UFOs Over Chernobyl And The Ghosts of Pripyat: The Facts, The Theories, And The Conspiracies!

Very recently, Ukraine revealed to the world the new protective tomb, whose construction has recently come to completion and is now in position over reactor 4 at the crippled Chernobyl nuclear plant. The original sarcophagus having worn away, the new confinement chamber is the result of the efforts and skills of no less than 10,000 people, and took almost a decade to complete.

The protective shield not only locks away the remains of the wrecked nuclear plant – the effects of its destruction still a reality thirty years later – but modern technology such as remote controlled tools that reside within the structure, will essentially breakdown and dismantle the ruined building.

Although the new structure is a wonder of modern engineering, technology and workmanship, it is also a grim reminder of the far reaching and deadly aftermath of such a volatile power as nuclear.

The video below is a mini-documentary on the new protective structure over Chernobyl.

The Making Of A Ghost Town, And Strange Events In Pripyat’s Skies

Shortly after midnight of 26^th April 1986, a deadly and ferocious explosion ripped apart the night sky over the former Soviet Union (now modern day Ukraine), as reactor 4 exploded during a routine safety test.

Rescue teams immediately went into the site, both in an attempt to tackle the blaze and bring out any survivors. In the days that followed, forty-seven of those first responders were dead from lethal doses of radiation.

The residents of the small town of Pripyat – mainly families of workers at the plant – were ordered to pack “enough belongings for two or three days” and then were shipped out of the area. Little did they know at the time, they would never return.

The two short videos below are very much worth watching at this point. The first contains the original radio broadcast that went out to the residents of Pripyat. It is a rather haunting few minutes of footage. The second is footage taken just three months after the disaster and shows how desolate the town had become.

Both in the days immediately before and after the disaster, several reports of strange activity in the skies over the town came to light. We will examine some of those incidents in a moment. First, though, maybe we should take a moment to contemplate the true devastation caused by the Chernobyl explosion.

Although they don’t show anything strange, the short video compilation shows some great examples of “Then-and-Now” pictures of Pripyat and the area around Chernobyl.

Claims Of A UFO Involvement

Perhaps we should also look at the claims of UFO involvement in the disaster, including the claims that extraterrestrials actually actively prevented a much wider disaster. Such claims are outlandish to most, and as such, are dismissed unreservedly.

If there is any truth, though, that these apparent alien visitors are keeping watch over the Earth and, in turn, humanity as a whole, then it might make a certain amount of sense to think that they would intervene where necessary. And while there have been plenty an “examples” throughout history of claims of alien intervention, the nuclear age has seemingly focused that attention even more.

These kinds of claims of an apparent extraterrestrial interest in the nuclear capabilities of the human race have been intertwined into the UFO and alien question since the start of the modern UFO era. And there is perhaps a good reason for that. Might there be some truth to the notion that this was very much the case with the Chernobyl disaster?

Did UFOs Reduce The Devastating Effects Of The Chernobyl Disaster?

There is no doubt that the explosion at the Chernobyl plant was a disaster. We have already examined the events of that evening in April 1986. However, some researchers believe there was the potential for it to have been much worse. In fact, not only that, but it should have been.

According to one Russian media outlet, ^[1] Pravda, they would uncover apparent evidence that UFOs – that were witnessed by many who were present at the plant that night – had seemingly reduced what should have been much more lasting devastation. And not just to Pripyat or even the Ukraine, but to great swaths of Europe, including the west.

And perhaps just to hammer home just how grim this potential worst-case scenario might have been, it very much could have resulted in the deaths of millions as well as the collapse of most western economies. Indeed, western civilization could very much have become a permanent disaster zone.

What is intriguing is that several witnesses on the day of the explosion have claimed in the years that followed to have seen strange objects overhead in the hours leading up to the disaster. And that is where we will turn our attention to next.

Credible Witness Statements?

According to the same Russian news source, there were several witnesses to strange objects in the sky over the doomed power plant on the night of the explosion. And what’s more, they remained there for around six hours.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing witness statements comes from Mikhail Varitsky, who would tell Pravda:

I and other people from my team went to the site of the blast at night. We saw a ball of fire, and it was slowly flying in the sky. I think the ball was six or eight meters in diameter. Then, we saw two rays of crimson light stretching towards the fourth unit. The object was some 300 meters from the reactor. The event lasted for about three minutes. The lights of the object went out and it flew away in the northwestern direction.”

The main thrust of the UFO sightings and the connections they might have to the Chernobyl disaster revolve around the idea that they were there to lessen the damage and fallout. According to some research, for example, the widespread damage could have been much greater, and perhaps should have been. However, even so, the idea that UFOs – or the intelligence behind them – might have had an active involvement in preventing such a tragedy is a little too out-there for some, even those in the UFO community.

However, maybe we should consider another report from the Aetherius Society, which would appear to corroborate such claims. They would state:

Three hours into the disaster: a team of nuclear technicians measured the radiation at 3000 milliroentgens per hour. Then they looked up. In the sky above was a ‘fiery ball of the color of brass’. They estimated its diameter at six to eight meters and its distance from the burning reactor as 300 meters. “Suddenly”, said one, “two bright rays of crimson color extended from the ball to the reactor …This lasted for some 3 minutes…The rays abruptly faded and the ball slowly floated away in a north-westerly direction, toward Byelorussia. Then we again looked at our radiation monitor. It displayed only 800 milliroentgens per hour.

What is perhaps also interesting is an incident that occurred three years after the incident after the crippled reactor began to leak large levels of radiation. One of the scientists who was present at the site, Dr. Gospina, would claim that they witnessed a huge, metallic “amber-like” object directly over the plant.

Gospina’s claims were seemingly corroborated by a “V. Navran” – who worked for the Echo of Chernobyl newspaper and would claim to have even captured a photograph of the object above the plant. He would state that:

I photographed the top of it, including a part of the hole above. I remember everything very well; I did not see any UFO. However, when I developed the film, I clearly saw an object that was hovering above the hole in the roof.

Was this the same craft witnessed by Gospina? If so, does it lend credibility to the idea that extraterrestrials had, and continued to have, an active interest in the Chernobyl disaster?

The Files Of NICAP’s Jerry Washington

There are also some intriguing words to be found in the NICAP files ^[2] of Jerry Washington, who would write in 1997:

I offer this excerpt from Dr. Vladimir V. Rubtsov’s lectures as published in MUFON’s 1994 Symposium Proceedings;

About one month before the Chernobyl disaster I had a talk with an air traffic controller of the Kharkov airport. He told me that, according to pilots’ reports, there was a rising number of UFO observations in the area of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station (ChNPS). Later it became known that on the night of the fire in the ChNPS, some 3 hours after the explosion, a team of nuclear specialists saw in the sky over the station a fiery ball of the color of brass. The witnesses estimated its diameter as 6-8 meters and its distance from the burning nuclear reactor No. 4 as some 300 meters. Just before the observation, these specialists measured the level of radiation in the place where they were standing. It was measured at 3000 milliroentgens per hour. ‘Suddenly two bright rays of crimson color extended from the ball to the reactor… This lasted for some 3 minutes… The rays abruptly faded and the ball slowly floated away in a north-westerly direction, towards Byelorussia. Then we again looked at our radiation monitor. It displayed only 800 milliroentgens per hour…

This, of course, almost mirrors the report of the Aetherius Society that we looked at above. Might it be possible that this apparent UFO presence at Chernobyl is more of a reality than many might think? Only if further witness testimony – if it exists – comes to light will we know more.

There are, though, other UFO connections to examine. One, in particular, that claims extraterrestrials warned a contactee of the disaster over 30 years before it happened. It is there where we will turn our attention next.

The Claims And Apparent Predictions Of Orfeo Angelucci

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of the Chernobyl disaster, at least in terms of apparent connections to UFOs and aliens, is the work and clams of Orfeo Angelucci. Born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1912, Angelucci would declare himself a “contactee” in the 1950s – a time when many people, particularly around the United States were doing so, perhaps most famously, George Adamski. Angelucci, though, was particularly interesting.

He would eventually move from New Jersey to California in 1948, perhaps bizarrely due to his particular dislike and fear of thunderstorms, something he hoped to escape in the Golden State. According to his 1955 book The Secrets of the Saucers, he would first encounter UFOs and alien intelligence in 1952 while returning home from work at the Lockheed aircraft plant.

These apparent meetings would result in him being taken in a spacecraft that orbited the Earth, during which, he witnessed a huge “mothership” of the alien race. He would claim to receive ample information, some of which were about future events, and would release much of this is in several subsequent books. Just one of these was the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, over 30 years before it happened. This was told to him as “The Great Accident” and it was “predicted” by Angelucci (through his alien contacts) as an apparent consequence of the dangers of communism.

Off the back of Angelucci’s claims, theories and suggestions began to emerge that these watchful aliens had actively diverted the disaster. Outlandish claims, no doubt, but one that might fit within the findings from Pravda that we mentioned above.

How much credence we should put in the claims and predictions of Angelucci (like other apparent contactees) is perhaps open to debate. They are, though, extremely interesting and maybe not at all that far from the mark.

You can check out a short video of Angelucci’s claims below.

The Blackbird Of Chernobyl

While we are examining some of the more outlandish theories surrounding the Chernobyl disaster, as well as some of the conspiracies that we will turn our attention to later, it is very much worth our time looking at the claims of the “Blackbird of Chernobyl”. This apparently winged creature is similar, if not the same, as the chilling figure known as the Mothman that was witnessed in Point Pleasant in the United States in the late-1960s in the run-up to the Point Pleasant bridge collapse.

Interestingly, in the days leading up to the Chernobyl disaster were several sightings of a strange, winged creature seemingly patrolling the power plant and the town of Pripyat from the skies above. Almost all of those sightings came from workers at the Chernobyl plant.

Those who saw this strange creature would describe it as humanoid but with large wings, a black “headless” body but with the “red glowing eyes”.

Making things even more disturbing for those who witnessed this creature were the intense and bizarre nightmares that would plague them in the days afterward, as well as the disturbing telephone calls which were often of a threatening nature.  There were also several reports from those in the control room on the evening of the disaster also seeing this most bizarre creature above the plant.

Archaeologist Robert Maxwell has studied the Chernobyl disaster and location for some time. Throughout his research, he has heard multiple accounts of the birdman sightings. He would state ^[3] that:

Now it’s become one of those fables that’s difficult to track because it relies on the accounts of people who died due to radioactive contamination…If you try to look for proof it might not be available because the workers are dead, or maybe the sightings were not officially recorded. So, for people trying to check the veracity of these claims, of course, you’ve got to take them at face value because there’s not a lot of history or archaeology to go on. But, the stories persist today!

What’s more, these sightings are not limited to Chernobyl. As we have examined before, there are similar legends from around the world in the run-up to and immediately following disasters. For example, there were reports of a strange creature and hovering UFOs at the time of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

There is also a claimed sighting of a very similar creature in September 1978 in Freiburg in Germany. On that occasion 21 miners reported a “birdman-like creature” appearing in front of a mine in the minutes before it collapsed. The strange creature apparently let out a chilling screeching sound that sounded like “50 men screaming at once!” It was ultimately given the name the Freiburg Shrieker.

It would appear that the creature, whether intentional or not, saved the lives of the men, who would have been killed had they entered the mine as planned. Incidentally, several of the miners involved would report suffering very strange nightmares following the incident.

There are even very similar accounts around the Twin Towers attack when several New Yorkers reported seeing a strange, winged creature around the towers in the days leading up to the September 2001 atrocity. Even as recently as 2007 there were reports of a winged creature in Minnesota in the days leading up to the Minnesota Bridge tragedy that killed 13 people.

It is the belief of many that the Blackbird creature, like the Mothman, was a sign of an impending disaster. However, despite the multiple apparent sightings, not just at Chernobyl but around the world, many dismiss them as strange hallucinations, or even as nothing but a hoax.

The video below looks at the Blackbird of Chernobyl sightings a little further.

Other Conspiracies Of The Chernobyl Disaster

As unlikely (to some) as UFO or alien involvement in the Chernobyl disaster might be, there are a small plethora of other conspiracies that have swirled around the incident for years, in some cases, decades.

How accurate these conspiracies might be is open to debate and remains to be seen. All of them, though, are intriguing. And certainly worthy of our time here.

The Incident Helped Draw Attention Away From Duga-3

One particularly interesting claim is that the Chernobyl disaster was one that was orchestrated by the Soviet authorities in order to take attention – both the worlds and that of their own people – from the top-secret Duga-3 radio facility.

Although we still remain largely ignorant of what this facility actually was constructed for (many researchers believe it was an early warning system for missiles) the fact that it was so close to the Chernobyl plant is apparently enough to make some people pay attention to it.

Perhaps intriguingly, when knowledge of this strange facility began to spread (around 1976 when strange radio signals were heard around the world which would often cause interference, sometimes with television broadcasts) conspiracies began to circulate in the west that it was part of a Soviet propaganda or mind-control experiment.

The random broadcasts from Duga-3 (sometimes called The Woodpecker) suddenly stopped three years following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, with the location seemingly abandoned as they were. Whether any secret broadcasting or monitoring activity takes place there today is anyone’s guess.

The KGB Orchestrated The Explosion To Keep Control Of European Energy Sources!

With that last thought in mind, we should perhaps turn our attention to the claims that there was an active involvement in the disaster by the KGB. Going even further, the claims suggest they were actually involved in causing the disaster.

Although there is no proof of this, the claims and theories are themselves very interesting, if perhaps a little unlikely.

The main notion in these claims of KGB involvement revolves around the idea that the organization wished to lessen the interest of western European nations in nuclear power. To do this, according to the theories, they caused the explosion themselves in order to demonstrate not only how dangerous nuclear power was, put how far-reaching the fallout would be.

The reason they wished to do this, if we subscribe to such notions, was to keep these European nations reliant on Soviet-owned oil and gas. And when we fast-forward to the opening decades of the 2000s, a great majority of the nations of Europe are very much in this position. And what’s more, they look set to be so for the foreseeable future.

Incidentally, Vladimir Putin, before he was in charge of contemporary Russia, was an employee of the KGB. Make of that, and the claims of KGB involvement, what you will.

Intriguing Earthquake And Weaponization Conspiracies

Although it wasn’t public knowledge at the time, studies around a decade after the incident revealed that a small earthquake was recorded on the night of the explosion. And not just on the same date either, but only 16 seconds before the explosion.

This has led some to suggest that the earthquake was, in fact, responsible for the Chernobyl disaster, at least in part.

Perhaps even more intriguing are the claims that the Chernobyl disaster was the result of secret tectonic weapons experiments – something that was carried out by both the Soviet Union and the United States (according to some research at least).

Once more, we will turn our attention to Pravda, who claims in their May 30^th 1992 edition that such weaponization of nature was carried out by the Soviet Union, despite the rules of the United Nations.

Might it be that such experiments caused the seemingly minor earthquake that had such disastrous consequences? It is a long-shot and perhaps a little too fanciful for some. However, it isn’t the first time that there have been suspicions of secret weapon experiments resulting in tragedy. Many researchers, for example, have claimed that secret sonar weapons experiments were responsible for the deaths of the Dyatlov hikers. Much like the claims surrounding Chernobyl, though, there is no proof to back up these claims, at least for now.

Without a doubt one of the strangest, although thought-provoking claims, is that the Soviet authorities, in a similar way to the claims of the KGB, orchestrated the explosion at Chernobyl themselves. Although these claims suggest the reason for doing so was to see what the potential would be to use the explosion as a weapon should they be able to recreate it in the United States.

Once more, such claims are bordering on preposterous for some, and as unlikely as they might be, they are certainly not that much of a stretch of the imagination. Rather than launch a nuclear assault (which both nations had the capability to do) they would attack their enemy (in theory) by orchestrating an “accident” at one of America’s nuclear plants and so, in turn, and again, in theory, unleash radiation sickness and death on the populace.

Whether such plans – if indeed they did exist – were put into practice by the agency or not remains a debate for some.

The Involvement Of Spies From America

As unlikely as they might be, there are several conspiracies circling around the idea that American spies were ultimately responsible for the Chernobyl disaster in order to damage the reputation of the Soviet Union, both within its own borders and on the international stage.

The general drive of these theories is that spies working for the United States had managed “to infiltrate the Chernobyl nuclear power plant” and were ultimately behind the explosion. And while there is little (if any) evidence to back up such claims as outright causing the explosion, many people who have studied and researched such eras as the Cold War will state that an American spy presence at the plant was almost a certainty. In fact, some research even places these “foreign agents” at the plant itself on the day of the explosion.

While there is perhaps doubt as to how accurate such claims are, it is relatively well-known that agents from both sides of the Cold War divide most certainly operated with regularity behind “enemy lines” – if only to stay informed of where each nation was. Whether those espionage operations turned to actively causing damage – both physical destruction and to the morale of the Soviet people – is something that remains very much up for debate.

As we have seen from recent television shows, documentaries, and an overall interest in the case, each “side” appears prepared to use a certain amount of propaganda in their retelling of the events still today, over 30 years later.

Predictions Of The Chernobyl Disaster In The Bible?

Although it is very much open to interpretation, there is a passage in the Book of Revelations that we should examine here that some claim predicts the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl. And not just the disaster itself, but the fatal (for some) fallout of it.

The verse in full ^[4] reads:

And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from Heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood. And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

The main connection that some researchers have made is that the word Wormwood, which in Russian is Chernobyl. Just why such a prediction might have been placed in The Bible is perhaps another debate. But the line of the water becoming bitter is thought to be a reference to the radiation poisoning which gripped the immediate area in the months and years that followed.

While we should perhaps take such “predictions” in ancient writings with a large pinch of salt. It is, however, an intriguing spot.

The conspiracies aside, there are further points of interest that have surfaced in the decades since the Chernobyl disaster. Perhaps not least how the area is now.

Wildlife Response Is Intriguing

When scientists have studied the wildlife in the restricted zones of Chernobyl, the results have been surprising, both in good ways and bad.

Przewalski’s horses, for example, were successfully introduced to the area, at least initially. Sometimes referred to as “cave painting horses” due to their appearance (they are an ancient breed of horse that cavemen would have seen regularly) they are now a protected species. The absence of people in the restricted zones allowed them to start to flourish. However, more recently their numbers have begun to drop, with initial tests seeming to suggest that long term exposure to radiation is indeed beginning to have an effect on them, despite the overall levels dropping.

Wolves native to the area also appear to have become extremely aggressive, something that is extremely rare. They hardly ever attack people, but there have been several reported attacks of military personnel working in the area. Limited studies of their behaviour in this region, do indeed seem to suggest that their aggressiveness is very much part of their (now) normal behaviour. Would human beings react in a similar way to the wolves of Chernobyl if they too were exposed to the same levels of radiation?

Even consequences of the tiny bugs and living organisms – essentially eradicated in the Red Forest that runs through the restricted area – came under the spotlight. Because of their absence, decomposition of the dead leaves and trees uprooted in the initial blast, does not take place. Underfoot there is a carpet of three decades worth of dead leaves and forest.

In short, the study of the restricted zone has enabled scientists to better understand what the response of both wildlife, and the environment in general, would be under the conditions of such a huge nuclear explosion should it happen again.

The documentary below, “Life After Chernobyl” looks at this in a little more detail.

Strange Stories Of “Digital” Ghosts And Shadow People

The 2009 film “The Chernobyl Diaries” tells the story of four twenty-somethings touring Europe, who decide to take a tour of Pripyat. Of course the movie is a complete work of fiction – and a decent film at that – but a lot of the themes and backdrops are very accurate. You can see a trailer to the movie below.

Radiation levels have lifted enough to allow for very short “stays” in the restricted zone, and makeshift “tours” operate in the area (although under strict scrutiny of the authorities). Many people though, simply sneak past the military guards and roam around Pripyat to their heart’s content, looking for adventure, or perhaps proof of the many tales of strange sightings of figures and apparitions.

Although no known reports of zombies roaming around Pripyat are on record, there have been plenty of paranormal sightings. The SyFy TV show, “Destination Truth” ventured into the zone to investigate such sightings. One witness, claimed to have seen people that she once knew who had died in the disaster. If that wasn’t spine-chilling enough, she went on to state that their faces appeared “shaky and distorted” as if they were “digital!” Others told of having the feeling that they were “being watched” by something or someone strange.

When the crew ventured inside some of the ruins, they picked up numerous heat sources appearing to outline that of a person – even though all of their crew were accounted for. One of the investigators claimed to have felt “a hand” tug on her clothing. Another piece of footage they shot caught what appeared to be a shadow figure standing in a doorway.

“Screams For Help” Coming From Reactor 4….Eleven Years Later

Perhaps one of the most chilling accounts is that of nuclear physicist, Andrei Kharsukhov, who visited the site with his team in 1997, over a decade after the explosion. He claimed to have been taking radiation readings directly outside of reactor 4. Out of nowhere, and from inside the sealed off reactor, came the sound of screaming for help, and claims there was a fire inside the reactor!

He informed his team of this, concerned that someone may have gotten past him and trapped themselves inside, but their reply that the only way in was through the door he himself had entered through – a door that he was the first person to even open in years, only made the experience even more chilling. An alarm also sat on the reactor door – set to sound as soon as the door opened – no such alarm went off.

Later that same evening, as he and his team were eating dinner outside of the main building, one of the huge floodlights turned on inside the main room. Just as one of his team got up to investigate, the light suddenly turned off again.

Is it really possible that the levels of radiation and raw energy make the “energy” of a ghost manifestation stronger?

While there is still much research and investigation – both conventional and paranormal – that has to continue in the remains of Pripyat and the surrounding areas, it isn’t the first time that paranormal investigators and researchers have theorised that manifestations are the result of some kind of energy release or fusion.

The Scole Experiments

In November 1993, in the small village of Scole, England, a small team of paranormal investigators began The Scole Experiments, in an effort to prove that understanding energy was the key to proving and learning about life after death. Led by respected paranormal researcher, Robin Foy, all steps were taken to ensure that the experiment was not open to tampering or “manufacturing” desired results. The sessions would be held in a cellar that had no access points other than the main door – which would be locked from the outside.

Each person sitting in on the séance was to wear illuminous arm bands that would clearly glow in the dark – again in an effort to prove that there was no manipulating any activity they might witness. Perhaps the strangest part of the experiment was that Foy had placed a sealed camera film in a box that was to be locked, and placed in the middle of the table the group would sit around. Using their theory that the afterlife used energy to manifest itself, they hoped to capture images of their guests on the film.

Needless to say, strange activity did occur throughout the experiment sessions. People clearly heard voices calling names out loud, while some participants stated they could feel themselves being poked by unseen fingers, or even shoved in the back. Perhaps more importantly, given the group’s energy theory, orbs of light were also observed at various times during the séance.

Perhaps the strangest part of all however, was the camera film from the box on the middle of the table. When the film was opened and developed, there was a strange collection of colours and random patterns on some of the frames. One in particular however, clearly showed what appeared to be a woman’s face looking back at them.

Check out the documentary below that looks at “The Scole Experiments” in a lot more detail. It also shows you the strange photographs, so you can judge for yourself how real they may or may not be, and indeed whether the energy that is undoubtedly present in the decaying ruins of Pripyat, may give life to the many ghosts that surely roam its grounds.