UFO sightings in Albania

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

1907
The first documentation of a UFO encounter in Albania is found in the diary of Mihal Grameno. Grameno was a distinguished journalist, writer, and activist of the patriotic and democratic movement, hailed as a hero of the people. He fought alongside the guerrilla group of Çerçiz Topulli during the years 1907–1908. In his book "The Albanian Uprising," Grameno recounts his memories of the long and difficult journeys of Çerçiz's fellow fighters through the mountains, including a strange incident. "One night, while the fighters of Çerçiz were stationed at the top of a high mountain, a shiny object flew in front of us, stood suspended in the air for several minutes, and then disappeared," writes Grameno. As airplanes were still in their early stages at that time, it is unlikely that this is what he witnessed. It also could not have been a meteor or a comet since they are known to fall immediately and not hover in the air.

8 July 1933
In 1933, a list of abnormal reports was addressed to the Prefecture of Milan, mentioning an unusual incident that occurred on 8 July 1933 in the sky of Vlorë. It was reported that two airplanes changed direction in a non-normal way for the technology of the time.

18 July 1947
An FBI report from July 18, 1947, states that unidentified flying objects (UFOs), also known as "saucers," were observed in various locations around the world, including Mexico City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Halifax, Newfoundland, Paris, Milan, Bologna, Yugoslavia, and Albania.

January 1963
In January 1963, residents of the village of Kallamishtëz in the Kurvelesh area reported seeing a bright object in the sky. Albanian authorities attempted to calm the population by telling them that what they had seen was not a UFO, but rather a new model of a jet plane being used by the Albanian Air Force.

1969
Ilir Malindi a lawyer by profession, who was born in Skrapar marked in his memories that he personally experienced an incident in the Pirogoshi Canyon, above Çorovodë, in 1969. After exploring the famous cave in this area, when they were returning to the city, they were surprised by two luminous objects that were circular in shape and reflected heavily in the depths of the Pirogoshi Canyon. They continued to illuminate for a minute, writes Malindi in his memories, and then abruptly broke away, disappearing rapidly into the sky. Many people in the area and in Çorovodë had also seen them, and there was extensive discussion at that time. At the time, they concluded that it could have been some NATO missile.

1 August 1990
Gëzim Dapi, an environmental engineer born in Tirana, recounts a strange event that happened to him during the summer of 1990 while serving in the military in Shkodër.

"In the summer of 1990, I was serving my mandatory military service in the village of Bardhaj in Shkodër. My military unit was responsible for anti-aircraft defense. We were all trained to identify different types of planes during the day and night, and our unit had military technology tools that could distinguish planes at close and far distances. On the night of August 1st, I was on duty.

At around 2:30 in the morning, a series of lights (100-150) arranged in a strange pattern, resembling the shape of a diamond and about 20 meters in size, appeared in the sky at high speed with very little noise, similar to the sound of a flock of birds. It was not an airplane or any other flying object that we knew of. Moreover, it had a very high speed and made very little noise."

Gëzim reported this strange event to the central operator of the battalion at the time. There, he learned that he was not alone.

"Five other soldiers from different anti-aircraft units who were on duty at that time had reported the same thing to me. The next day, officers asked us about it, but no city or radar in Albania had identified it, except for us soldiers who saw it with our own eyes. It was not given much importance then because it was just after the opening of embassies, and other issues were the order of the day. Two months later, the newspaper "Zëri i Rinisë" published this event, but not in detail."

12 July 1993
Around 8:00 PM, a glowing flying object appeared in the sky of Cërrik, Elbasan. According to eyewitness accounts, the illuminated object made sudden and quick movements. The news that a UFO was flying around quickly spread throughout the town. Law enforcement was notified, and they tried to limit the spread of panic among the population. The glowing object disappeared from the sky around 10:00 PM, according to eyewitness accounts.

4 May 2006
The most famous case of UFO encounters in Albania is the one that occurred in the village of Roskovec. According to three eyewitnesses, an adult woman, and two children, as well as all the residents of the village, an unidentified object landed in their town, which they called a UFO. Three double-banded black circles in the asphalt were photographed by Alim Çepele and were considered to be strong evidence of the object that touched the ground. According to the witnesses, it was a clear day, but suddenly everything became dark and misty like it was about to rain, a strong and cold wind covered the area, and the branches of the trees bent down, then, just as suddenly as everything turned dark, when the object left everything went back to normal and it cleared up again. Sherife Kola, one of the women present at the time, could only hear the noise and notice the darkness that was created in those moments. One of the children present, a 10-year-old named Mario Çela, witnessed the UFO directly. According to him, the object had an oval disc-like shape, a gray color, and a thin blue line, and it remained on the ground for only about 4-5 seconds. After the event, Alim Çepele talked to the boy and reported that he was in a state of shock for three months and did not want to leave his house. Witnesses say the object came from the North-West, then lifted off, rotated, and left the same way it came. A significant number of residents claim to have seen the marks left on the asphalt, and they reported that the petals of the roses were burned when they were placed on the spot where the object had landed. The event occurred on May 4 around 7:00 PM, located at 40.73796°N, 19.69887°W according to the residents' recollection.

6 March 2007
On the evening of Tuesday, March 6, 2007, Coast Guard officer Admir Jemishaj was on duty with his commander. At around 7:15 PM on that day, they reported seeing an unmoving object in space. The object was visible to the naked eye, and they later saw it even more clearly with binoculars. The object suddenly appeared over the coastal area of Seman in Fier and remained motionless in space for 20 minutes. The officers reported that it had a dazzling shine, changed colors, and had a disc-like shape, which they saw both with the naked eye and binoculars.

"We were on duty when we saw a completely unique object. It stayed on the horizon with the sea at one mile high. Its colors changed from green to blue and red. For a few minutes, it was only red or blue. It was something scary, but at the same time beautiful," said Coast Guard officer Jemishaj to the media.

24 December 2008
On the night of Thursday before Christmas in 2008, four hunters from Elbasan reported that they encountered a flying disk. According to them, at around 8:30 PM in a village about 30 kilometers away from the city of Elbasan, they saw an extraordinary thing and fled in terror. The four hunters set out for the village of Vidhas in the Municipality of Paprit, on the border with the district of Peqin. After leaving the center of the municipality, about 7 kilometers away, they took a forest road. After driving about 15 kilometers, they were surprised when their off-road vehicle's cabin shook from above, and the engine died.

"We were blinded by a bright blue light and a vertical red light. For a moment, I felt like police cars were chasing us from behind," said Muharrem Kaçuli, one of the four hunters who experienced the incident for a few minutes. According to him, his 25-year-old son who was with them wanted to shoot at the shining object with his shotgun, but his father did not allow it.

21 July 2009
In the early hours of July 21, 2009, an unidentified flying object, also known by those who claim to have seen it as a flying saucer, was seen in Vlorë in the area behind Karaburun, precisely in a place called Gjiri i Dafinës, a quiet and uninhabited area. This flying object was seen by some fishermen who had set out in their fishing boat since the evening for routine activities in this area. The object had the shape of a satellite, with a diameter of about 3 meters, and was seen by the three members of the crew who were at sea to pull the fishing nets.

"I was pulling the fishing nets when a large object passed over our heads, stayed only 5 seconds, and immediately disappeared, moving away quickly. The object emitted a trail of smoke, and its color was gray to white... even in these moments, I feel shocked, impossible. It really looked like a flying saucer," explained Shpëtim Alushaj, one of the fishermen.

7 August 2010
A woman has come forward to confess that she witnessed what she referred to as extraordinary lights over Tirana. Rezmie Lulo said, "It was 01:26 AM, and my son spotted three strange objects shining in the sky. He was taken aback, quickly grabbed the camera and started recording them. Even while he was recording, his hands were shaking from the overwhelming emotions he was feeling. He informed me and my daughter, and we went to see for ourselves. At that moment, I didn't think twice about what they were and enjoyed the two minutes. All three objects were orange, spherical in shape, and detached."

She further explained, "Initially, the objects appeared to be close to us, but as time passed, they rose higher. The first object broke away at immense speed towards the northwest. It was so fast that I saw the light disappear in the blink of an eye. The other two objects vanished instantly."

The Albanian Army refused to comment on the incident to reporters.

Ilirian Ciko, the Operational Director of the National Air Traffic Agency, stated that there were no airplane departures or landings at Tirana International Airport during that time, and only four planes were flying overhead at high altitudes.

Petrit Sulaj, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority, confirmed that they had received "no official or unofficial information about the mentioned objects from aviation companies or agencies that are part of the air navigation systems."

Rezmie Lulo, one of the witnesses, said, "It is very likely that they were UFOs. The scientific world has discussed the possibility of their existence as reality or perhaps a figment of the human mind. With what I saw, I was faced with the truth that they do indeed exist." Rezmie Lulo was not the only witness to this phenomenon, but she was one of the few who agreed to give a statement to the reporters without fear of being judged for her testimony.