Gwanghaegun UFO: The 400-Year-Old Mystery Recorded in the Annals

Was the strange flying phenomenon recorded in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty merely a natural occurrence?

• Historical background and significance of records during King Gwanghaegun’s reign in 1609
• UFO sightings reported simultaneously across five regions in Gangwon Province
• Scientific hypothesis (bolide) and the core mystery that it alone cannot explain

1609: ‘That Thing’ Appears in the Troubled Sky

The story begins in late September 1609, within the tense palace of Hanyang. An urgent report submitted by Lee Hyung-wook, the governor of Gangwon Province, opens the chapter on the Gwanghaegun UFO record. At that time, King Gwanghaegun was leading a nation still healing from the scars of the Imjin War, enduring a precarious period amid northern threats and disputes over legitimacy.

In the Confucian state of Joseon, celestial phenomena were considered direct reflections of the ruler’s virtue. The belief in ‘Heaven-Man Correspondence (天人感應)’ linked the monarch’s governance to the will of heaven, making unusual events like eclipses or comets—known as ‘disasters and anomalies (災異)’—matters of national security.

Paradoxically, this belief drove very objective record-keeping. Distorting heavenly warnings was seen as disloyalty. Governor Lee Hyung-wook carefully cross-verified the bizarre phenomena reported simultaneously from five counties over a month before submitting his report. Thanks to this caution, fragmented eyewitness accounts were elevated into a single official ‘incident,’ allowing vivid transmission of the event to us 400 years later.

Strange Phenomena over Gangwon Province: UFO Sightings from Five Locations

On August 25, 1609, the phenomena witnessed across several areas in Gangwon Province unfolded like a strange symphony, growing more bizarre over time.

Movement 1: Thunder and Red Cloth (Ganseong, Wonju)

Between 9 and 11 a.m., in Ganseong County (modern-day Goseong), two smoke-like streams appeared and moved before stopping, accompanied by a sound like a drum. At the same time, in Wonju (modern-day Wonju City), a long red cloth-like object drifted northward, followed by a loud booming sound.

Movement 2: Burning Gourd and Arrow (Gangneung, Chuncheon)

As time passed, the phenomena became more dramatic. In Gangneung (modern-day Gangneung City), a red object shaped like a large gourd descended toward the ground, stretching 9 to 12 meters in length and leaving a white trail behind. In Chuncheon (modern-day Chuncheon City), a fiery mass resembling a large basin shot northward like an arrow, leaving a bluish-white smoke trail that lingered like a serpent.

Scientific View on the Gwanghaegun UFO: Leading Suspect ‘Bolide’

Based on these records, modern science points to the ‘bolide (fireball meteor)’ as the leading suspect. A bolide is a much larger and brighter meteor than a typical shooting star, bright enough to be seen during the day and accompanied by a tremendous sonic boom upon atmospheric entry. The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor event in Russia is a representative example.

The table below compares the eyewitness accounts from the five Gangwon locations that day. Unlike the first four, the last record from Yangyang stands out as uniquely distinct and anomalous.

Core Mystery: Close Encounter UFO Incident in Yangyang

The record from Yangyang is less about a distant sky phenomenon and more akin to a close encounter right before the eyes. Between 1 and 3 p.m., at the yard of former official Kim Moon-wi’s house, this event defies all scientific explanations.

A Shining Basin Descending into the Yard

A round, shining object “like a basin” descended from the sky and hovered about 3 meters above the ground. The Annals describe it as “as if some force was suspending it in the air,” implying controlled movement rather than simple falling—i.e., hovering. This single sentence poses a serious challenge to the bolide hypothesis.

Rotation, Ascent, and Splitting

The object rotated in place, emitting multicolored lights: white on the east, glowing blue in the center, and red on the west. It then rose again, turning intensely red all over, and silently split into two pieces in midair. One piece vanished like smoke, while the other emitted a drum-like sound and transformed into a white cloud before disappearing.

This incident might actually be two separate events: the massive bolide phenomena witnessed across most of Gangwon Province (Mystery A) and the inexplicable close encounter in Yangyang that day (Mystery B).

Is the Bolide Hypothesis the Final Answer? (Pros and Cons Debate)

Can this 400-year-old unsolved case be conclusively explained by the bolide hypothesis?

• Evidence Supporting the Bolide Hypothesis (Pros)
  • Appearance and Sound: The lights, red color, smoke tails, and thunderous sounds described in four locations match typical bolide characteristics.
  • Splitting Phenomenon: The object splitting into two pieces in Yangyang can be explained as a meteor breaking apart under atmospheric pressure.
  • Simultaneous Sound: Descriptions suggesting light and sound occurred simultaneously may relate to the rare phenomenon of ’electrophonic sound.’
• Limitations of the Bolide Hypothesis (Cons)
  • Observation Duration: Bolide events usually last only seconds, but this case was observed over approximately six hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Yangyang’s Maneuvering: This is decisive counter-evidence. The object descending to yard level, hovering, rotating, and ascending again defies physical laws.
  • Inconsistent Records: If fabricated, the accounts would likely be more uniform. The varied descriptions—halo, cloth, gourd, basin, basin-shaped—strongly indicate raw eyewitness reports, not invented stories.

Conclusion: A 400-Year-Old Question and the Greatness of the Records

In conclusion, the Gwanghaegun UFO case remains ‘unsolved.’ Science has pieced together part of the puzzle (Mystery A), but it is powerless before the key piece of the close encounter in Yangyang (Mystery B).

The final key to this mystery may lie in the extraordinariness of ordinary words. Joseon’s astronomy was advanced, with official terms like ‘Yeongduseong (孛星)’ for bright meteors visible during the day. Yet officials chose familiar everyday terms like ‘gourd,’ ‘basin,’ and ‘basin-shaped’ instead. This strongly testifies that what they witnessed was something unprecedented and unclassifiable within existing knowledge.

The true heroes of this story are not the unidentified flying objects but the unnamed Joseon officials and historians who, faced with the inexplicable, refrained from myth-making and honestly recorded what they saw. Thanks to their intellectual integrity, we have one of the most detailed historical reports of an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP).

• Key Summary

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  1. Detailed Official Record: In 1609 during King Gwanghaegun’s reign, flying phenomena witnessed in five Gangwon Province locations were officially recorded in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
  2. Limits of Scientific Explanation: The ‘bolide’ hypothesis explains some phenomena but cannot account for the six-hour observation period and the strange low-altitude flight in Yangyang.
  3. Close Encounter in Yangyang: The descent, hovering, rotation, and splitting recorded in Yangyang elevated the case to a global UFO mystery.

This record offers us not answers but an eternal question spanning 400 years. What other historical mysteries do you know? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.