UFO Sightings Over Volcanoes: Etna Joins a Growing List
Jun 09, 2025
On June 2, 2025, Mount Etna erupted again. A burst of lava from the southeast crater lit up the sky, followed by a dense ash plume that rose several kilometres into the air. The eruption was captured on multiple livestreams. Whilst I was watching a live stream of the eruption, I saw a dark object rising vertically from the crater. Moments later, it made a sharp 90-degree turn and disappeared into the clouds. It didn’t tumble or drift, it changed direction and was gone.
Etna is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It’s also one of the most documented. Eruptions have been recorded here since at least 1500 BCE, and the volcano has played a central role in both mythology and science. Ancient writers believed it was the forge of Vulcan. In more recent centuries, it’s become a focal point for seismic and volcanic research, with eruptions reshaping the Sicilian landscape time and again. Despite the frequency of its activity, Etna continues to attract attention, especially when something appears that doesn’t quite belong.
Volcano-related sightings of unidentified objects aren’t limited to Sicily. Similar reports have emerged from volcanic regions around the world. Mexico’s Popocatépetl is perhaps the most well-known example. In recent years, multiple videos have shown orb-like or cigar-shaped objects hovering over, entering, or exiting the crater. One widely shared clip showed what appeared to be a long, cylindrical object plunging into the volcano. Explanations ranged from camera glitches to aircraft, but no official identification was ever confirmed.
In Ecuador, sightings have also been reported near Tungurahua during periods of increased activity. In one case, a disc-shaped object was allegedly seen hovering near the volcano, captured on video by a passing pilot. The footage was grainy, but the object’s behavior stood out; it remained stationary while ash clouds drifted past.
Mount Colima, also in Mexico, has had similar reports. Some witnesses have described egg-shaped or glowing objects seen during eruptions, although documentation in that case is less consistent. What links many of these reports isn’t just the setting, but the behavior of the objects, movement patterns that don’t match debris or known aircraft, and a tendency to appear during moments of geological intensity.
Skeptics point out that the chaos of an eruption makes it easy to misidentify what’s being seen. Thermal distortion, ash clouds, and debris can all create effects that mimic solid objects or controlled motion. But in cases like the June 2 eruption at Etna, the movement doesn’t match any known natural trajectory. A clean 90-degree turn mid-air is not consistent with falling rock or drifting ash. It suggests either something under control or a natural phenomenon that hasn’t yet been properly understood.
Some theories suggest that volcanoes may attract attention, if not from observers beyond this world, then from something not yet fully explained. Places like Popocatépetl, Tungurahua, and now Etna have become part of a quiet pattern: eruptions followed by sightings, movements caught on camera that don’t follow the expected path.
Etna has buried towns, changed the coastline, and shaped local mythology for thousands of years. It’s no stranger to strange stories. But as cameras become more common and live streams continue to record these events in real time, new questions are emerging—ones that don’t come from legends, but from footage that’s harder to ignore.
Whatever the object was during the June 2 eruption, it didn’t behave like anything expected. And it wasn’t the first time something unusual had appeared over a volcano.