The Canary Islands Sphere
One summer night, a giant glowing sphere rose over the Canary Islands, and a doctor said he saw two tall figures inside it.
What was reported
At about 9:30 pm on 22 June 1976, people across the Canary Islands saw a bright light rise from the sea and expand into an enormous, glowing, transparent sphere. A Spanish Navy ship off Fuerteventura reported it, and thousands of people saw it from several islands.
On Gran Canaria, a doctor and a taxi driver said they saw the sphere close up, with two tall figures standing inside it. Spanish authorities investigated, and the case became one of the most famous in Spain.
Explanations offered
In 2001, Spanish researchers Ricardo Campo and Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos showed that a US Navy submarine had test-launched two Poseidon missiles in the Atlantic that evening, at exactly the right time and place. Rocket exhaust high in the sunlit atmosphere can expand into huge glowing spheres. The figures inside remain part of the story.
- When
- 22 June 1976
- Where
- Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain
- Witnesses
- Thousands across the Canary Islands, including a Spanish Navy ship
- 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.