Case file · Sighting
Columbus's light in the night
At about 10 p.m. on 11 October 1492, hours before landfall in the Bahamas, Columbus wrote that he saw a light 'like a little wax candle rising and falling' and pointed it out to two others.
1492 CE · 24.05, -74.45 · status: disputed
The account
Land was sighted at 2 a.m. He claimed the reward for first sighting on the strength of the light. UFO writers sometimes cite it as an early Caribbean sighting.
The sceptical view
Historians suggest a fire or torch on an island, a fishing canoe, or the light of spawning marine worms; some think he invented it to claim the prize.