Mysterious
Sky: Soviet UFO Phenomenon
Philip
Mantle and Paul Stonehill
PublishAmerica
2006
ISBN:
1-4241-0594-8
Review:
Lee Earle, UFO Research Queensland (www.uforq.asn.au)
At over
400 pages, Mysterious Sky is an enormous exploration of UFO and related
phenomenon from one of Europe's most mysterious countries. For those of us in
Australia, and probably the rest of the world, Russia is almost a complete
unknown. As a direct result of history and politics, Russia's cultures, its
history, even its physical environs, come to us in filtered snippets, layered in a dense blanket of
unimaginable cold and harsh extremities. Not surprisingly, Russia's UFO
encounters are even more mysterious, and Mysterious Sky presents an engrossing
history that more than adequately fills this gap.
Presented
in chronological format, Mysterious Sky delves back as far as it may be
possible to go when researching the history of UFO sightings in Russia, back to
the eleventh century when signs were seen in the sky over battlefields.
Interestingly, these signs were analogous to signs seen over other parts of the
globe at that time - comets that descended so close to the ground that soldiers
were able to fire weapons at them, serpents, and shining balls of light that in
other cultures inspired entire religions. The fact that such accounts exist and
were available to the authors today demonstrates the collective Russian
willingness to record historical events, no matter how seemingly impossible
they appear, and to accord these events some legitimacy. The cultural ability
of Russians to accept the existence of the paranormal is a constituting factor
in their approach to this topic, and it has resulted in quite a different set
of circumstances in their encounters and interactions with UFOs when compared
to the western world, all of which are explored very thoroughly in Mysterious
Sky.
Of
course no exploration of Russian Ufology would be complete without an investigation
of the Tunguska event, and this is where Mysterious Sky really begins its
journey. For those not familiar with this event, in 1908 an explosion occurred
over Tunguska that completely destroyed more than 2000 square kilometers of
forest. Speculation over the cause exists even today, not helped by the fact
that researchers of the time didn't seriously investigate the event until many
years later, hampered by the extreme remoteness of the area and the limited science
available at the time. However it might surprise readers to learn that the
Tunguska event was preceded by a high number of meteorite strikes in the
region, unusual atmospheric events and over 1500 recorded earthquakes in the
month prior. Whether any of these were a prelude to or related to the actual
event is unknown, but on the day two vastly different objects were seen flying
over the region, and the aftermath of the explosion resonated on a global
scale. The night skies over northern Europe glowed brightly enough to read by
for days after the explosion and the Earth's magnetic field was disturbed up to
900 kilometers away. Another peculiar feature of Tunguska was that afterwards
numerous reports of unusual 'humans' and strange animals began appearing in the
area, and it was also rumored to be the home of the 'Devil's Cemetery,' a zone
where vegetation does not grow and which cannot be approached by any living
creature without it being 'burned from the inside'.
Given
the sheer size, diversity of landscape and extreme remoteness of the Russian
territories, it is not unexpected to find areas of high strangeness within it,
zones of magnetic anomalies and visual disturbances, areas of time distortion
and places where prehistoric creatures are seen. One such place is the
mysterious 'M-Zone', an area of UFO sightings and anomalous lights, strange
'bubbles' that appear out of nowhere, inexplicable feelings and images
projected inside witnesses' heads. There is also the 'Stavropol Window', which
has recorded UFO sightings since the mid-1800s, and from this area comes an
account of a large arrow-shaped craft that landed in a village and from which
three dark-skinned and naked men emerged. As the men could breath only with
difficulty it was assumed they were unwell, and three days after their arrival
the strangers died and were buried by villagers, who promptly dismantled the
craft and used the metal to make household implements. While Russia has long
had a scientific interest in UFOs and the paranormal, the reign of Stalin saw
such research forbidden for the duration, a ban that extended even to
archaeological and genetic research. But despite his official policies, Stalin
was keenly interested in the Roswell crash of 1947, assigning researchers to
investigate the case and, curiously, allowing them to subscribe to the
Australian Flying Saucer Review. Stalin was also obsessed with rocket science
and an urge to claim the Moon for his country. Perhaps just to annoy Stalin,
Russia's space programs were consistently dogged by UFO sightings, a situation
which continues to this day. In 1977 the 'Petrozavodsk Phenomenon' was notable
for the number of different kinds of aerial craft that were observed with the launch
of Kosmos-955 - spheres and jellyfish-like craft (which are again being
observed in other parts of the world) and a strange luminescent 'rain' that
could melt glass.
Many
incidents occurred in conjunction with the launch of the Sputnik series of
spacecraft during the 1950s, and sightings of UFOs have been observed to accompany
almost every launch of a Russian space vehicle since. Russia's orbiting space
stations have similarly been shadowed by strange craft and curious incidents.
In 1981 cosmonauts aboard Salyut-6 filmed a UFO outside their orbital platform,
and the film was later shown to a number of high-ranking Soviet officials. It
purportedly showed ETs exiting their craft without any breathing apparatus. In
1984 the crew of Salyut-7 observed a large orange gas cloud, and as the space
station entered the cloud the crew had a distinct impression that the cloud had
also entered the station. Rushing to the portholes the cosmonauts observed
giant beings inside the cloud - beings that appeared to them to be angels, with
wings and halos.
Russia
has also had its downed UFOs, notably an object that crashed in Dalnegorsk in
1986. No alien bodies were retrieved from this crash - indeed, the craft
itself, a large silver sphere, disintegrated into small pieces, some of which
resembled lead balls and 'tiny nets.' A curious feature of this crash occurred
eight days after the event, when two more spheres arrived and circled the crash
site. Then, twenty days after that, no less than 32 objects of differing shapes
were observed by hundreds of witnesses over the area. Five of these objects lit
up the crash site for a brief period before moving off. Like the circumstances
of the Roswell crash, a variety of official explanations for the event have
trickled out over the years, including the notion that it was a military probe,
a Chinese satellite and a NATO reconnaissance balloon, despite the fact that
the object hovered and attempted to ascend several times before it fell to earth.
Also in
1986, UFOs were seen over the failing Reactor 4 at Chernobyl - in fact for a
brief period UFOs were actually blamed for the failure by Soviet authorities.
However the reactor was already in the process of meltdown when the object was
sighted by technicians, who told that the UFO shone two rays onto the reactor
and shortly afterwards the radiation output decreased measurably, though not
enough to avoid disaster. UFOs were seen over Chernobyl again in 1989 when
another leak occurred in Reactor 4, and in 1990 an object was photographed
hovering above residences near the plant. While authorities might have liked to
blame the initial disaster on UFOs (and isn't that a strange official line to take?),
speculation rests more squarely on the UFOs assisting in the containment
process. Other UFOs seen over nuclear power plants include over the secret
installation at Dubna, which also conducted space testing, over a nuclear power
plant in the Volga, over the Semipalantisk nuclear testing range and the
Novyaya Zemlya Island test zone, where they were observed after almost every
nuclear test.
A truly
fascinating chapter of Mysterious Sky focuses on anomalous creatures and
objects seen beneath Russia's seas and other large bodies of water, with the earliest
recorded incident coming from 1908 when an oval submerged object paced beneath
a steamship, immersing it in an unearthly green luminescence. A report from
later times recounts how Soviet military divers, during training in a deep lake
in western Siberia, encountered underwater 'swimmers' - humanoid creatures
three meters tall garbed in tight fitting silver suits with helmets, but minus
any breathing equipment. It was decided to attempt to capture one of the
creatures, but the seven divers sent to undertake this task were propelled back
to the surface of the lake, consequently suffering from pressure changes
resulting from the rapid ascent. Three of the divers died as a result, the
remaining four becoming invalids. Similar creatures along with underwater UFOs
have been reported in deep water lakes all over Russia. Soviet nuclear
submarines have encountered moving objects beneath the sea, some emitting
unusual noises for which they have been named 'croakers.' These objects show
interest in the submarines, circling them and changing the tone and pitch of
their sounds as if 'talking'.
While
the authors must have gone to considerable lengths to source information from
military sources prior to the 1990s, it was Gorbachev's era of glasnost that
saw much information released, much of it from high-ranking officers who were
themselves witnesses or privy to secret information. According to one officer,
staff at a space communications centre were actually successful in 'contacting'
UFOs. When a spherical object appeared over the base (an apparently regular
occurrence), ground staff would make physical signals - if the staff moved
their arms to one side of their body, the objects would respond by compressing
themselves in the same direction. An interesting feature to be gleaned from the
wealth of information in Mysterious Sky is that there has been a constant
component of physical interaction between the Russian military and UFOs for
years, with aggressive tendencies (or self-defense tendencies interpreted as
aggression) displayed by both sides. UFOs were seen so regularly over Russian
military installations that it prompted an order at one point from Soviet High Command
instructing the military to stop shooting at UFOs - to in effect leave them
alone to do what they want to do. Incidents continued, however - the 1960s saw
twelve Soviet pilots die on the borders of Iran and Afghanistan and reports
indicated a UFO 'attack', and it was also during the 1960s that the 'LOTOS'
group was formed to investigate any paranormal activities occurring in the
military. This same group was involved in weapons development using
gravitational and electromagnetic fields.
A
project during the 1980s was designed to catalogue the enormous numbers of craft
observed over the territories and to compile a visual 'registration chart' of
types, locations and witnesses, and eventually a chart of 50 different UFO
types was assembled. The military had become concerned that UFOs were in fact
alien civilisations that may have an impact upon their technology and
personnel, and guidelines were instituted to deal with UFOs reported by
military personnel. The reports that came in were so numerous that special
'anomalous phenomena commissions' were formed to deal with them. One thing
Mysterious Sky highlights is the enormous number of military and UFO
encounters, both positive and negative, that have occurred throughout Russia's
history and must surely have a correlation in the western world.
Mysterious
Sky brings us a valuable overview of Soviet UFO research from the 1940s to the
present, a situation remarkably similar to that of western Ufology since it
contains the same mix of researchers, true believers, dissenters, neutral
observers and active disinformationists. However the Russian approach differs
from the west in one major respect - the military and government agencies have,
at various times, been publicly and vocally involved in UFO research despite,
at other times, expressly forbidding it. Similarly, the Russian media tends to
report anomalous events far less incredulously and in a much less negative
fashion than the media of the west. It seems that at the core of every Russian
citizen is an open mind, or at least a mind not closed to the prospect of the
paranormal. Interestingly, the USSR Academy of Sciences came to the same
conclusions as J. Allen Hynek and Project Bluebook - which is to say it
denounced 90-95% of UFOs as explainable via natural effects (meteorites, birds,
insects etc) and manmade phenomenon (weather balloons, aircraft, missile
launches etc). However it still had its 5-10% of events that were literally
unexplainable, just as its western counterparts did.
Ufology
is still an ongoing and active concern in Russia. In 1999 the Department of
Justice approved the formation of 'The Academy of Informational and Applied
Ufology' - a non-commercial, voluntary organization, but a legal entity
none-the-less. Its tasks are to 'assist the raising of the level of scientific
and informational levels of fundamental and applied ufological research; and training
of experts in Ufology according to international standards.' (I'd like to know
who defined the 'international standards' to which they are adhering!) And in
the year 2000 a Museum of Parapsychology and Ufology opened in Moscow.
The
events described in this review are the merest sprinkling of the reports contained
in Mysterious Sky, a rich collection of accounts and events that are unique to
northern Europe and the mysterious land of Russia. While the authors delve into
historical records dating from the last thousand years, it is the accounts from
the 1940s to the present day that are explored in greatest depth and revealed
to the English-speaking world for what could be the first time. And it reveals
to us that the Russian UFO phenomenon follows the same patterns - UFOs are
sighted over bodies of water, over nuclear and energy power plants, over fault
and energy grid lines, and in association with space and weapons testing. The
Russians also have their share of contactees and experiencers, those for whom contact
with ET is a spiritual experience, and fanatics with outlandish claims of ET
experience.
Rich and
full of a multitude of amazing and previously unknown accounts, Mysterious Sky
is engrossing and thought-provoking. It documents in one extensive volume an
unsuspected wealth of UFO encounters from across the Russian territories and
over more than a century of time - accounts made all the more interesting
because they at times corroborate experiences in the west, and at other times
differ so widely and wildly from our own experiences as to be alien to us. The
Russian approach to UFOs and Ufology is also highlighted - sociologically and
culturally the entire phenomenon is skewed in a different direction. While the
Russian approach has revealed unique aspects of the UFO phenomenon, it has also
deepened the paradox of the UFO reality and given us many more mysteries to
contemplate.
Available
from:
Paul Stonehill
Paul Stonehill is an author (his book, The Soviet UFO
Files, was published in 1998, in English, Czech, and Dutch), television
consultant, lecturer, and researcher of Russian, East European, and Central
Asian and Far Eastern paranormal phenomena. His articles have been translated
and published in many languages, from Ukrainian to Hungarian to Japanese. He is
fluent in Russian, and know Ukrainian. He has excellent sources in the former
Soviet Union, and gathers long-lost or forbidden paranormal materials and files
(the Armed Forces, secret police, underground publications, etc.).
He has consulted and appeared in various American
(History Channel, TLC, Discovery, Sightings, TNT, etc.) as well as European and
Japanese television programs. I have done numerous radio interviews, mainly in
the United States.
Here are some subjects of his research, and his
published articles:
- Soviet
and Russian military research of paranormal phenomena NKVD/KGB and
paranormal phenomena
- Underwater unidentified phenomena (USO)
- Secrets of Soviet space program
- Mysteries
of ancient history (Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Mongol Empire, Siberia,
China)
- Time Travel experiments in Russia
- Soviet
mind control programs, ESP, and famous psychics
- UFO
phenomenon in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Baltics, and China
- Soviet "chimera" experiments
- Russian cryptozoology
- Lost treasures of Eurasia
- Ghost trains of Eurasia
- Anomalous zones in Eurasia
Contact Information:
E-mail address is: rurcla@hotmail.com
Paul Stonehill
POB 260574
Encino, CA 91426-0574
USA
E-mail address is: rurcla@hotmail.com
Paul Stonehill
POB 260574
Encino, CA 91426-0574
USA
Philip Mantle
Philip Mantle is an international author, lecturer and
broadcaster on the subject of UFOs. Previous books include 'WITHOUT
CONSENT' (with Carl Nagaitis) and 'BEYOND ROSWELL' (with Michael Hesemann). He
has lectured in the UK, Europe & North America, and has taken part or
consulted on TV shows throughout the UK, Europe, North America, Japan &
China.
Contact Information:
E-mail: philip@mantle8353.fsworld.co.uk
Telephone: 0113 2522411.
Telephone: 0113 2522411.
49 East Leigh Drive,
Tingley,
Nr Wakefield,
West Yorkshire,
England,
WF3 1PF.
Tingley,
Nr Wakefield,
West Yorkshire,
England,
WF3 1PF.
All material on this page is Copyright by Paul
Stonehill
All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission
No comments:
Post a Comment