The Anglo Saxons and UFOs

The Anglo Saxons and UFOs

From The Wanderer Anglo Saxon History, mythology, Folklore and religion by Frank Docherty

January 31, 2026 · 12 min

About this episode

This episode explores the Anglo Saxons' interpretations of unusual aerial phenomena and their beliefs about the heavens.

The Anglo Saxons lived beneath skies they did not trust. To them, the heavens were alive capable of movement, intention, and warning. Night skies were darker than anything we experience today, and people watched them closely, not for wonder alone, but for survival. What appeared above was believed to speak, and sometimes to threaten. Their records contain unsettling descriptions that resist easy explanation. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle speaks of “fiery dragons flying in the air,” of strange lights that moved across the sky, and of glowing shapes that appeared before moments of catastrophe. In 793, just before the Viking attack on Lindisfarne, witnesses reported terrifying aerial phenomena flames, lights, and shapes in the heavens events described not as symbols but as things seen. The timing disturbed them deeply. The sky, it seemed, was watching. Other accounts describe crosses of light hovering in the air, radiant shields appearing above battlefields, and luminous objects that drifted, burned, or vanished without sound. These were not stars. They moved. They lingered. They returned. Medieval writers struggled to name them, reaching for the closest language they had: dragons…

People in this episode

Host: Frank Docherty

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Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Anglo Saxon Chronicle

Places: Lindisfarne

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