their city.

According to a contemporary broadsheet printed shortly after the event numerous cylindrical objects appeared first followed by spheres crosses and other strange forms.

These objects engaged in what witnesses described as a fierce aerial battle with some emitting smoke or fire.

The phenomenon lasted for about an hour and involved dozens of participants of various shapes and colors.

At the conclusion of the display a large black triangular object appeared and seemed to absorb or defeat the others before crashing into a field outside the town.

The event was documented by local artist Hans Glaser in a woodcut that survives to this day and has been studied by historians and UFO researchers alike.

No conventional explanation such as meteors or atmospheric phenomena fully accounts for the structured formations and combat like movements reported by multiple independent observers across the city.