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ARCHIVES FOR UFO RESEARCH |
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UFO-Aktuellt issue 3/2004
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Page 3: Editorial
Chairman Clas Svahn devotes this issue's editorial to talking
about the fascination for the unknown. The world is indeed a strange place, and
Svahn praises the fact that we cannot, and do not, know everything about
everything. An experience is a very personal, subjective, event, especially when
it goes beyond what the individual can comprehend. And is it legitimate to
question someone's personal experience? Indeed, Svahn argues. That's what drives
him; not being satisfied with some of the answers, embarking on a personal
journey out towards what cannot be understood or explained by rational
scientific methods. As we are entering a winter with glowing stars in the dark
winter sky, who knows what will be seen and reported? "It's never wrong
to look up at the skies", Svahn says. "There are a lot
of beautiful things to be seen up there".
Pages 4-7: The "glowing bus" in 1965
Article by Svahn, accompanied by four extravagant pictures, about an event that
took place on 29 October, 1965. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Swedes
watched as a glowing object majestically traveled over the night sky, but
despite the multitude of witnesses; only one managed to document the event. Erik
Ehnmark took several pictures of the glowing object, and Svahn has,
thorough as ever, met with him and discussed what took place. He also tells an
amusing tale of how a meeting put together by Swedish believers with the famous
contactee Wayne Aho was interrupted when the object passed
overhead. "It happens all the time, wherever I go", Aho
is quoted as having said, and not surprisingly some people "knew" it
was Venusian beamships that had decided to take a trip over Stockholm. However,
the truth was quite different, which the next article shows.
Page 8: Beamship? No. Satellite? Yes.
On 10 June, 1966, Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory
published its special report no. 214. The report was devoted to one single
event: how satellite 1965-79A entered the Earth's atmosphere and finally
disintegrated after having been followed by special observers in Switzerland,
Germany, and Denmark. Svahn gives a detailed description of how the satellite
traveled across Europe, what it looked like during the final stages of its
existence, and where it finally disappeared. So it was no bus, nor a beamship.
Just a very normal satellite.
Page 9: Philip K. Dick and the Believers
Short article by Andreas Ohlsson, about a story taken from the recently
published biography about science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick ,
entitled "I am alive and you are dead - A journey into the mind of
Philip K. Dick" (Metropolitan
Books, 2004). As the story goes, at the end of the 1950s, Dick was invited
by a group of believers in extraterrestrial visitations who lived in the same
town as he did, Point Reyes Station northwest of San Francisco.
They told him Jesus was an alien, and that the world was to end on 23 April,
1959. But apparently it didn't, and thus Dick was correct when he eventually
told the group that he didn't share their beliefs.
Page 9: The passing of Dr. John Mack
Short notice about the tragic passing of famous abductee researcher Dr. John
Mack , who was killed by a drunk driver as he passed a street in London on
27 September this year.
Page 10: The Ice that Fell from the Sky
At around 20:30 pm on 29 July, 2004, a large piece of ice fell from the sky and
touched down in the garden of the Sjöberg family in Kvicksund, Sweden. Several
explanations were offered for the strange incident, but Svahn reveals that it
was actually a piece of ice falling from a Finnair Airbus 938, on it's way from
Manchester, England to Stockholm Airport.
Page 10: Book Reviews
Two books reviewed by this time, both by Stefan Isaksson. The two
books represent two sides of the paranormal; hardcore skeptics and hardcore
believers. The former is represented by Georges Charpak and Henri
Broch , who together has written Debunked! ESP, telekinesis and other
pseudoscience (The Johns Hopkins University Press) and the
latter by Michael E. Salla and his book Exopolitics - Political
Implications of the Extraterrestrial Science (Dandelion Books). The
books have much in common, despite being more or less two sides of the same
story: both the skeptics and the believer promote their own views without much
understanding of or consideration about the fact that the truth is perhaps not
always as apparent as they want the reader to think.
Page 11: Bizarre Ring of Smoke
Article by Svahn, accompanied by several pictures, about a ring of smoke that
appeared in the sky over Svalöv, southern Sweden, in July, 2004. Local media
wrote about the event, and field investigators from UFO-Sweden assumed it to be
a) industrial effluent, b) an explosion on the ground, or c) the aftermath of a
flash of lightning. However, field investigator Mikael Karlson
eventually cracked the case. It was a group of students at a nearby folk
high-school who had been working on special effects for a movie, and one of
these special effects had caused the smoke ring. (see the photo of the smoke
ring at this page).
Pages 12-13: Time to Retire
Article by Andreas Ohlsson, about one of Sweden's most famous (or
infamous, depending on who you are asking) ufologists: Sune Hjorth .
Hjorth has written extensively over the years about such topics as
extraterrestrial visitations and governmental cover-ups, and the article is a
short resume over his life, how he came to be interested in the world of UFOs,
and various things he wants to talk about. The man has much to say and some of
the stories can be quite amusing, regardless if you believe in them or not.
Hjorth is now retiring from the UFO field, but he will not quit believing in his
sometimes extremely bizarre ideas.
Pages 14-17: A Swedish Astrobiologist
Long and thorough article by Svahn, about Tomas Hode , a Swedish graduate
student in astrobiology, the line of science devoted to finding life outside
planet Earth. In the summer of 2005, Hode is going to Portland State University,
taking along with him a study of the largest meteorite impact in Sweden, a place
where life might have been created. Hode is fascinated with Mars, and when asked
by Svahn what a discovery of traces of life on Mars would mean, Hode says that
it simply would mean that the creation of life is a somewhat simple process, and
that if life existed on Mars, then it might as well exist on countless other
planets in universe. The article details the life and ambitions of a young,
enthusiastic scientist, and proves that not all scholars are dull, old men who
don't believe anything except "traditional" established scientific
theories.
Page 17: The UFO that was a Pirate
Article by Anders Persson, about a UFO sighting that took place on 20
July, 2004, outside Falkenberg, Sweden. Several different witnesses observed the
UFO, and some thought it resembled a glider, while others disagreed. As it came
nearer they could see that it was green, about 2-3 meters large, and with a red
mark on it. It came to a stop, continued, came to a stop again, and continued in
that manner as it passed over the houses. After a thorough and sometimes rather
tricky investigation (described in detail in the article), the solution was
found: it was simply a pirate-shaped balloon bought by a family visiting a
nearby fair.
Pages 18-20: Horrific Fauna
UFO Sweden's expert on fortean phenomena, Richard Svensson, writes (and
as always, draws beautiful pictures) about bizarre things, not necessarily UFO
related. This time it's all about trees that, allegedly, have a tendency to
devour humans. Such trees are not known to mainstream science (fortunately), but
just as with any other thing paranormal; just because science doesn't
acknowledge it doesn't mean there aren't any reports. Svensson tells of several
incidents that according to various books took place in South America and
Africa, with white men going on daring expeditions and sometimes not returning
to tell what they found. So far no real evidence of man-eating plants have been
produced, and it's probably safe to say that we'll have to wait for quite some
time before we have to start worrying about entering the woods.
Page 21: Advertisements
Various advertisements of books sold by UFO-Sweden.
Pages 22-24: Media Watch
C Göran Norlén gives a review of news clippings from Swedish media,
this time from the end of April 2004 up until the beginning of September 2004.
As always, there have been both very good and very bad things said in Swedish
media about the UFO phenomenon. Norlén isn't very pleased with a lot of things,
and he makes sure the reader becomes aware of that.
Page 25: Various short articles
Five short articles by Svahn, about a few pictures that turned out to be
not-so-strange after all, how six Dutch F-16 airplanes were mistaken for UFOs,
and various circles in the ground found in Sweden.
Pages 26-27: International Ufology
Stefan Roslund has nine short news stories about the international UFO,
and fortean, scene. Among other things, Roslund mentions crop circle
investigations in California, Albert Rosales and his database of
humanoid encounters (known as The Humanoid Contact Database), the archaeological
excavation at Roswell, New Mexico, and the infamous Bigfoot footage by Robert
Patterson , which has, once again, been exposed as a hoax.
Pages 28-29: News from the Report Centre
Strange things are indeed taking place in the skies. The Report Central run by
UFO-Sweden receive several hundred reports annually, and in this issue of UFO
Aktuellt Pelle Persson presents three of them, taking place in 2003 and
2004. The article is also accompanied by four different photographs sent to the
Report Centre of odd things seen in the skies.
Pages 30-31: A UFO-Sweden Poll
UFO Sweden's Jennifer Forss has done a small survey about UFO-Sweden and
the UFO phenomenon in general. She asked 70 people to participate, and she
presents her findings on two pages. Some of the questions were; Do you know
about UFO-Sweden? (37% yes, 63% no), Do you know about the so-called Roswell
Incident? (66% yes, 34% no), and Have you ever seen a UFO? (73% yes, 27% no).
Back page: Picture taken by - Columbia?
Short article by Svahn about a beautiful NASA color picture, taken from space,
depicting Europe by night. The picture was said to have been taken by the crew
onboard the doomed space shuttle Columbia (or so it said on the internet), but
Svahn tells it like it is, that the picture is a mix of several different
pictures taken by satellites a long time before Columbia was even launched.
