Whilst I wouldn’t discount it as a depiction of a UFO (it somewhat reminds me of the 4th picture down in a recent SOTT article http://www.sott.net/article/289087-Saucer-shaped-lighted-object-floats-over-Manchester-UK), there is also the possibility that it represents a cosmic phenomenon such as a plasma or cometary discharge. If we take it as feasible that the artist was in some way inspired by either an oral tradition or an actually witnessed event, then some of the other details may support this, such as the turbulent sky, the fires that appear to be breaking out on the building below (although these could be age related damage to the image) and the fact that the building would appear to have religious (and hence perhaps apocalyptic), connotations. More importantly the ‘UFO’ is clearly shown with a smoke trail. To my knowledge throughout history and into this time UFO’s rarely if ever give off such ‘mechanical’ signs of internal combustion. Why paint a smoky exhaust if it was not witnessed and if it were, then does this not more likely suggest an object creating an atmospheric re-entry trail, such as a comet? So many strange and wonderful patterns/shapes are reported being made by comets – dragons, chariots, swords, witches, logs, spinning discs, etc – that this avenue of thought should not be discounted.
