It is difficult for us to judge how the ancient earthlings perceived the Moon, since there is only scattered information about this, more like legends and speculation. In accordance with them, the Earth sometimes appears without a satellite we are used to, then it allegedly had several of them. But even the only moon today causes a lot of scientific controversy, not to mention the fact that something completely atypical for a natural satellite of the Earth is constantly found on it (assuming that the academic information about it that we receive from school is absolutely true). These are some obviously artificial structures, flying machines, although no one has yet mastered Selena, and much more.
It is noteworthy that the first person of modern times, who in the 17th century saw something anomalous on the moon (which today we denote by the abbreviation "UFO"), was the American preacher Cotton Mather (Cotton Mather). To begin with, the telescope was invented in 1608, and everyone who had access to this fantastic apparatus rushed to examine the Universe, at least the celestial bodies closest to us, of which the Moon turned out to be the most accessible for study.
Cotton Mather was one of the enlightened people of his time, who had a significant impact on the scientific and political thought of America, as well as its literature. He was not only a Christian preacher and religious moralist, but also a biologist, physician, writer and publicist. Apparently, this worthy husband was not alien to the questions of the structure of the Universe, if in 1668, looking at the moon through a telescope, he saw a light object flying above its surface, which struck Mather's imagination, about which he left a note for posterity.
This record did not get lost and today even became the property of the general public - thanks to NASA, on the official website of which this message can be found in the chronological catalog of lunar events. Unfortunately, we do not even know approximately what exactly Cotton Mather saw on that memorable night. In any case, it is very noteworthy that a well-known religious figure was the first to mention a UFO seen on the moon, considering this mysterious phenomenon not from the position of God, but as a certain astronomical fact.
Subsequently, there were other researchers who noted all sorts of oddities on the moon. So, in 1821, the famous English astronomer John Herschel saw bright lights on it through a telescope. After that, he several times recorded light objects on the Moon, "burning like coals." Recall that Herschel discovered the planet Uranus and was known as an outstanding and very sober scientist-mathematician, not inclined to any fantasies.
Today, thanks to digital technology, any man in the street can watch the Moon, as well as take pictures or videos of everything that happens there. We are not talking about the official satellite images that are posted on the websites of space agencies, map servers, and so on. And the main conclusion that can be drawn on the basis of all these observations is this: people continue to see a lot of strange things on the Moon … And Cotton Mather, it turns out, was the first ufologist, or an independent explorer of space, as these tireless seekers of truth are now called. But the modern title of a virtual archaeologist doesn't really suit him, but there's nothing you can do about it …