The Red Sky Over Europe in 1938
On a January night in 1938, the sky over Europe turned blood-red, as far south as Portugal and Sicily. Firefighters were called out. Some saw it as a warning.
What was reported
On the night of 25 January 1938, people across Europe, North Africa and North America saw the sky glow deep red and green, in places where the northern lights are almost never seen. In some towns, people thought there was a great fire on the horizon and fire brigades turned out.
In Portugal, Lúcia dos Santos, one of the children who reported the apparitions at Fátima in 1917, said this was the 'unknown light' the Virgin Mary had foretold, a sign that a worse war was coming.
Explanations offered
It was a great aurora caused by a powerful solar storm, which pushed the northern lights much further south than usual; red is the colour seen when an aurora is on the far horizon. War did break out in Europe the next year, which fixed the night in memory.
- When
- 25–26 January 1938
- Where
- Fátima, Santarém, Portugal
- Witnesses
- Millions of people across Europe
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
More from Portugal