IncidentThe Greifswald Lights (24 August 1990, East Germany)

Around 8-9 pm on 24 August 1990, roughly 50 coastal residents plus West German tourists between Greifswald, Rugen, Usedom, and the Rostock coast reported approximately seven reddish/yellow-white luminous spheres arranged ‘like a bunch of grapes’ (also described as V- or Y-shaped), moving slowly and soundlessly with slight internal shifts, weeks before reunification in territory still under Soviet/NVA control near the Lubmin nuclear plant. Multiple amateur videos exist (commonly cited as six). After a four-year investigation, German skeptics Werner Walter / CENAP - later endorsed by GWUP - attributed the event to parachute illumination flares (‘Leuchtbomben’/’Signalbomben’) fired by small rockets from warships during a Warsaw Pact maneuver in the former Baltic ‘Luftschiesszone II,’ the flares igniting high and descending slowly under oversized parachutes, with sequential launches explaining the extended duration. Named NVA and German defense sources support the flare reading; a ferry captain on the night recognized them as ‘Leuchtbomben.’ Often called ‘the best-documented UFO sighting in Germany’ (Michael Hesemann) yet credibly resolved as routine military activity near a sensitive strategic zone - a clean ‘military exercise misidentified as a UFO formation’ example, pairing with the Canary Islands (missile) and Ladakh (planets) as explained mass-light cases.