The Kumburgaz UFO Videos

Kumburgaz sits on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara, in Istanbul's Büyükçekmece district. The Yenikent housing complex has its own beach. Its security guard was Yalçın Yalman.

His first sightings came in 2007. He filmed from 20 June to 31 August that year. Then he bought a better camera to document what he was seeing. The 2008 season ran from 22 May to 28 September. It became the main wave.

Most of it happened between midnight and dawn. Often between 2 and 4 a.m. The footage showed disc and oval shapes that looked metallic, and bright crescents hovering over the sea. No sound was ever reported. On 9 June 2008 a glowing orange-red ball stayed motionless for several minutes, reflected in the water. On 12 June a disc-shaped object moved horizontally as its light and shadow shifted.

Then came the frames that made the case famous. Inside what looked like a lit window, figures. Chilean photo analyst Mario Valdes later described two humanoids, each with a "head with two relatively big and dark eyes", and one insectoid figure "similar to a praying mantis". The figures, he wrote, "move in an extremely fast way, as if the video was being reproduced at the highest speed."

Yalman took it calmly. "For me it's just a hobby, a way of passing the night," he told the Irish Times. "I only wish they'd come down for a chat. Then we could drink tea."

31 January 2008. The footage was examined at TÜBİTAK headquarters. The two-page report was signed by Prof. Dr. Zeki Eker, director of the TÜBİTAK National Observatory. The images, it said, "are not computer animations, special video effects or studio re-created images or models. The footage is genuine." The term UFO could apply. But "this definition does not mean that these objects are from extraterrestrial (flying saucer etc.) origin."

On 8 October 2008, Haktan Akdoğan of the Sirius UFO Space Sciences Research Center presented the report at the Dedeman Hotel. He called the footage "the most remarkable images taken in Turkish history." In May 2009, during Istanbul's 3rd International UFO Congress, Yalman filmed again. Dr. Roger Leir and 7 to 8 other people watched.

Not everyone was convinced. Prof. Dr. Osman Demircan, director of ÇOMÜ's Ulupınar Observatory, rejected the footage as UFO evidence. In January 2012 Milliyet reported that Chilean analyst Andrés Duarte had found the answer. The 22-minute recording, he concluded, showed reflections off the side windows of a yacht. The silhouettes were crew.

On Metabunk, Mick West called navigation lights on ship masts the "best match". Others pointed to an inconsistent AM/PM timestamp, and to lights and planets missing from the frame. A user named Kaen pushed back, citing vessel-traffic records with no cruise ships in the Marmara and measuring the object at 7.9° above the horizon.

Supporters still point to the repeated appearances, the long clips and the TÜBİTAK report. Sceptics point to the yacht. The case lives on through Coast to Coast AM, podcasts and YouTube analyses. A Sabah gallery framed it as a mystery still unsolved after 15 years.