Incident: One of the most bizarre accounts of UFO folklore involves an incident that allegedly occurred in Voronezh, Russia. This case was reported in the United States by the St. Louis Dispatch. The story was originally published on October 11, 1989, in America, but its origin was the Russian newspaper TASS.
The report recounts the adventures of several young children who claimed to have seen a three-eyed alien with a robot escort. The alien was said to be about nine foot tall. The craft, according to eye witness testimony, landed on the outskirts of the city. Shortly thereafter, the tall alien appeared, and upon seeing the young lad, shot a type of weapon at him, causing him to vanish before the eyes of the other people around him.
There are several important elements one must keep in mind regarding this extremely strange case of a close encounter. The original details of the case were brought forward by Genrikh Silanov, head of the Voronezh Geophysical Laboratory, who gave details to the TASS agency. Silanov stated that the media took an enormous amount of creative freedom with his report.
"Don't believe all you hear from Tass," he stated." We never gave them part of what they published."
The agency had informed the entire world that Russian scientists had confirmed that an alien spaceship carrying giants with tiny heads had landed in Voronezh, a city of over 800,000 people located about 300 miles southeast of Moscow. They stated that as many as three of these giant creatures had emerged from the alien ship. The ship was described as a large, shining ball. These strange creatures were said to have walked in a nearby park, accompanied by a menacing robot. Ironically, TASS was the only media member to print the story in Russia. The newspaper Pravda declined to print, or comment on the strange tale.
In defense of the TASS account, Soviet reporter Skaya Kultura said that the agency was following the ''the golden rule of journalism." "The reader must know everything.''
The TASS account stated that the UFO landed in Voronezh on September 27, 1989, at 6:30 P.M. Young boys playing soccer witnessed the event, stating that a pinkish glow preceded the descent of the unusual flying craft. The pink glow became a deep red as it touched down. Most witnesses described the object as a flattened, disc shape. A crowd quickly gathered, and peered through a hatch that opened. They saw a ''three-eyed alien'' about 10 feet tall, clad in silvery overalls and bronze-colored boots and wearing a disk on his chest. "
The TASS account also stated: "A boy screamed with fear, but when the alien gazed at him, with eyes shining, he fell silent, unable to move. Onlookers screamed, and the UFO and the creatures disappeared."
According to the report, about five minutes later, they reappeared. The alien had an object similar to a pistol - a tube about 20 inches long, which it pointed at an unidentified 16-year-old boy, making him disappear. The alien went inside the sphere, which then took off. At the same time, the boy reappeared.
"Children and eyewitnesses of the abnormal phenomenon have been questioned by police workers and journalists," wrote E. Efremov, the Voronezh correspondent for Soviet Skaya Kultura."
"There are no discrepancies in the description of the sphere itself or the actions of the aliens. Moreover, all the children who became witnesses to this event are still afraid, even now."
Several drawings were made by some of the children who supposedly witnessed the events of Voronezh. A couple of these are included here. One of the drawings showed the Cyrillic alphabet character "zhe" on the side of the UFO.
TASS listed three witnesses' names, all of whom were youngsters. They also stated that a group of international researchers would be investigating the claims of the witnesses.
Voronezh residents interviewed later claimed they had observed this UFO not just during the above incident but also many times on September 21, 23, 29 and October 2, between 6 and 9 PM. Some of these incidents involved a different entity: small, with grayish-green face and blue overcoat resembling a loose raincoat.
This phenomenal account is still in need of more eye witness testimony and research. The Voronezh landing remains an unsolved mystery.
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| Some of the children of Voronezh: Lena Sarokina; Vasya Surin; Vova Startsev; Alyosha Nikonov. (credit: Michael Hesemann) |
Strange Tale of the 3-Eyed Alien That Zapped a Boy!
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 11, 1989 - MOSCOW - A three-eyed alien with a robot sidekick landed aboard a spaceship and made a boy vanish by zapping him with a pistol, a Soviet newspaper reported Tuesday in a second day of strange tales in the state-run media.
But as the bizarre saga of the space invasion of the city of Voronezh unfolded for a second day, a scientist whose words were used to buttress the first published report voiced doubts and said he was in part misquoted.
''Don't believe all you hear from Tass,'' Genrikh Silanov, head of the Voronezh Geophysical Laboratory, said from Voronezh in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. ''We never gave them part of what they published.''
On Monday, the usually staid, official Soviet news agency told the world that scientists had confirmed that an alien spaceship carrying giant people with tiny heads had touched down in Voronezh, a city of more than 800,000 people about 300 miles southeast of Moscow.
As many as three aliens 13 feet tall left the spacecraft, described as a large shining ball, and walked in the park with a small robot, Tass reported. A Tass duty officer stood by the story. ''It is not April Fools' today,'' he said.
The purported close encounter in Voronezh was only the latest weird tale to appear in the Soviet media. Under the policy of glasnost, or openness, the media have recently told of other sightings of unidentified flying objects and the yeti, or Abominable Snowman.
Monday's report spawned rumors in Moscow, including one that the aliens told Voronezh residents the Earth would be destroyed by the year 2000 if people didn't stop polluting it.
Nonetheless, a Communist Party paper whose avowed mission is to write about culture was the only major national daily to print anything Tuesday about the UFO, indicating that more authoritative newspapers like Pravda had thought the topic too hot to handle.
Sovietskaya Kultura said its coverage had been motivated by ''the golden rule of journalism: The reader must know everything.''
The daily quoted witnesses as saying that the UFO flew into Voronezh on Sept 27. At 6:30 p.m., it said, boys playing soccer saw a pink glow in the sky, then saw a deep red ball about 10 yards in diameter. The ball circled, vanished, then reappeared minutes later and hovered, it said.
A crowd rushed to the site, Sovietskaya Kultura said, and through an open hatch saw a ''three-eyed alien'' about 10 feet tall, clad in silvery overalls and bronze-colored boots and wearing a disk on his chest.
The newspaper, quoting witnesses, gave this account:
The UFO landed. Two creatures, one apparently a robot, exited. A boy screamed with fear, but when the alien gazed at him, with eyes shining, he fell silent, unable to move. Onlookers screamed, and the UFO and the creatures disappeared.
About five minutes later, they reappeared. The alien had a ''pistol'' - a tube about 20 inches long, which it pointed at an unidentified 16-year-old boy, making him disappear. The alien went inside the sphere, which took off. At the same time, the boy reappeared.
''Children and eyewitnesses of the abnormal phenomenon have been questioned by police workers and journalists,'' wrote E. Efremov, the Voronezh correspondent for Sovietskaya Kultura. ''There are no discrepancies in the description of the sphere itself or the actions of the 'aliens.' Moreover,
all the children who became witnesses to this event are still afraid, even now.''
It gave the names of only three witnesses, all youngsters.
Scientists from a nationwide group that investigates ''abnormal phenomena'' were looking into the landing, the newspaper said.
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| Artist's rendition of the Voronezh landing by Elena Penkova |
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| Sketches of the UFOs and robots/beings drawn by some of the witnesses. The top-left drawing of the UFO and robot is by sixth-grader Roma Torshin; and the top-right drawing by Genya Blinov. (credit: Hesemann / Jacques Vallee) |
Soviets Report Alien Sighting
Associated Press, Oct. 9, 1989
By JOHN IAMS Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) -- The official Tass news agency said today that scientists have confirmed the landing of an alien spaceship carrying giant people with tiny heads.
The report was the latest strange tale in the official Soviet media, which under the policy of glasnost, "or openess," have recently told of other sightings of unidentified flying objects and alien creatures.
"Scientists have confirmed that an unidentified flying object recently landed in a park in the Russian city of Voronezh," Tass said in a dispatch from the city, 300 miles southeast of Moscow. "They have also identified the landing site and found traces of aliens who made a short promenade about the park."
Tass said Voronezh residents saw a large shining ball or disk hovering over the park. They reported that the UFO landed and up to three creatures similar to humans emerged, accompanied by a small robot, Tass said.
"The aliens were three or even four meters (9 to 12 feet) tall, but with very small heads," the news agency quoted witnesses as saying. "They walked near the ball or disc and then disappeared inside."
The report was similar to a story last summer in the daily newspaper Socialist Industry, which told of a purported "close encounter" between a milkmaid and an alien in Central Russia's Perm region.
In that report, Lyubov Medvedev was quoted as saying she encountered an alien creature "resembling a man, but taller than average with short legs." The creature, she said, had "only a small knob instead of a head."
The Tass report, which did not give the date of the purported landing in Voronezh, said onlookers were "overwhelmed with a fear that lasted for several days."
Genrikh Silanov, head of the Voronezh Geophysical Laboratory, told Tass that scientists investigating the UFO report found a 20-yard depression with four deep dents as well as two pieces of unidentified rocks.
"At first glance, they looked like sandstone of a deep-red color. However, mineralogical analysis has shown that the substance cannot be found on Earth," Tass quoted Silanov as saying. "However, additional tests are needed to reach a more definite conclusion."
Silanov said the landing site and path taken by the aliens were confirmed using the "biolocation" method of tracking, but Tass didn't explain what that was.
Further confirmation came from witnesses, who were not told of the experiments and whose accounts matched precisely the scientific findings, Tass said.
The Tass report said residents also reported recent sightings of a "banana-shaped" object in the sky.
In July, Tass disputed a report in Socialist Industry quoting a UFO specialist, A. Kuzovkin, as saying a 26-foot-wide patch of burned ground near southern Moscow was probably caused by the landing of a UFO.
Tass said firefighters believe a haystack simply caught fire and scorched the ground.
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| Sketch of the object by one of the children who witnessed the object. |
Click for video - Voronezh, Russia UFO Landing and Giant Aliens September 27, 1989
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WAS IT A HOAX?
In the Russian Federation, the case was welcomed by official sources and the medias. The account was published in a Swiss newspaper, which made the case seem solid and real. Unfortunately, this may not be the case.
Genrikh Silanov, head of the Voronezh Geophysical Laboratory, told Tass that scientists investigating the UFO report found a 20-yard depression with four deep dents as well as two pieces of unidentified rocks.
What kind of substance? What was the composition? The Voronezh case is possibly a hoax. Silanov declared the landing site and path taken by the aliens were confirmed by their use of a "biolocation" tracking method.
Silanov stated:
"To locate the place of landing, we had recourse to the technique of biological magnetism", indicated the chief of the laboratory of the expedition sent in the park, Guenrikh Silanov. "It is a circular surface of 20 meters in diameter. Four depressions of 4 A 5 centimetres of depth and 14 to 16 centimetres in diameter are quite visible there. They form a rhombus. We also took two samples of the mysterious ground. At first sight they resemble dark red sandstone. However, after mineralogical analysis, we established that it was a rock without equivalent on Earth. To give a more precise conclusion, we need to make complex additional studies."
French ufologist Jean-Jacques Velasco contacted Silanov by phone, starting a written correspondance. Silanov offered more unusual claims including his group had telepathic contacts with extraterrestrials.
Silanov is not a scientist...his laboratory is a private structure and he is a member of a UFO hunter group. Silanov collected the drawings from the children, revealing the controverted symbol of UMMO on the spacecraft.
The media could not retrieve adult witnesses of the close encounter, despite the thousands of witnesses reported.
Tass was the official media of the government and presented the party line, even under the policy of Glasnost. Despite this fact, it remains as one of the strangest tales from the from the Russians.
Sources:
www.ufoevidence.org
ufocasebook.com
"Flying Saucer Review" #34
The Associated Press
"MUFON UFO Journal" #259 & #260
"UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union" - Jacques Valles - 1992
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 11, 1989
"UFOs: The Secret History" - Michael Hesemann - 1998
www.ufopsi.com
ITAR-TASS
www.unexplainable.net
