Eerie Azores: Part 1, Aerial Anomalies

There's something highly strange going on in the Atlantic archipelago

Mar 08, 2024

In July of 2022, the research vessel Okeanos Explorer detected a bizarre formation of holes on the floor of the sea. The arrangement of centimeter-wide openings along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) looked evenly distributed and deliberately placed. Scientists leading the expedition in the open ocean north of the Azores Islands were mystified. A statement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration musing that the cavities looked “human made” sparked a frenzy of speculation about their origin.

It wasn’t the first sighting of these unusual pockmarks. Photographs of anomalous impressions in the MAR region go back as far as the 1960s, and six decades later, scientists are still searching for answers.

The curious craters 2-miles below the surface are yet another entry in a long list of unusual happenings recorded near the Azores. There are few locations where one can spot both UFOs, and hunt for the lost continent of Atlantis—but the remote Portuguese archipelago has that distinction. Despite their small size, the cluster of nine volcanic islands anchored in the middle of the Atlantic have a storied history of high strangeness.

Azores’ Aerial Anomalies

With a combined footprint of 903 sq. miles, the Azores don’t leave much room for sky-watching. That hasn’t diminished the number of reported UFO sightings or close encounters.

One especially unsettling incident involving an unknown humanoid occurred on September 21, 1954. According to a Project Blue Book report, a guard on duty at the Santa Maria Airport observed a “pecan” or “football” shaped craft landing 30 feet from his position.1 A blond-haired man approximately 5’ 10” tall exited from a door in the front of the object. As he advanced toward the airport guard, he spoke a “strange language” that the witness didn’t recognize.

After trying to communicate in French with no luck, the headlights of an approaching car broke up the party. Before departing in his “flying cigar,” the visitor patted the guard on the shoulder “in a friendly fashion.”

The guard later told his superiors that he had been “too scared” to apprehend the strange man.

Other people also reported seeing abnormal lights above the same area of the island, and a local newspaper allegedly printed the full details of the inexplicable confrontation.

A blond-haired stranger with a peaceful demeanor? Our money is on the Venusians.

The official preparing the Blue Book file felt that the encounter couldn’t be the result of mistaken identity—it either happened as the guard said it did, or it was all a lie. After learning that the witness was thought to be an honest individual, and finding no evidence to contradict his story, the officer concluded that the guard likely “saw the object as reported.”

The following month produced more results. On October 3, 1954, a pilot departing the same airport on Santa Maria noticed a large splotch of radiant light just above the surface of the ocean.2 The cloudless evening allowed for a clear view of the luminous phenomenon and the pilot claimed that the congregation of 40-50 lights were brighter than any ocean-going ships he’d ever seen.

Some of the plane’s passengers also witnessed the show and “unanimously affirmed that it was a flying saucer.” The objects remained stationary over the water as the aircraft continued on its course.

On October 29, witnesses on Terceira Island reported a “stovepipe” shaped UFO with short wings hovering in their front yard. The strange object vanished in the glare of an airplane’s landing lights after being observed for 4-5 minutes.3

Both of the above cases are considered “unidentified” by the U.S. Air Force.

Who are we supposed believe again? “Authorities” or “Experts?”

The Azores were later featured as part of the globe-spanning 1965 UFO flap. Multiple news outlets picked up the story involving a “white, cylinder-shaped object”4 that flew over the (by now) infamous Santa Maria airport on the ninth of July. During the 45-minutes sighting, witnesses noted forms of electromagnetic interference, including stopped clocks and power fluctuations.

The object was also seen over the Vila do Porto weather station, yielding similar effects on their electrical systems. A spokesman for the facility told the Associated Press that the glowing object “stopped the station’s electro-magnetic clocks.”5 The same article explained that a comparable object was spotted by a couple on the mainland days prior. They likewise attested that their electronic radio suffered from static until it passed by.

The Telegraph quoted one observer who admitted that the UFO “sometimes looked like a balloon;” a description that was quickly latched onto by “aeronautical experts” who declared that there were no saucers flying over the Azores. However, the same Telegraph piece checked with the Portuguese, French, and British navies stationed in the region, and they denied launching any balloons.6

Confusing matters even more was an odd story out of Quebec claiming that the UFO seen in the Azores was a “lost” research balloon launched by a local power company nine days earlier.7 The Montreal Gazette quoted unnamed technicians from the company who exclaimed: “Darn right it’s a balloon!” They also revealed that it contained “valuable radio transmission research equipment.” If their inflatable truly was the culprit behind the Azores sightings, the instruments on board might explain reports of electronic interference and stopped clocks. The staff at the Northern Electric Company based their assumption on the fact that their payload was painted “fluorescent red,” which makes no sense considering that the witnesses who saw the object described it as “white” or “transparent.”

How many Northern Electric Company employees does it take to launch a balloon?

The director of the Santa Maria airport later downplayed the electrical malfunctions that occurred during the sightings, blaming them on a clumsy electrician who was coincidentally “repairing the system” while the object was overhead. A UPI investigation of the matter uncovered an interesting detail that contradicts that official explanation—the clocks started working again only after the UFO left the area.8

Harrumphing all the way, the U.S. Air Force was predictably “unimpressed” by the entire ordeal.9

Perhaps related to the spate of aerial phenomena in the region was the fact that the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, and NATO all established operations on the islands of Santa Maria and Terceira.10 The archipelago is conveniently situated at the crossroads of the Atlantic, and various exercises in the 1950s and ‘60s used it as a strategic staging point. As a result, the island’s military presence steadily increased. In 1959 alone, more than 16,000 aircraft departed from the Lajes Airfield on Terceira.11 Needless to say, there was plenty of activity in the sky above the Azores.