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UFO-Aktuellt issue 3/2002

Issue 3, 2002 reached its Swedish subscribers on October 15, 2002.  English translation by Stefan Isaksson  Page 2: A Work of Water. Short article which is accompanied by a curious photograph. The story tells of  a  strange  black  ball  found in the river Göta Älv in Sweden about  80  years ago. The ball is approximately 10 centimeters in diameter, very  smooth on its surface, and almost perfectly round in shape. It weighs 1,7  kilos.  "When one lifts it up it feels so brittle that you don't wanna let  go  of  it" says Elon Svensson, whose father was the one who found the strange stone while working to clear the land for the power plant which was under construction in the town of Trollhättan at the time of the find. Elof furthermore  wonders  if  perhaps  it's  a piece of a meteorite. "No," says mineralogist  Dan Holststam at the History of Natural History in Stockholm. "It  probably  contains  common  minerals, but the shape, however, is quite unusual".

Page 3: Editorial. Chairman  Clas  Svahn  deals with the ever-so-important issue of knowledge. The  UFO phenomena  is  as  adverse  as  the people observing it, and Svahn stresses  how  important  the  work of UFO Sweden is. People who see things they  cannot explain need to be taken seriously, not made fun of, and that's where  UFO  Sweden can contribute the most. We're here to set things right; try  to  explain  what  it  is  that  people  see,  and  give  profane  and down-to-earth  feedback  to  the  ones  who  need  it. The course for field investigators  held  annually  is unique in its kind, and the international UFO  scene  would  benefit extensively if more and similar courses could be held internationally.

Pages 4-5: The Project in Värmland. Between  the  30th  of  June and 7th of July 2002, thirteen of UFO Sweden's most dedicated investigators pursued an interview project of a grand scale. The  idea  had  been  in circulation for about a year, constructed from the conviction  of its originators that a highly concentrated interview project within  a strictly limited boundary in the county of Värmland would produce highly  interesting  data.  And  they  were  right. In fact, the result far exceeded  any expectations. The project had two major parts. First, old and new  observations  in  the  area  were  to  be  examined  by interviews with witnesses,  and  second,  an  attempt to unravel some of the mystery behind two secret  Swedish-Norwegian  military  operations,  named Operation Argus   and Operation  Dacapo,  was  to  done.  The  two  operations,  which  are still classified  to  this day, involved several unknown violations of the Swedish border  and  in  over  Värmland.  Many  interviews  with people  who  had participated  in  the operations were made, and with the former head of the Swedish  Secret  Police, SÄPO.  One  of the reasons behind the success  of the project was the media. Due to thorough coverage of what was going  on, several witnesses knew of UFO Sweden and our work before we even got  to  see  them in person. Swedish radio, TV, and magazines run stories. The  total  area  that was covered was about 50 kilometers in width and 150 kilometer  in  length.  Early on a pattern emerged; the observations were mostly from close to the Norwegian border. Cigar-shaped objects, strange spheres of light,  mysterious  individuals  and  black  diplomatic cars were reported. Unfortunately,  with  this came also the realization that a week's time was far  too  little  to  cover  everything. The data is now under study, and a pamphlet about the findings is in preparation.

Page 6: The Sirius Mystery Solved? In  1976, Robert Temple   stunned the world with his book The Sirius Mystery,   in  which  he  argues  that  the  fact  that the Dogon people in Africa had knowledge  about Sirius, accessible only by means of a strong telescope, and thus  the only explanation must be that they sometime in ancient times were visited by  travelers  from  distant stars who taught them about the solar system.  However,  a  new  book  by cultural anthropologist Walter van Beek   argues  that  this  is  not  the  case.  Instead,  he  says that the original anthropologists  who came to study the Dogon themselves, created the myth by asking  leading  questions.  The Dogon never had a creation myth quite like the  one described  in The Sirius  Mystery.  It  was  all  a  major misunderstanding,  which  by  unfortunate  reasons  became  a  widely known "fact".  In  other  words,  the  investigator  himself  was  able to create something  that  was  never  there.  And that is very likely to still happen today. An example to learn from.

Page 7: Tunguska Again. It's time for another theory about the famous Tunguska explosion in Siberia in 1908.  A German astrophysicist named Wolfgang Kundt   now argues that the explosion  never  came  from  above,  but  from  under ground. His research indicates  that  exploding  methane gas is what made millions of trees fall down  and  nights  mysteriously  remain bright all over Europe. However, no theory without its critics, and Benny Peiser, from John Moore University   in Liverpool,  argues  that  there  are  absolutely  no real evidence for this theory.  Furthermore  it  fails to explain the strange test samples of C-14 taken in the area which indicates that only an atomic bomb or an engine can affect  the soil in that manner. And these two things weren't around in the early 20th century.

Pages 8-11: The Hesitant Photographer.  This  article is the second of two parts by British ufologists David Clarke   and  Andy  Roberts.   In  the  last  issue  of UFO Update; the two offered a thorough  investigation  into the picture taken by young Stephen Darbishire   in  1954 and the things that happened afterwards. And this they do in their second  article  as  well,  but  now  another youngster is in focus (though unfortunately not the objects he snapped a picture of?), Alex Birch , who in 1962  claimed  to  have  taken  a picture of five strange objects that came flying  over  Sheffield a Sunday morning in March 1962. As with Darbishire, Birch  claimed  that  everything he said was true, and the media storm that followed  brought  him  international fame. He got to speak in front of 200 members  of  the BUFORA  , give numerous interviews, and visit Whitehall. His father  supported  him  all  the way, and young Birch continued to hold his stand.  The  fact  that the authorities gave the whole story a very natural explanation  (?)  claiming  it  to be "ice particles in the atmosphere" (?) was only  seen as further proof of a cover-up. In 1972, however, Birch suddenly changed his mind and said that it was all a fake; indeed a picture taken of a  window  with  fake saucers on it. His two friends who had been there and observed  it  too,  agreed  with  him.  But,  to  make a strange story even stranger,  Birch  again  in  1998  changed  his  mind,  and resolved to his original stand: that the saucers were real. Obviously the original negative is long gone, and to this day Birch argues that he's telling the truth. The riddle is likely to never be resolved.

Pages 12-13: UFO Contacts? Modern Day Religious Experiences?  The  UFO  phenomena can, and are, studied by several different disciplines. Not only by using hard science - such as in for example Hessdalen in Norway - can  or should the investigations continue. Several religious scholars have also tackled the enigma, and interesting results have been shown. Mikael G. Petersson  of UFO Sweden is one of them, and does a good job in showing how the  question whether or not Earth is visited by extraterrestrial being can be  studied  using  religious  methodology  and  perspectives. There is not enough  space  (no  pun  intended)  here  to  give a complete review of his article,  but  worth  mentioning  is that he uses both the late Carl Gustav Jung  and  James  R.  Lewis  in  his  research. The latter is editor of the perhaps most famous book on the subject; The Gods Have Landed.

Page 14: Letters from the Readers. Only one letter in this issue; from a seventeen year-old girl. She asks, or rather  talks  about,  the  possibilities  that  we are indeed alone in the universe.  Svahn  answers short and to the point. A recent poll in the U.S. showed  that  49  percent  of  the  American  population believe that their government is covering up the real truth behind the UFO enigma. "So," Svahn assures her, "you're not alone in your suspicions."

Page 15: The Circle-Summer.  Svahn  writes about the past summer and its crop circles. Sweden "only" had three circles to offer this summer; all hoaxes. The blockbuster movie Signs ,  starring  Mel  Gibson,  has undoubtedly contributed to the common belief that  it's  extraterrestrial  beings  who  create  the  circles.  The  most beautiful  circles  this  summer came from England, but also other European countries  and  the  USA  had  circles to show. Maybe the strangest one was American  in  origin. Two artists in Madison, Maine worked three full weeks to  complete their massive image of - not a strange pattern revealing cosmic secrets and the meaning of life, but TV-star Larry King!

Pages 16-18: Dragons Past and Present. Svahn  presents contemporary and older observations of the infamous dragon, and makes it clear that the image of the dragon is quite different all over the  world.  Even though the common image of the dragon derives from China; all  cultures,  more  or  less, have had drake-like images throughout their mythology.  Ebbe  Schön ,  one  of Sweden's top folklorists, has contributed much  data to the article with his book Drakar och Trollormar   (Dragons and Magic serpents).  Interesting  to  note  is that not all observations took place  far  back  in history, but also happened in the late and middle 19th century.  Also  included  is  a  lengthy  eyewitness account from 1884 of a dragon observation.

Pages 19-21: Fangs on Our Necks. Richard   Svensson   present  another  interesting  article  about  fortean phenomena.  This  time  the  turn  has  come  to  the vampire, the sinister creature  brought  into the mainstream by all film versions of Bram Stokers   famous  book  about the nocturnal creature who drinks human blood. However, the idea of a monster drinking blood, or by other means molest humans, is not new  by any account. Svensson gives several examples of old and more recent descriptions  of  blood-sucking creatures, and as with many other universal mythological  phenomena;  the exterior is different, but the meaning within is quite similar. And in modern times there have been vampires, too, though rather self-proclaimed ones instead of "real" ones.

Page 21: A New Moon. "The  first  officially  confirmed UFO". That's what some ufologists called the  strange object, believed to be an asteroid, which the Chinese-Canadian amateur  astronomer  Bill  Yeung  reported to the organization Minor Planet Center ,  an  organization  collecting information about asteroids. However, after  researchers  from  MIT   had  finished  a spectrum analysis of it, it turned  out  to  be a piece of the Apollo 12 mission to moon dating back to 1969.

Pages 22-23: Media Watch. C  Göran  Norlén  is  back  at it again, as always with news clippings from Swedish media. Nothing extraordinary, Norlén mentions a few incidents where the  UFO subject has been used in Swedish magazines, or when other articles related to the world of UFOs have emerged.

Pages 24-26: International ufology. This  time  Stefan  Roslund   has fifteen short news stories about the international UFO, and forteana, scene. One of the more interesting ones, from a Swedish point  of  view,  is  that  Nick Pope   is still doing research about alien abductions, and that he now claims to be working on six new cases, with one being  from Sweden. And, believe it or not, yet another theory about Roswell has been brought up to the surface. This time it's ufologist Jim Keith , who puts  forward the theory that the object that crashed to the ground was not an  extraterrestrial  spaceship,  but  rather the outer casing to a nuclear bomb.  A story about cattle mutilation, among other news, from Argentina is included as well. 

Page 26: U.S. Aircraft on UFO Hunt. Svahn  tells  about  the  incident  from the 26th of July this year, when a witness  in  Waldorf,  Maryland  observed  a  F-16  aircraft  that chased a light-blue  UFO over the night sky. The Air Force confirmed the observation and  states  that  they  sent  up two aircraft to pursue unidentified radar tracings.  The  incident  received heavy attention, due to the fact that it occurred  50 years to the day after the great UFO hunt over Washington D.C. on the 26th of July 1952.

Page 27: Book Reviews. Two  books this time, one UFO related and one written by Olav Hammer , noted Swedish  historian  of  religion  whose books have been reviewed in earlier issues  of  UFO  Update.  This  time Svahn reviews Osunt  förnuft   (Un-Common Sense),  a  book  that  deals  with  the  issue of human memory; how bad we sometimes  are to remember things, and how easily we all can be led astray. A  very  interesting  book,  according to Svahn. The other book, Out of the Shadows   by  David Clarke   and Andy Roberts , came into being after these two noted British ufologists had gone through the Public Records Office   in Kew. This  is  the  place  where British authorities have sent their once secret documents  to  be  de-classified,  and  the  book,  which mostly deals with British governmental work on UFO matters in the 1950s and 60s is, according to  Svahn,  "a  fine  example for anyone wanting to write about this tricky subject".

Page 28: News in Short. Seven short paragraphs about miscellaneous UFO related news from Sweden and elsewhere.

Page 29: The Attack of the Ape Man. Svahn,  again,  offers  a short and interesting article about the notorious Ape  Man,  the strange ape-like creature which horrifies the inhabitants of the Delhi and Bihar areas of India. Several persons have given testimony to how  they  have been attacked by a ape-like creature with claws and glowing eyes  which  attack  them  when  the overwhelming heat forces the people to sleep on the roofs of their houses. Some celestial phenomena have also been reported alongside reports of the creature. Doctors say it's a case of mass hysteria,   while   the   police  force  in  Uttar  Pradesh  speculates  in extraterrestrials or mutated giant insects.

Page 30: Lights in the 30s. Short   interview  by  Tage  Bång ,  experienced  field  investigator.  This particular  interview is taken from the first case he ever investigated, in 1977,  and  the  observation  tells  of  a glowing light shaped like a disc somewhere late summer 1935 in Sjötorp, Sweden.

Page 31: Field Investigation Class of 2002. A  picture  of  all  the field investigators who participated in the course held by UFO Sweden in September 2002.

Back page:  Short  article  by  Svahn  about  Sharc,  a  remotely  controlled  airplane constructed by Swedish Saab.