Showing posts with label russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label russia. Show all posts

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Anomalous Ground Holes: Natural or Ultraterrestrial?

I came across the following article from Pravda in March 2004 while researching sources on ultraterrestrial underground habitation. This may be related to the 'cookie cutter' phenomena that is occasionally reported even though this situation doesn't quite match those other discoveries. There have been other terra firma related anomalies as well. I have posted different scenarios for you to compare and make your own conclusions:

Ufologists suppose, aliens land on Earth to take ground samples

One morning shepherd Pyotr Malinkin took his cows out to the pasture as usual. Having gone five kilometers into the field the man was shocked to find a huge hole in the ground six meters in diameter. The pit was not on the spot the day before, it appeared overnight. The shepherd said the animals were scared to approach the hole, they did not eat the grass nearby. Specialists of the Labyrinth public group to study anomalous phenomena went to examine the wonder in the field.

Local elderly women confirmed the large hole had appeared in the field indeed. They said the hole had a perfect round shape, as if someone took a huge lump of ground with a cup. Local townsfolk built a fence around the hole not to let curious people and cows fall down in it. The hole became a local place of interest: people come to see it and picnic nearby, others take photographs against its background.

As it turned out, the pit was not round, but oval. It does not look like an excavator pit: there are no bucket tracks on its walls, nothing is seen on the meadow around either – the ground is even. The pit is smooth and vertical inside. There is some water on the bottom of the 4,5-meter deep pit.

Specialists of the above-mentioned Labyrinth group believe the hole probably appeared as a result of UFO’s activities: aliens landed their spaceship on the meadow to take ground samples. However, ufologists failed to find any evidence to prove the landing of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Ufologists also proposed the ground hole appeared as a result of a rare inexplicable natural phenomenon. An identical phenomenon occurred ten years ago in the Ryazan region, when a huge crater reminiscent of a shell-hole appeared in the ground near the Sasovo village. Nobody was able to explain the appearance of the pit. Such hole appeared before in the Rostov and Tula regions of Russia.

Local townsfolk told Labyrinth ufologists there was a larger ground hole two kilometers far. It appeared decades ago. Elderly people say village residents used to sacrifice sacks of grain throwing them in the hole to pacify ‘something’ under the ground. During the Soviet years they used to throw branches and stones in the hole, but they never managed to cover it. Ufologists tried to find the pit, but they could not find the mysterious pit – numerous trees and bushes have grown in the field.

Local people said there was another mysterious object in their countryside. They said there is an ‘angry spring’ on the stream nearby. When a person comes to the spring to take some water, it starts ‘boiling.’ If one starts talking near the spring, the water in it boils harder and harder. There used to be a church on the spot where the spring appeared. Legends say the church went under the ground when Napoleon’s army was advancing in the region in 1812.

The Kaluga region is located on limestone soil. Ground waters can dissolve such soil, creating limestone caves, the vaults of which may tumble down at times. This can be an explanation how the village church went under the ground. It is not ruled out mysterious holes appear for the same reason – the ground was probably sucked in a limestone cave. These holes, ufologists believe, are of the terrestrial origin, although it is hard to explain why the walls of the pits are perfectly smooth and even. - Pravda

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Click for video

Weird news report from 1984 near Grand Coulee Dam in Eastern Washington:


No one can figure out how, but a chunk of earth weighing tons was plucked out of a wheat field, as though someone used "a giant cookie cutter," and put down, right side up, 73 feet away. "All we know for sure is that this puzzle piece of earth is 73 feet away from the hole it came out of," said Greg W. Behrens, a geologist with the Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam.

Scientists now believe that the "Cookie Cutter Phenomenon" is caused by two seismic events intersecting, creating constructive interference, and ejecting out a small chunk of earth.

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Strange Happening - Scientists are baffled by big 'mystery hole'

Two articles on the Washington state 1984 event:

No one can figure out how, but a chunk of earth weighing tons was plucked out of a wheat field, as though someone used "a giant cookie cutter," and put down, right side up, 73 feet away. "All we know for sure is that this puzzle piece of earth is 73 feet away from the hole it came out of," said Greg W. Behrens, a geologist with the Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam. The displaced slab, mostly soil held together by roots, is about 10 feet long and 7 feet wide. Its thickness varies from 2 feet at one end to about 18 inches at the other. The shape and thickness of the piece exactly match the hole that was left behind, just like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle, though it was rotated about 20 degrees. There are no marks to indicate machines were used, the Seattle Times reported Friday, and the land is fairly flat. "You'd think that, whatever the cause, the chunk would have traveled in a straight line," said Don Aubertin, director of mining for the Colville Indians, whose reservation is near the site. However, a scientist "found where pieces had dribbled from the chunk as it moved. The dribblings traced an arc from the hole to where the chunk was found." The site is on a farm in north-central Washington operated by Fred Timm and his sons. Two of the sons, Rick and Pete, discovered the displaced earth Oct. 18 while rounding up cattle in an area known as "haystack rocks," where huge boulders were left by a glacier that covered the area thousands of years ago. The Timms believe the chunk was moved sometime after mid-September, when they harvested wheat in that field. There was a small earthquake in the area during that one-month period, at 8:24 p.m. Oct. 9. It measured 3.0 on the Richter scale of ground movement, and its epicenter was about 20 miles southwest of the displaced earth. However, University of Washington scientists ruled out the possibility that the quake somehow could have moved the chunk. The work of a meteorite also has been ruled out. "There was no sign of impact," Aubertin said. "The hole was not a crater. It had vertical walls and a fairly flat bottom. It was almost as if it had been cut out with a giant cookie cutter." But even that couldn't have left such a hole, he added, because roots from plants in the piece that was moved still dangled from the walls of the hole, indicating they were torn apart rather than cut. Behrens wondered if bedrock could have focused the earthquake's seismic waves on the displaced chunk.Focusing can occur, said UW geologist Stephen Malone, but it could not provide enough energy.

Washington State's Mystery Hole

Fred Timm owns a farm on the Colville Indian Reservation in northeastern Washington. Nothing notable had happened on the farm for a month during the wheat harvest which had begun in mid-September of 1984. However, a small earthquake, 3.0 on the Richter scale did occur on October 9, 1984, at 8:24 p.m. But that event was far away, 20 miles to the southwest of the Timm farm.

So what was the explanation for the mysterious hole that Fred Timm's sons, Rick and Pete, found on October 18, 1984? Rick and Pete were on horseback that day rounding up cattle for their father. They were next to a wheat field on the Colville Indian Reservation north of the Columbia River when they spotted something. Approaching closer, they saw a hole in the ground. The hole was 10 feet long and 7 feet wide and roughly pear-shaped. The north end of the hole was about one-and-a-half feet deep; the south end was two feet deep. Curious, the men dismounted and studied the hole and then looked around on foot. Seventy-three feet northwest of the hole was a huge chunk of earth shaped like the hole. The chunk of earth had been deposited largely intact with a counterclockwise rotation of about 20 degrees in relation to the hole. There was a scattering of fingernail-size soil particles, like "dribblings," occasionally found on the ground across the 73-foot distance.

The Timm family contacted Don Aubertin, director of mining for the Colville Indian Tribe. Aubertin, thinking the hole had been caused by a meteorite strike, contacted Bill Utterbach. A geologist retained by the Colville Indians, Utterbach examined the area and said about the hole: "It had vertical walls and a fairly flat bottom. It was almost as though it had been cut out with a giant cookie cutter." The estimated weight of the chunk of topsoil was 3 tons! But the massive "divot" of soil did not appear to have been cut out of the ground. There was no sign of shearing of the soil. Dangling from the walls of the cavity were roots of vegetation, not cut, but torn. The block of earth did not appear to have been dragged or rolled. Something manmade would have been needed to lift the chunk and transport it, but there were no machinery marks on the ground. Greg Behrens stepped forward. A geologist with the United States Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam, he examined the block of earth and the local geology. He noted that the site of the hole was over a glacial basin about 100 feet by 150 feet formed by strata that had sagged during the melting of an ancient ice pack.

Behrens wondered if the earthquake of October 9 had triggered concentric surface waves, which converging, could have ejected the soil. Stephen Malone of the University of Washington, chuckled. The 3.0 quake, 20 miles southwest of the hole, had been four miles below the surface of the earth. Malone said that if the quake displaced the earth, " it would be the most dramatic and obvious thing ever reported that I'm aware of." It was "very, very unlikely" that an earthquake was the culprit. Behrens admitted that his idea was stretching it. Although focusing of seismic waves does occur, "nothing this large has been documented." He felt most geophysicists would reject his idea. So he looked for other explanations: A freak tornado ripping out the block. No, no swirling of vegetation evident. A complex freezing action causing the block to be lifted up and moved by strong winds. No, the temperature was warm at the time. A gas explosion, like methane. No, no methane in the area. A meteorite ripping the block out. No, the hole did not resemble a crater, and the block was not shattered. Clever people using a large crane excavating the block out; or people freezing the ground, excavating the block out, and sliding it 73 feet; or a helicopter to lift the mass out. H'hhmm; no, extremely expensive with no profits. As Behrens said, "Mr. Timm is quite reserved and wishes no notoriety from all of this. The area is so remote that it would never become a tourist trap."

Perhaps not unexpected was the UFO theory. Behrens came across stories of UFO sightings from local residents. One person talked of a farmer who found a circular burned area, 30 feet in diameter, near his combine as if something had set down and scorched the ground. The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization had a report of "a meteor" in the vicinity of the hole on October 13. Local residents told Behrens that at the time of the earthquake they had felt an extreme air shock with it, much more than a sonic blast. The residents had felt ground motion after the air blast. A roar described as an approaching freight train preceded the blast with the doppler effect afterwards. Curiously, in 1979 Bruce Kaliser, Utah state engineering geologist, while doing a routine field check following a 3.5 earthquake near the Utah-Idaho border, was alerted by farmers to a mysterious hole outside Portage, Idaho. The hole was shaped like a cross and entirely undisturbed. It was about 14 feet in diameter. Each arm had two furrows, and each arm had cracks parallel to the furrows, radiating out from the center of the cross. The Idaho slab, unlike the Washington slab, was broken into pieces. To date, no one has explained the "mystery hole" of Washington. Some type of rare earthquake-related phenomenon, or ?

The Cookie-Cutter Phenomenon seems to be the ultimate fortean anomaly, it cries out for some kind of simple, rational explanation, but on further consideration it's baffling in a very thorough way.



THE COOKIE CUTTER STRIKES AGAIN...FOUR TIMES...IN NORWAY

The divot from an Andøva moor Yes, the cookie-cutter phenomenon has left its mark again: more mysterious divots and holes in the ground. T. Jo nassen has sent us a study of the phenomenon published in Ottar, a publication of the Tromse Museum, in Norway. Even better, he has provided a translation, from which we quote a few paragraphs: "About 1 km SE of Skogvollvatnet (a lake), at Skogvollmyra (a moor), a slab of turf 5.2 m long and 1.8 m wide, has, in an apparently inexplicable manner, torn itself loose from its 'mother turf' and placed itself 4-5 m away. The slab of turf is completely undamaged and is placed with the right side up. The piece of turf has rotated 20-30 degrees compared to the original hole. The hole in the moor is absolutely even at the bottom, and the angle between the bottom and its walls is 90 degrees. The hole is 30-35 cm deep, and its edges are nicely cut. "From the hole there is a crack running westwards for about 6 m. Close to the hole this crack is somewhat widened, and one side of the crack twists itself 25-30 cm above the other. This twisting decreases as one gets further from the hole. The crack gradually subsides, and it is hard to tell exactly where it ends. "About 12 m NW of the hole there is an arched crack of about 15 m lying with its concave side towards the hole. It is plainest in the middle. Here the side closest to the hole has been twisted upwards about 15 cm. Here also the crack gradually disappears at both ends. There is an open hollow beneath the part which has been twisted upwards, about 30 cm below the surface. One theory has lightning creating a steam explosion from underground water. If this were the case, one would expect to find some fusion of the earth and more havoc wrought to the divot. "The slab of turf has an area of about 5 m2 and this should give a weight of between 1500-1700 kg."




Top image: The divot from an Andøva moor. Above image: One theory has lightning creating a steam explosion from underground water. If this were the case, one would expect to find some fusion of the earth and more havoc wrought to the divot

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Strange Holes Discovered in Krasnoyarsk Region


Residents of Novoselovo district in the Krasnoyarsk region have come across a mysterious phenomenon in the field. They discovered several tunnels of unknown origin in an area located some 100 meters away from the highway connecting the cities of Krasnoyarsk and Abakan, in the vicinity of the village of Kurgany, Siberian News Agency reports.

There are about 10 holes in the field. Each hole has an entrance to a cave-like hollow place in the earth. Some of the tunnels are big enough for a person of medium height to stand up straight. According to one of the suppositions, all the underground passages are interconnected in a network. A few daredevils equipped with flashlights attempted walking across the tunnels.

Local residents have a number of theories to explain the origin of the tunnels. Some people believe the tunnels are the work of unidentified pranksters, others blame mysterious animals which reportedly dig holes in the ground. According to yet another theory, the tunnels may somehow be related to an earthquake that occurred in the area 3 years ago.

Krasnoyarsk scientists have not yet made any official statements as to the explanation of the phenomenon.

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Strange Hole Phenomenon

In Siberia, human groans heard from a super deep hole drilled on a plateau between the Aral and Caspian seas were recorded and sent to the Soviet Academy of Sciences for further studies. But researchers did not take the mystical phenomena seriously, and the record was lost.

Almost all religions of the planet say that there is some underground realm. At that, each religion has its peculiar description of the realm. Some elements of the description however are typical of all religions. First of all, the population of the underground realm consists of ‘masters’ and people who get there after their death. Second, people get under the surface in the form of shadows, souls and others known today as clots of information and energy fields. Third, the ‘masters’ and sometimes the souls posses unique information about the past and even about the future. To obtain this information one has either to send his soul to the underground realm like Siberian shamans do, or help the shadows become visible and audible for some time. In ancient Greece there were special rituals involving obligatory blood shed.

Esoteric experts state that the bloody rituals were first of all connected with the unique energetic and informational saturation of blood. Attempts to obtain the information possessed by the ‘masters’ of the underground world were taken in all epochs and even in the modern time.

Russian researcher Nikolay Rerich was the first to organize an expedition to the legendary area of Shambala inhabited by wise ‘teachers’ and concealed from people’s eyes under the Himalayan Mountains. He successfully conducted the expedition and brought a message from the ‘teachers’ especially for the Soviet Government. Gleb Bokiy from the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (earlier the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission) also planned an expedition to the mysterious Shambala. The preparation was controlled by the Commissariat Head Felix Dzerzhinsky. When the latter died financing of the project was stopped. It is known that Germany’s Waffen SS of the Third Reich also organized expeditions to Shambala. The structure and objectives of the organization resembled so much those of the mystical orders that existed in Germany before WWII. The organization, as well as the orders, wanted to keep it secret that creatures with superhuman power existed deep under the surface.

The creatures employed meditation and self-discipline to gain power over the natural phenomena and attain the level of Gods. When Adolph Hitler, who as some researchers believe possessed extrasensory capabilities, came to power he supported the idea of a Hollow Earth and even made it official. Russian researcher of the occult magic of fascist Germany Sergey Zubkov states that race clearing in the Third Reich and organization of secret societies were meant to help the mysterious ‘masters’ out from under the surface for active participation in reorganization of the world.

SS even had a special structure for collecting mystical information of the secret societies that at that time existed in Germany and employed the information for researches aimed to create a mystical weapon for solution of war problems. The organization sent expeditions to Tibet and the Himalayas.

The first expedition searching for Shambala started in 1931. The expedition failed to discover the way to the underground world but it brought lots of Tibetan manuscripts to Germany which proved that the ‘mysterious’ masters actually existed under the surface. Later, the organization sent even more expeditions to the area. Who are the mysterious creatures living under the surface and where could they come from? President of the Association of Engineer Biolocation Vladimir Khlopkov is absolutely sure that some sentient beings live under the surface. Ten years ago, he conducted some kind of a brain storm of the planet’s interior.

The most experienced operators of the Association used biolocation frames to find the traces of intellect under the surface. The researchers said that they found out intellect at the depth of 200 kilometers under the surface. Khlopkov explained it was a strong intellect but alien to humans. It is clear that albuminous bodies cannot survive under the huge pressure of rocks and terribly high temperatures under the surface. It is highly likely that the discovered intellect is concentrated in some informational and energy clusters. Later, Vladimir Khlopkov discovered several places on the planet’s surface where the intellect probably got out on the surface.

One of the areas was in the town of Zelenograd very close to Moscow. Biolocation operators came across strange formations there during ground tests and at first called them “traces of UFO landing”. When studied closer the traces revealed coincidence with a deep break that geophysics also discovered there. Every evening operators observed a strange biological field creep out from the break and move at a speed of 90 cm per second towards Zelenograd. Little by little the field filled up the whole of the town. In some time, the field began to withdraw at the same speed back to the deep break. The entire of the cycle took about 3.5 hours. Khlopkov said that the field was reading the information in people’s memory.

In the Russian republic of Khakassia, there is the Kashkulakskaya Cave, the name means ‘the cave of a black devil’, in the Mountains of Kuznetsky Alatau. For many years, researchers from the Novosibirsk Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine of the Academy of Medical Sciences regularly came to the place to study the strange phenomena that occurred to people staying in the cave for a long period of time. Visitors of the cave were at regular intervals gripped with horror that made them rush to the exit. At that, those people had optical hallucinations that were the same with all people: they saw an elderly man wearing a shaggy horned cap and with his eyes sparkling.

Researchers fixed high-precision magnetometers and other appliances outside and inside of the cave; they compared the indications of the devices with the emotions experienced by people in the cave. It turned out that bursts of a higher magnetic field fixed with the devices coincided with the moments when people felt nervous. At that, devices fixed outside the cave precisely on its outline registered no changes at the time when there was a magnetic storm inside of the cave.

Some researchers participating in the experiment supposed that they came across some kind of a radio-range beacon complying with a strange program and sending signals vertically up, right into the cosmos. May it be so that the mysterious creatures living under the surface came from the space and used the signals for communication with other beings that stayed there in their home? - bdtips.com

NOTE: there is a variety of other information at Our Earth Is Hollow. Also a few references at Admiral Byrd's Most Excellent Adventure - The Village and the Magic Mountain - The Vril Society: Nazis, UFOs and Conspiracy...Lon

Sources:
english.pravda.ru
science-frontiers.com
Dybwik, Dagfinn, and Møller, Jakob J.; "Phenomenon in an Andøya Moor - An Insoluble Mystery?
knowledge.co.uk
ourhollowearth.com
thelivingmoon.com
bdtips.com
PhantomsandMonsters.com

Friday, August 26, 2011

Update: What Was Seen Flying Before Russian Rocket Crash?

UPDATE: photo (above) that was published in the Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario) online edition




This photo was forwarded to me...it is supposed to be Karakoksha, the village near the rocket crash site

I received an interesting email this morning from Yevgeni in Riga, Latvia. I may regret posting this but here it is for you to peruse and judge. It has been edited for spelling though I left it mostly intact:

"My brother lives 3 kilometers east to Karakoksha in Altai Rep. Russia the area around where rocket crashed. Please be known that they had many sightings of two large birds about 1 week ago. They were not identified but were seen by people in area many times last week. A man says it was just like a mothman from US and because it had red eyes and bat wings and shaped like a human man. He say this mothman comes before bad times or disasters. Maybe this is what we have. I live in Riga, Latvia but am in contact with him each day. Yevgeni N."




Russian Altai Republic in dark blue

I also receive a email from a reader in Canada who saw a dark anomaly in a photograph (below) of the Progress cargo rocket that was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan...the same rocket that crashed minutes later in the Russian Altai Republic.


I have looked at other launch photos and have not noticed the anomaly. Below is a recent news report on the launch and crash:

Villagers around Russian rocket crash say they're sick

Villagers living in the vicinity of a Russian rocket crash are complaining of ill health possibly caused by toxic space debris, officials in Russia's Altai Republic says.

Eight residents of the remote central Asian Choisky district were found to have developed similar symptoms after a Progress rocket booster smashed into Taiga forest after a failed Wednesday space shot, staff at a local hospital said.

All lived in the vicinity of the village Karakoksha and were suffering from increased blood pressure, coughs and fever, Interfax reported.

A Progress cargo rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in neighbouring Kazakhstan on Wednesday evening left its planned trajectory and, breaking into pieces, crashed some 1,500 kilometers downrange.

The third stage of the booster struck ground in the Altai's Choisky district. An estimated 1.5 tons of highly-toxic liquid fuel was likely still on board, according to local news reports.

Exposure to the fuel could cause headaches, nausea and breathing difficulties.

Russian mission control officials sometimes rely on the help of residents of Russia's Central Asian and Siberian districts, the main landing area for Russia's space programme, to locate space objects returning to Earth.

But health officials denied there is a link between the Progress rocket's crash and possible health problems of Altai district residents.

"We have checked the area and waterways in the vicinity, and our tests have shown there has been no contamination," said Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health inspector, in comments to Interfax. "These complaints must have some other cause."

The Progress rocket crash destroyed a Russian government GLONASS navigation satellite. The failure followed an August 18 launch by a Proton rocket, also from Baikonur, which caused the total loss of a Russian government communications satellite by placing it in an incorrect orbit.

Russia's national space agency has announced a wide-reaching investigation into the country's rocket fleet and the Baikonur cosmodrome, as a result of the two accidents. - timeslive

NOTE: If other images or information surfaces, I will update...Lon

Thursday, August 25, 2011

What Was Seen Flying Before The Russian Rocket Crash?




This photo was forwarded to me...it is supposed to be Karakoksha, the village near the rocket crash site

I received an interesting email this morning from Yevgeni in Riga, Latvia. I may regret posting this but here it is for you to peruse and judge. It has been edited for spelling though I left it mostly intact:

"My brother lives 3 kilometers east to Karakoksha in Altai Rep. Russia the area around where rocket crashed. Please be known that they had many sightings of two large birds about 1 week ago. They were not identified but were seen by people in area many times last week. A man says it was just like a mothman from US and because it had red eyes and bat wings and shaped like a human man. He say this mothman comes before bad times or disasters. Maybe this is what we have. I live in Riga, Latvia but am in contact with him each day. Yevgeni N."




Russian Altai Republic in dark blue

I also receive a email from a reader in Canada who saw a dark anomaly in a photograph (below) of the Progress cargo rocket that was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan...the same rocket that crashed minutes later in the Russian Altai Republic.


I have looked at other launch photos and have not noticed the anomaly. Below is a recent news report on the launch and crash:

Villagers around Russian rocket crash say they're sick

Villagers living in the vicinity of a Russian rocket crash are complaining of ill health possibly caused by toxic space debris, officials in Russia's Altai Republic says.

Eight residents of the remote central Asian Choisky district were found to have developed similar symptoms after a Progress rocket booster smashed into Taiga forest after a failed Wednesday space shot, staff at a local hospital said.

All lived in the vicinity of the village Karakoksha and were suffering from increased blood pressure, coughs and fever, Interfax reported.

A Progress cargo rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in neighbouring Kazakhstan on Wednesday evening left its planned trajectory and, breaking into pieces, crashed some 1,500 kilometers downrange.

The third stage of the booster struck ground in the Altai's Choisky district. An estimated 1.5 tons of highly-toxic liquid fuel was likely still on board, according to local news reports.

Exposure to the fuel could cause headaches, nausea and breathing difficulties.

Russian mission control officials sometimes rely on the help of residents of Russia's Central Asian and Siberian districts, the main landing area for Russia's space programme, to locate space objects returning to Earth.

But health officials denied there is a link between the Progress rocket's crash and possible health problems of Altai district residents.

"We have checked the area and waterways in the vicinity, and our tests have shown there has been no contamination," said Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health inspector, in comments to Interfax. "These complaints must have some other cause."

The Progress rocket crash destroyed a Russian government GLONASS navigation satellite. The failure followed an August 18 launch by a Proton rocket, also from Baikonur, which caused the total loss of a Russian government communications satellite by placing it in an incorrect orbit.

Russia's national space agency has announced a wide-reaching investigation into the country's rocket fleet and the Baikonur cosmodrome, as a result of the two accidents. - timeslive

NOTE: If there is further information I will update this post. Honestly, I think this is a lot of 'happenstance' but something may come of it. I do hope these large bird sightings, if true, become part of the story when more local interviews are conducted...Lon

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Alma: Asian Wildman


The Alma is a creature reported to be of ape-like appearance that inhabits the mountains in central Asia. Although not as well known as the Yeti and Bigfoot, the descriptions of the Alma suggest that it is a creature more akin to a hairy human than an ape. Physical traits and/or demeanor also seem to be more human-like. I have posted a few narratives referencing encounters with creatures with these descriptions. Though some of the locals and investigators refer to these hominids as a 'Yeti or Bigfoot', there is some evidence to suggest that there is a possible human connection.

Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev met someone that he described as a troglodyte. The horror of the encounter remained in his mind throughout his entire life. Years later, he told the story to one of his French friends, Guy de Maupassant, who wrote:

"I remember a story that Turgenev told us. He was hunting in a Russian forest. He was wandering the whole day and in the evening he went out to a bank of a quiet river. The river was flowing in the shadow of trees, the water there was crystal pure and cold. Turgenev was gripped with a desire to swim in that water.

He took his clothes off and jumped in the river. He was a tall, strong, well-built man, and he was a very good swimmer too. He was enjoying the current of the river with his body and soul. Grass and aquatic plants were caressing him.

Suddenly, someone's hand touched his shoulder. He looked around quickly and saw a strange creature. The creature was gazing at him with great curiosity. It looked like something in between a woman and a monkey. The creature had a wrinkled face of a monkey. Messy red hair was framing the face and flowing behind the back.

Ivan Turgenev

Turgenev was flabbergasted. Horror chilled him to the bone. He started swimming to a bank of the river, even not trying to understand, what he just saw. However, the creature was swimming beside him, touching his neck and back and feet. Finally, the young man reached the ground and ran as fast as he could. He did not care about either his clothes, or rifle. He forgot about everything and was guided only by the immense uncontrollable wish to stay alive. The monster was following him.

It was running very fast too, uttering some squealing sounds. The young man could hardly catch his breath. He was about to fall down on the ground, but he suddenly saw a boy with a whip in his hands. The boy started whipping the creature and it ran away, yelling with pain. The courage of the little shepherd is explained with the fact that it was not the first time that he saw it.

Later, someone of local residents told Turgenev that the monster was a crazy woman that was living alone in the forest and went completely insane. Turgenev made himself believe in such an explanation. Yet, it was known in the 19th century that people do not get covered with thick hair all over their bodies, even if they lived alone in the woods." - maupassantiana.fr

The newspaper Literature Kyrgyzstan wrote in 1990: "Shepherd Omusha's wife once said that she saw a bigfoot not far from the pasture. The bigfoot was standing on a high rock. She started pleading her husband to leave that horrid place and go to another pasture. The man did not agree, although he got anxious about it, too. He started searching for bigfoots, he saw their tracks, but never saw a living one.

One evening he heard his wife screaming very loudly. He grabbed his rifle and rushed outside. The wife was lying on the ground, almost unconscious. She was speechless and could not say a word. She could only point her finger in the direction of the rocks. The shepherd gazed in the direction that she was pointing and saw the silhouette of a running man. He did not hesitate and fired his rifle. In he morning the shepherd found blood spots on the rocks. Omush thought that those creatures would not come back to their pasture anymore. He was so wrong.

Omush's life turned to a nightmare. Several days after he found his little son dead. There was no trace of violence on the boy's body, only a little wound on his neck. Omush was sure that his boy was killed by a bigfoot. He went mad and swore to himself that he would take revenge for his son. He was spending days and nights sitting outside his house, waiting for a bigfoot to come back. But it was all in vain.

One night he fell asleep and when he entered his house in the morning, he found the dead body of his wife. Again, there was only a small red wound on her neck.

Omush let out a scream of grief and desperation. He started wandering in the woods, having forgotten about his sheep and house and food. He was desperately gripped with anger. The only thing that was on his mind was to kill a bigfoot for the death of his family.

Shepherd Shapak took care of Omush's sheep. One day he suddenly saw the sheep getting very troubled and excited. They were bleating and rushing from one side to another. The animals were apparently frightened with something. Shapak could only see a silhouette of a man covered with thick fur disappearing amid bushes and trees. Then he saw another man on the ground. Shapak ran up to him and recognized Omush. The shepherd was already dead, blood was leaking from a small wound on his neck.

Who knows, maybe nothing would have happened, if the shepherd had not fired his rifle first." - "Mysteries Hidden in Central Asia`s Mountains" - Alexey Schetnikov - 2001


Russian cryptozoologist Viktor Rogov relates an encounter in the Kola Peninsula, near the Lovozersky Lake. The lack of trepidation towards humans, even though it was not threatened, is an interesting characteristic:

“In the summer of 1988, together with Maya Bykova, the author of numerous articles and a large monographs about the mysterious relic hominoid and Misha Gavrilov chose a place for our next expedition. Rather unexpectedly, we received a message from Lovozer (this is the name of the lake situated there), the then-closed area of the Kola peninsula; the message said that several residents came across yeti. We had received messages of this kind before, but the last information proved that yeti was noticed close to an inhabited locality. Moreover, yeti terrorized a small hut in the southern part of the lake, a place where fishermen stayed for the night when they went fishing in the lake. It was actually very difficult for me and the other two members of the expedition to reach the mentioned place where the hut stood; we settled in the hut and were in wait for yeti there. The yeti visited the place on the very first night of our staying in the hut. At daybreak, we heard a loud noise from a landfill; someone big was forcing his way through the bushes and rattled the tins. Unfortunately, the windows of the hut didn’t face the side from where the noise came, and we were too scared to leave the hut. On the third night, someone tried to open the door of the hut, then jumped on the roof and walked on it for a long time. Fortunately, the roof was strong enough to stand the heavy walking. The next morning, we saw many footprints left by some unknown animal. One footstep was 34 centimeters long. When we inspected the area in the daytime, besides the large footsteps, we discovered smaller ones; in a mountain crack, we found a rookery where the animal could remain unnoticed and watch us. You should agree that this animal must be intelligent and have at least some skills.

We managed to see the strange creature for the first time only on the fourth night. The yeti was walking around the hut, and its head was on the level of the hut’s only window, at the height of about three meters. And when we saw the objective of our expedition in the moonlight, we were extremely shocked. We felt a wild, almost animal fear. We felt as if we wanted to run away and hide somewhere, but at the same time, we couldn’t stop watching the yeti. Later, we saw the creature several times. And each time we saw the yeti, an awful fear anticipated its approaching. When we felt the strange fear, we realized that the yeti was somewhere nearby. The creature resembled a huge anthropoid ape, 2.75-3 meters high, with broad shoulders and strong muscles. The body was covered with light gray hair of average length, it was almost white on the buttocks. The neck was short and strong, the forehead was low, and the jaws were protruded.

The face of the creature was almost naked, without hair, covered with dark wrinkles; the eyes were small and angry. Almost at once we understood that the creature was angry because we intruded on its territory and it came to drive us away. We were awfully scared and couldn’t take even a single picture of him.

After the expedition, we brought material proof of the yeti’s existence to Moscow: hair, gypsum copies of its footprints, feces, and drawings; however, unfortunately, no pictures. We sent the hair to the Institute of the Ministry for Internal Affairs for an analysis. The specialists said that the hair didn’t belong to any known animal.

That was our last expedition. Since that time, I haven’t had a chance to meet with Misha Garvrilov, the third member of the expedition; he left the hut early in the morning even without saying goodbye. Maya Bykova died in three years after the expedition."


There is also a more recent account of a sighting (with photograph above) as stated in a letter by Russian cryptozoologist Valentin Sapunov:

"My student from the North Urals got me a photo of Bigfoot. Reserve Jugyd-Va, nearest big city – Inta. Photo was made by electronic camera at the end of September 2006. Author anonymous, a hunter having no interest in BF (Bigfoot), made a landscape photo. He got strange figure. Legends and tales on BF (Bigfoot) in this region exist. Me and my student in – Inna Leontyeva – are sure, that nobody has much interest except to joke and falsification, nobody got glory or money by this photo. As for me, figure is more close to Homo erectus or Australopitecus." - cryptomundo.com - 2/19/2007

NOTE: I'd be very interested in personal accounts of related encounters....be it an Alma or other cryptid. Lon

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Soviet UFO Crash Footage: Authentic and Purchased From the KGB?

So...was the film an elaborate hoax by the KGB?

Date of sighting: March 1969

Location of sighting: Sverdlovsky, Formerly Yekaterinburg of USSR

Video Link

The details of a Soviet Crash on or about 1969 are sketchy and somewhat suspect. This case comes from the so-called "Secret KGB Files," which were reportedly smuggled out of the former Soviet Union.

Reportedly, $10,000 was paid for the information. The details of these secret files were first offered to the general public on 9-13-98 as part of a TNT special titled "The Secret UFO Files of the KGB."

The show featured extraordinary film and still photographs of the UFO recovery, and also a portion of autopsy film on part of an alien body.

The event itself, according to the files, occurred in the state of Sverdlovsky, which was formerly Yekaterinburg of the USSR. The crash story follows a familiar pattern normally associated with this type of report. The fiery crash of an unknown object occurred in March 1969.

The site was secured by the Soviet military, and one dead alien was found in the wreckage. The remains of the craft and alien were brought to a secure location, and the alien body was autopsied. Both still and moving pictures were taken of the craft, its retrieval, and the alien autopsy.

The autopsy shows only an alien torso and arm. From the size of the body parts, the alien would have been an extremely small being. - agoracosmopolitan

NOTE: I've been fascinated by this footage since it was initially released. Most researchers who I have talked to consider it a hoax. The soldiers are dressed appropriately for the time and the vehicles used are the same make and model as were used in the KGB. There are claims that several official documents were released with the film including the actual KGB film canisters. Go ahead and carefully watched the video (again)...can you spot irregularities? A detailed analysis is posted below...Lon

-----

UFO Phenomenon Was Taboo Subject in USSR

Oleg Stolyarov became the first person in Russia who chose the UFO subject for his doctoral dissertation.

The world’s first-ever scientific work dedicated to strange objects in the sky was penned by Carl Yung, a renowned Swiss psychologist. He equated the phenomenon of the UFO with Maya myths and the symbols of unconscious collective. He returned to the subject in 50 years in his article “UFOs as Rumors.”

US professor Joseph Allen Hynek founded the Center for UFO Studies in 1974. Several other scientists dedicated their works to the mysterious phenomenon afterwards, but no one dared to do it in the Soviet Union.

“That was a tabooed subject in the USSR. Any piece of information about the flying saucers was treasured. Any public jokes about the UFO were strictly forbidden,” Mr. Stolyarov said.

The situation changed drastically in the beginning of the 1980s. Everyone in the country started speaking about the phenomenon. Newspaper articles, TV and radio programs about the UFO became plentiful. Many respectable scientists even lost their interest in the mystery because of the national boom.

-----

UFO Crash and Body Recovery - Sverdlovsky, USSR

Analysis of the film footage of the 1968 Russian UFO crash and military retrieval, as well as the film footage of autopsy of a possible alien creature from the crash

A. Footage of the alleged crashed UFO near Berezovsky (Sverdlovsk region) in 1968

1. Authenticity

1.1. Outfit - a genuine soldier's and officer's uniform of 1969. The very convincing detail is the absence of the soldier's belt buckles. The metal buckles were introduced in the Soviet Army in the late 60's.

1.1.1 Program inaccuracy: "Military expert" Robert Scholnic without any reason talked a lot about "Automat Kalashnikov" but improperly identified arm patches on the soldiers as "consistent with air-defense company". This patch is assigned to so called "Military Builders" or "Stroybat". There is still no principal contradictory, since "military builders" were always assigned for any imaginable auxiliary tasks in the Soviet Army. On this footage they are just loading debris on the truck. In fact none of the details described in this paragraph was noticed by this "expert". Two "civilians", allegedly KGB officers have a genuine very high quality wardrobe by 1969 Soviet standards, consistent with the high ranking position. KGB officers always were wearing plain closes.

1.2 The truck which is serving as a shooting point for some footage - undoubtedly is a military 1948 (!) model ZIS-151. This truck is the best proof of authenticity of the timing since it is not only fully decommissioned a long time ago but also very hard to find. It is important that this truck can be seen only in the few frames. Two other vehicles - are the real puzzle. They are definitely the clone of WWII Willys MB (first US military Jeep) but have serious variations from the regular US or Soviet made Jeeps.

Another very interesting thing: Look closely at the first frames when the truck with the soldiers is approaching the scene. There are only tracks on the snow from the previously arrived jeep but not from the truck. There is also no distinctive footprints trail which occured when soldiers approached the officer. It means that the truck and soldiers were arriving for the first time and there were no rehearsals! Staging of of the whole "recovery scene" without rehearsals is impossible. Hoaxers must be extremely sophisticated to create such natural occurrence of the events. They needed to cover tracks and trails with the new snow or exclude truck's and soldier's arrival from other rehearsals for further intentional inclusion it in the "show". All events were depicted on the footage at once and were not just edited later. The position of the shadows from the trees did not changed and thus timing was subsequent with very short intervals.

1.3 The ground around the crash is not much disturbed and trees around are not all down on the alleged crash trajectory. The UFO is "small" and absolutely unimpressive. The object looks more like several white concrete panels stocked together but material is definitely not a concrete and relatively light. Two soldiers were able easily carry the long piece of debris with the size and form of two border road blocks.

1.4 Occupation and movement of personages: Everything looks very genuine. Everybody from soldiers to officers are doing the precise specific job. Cameramen are trying to depict the performance of loading some debris to the vehicle, picturing sometime specific spots, zooming back and forth and reflect the general situation. The behavior and relations between the officers and KGB representatives is quite natural. KGB representatives are only taking very limited initiative of touching the objects leading cameramen and army officers who are trying to look unconcerned with the situation. The whole picture is perfectly reflecting the policy of "just fulfilling the orders" and the absence of any emotions. Everybody is trying to perform the duty at it's best, especially in front of the cameras. It was a "joking around" slogan in the Soviet Army "Initiativa Nakazuema" which means "Initiative will be punished".

1.5 Eyewitness account.
Former KGB employee Klimchenkov Pavel Alexandrovich confirmed the existence of the operation "SverdlovskMidget" in details.

1.6 Documents presented in the program.
There are several documents presented as related to the incident:

1.6.1 Article "Berezovsky Dreams" from Sverdlovsk newspaper ("... Kuznitsa" from 11.29.68) with the account of the "flying lightning balls" (on November 26), one of which was crashed near Berezovsky.

1.6.2. Order No. 481 from March 1969 (unclear date) on the Soviet Defense Ministry letterhead addressed to the Commander of the Air Defense Forces in the Sverdlovsk Military Region Lieutenant General A.G.Ponomarenko. Order to assist in every way to the local KGB authorities in the operation "Sverdlovsk Midget". Signed by the Deputy of the Commander in Chief of the USSR Air Defense Forces, Colonel General S.D. Lebedev. Seal stated - General Stuff of the USSR Defense Ministry.

1.6.3. Letter from Nov. 03, 1969 on the KGB Letterhead addressed to Deputy Chief of the Scientific Research Department KGB USSR Colonel Grigoriev A.I. Letter stated that on March 5, 1969 information was received about discovery of the unidentified object wreckage (3 meter high and 5 meter diameter) with remains of small unknown human like creature! Operation called "Sverdlovsk Midget".

The presented documents clearly needed further authentication. From the first look these documents do not have any immediate flaws and look real. Letterheads, font types, typewriting, seals, numbers and signatures. Obviously, if it is a hoax, it is extremely advanced and a blatant one, since crooks were not afraid to forge so many high-ranking documents.

2. Possible Explanations:

2.1. Real footage of a real army recovery of the some irregular "non-UFO" object lately used by the crooks who created "Sverdlovsk Midget" hoax. Not likely. It is impossible to imagine the deployment of the resources depicted in the film for the recovery of the non-military object.

The object in the film is definitely not a debris from the plane or rocket crash or space station. There were simply no such parts in any Earth made flying objects. It is obviously not an airplane part.

Any rocket or space industry related engineer will deny that object of this shape, form and size can have any reasonable functionality in the rocket or space station. The weight of any contemporary rocket or apparatus for space exploration is the subject of the rigorous minimization. Literally, every ounce is counted. There is no place for such big, "rough" and VERY STRANGE parts unknown for the experts, even if you will speculate about some "super-top-secret" program. This is especially true with regard to the 1969 Soviet rockets and space crafts.

Equally, it does not seem to be some other Soviet "non-flying" important piece of military equipment which was suddenly found in the field and then recovered by the Army together with KGB in the cameramen presents.

One may think that it was a heavy concrete cover of the ballistic missile shaft. In fact, some Soviet missile shafts were designed to blast away (side ways) their covers in the case if regular opening system (rails, etc.) would fail. The author is aware about (and even personally saw) the square cover which was bigger in size (to stand nuclear attack on the shaft). The cover potentially can be thrown by the rocket blast inside the shaft but there is no burning signs. Even in this case the footage was done by very strange way. The personages looks puzzled and their behavior is not telling us that they know much about the object (e.g. it is visible as one officer is pulling up his hands as a sign of confusion).

It is very important that the material is definitely not a concrete and relatively light. Two soldiers were able easily carry the long piece of debris with the size and form of two concrete border road blocks!!! Just try to do it with one block...

2.2 It's some kind of "drill" footage that's been lately used by the crooks. It is absolutely unimaginable in the Soviet Army of the 60's to create a drill for recovery of the UFO. What is the purpose -- to train two dozen soldiers? This is definitely not a common drill because there are too many efforts for documenting the event. This film also does not have any signs of it's training or educational purposes.

2.3 Non KGB hoax - shall be absolutely ruled out. The time (60's) is reflected genuinely, no faults in the uniforms or equipment (e.g. ZIS-150). The creation of such hoax is virtually impossible without the Russian Army involvement (participated army regiment "otdelenie" is absolutely genuine) and devotion of big resources.

2.4 KGB hoax - is still possible but the probability is very low. It could be imagined as fabricated by the KGB in the Soviet period for disinformation purposes and definitely not for current sale to TNT. This version has serious flaws: The place - between trees, absents of visible ground deformation from the crash, "miserable" appearance of the "flying saucer", absence of the "convincing details", etc. All these questionable details could be avoided in case of staging the events by the KGB. Creation of the hoax on such level (with documents from Ministry of Defense) shall be approved on the very high level and seems purposeless. Really, could you imagine any PLAUSIBLE PURPOSE? There is absolutely no account from any of the known numerous KGB defectors about any KGB activities of creation the hoaxes not directly related to counter-espionage, espionage, suppression of any anti-government activities, etc.

In 1969 existence of UFO was treated by the official Soviet science similarly to the existence of God. Creation of UFO disinformation hoax by the KGB was similar to the creation by KGB the religious artifacts. Such gambling could be dangerous for it's participants in the Soviet system, especially taking into consideration involvement of the very high-ranking military officials who signed the "fake" documents or whose signatory was forged. UFO phenomenon was not existed and/or popular and known. Such "evidence" was against party line and jokers could be thrown from the Communist Party. Exactly in 1968 central party newspaper "Pravda" /Truth/ called UFO "Pure fiction", later "Komsomol Pravda" stated that "West is using UFO to diverse worker's class attention". It was absolutely real that the same KGB will put active UFO believer into the mental institution. "Flying Saucers" were considered as a Western nonsense and were the object for political satire. Ministry of Defense and KGB were "no-nonsense" organizations at those time by all known accounts.

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B. Footage of autopsy of the "alien body" taken from the crash site allegedly made in Moscow in 1969 and related alleged KGB documents.


1. Authenticity

1.1. Outfit. No caps or masks. Not unusual situation in the USSR in 1969. Argument against "hoax", since the first thing forgers will do is to put personalities in the masks and caps to avoid identification and/or such questions.

1.2. Interior. Nothing questionable. As depicted in the program - the same type of tiles and tables still in use in the same facilities.

1.3. Occupation and movement of personages. There are three men in their 20-30's performing autopsy. All seems very amazed and depressed by the circumstances. One lady is taking notes. Further she will be identified in the report as KGB stenographer - O.A. Pshonkina. There are also two men in the army officer's uniform in the "flash frames" and one more individual in medical outfit. Obviously operating personnel are professionals. The "alien's torso" and "arm" are lying together on the operation table which shall be explained by the camera presence. Seems natural for such an "unnatural" procedure.

1.4. Documents presented in the program. There are several documents presented as related to this footage.

1.4.1. Folder "Delo" No. 47397 "Materials of the Scientific Research Group 1965-1970" purchased on the black market. Top Secret stamp. Handwritten sign "Responsible person - A.I. Grigoriev. No. 329-G".

1.4.2. Autopsy report. Doctors identified as Kamyshov, Savitsky, Gordeenko. One of them (on the right) was called "Pasha" (Russian nickname for Pavel) during autopsy and there is a Pavel Gordeenko is in the report.It is only the name "Semashko" readable and the "Anatomy department". There was a "3rd Medical Stomatology Institute imeni Semashko" with Anatomy department, and Semashko Hospital. Report was signed "in presence of the "Deputy Decan Tolmakov and KGB representative Kravtsov. The place where procedure was performed was also called All Union Scientific Research Institute of Biology in the program.

1.4.3. The most disturbing evidence is the DEATH CERTIFICATES of Kamyshov, Savitsky, Gordeenko issued in the different regions of Moscow . They died all on the same day March 24, 1969 (as per program one week after procedure)! The death certificates in the USSR were printed by the same printing facilities GOSZNAK which was printing money. It is difficult to forge this document and easy to check with the record books in the three known ZAGS.


2. Possible Explanations:

2.1. KGB or non KGB hoax - possible and very likely if death certificates are fake.

2.2. Real event - possible and very likely if death of three researches can be confirmed. What is virtually impossible is that KGB will kill three doctors in 1969 just to cover the hoax and not a real event. - aliensthetruth


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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Brosnya: Russia's Lake Dwelling Dragon


The weekly Karavan+Ya (Caravan+Me) published in the Russian city of Tver, became widely popular 15 years ago when it was first to report about a monster from Lake Brosno in the Andreapol District of the Tver Region. After the first publication in the weekly, the news about a dinosaur from Brosno spread all over the world. Journalists from Moscow and from abroad were seeking sensational publications about the monster from the Russian province. Hundreds of publications and TV programs about the Brosno monster made the creature a world sensation. The Tver weekly Karavan from time to time organizes small expeditions to Lake Brosno to visit the mysterious creature that became so much popular thanks to the newspaper.

Numerous witnesses say that they saw a head of a big beast above water that looked like a dinosaur or a dragon head and a long thin tail. The people said that the creature was covered with scales like a reptile and was about five meters long.

Researchers, who believe that a mysterious big creature does live in Lake Brosno and who work on the mystery of the creature, say that Brosnya (this is the name given to the monster) cannot be a reptile. Otherwise, it would be frozen and died in the climate of the middle geographic zone when dormant. If the strange creature has come to life, it means it is a mammal and breeds through syngenesis. However, some problems arise in this connection. First of all, the lake is too small for an entire population of large predators to live and breed there. Second, a group of these big mysterious creatures needs much food, which is also a problem in the small lake. There is a hypothesis saying that some water systems join lakes, seas and oceans. If so, Scotland's Nessy may be a relative to Brosnya living in Russia's province.

It is rumored that the strange giant creature has been living the Lake Brosno for several centuries already. One of the legends says that the lake monster scared to death the Tatar-Mongol army that headed for Novgorod in the 8th century. Baty-khan stopped the troops to have some rest on the sides of Lake Brosno. Horses were let to drink water from the lake. However, when horses came down to the lake, a huge creature emerged from the water roaring and started devouring horses and soldiers. The Baty-khan troops were so terrified that they turned back, and Novgorod was saved. Old legends say that some enormous mouth devoured fishermen. Chronicles mention some "sand mountain" that emerged above the lake surface from time to time. Once, Varangians wanted to hide stolen treasures in the lake. But when they approached the small island, a dragon came to the surface from the lake and swallowed the small island up.

The terrible monster disturbed people's minds over the 18-19th century. It was rumored that the giant creature emerged on the lake surface in the evenings, but immediately submerged when people approached. It is said that during WWII the beast swallowed up a Fascist plane. Today, there are lots of witnesses who say they chanced to see Brosnya walking in the water. People say that it turns boats upside-down and has to do with disappearance of people.


Everything said by locals and tourists who witnessed Brosnya proves that the creature (either a dragon or a dinosaur) does exist. However, some people treat the issue skeptically and still say that the creature may be a mutant beaver or a giant pike of 100-150 years. Others conjecture that groups of wild boars and elks cross the lake from time to time. Do boars and elks dive and stay under water for a long time? However, local people witnessed neither boars, nor elks, and the Karavan newspaper and other expeditions spoke about some other creature.

There are some more scientific hypotheses concerning Brosnya. One of them is a gas version saying that when hydrogen sulphide goes up from the lake bottom it makes water boil up; this boiling in its turn resembles a dragon head. But the amount of hydrogen sulphide must be considerable to produce this effect. Other version says that there is a volcano in Lake Brosno that makes ejections on the water surface from time to time. It is well-known that there are several fractures at the bottom of the lake, the depth and the direction of the fractures cannot be defined. It is not ruled out that the volcano crater is inside of one of the fractures. This explains why the volcano, if it actually exists, has not been discovered yet.

Fishermen say that the underwater world of Lake Brosno has a structure of several levels. From time to time burbots and perchs can be found in the lake. This is strange at all that some sorts of fish can be found in the area at all. For example, herring can be found in a lake in Peno District in the Tver Region. This is strange that the sea fish may live in the lake at all. Smelt shoals from time to time can be found in Lake Brosno as well. The phenomenon of Brosnya can be explained from the physical point of view: huge smelt shoals are reflected on the water surface through refraction of light and produces the effect of a huge reptile head. Physicists say that any mirage appears in hot weather. Indeed, witnesses say that they came across Brosnya in summer. However, origin of the strange monster is still a mystery.

In November 1996, the Karavan weekly started an expedition to Lake Brosno in the Tver Region. The expedition consisted of writer and journalist from Tver Yeugeny Novikov, head of the Tver Regional Legislative Assembly's press-service Nikolay Ishchuk, journalist Marina Gavrishenko, photographer Anaida Jilavyan and editor-in-chief of the Karavan newspaper Gennady Klimov. In seven years after that expedition, we would like to know whether the people believe that the creature actually exists.

Gennady Klimov says: "The lake actually keeps some secret. When the depth of Lake Brosno was measured, it turned out that in some parts it was 120-160 meters deep. It means that Lake Brosno is the deepest in Europe. What is more, the lake belongs to the preglacial epoch that is why mysterious phenomena are quite possible in it. As for me, my concerns about the whole of the story are quite particular. I am interested in the mechanism according to which global myths arise. I say that the administration of the Andreapol District where the lake is situated could have been more adroit to form economy of the district depending upon the Brosnya myth. Today, I do not personally care if the creature exists or not. But this is a really precious myth from the point of view of the future. Much is spoken about monster called Brosnya in different parts of Russia and in other countries, but nothing is said here in the Tver Region where the creature "lives". It is believed that Loch Ness creature does exist. The whole of the county where is lives is connected with the creature myth. The nature here in the Tver Region is wonderful and pure. There is a unique technology of making and using myths. These technologies will be extremely important in the future."

Marina Gavrishenko, the journalist who took part in the expedition says: "At first sight, the whole of the monster story looks like a fairytale. After the expedition to Lake Brosno, I do believe that the place is actually mysterious. Stories told by witnesses prove this opinion. We met with local people who were perfectly sane and adequate. What is more, all legends about the mysterious monster trace the roots back to the old times. I am sure that legends and rumors cannot arise from nothing."

Nikolay Ishchuk, the head of the Tver Regional Legislative Assembly press-service says: "I do not believe in wonders. What we chanced to see at Lake Brosno is actually mysterious and incomprehensible. If the phenomenon can be explained with the laws of the planet's life, I believe this is a miracle indeed. I recollect our expedition to Lake Brosno and our attempts to take pictures of the creature as a wonderful journey. This is wonderful that people may have such interesting adventures. May it be so that the expedition actually came across some miracle? Inexplicable things must exist in this world. When people do not understand some things they want to know more and reveal more new facts." - Sofya Vorotyntseva - Pravda.ru

-----


The bio-luminescent, aquatic reptile has inspired terror in the fishing villages surrounding Russia’s little known Lake Brosno for generations.

Laying just 250 miles north-west of Moscow near Andreapol in West Russia is a relatively small body of water known as Lake Brosno, which, according to eyewitness accounts, is the home of a bizarre, glowing, reptilian creature. Reports of this luminous beast, which allegedly lurks near the bottom of their lake, date back to at least 1854.

That having been said, the legends of this aquatic horror have been told and retold for centuries. One of the most famous tales associated with the dragon concerns its encounter with the Tatar-Mongol army that headed for Novgorod in the 13th century. Their leader, Batu Khan, allegedly stopped his troops on the shore of Lake Brosno to rest and allow the horses to drink but, when the horses ventured to close to the lake, a colossal roaring beast emerged from the dark water and devoured animals and soldiers alike. The troops were so terrified that they turned back and Novgorod was saved.

Other ancient legends describe an “enormous mouth” that ate fishermen and a “sand mountain” that appeared on the surface of the lake. More recently, locals claim that during World War II, the dragon – apparently an Allied sympathizer – managed to swallow a Nazi airplane.

Described as being a 16-foot long, “iridescent,” dragon-like creature, with a fish-like or serpentine head, this animal is said to have spread terror throughout the small fishing communities located not only on Lake Brosno, but situated on the Volgo river as well.

This bizarre form of bio-luminescence is rare among cryptids, and has been reported in only two other animals, the winged predators known as the DUAH and the ROPEN, both of which are reputedly “flying” creatures that hail from across the globe.

Although most descriptions of Brosnya suggest it is reptilian, some researchers believe that due to the often frigid climate around lake Brosno, this creature cannot be a reptile. They have surmised that this animal is likely mammalian, although what manner of mammal they do not know.

In 1996, the Itar-Tass news agency reported that many of the residents of Brosno Lake are terrified of what the local press has dubbed “Brosnie” or “Brosnya” and that many of the citizens of these tiny villages have taken to fortifying there homes, as quoted from an article released by Reuters News Service:

“I’m afraid,” said one elderly woman, Varya, who lives in the small lakeside village of Benyok about 400 km northwest of Moscow. “I do not feel comfortable staying in this place. The monster could crawl into my house any day.”

Although there have been some (admittedly blurry and difficult to find) photos taken of this creature, not everyone is taking the reports of this animal so seriously. This was evidenced by the flippant remark made by an obviously skeptical scientist – Lyudmila Bolshakova, of Moscow’s Institute of Paleontology – in the same article, who refused to even entertain the notion of investigating this phenomenon:

“It sounds like a country fairy tale, the kind of story told over the years in the countryside.”

Thankfully, not all scientists seemed to share Bolshakova’s limited assessment of the situation. Tver region paleontologist, Nikolai Dikov, was quoted as saying that based upon the photographs this creature was probably related to an animal of decidedly prehistoric origin:

“The creature’s alleged shape suggested an extinct order of reptiles with teeth like mammals.”

The “extinct order of reptiles,” which Dikov was referring to is probably of the family known as Synapsids, whose teeth were differentiated into molars, canines, and incisors, similar to mammal’s teeth.

In 1996, an anonymous tourist from Moscow allegedly snapped a picture of this beast after his 7 year-old son screamed that he saw a “dragon” in the Lake. Sadly, this photograph, like so many others, is seemingly impossible to find.

In November of that same year, the Karavan weekly started an expedition to Lake Brosno. The expedition consisted of journalist Yeugeny Novikov, head of the Tver Regional Legislative Assembly’s press-service Nikolay Ishchuk, journalist Marina Gavrishenko, photographer Anaida Jilavyan and editor-in-chief of the Karavan newspaper Gennady Klimov. Gavrishenko, had this to say about Brosnya:

“At first sight, the whole of the monster story looks like a fairytale. After the expedition to Lake Brosno, I do believe that the place is actually mysterious. Stories told by witnesses prove this opinion. We met with local people who were perfectly sane and adequate. What is more, all legends about the mysterious monster trace the roots back to the old times. I am sure that legends and rumors cannot arise from nothing.”

In 1997, additional reports of this animal swimming close to onshore settlements caused yet another frenzy of terror along Brosno’s coast, and in the summer of 2002, experts of the Kosmopoisk Research Association went for an expedition to Lake Brosno and did echo deep sounding. The results of this expedition have yielded perhaps the most bizarre development in this case to date.

The Moscow newspaper “Arguments and Facts” interviewed Vadim Chernobrov, the Kosmopoisk coordinator, who discussed the strange discovery they made in the depths of the lake:

“Echo deep sounding registered an anomaly. There was a huge jelly-like mass of a railway car size handing five meters above the bottom. The mass stood motionless. We waited for some time and then decided to make it move: we threw an underwater petard, a low capacity explosive device. When the device blew up, the creature started slowly going up. We stared at the water, and it was clear; there was nothing resembling a monster, however something unusual was still felt in the lake water.” - americanmonsters.com

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Near the bottom of Lake Brosno, or perhaps deep in the recesses of man's imagination, a monster of huge proportions lurks. The evidence, much like that of Scotland's Loch Ness monster, is based on a single photograph and a few alleged sightings. The picture shows a panoramic view of Lake Brosno with an object floating in the foreground. As with the Scottish "Nessie," it is not clear whether the object is a large log -- or something more ominous from the deep. "I'm afraid," said one elderly woman, Varya, who lives in the small lakeside village of Benyok about 400 km (250 miles) northwest of Moscow. "I do not feel comfortable staying in this place. The monster could crawl into my house any day."

"It was big like this," said Tanya, another grandmotherly type who believes the creature hides from humans near the lake bottom. "I saw a head, like a fish -- and big." She sketched a snake-like head rising from the water with a large eye on the side. Tourists from Moscow camping near the lake added to the legend by taking a photograph after their seven-year-old son shouted out that he had seen a dragon monster. A newspaper in Tver, the nearest major town, recently published the photo, and the story was picked up in the local media. "It is completely possible that the creature which you see in this photo is a relative of the famous Loch Ness monster," wrote the newspaper, Caravan-1. Locals who believe in the monster -- and there are certainly a fair number of sceptics -- say it is much like a serpent, and one report estimated its length at five metres (16 feet).The alleged sightings are not prompting scientists to rush to the attractive lake surrounded by trees to conduct tests however ."It sounds like a country fairy tale, the kind of story told over the years in the countryside," said Lyudmila Bolshakova, an expert at Moscow's Institute of Paleontology. Regional media said there are written reports of sightings of the monster dating back to the 19th century, and the legend is even older. But a group of journalists visiting the lake this week saw no sign of the monster. - Nikolai Pavlov BENYOK, Russia, Dec 14, 1996 (Reuters)

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Babushka Tanya (Grandmother Tanya) and her husband, whose house is metres away from the shore, claim to have seen the monster on more than one occasion. Tanya took a Reuters Television camera crew to the lakeshore site from where she claims to have seen the monster. "I only saw a head of this creature, so I was not scared at all," she said while trying to draw the beast. "It is now on the bottom of the lake, deep, and it is hiding from the winter cold", she explained. Local press reports describe a creature about five metres (16 feet) long living in Lake Brosno, 80 km (50 miles) northwest of the Russian capital, and have published photographs, though they are too indistinct to be convincing according to some experts. Natalya Istratova, Professor of Biology at Moscow State Zoo, says it is "absolutely impossible" to say what kind of animal the monster might be without examining it. However one Lake Brosno resident, Baba Nadya (Grandmother Nadya), is terrified of the beast fearing it will crawl out of the lake and into her house "any day." A local press report describes a creature about five metres long. It quoted a local palaeontologist, Nikolai Dikov, as saying the creature's alleged shape suggests an extinct order of reptiles with teeth like mammals. Recent palaeontological excavations at Russia's old lakes of the tectonic origin, like Lake Brosno, are reported to have provided evidence to a theory linking the Brosno monster to pre-historic dinosaurs. Near the Siberian lake of Shestakovo, palaeontologists are said have found the bones of a pre-historic creature, quite similar to the descriptions of Brosno's babushkas. - www.nfo.ac.uk