UFO And Alien Encounters From Russia And The Soviet Union

With the fall and break-up of the Soviet Union in the early-1990s would come a wave of leaked KGB documents that, for the right price, would find their way into western hands. There were many “sources” of these documents, some of which are still missing today. In the temporary power-void following the dissolvement of the KGB, some agents – particularly those who saw the union as an oppressive state – would smuggle these files into their possession.

One of the most “accomplished” of these Soviet intelligence sources was Vasili Mitrokhin, who had worked for the KGB since the early-1970s. There was a wealth of information in the mass of files in Mitrokhin’s possession. Many dealt with the details of spies, secret weapons and technology, and even “plots against the west”. They also contained a treasure trove of UFO reports dating back to the Second World War.

In short, despite their denials of any interest in UFOs to the world, and even telling their own citizens they were “the work of the evil west”, it was plainly obvious that both were lies. The accounts number in their thousands and furthermore, the Soviet regime were perfectly aware that whatever was responsible for these strange sightings, it wasn’t the west or anyone else on the planet. ^[1]

Before we look at some of these most intriguing and secretive accounts, check out the short video below. It looks at the smuggling out of KGB files following the fall of the Soviet Union. It also looks a little more in-depth at Vasili Mitrokhin and the credibility of his information.

Pre-Soviet Accounts

We have written before of the incident over the small village of Robozero in 1663. ^[2] This “ball of fire” is the first documented UFO sighting in Russia. Before communism took a stranglehold of the country and eventually a good portion of Eastern Europe, however, several other such sightings are on record.

A wave of sightings of “floating oval objects” would come in from all corners of the Russian Empire in 1892, ^[3] for example. Just over a decade later in 1904, very similar crafts were witnessed again by soldiers in Siberia during the Russo-Japanese War. In 1912 came reports from St. Petersburg of a “shiny metal apparatus” gliding across the sky. It remained in view for almost twenty minutes before finally disappearing from sight.

During this time in early-twentieth-century Russia, was an interest in Cosmism. Many Russians, perhaps embracing such sightings, and the philosophies of those who discussed the notion of life on other planets were increasingly interested in the cosmos.

However, under the iron grip of Lenin, and increasingly so under Stalin, such thoughts were literally not allowed, with many who promoted these notions quickly connected to accusations of spying and carted off to the Gulag. During Stalin’s “political purges” of the 1930s (which were essentially murder on a mass scale) many whose voice was not in unison with “the state” was silenced – sometimes permanently.

We can only guess how many sightings went unrecorded during these times for fear of such actions. Or how many records of researchers taken to the brutal labor camps were destroyed and lost forever.

Just one of these was Henrik Ludvig – sent to the labor camps on accusations of “spying for the Vatican!” Although he would remain there for decades, his work and research would eventually enter the wider public domain.

The “Genius” Of Henrik Ludvig

To say Henrik Ludvig is one of the greatest minds most of us have never heard of is perhaps an understatement. Ludvig was highly educated and very much a free-thinker. He could speak and translate over twenty ancient and modern languages. In many ways, he was very much ahead of his time, and certainly out of synch with the backward and mentally stifling Soviet regime.

He would be imprisoned on charges of “spying for the Vatican” – charges which lay in a trip he had made to Vatican City decades previously while a student of architecture. However, in 2011, it would come to light that although the charges of spying were abhorrently false, ^[4] some of the work conducted there was far from architecture.

For reasons unknown, but likely due to his “encyclopedic memory” of esoteric knowledge and language, he was given access to the Vatican library and its wealth of ancient documents. What Ludvig would claim he discovered – years before such writers as Erich Von Daniken made similar claims – was that extraterrestrials had visited the Earth thousands of years ago in deep antiquity. Furthermore, they had direct influence with such civilizations as the Ancient Egyptians, the Mayans, and the Mesopotamians.

He also spoke of the use of nuclear weapons to destroy an ancient civilization, as well as describing the Pyramids as “energy machines”. It is perhaps interesting to note that in recent decades, many researchers have arrived at the same conclusions. It is perhaps truly tragic, that one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century was denied the chance to develop as it should through the suppression of political ideology.

More “Secret” Sightings

In the late-1920s and early-1930s came reports of numerous sightings in and around Lake Vedlozero near Shuknavolok. In November 1928, a strange object “emitting flames” appeared to crash into the frozen-over lake, cracking the thick ice, and sinking below. Further reports over the following years in the area would speak of “strange creature with thin arms and legs” roaming around the banks of the lake.

In 1932, a black cloud came down over the village, remaining for some time. When it finally left, a bizarre “gel-like” substance was on the ground which some would bottle believing it would contain healing powers. Incidentally, even today residents of the small village have significant problems with television and radio signals.

A crashed UFO on the Island of Zelyony near Rostov-on-Don was recovered by Soviet troops and taken to a secret base in Rostov in June 1941. From there it would arrive at Kapustin Yar – a base similar to such American facilities as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base or even Area 51.

Six years later in the summer of 1947 was the bizarre experience of A.R. Bodnya, a shepherd in northern Kazakhstan. According to his report, an object screamed out of the sky and crash-landed in a field nearby. Four humanoid creatures would emerge from the wreckage and made “telepathic communication” with Bodnya. They would claim to be from Alpha Centauri and would leave after repairing their craft, which they duly did.

As sightings increased into the 1950s, with several Russian pilots having vanished while attempting to intercept such crafts, a top-secret committee would examine and control the information of the reports. It would also study any wreckage of these mysterious crafts they managed to recover.

The Silhouette Humanoid Of Gydnia, Poland

One of the most intriguing of these UFO cases of the Cold War are the events of February 1959 in Gydnia ^[5] in (then) Soviet-controlled Poland. Several people would report seeing a glowing object descending from the sky in freefall, crashing into the icy waters near the docks.

Authorities would send several divers into the freezing waters in an attempt to locate any wreckage. They would eventually return with a shining piece of metal. Knowing that “something” lay at the bottom of the waters, the Polish Navy would restrict access to the docks.

Shortly after midday on 21st February, a “strange silhouette” humanoid would emerge from the water. It proceeded to drag itself to the shore. Dressed in a strange and unknown uniform, the humanoid, who was male, would speak in a language unfamiliar to anyone.

Once at a nearby hospital doctors would attempt to treat the heavy facial burns. They would also attempt to remove the uniform so as to treat further wounds on the body, but nobody could remove the garment. Despite the appearance and touch of the material suggesting it to be thin and light, it proved as strong as steel and could not be ripped or torn.

The strange humanoid eventually died, presumably of his injuries. The body was placed in a “frozen-container” and taken to a top-secret location in the underground systems of Moscow. Although human-looking, doctors would note several distinct differences between humans and the mystery man.

For example, most of the internal organs were drastically different to ours, as was the circulatory system. Each hand and foot also contained an extra digit. Some accounts of this incident speak of two humanoids emerging from the craft. One of who survived and whose whereabouts remains a mystery and unknown.

The Boshich Space Wreckage

One of the more little-known encounters of UFOs is that of the alleged Boshich Space Wreckage – a crippled alien craft that is floating, in several pieces, around the Earth. At least that is according to the front page story that ran in the old British newspaper, Reveille, in August 1979. ^[6]

According to the story, Soviet astrophysicist, Professor Sergei Boshich, claimed he had made the discovery of an alien craft that had blown into several pieces and was now in orbit around our planet. He even made the assured claim that the wreckage could “contain the bodies of aliens!”

Boshich stated that huge anomalies – thought to be huge chunks of metal wreckage – were noticed orbiting the planet as back as the 1960s. Ten significant pieces had been identified in total, with two of them measuring over one-hundred feet.

Using computer technology, Boshich managed to trace back each of the objects movements over the years. When he had done so, all ten of them appeared to be in the same spot on 18th December 1955. Boshich theorized that the debris was once a huge spaceship and that there “obviously had been a powerful explosion” on this date.

A Propaganda Attempt To Embarrass The West?

According to the report, the Russian government was seeking to launch a joint mission with other countries – in particular, the United States – to see if they could retrieve the craft and bring it down to Earth.

Although no known rescue missions – joint or otherwise – were launched to capture the craft, both the American and British governments initially expressed an interest in the Russian findings, with NASA even going as far as to say they “would consider a joint salvage attempt if the Russians approached us!”

Whether the research was genuine, or whether it was disinformation designed to lure the west into a cosmic wild goose chase is open for debate. Interestingly enough though, a decade before Boshich’s claim in 1969, American astronomer, John Bagby, wrote an article in Icarus magazine in which he claimed to have located ten “moonlets” in Earth’s orbit.

What’s more, he believed these “moonlets” had broken off from a larger moon. He had managed to trace the date of this event, and according to his calculations, this occurred on 18th December 1955.

The Lost Cosmonauts Conspiracy

That the Russians were looking to score a huge propaganda victory by beating the United States in the space war is pretty much beyond doubt – a desire that the Americans equally shared for itself, for much the same reasons.

By the time the fifties surrendered themselves to the sixties, a decade and a half of mistrust and suspicion between the two nations had led to a desire to outdo the other on the world stage.

The “Lost Cosmonauts” conspiracy ^[7] essentially states that several Russian cosmonauts are, even now, floating through space in their spacecraft turned tombs, victims of Soviet attempts to beat the Americans into space and beyond. The claims are based on alleged intercepted Russian recordings made by Italian brothers Achille and Giovanni Judica-Cordiglia.

One recording, in particular, has recently made it online. Thought to have been made sometime between 16th and 23rd May 1961, the two-minute audio claims to be the last desperate moments of a female cosmonaut, who seems to be in danger of burning up upon re-entry to Earth.

A transcript of the recording shows the panicked cosmonaut frantically asking mission control (who do not respond throughout):

Isn’t this dangerous?… I can see a flame, I can see a flame! I feel hot!

You can check out that recording below.

There are said to be nine separate recordings in total. ^[8] It is alleged that the Russians had secretly sent many men and women into space before Uri Gagarin’s successful space flight in April 1961. However, these missions were kept secret due to various disasters that resulted in the death or severe injury to the cosmonauts involved.

What’s more, western intelligence it has since been revealed were making very similar assertions privately.

Check out the video below.

The Voronezh Incident – Mass Sighting Or Glasnost Test?

Although some believe the events of September 1989 to be a test of the new transparency agreement (the glasnost policy), if there is any truth to them, then The Voronezh Incident is arguably one of the greatest mass UFO sightings in recent history. ^[9]

According to a report made by TASS (Russian news agency), a huge UFO landed in the middle of a park in the town of Voronezh, in full view of thousands of people, and in broad daylight. Several tall humanoid figures in shiny, silver suits were even said to have exited the craft and approached a group of young boys who were playing football nearby.

The ship eventually departed without harming any of the onlookers, although a strange unknown substance was on the ground where the mysterious object had landed.

Although there were said to be thousands of people witness this event, it is certainly possible that it was nothing more than a fabrication at best, designed to see if it did end up in the American media, and what the effect might be of authentic news and events coming out of Russia. Incidentally, the story was picked up by TIME magazine around a month or so later.

The short video below looks at the Voronezh Incident in a little more detail.

Two Very Different Close Contact Encounters From The Soviet Files

Of course, with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the dissolution of the Soviet Union would come a plethora of UFO and alien encounters previously locked away in government vaults or simply untold by citizens of countries themselves locked away from the world by their own borders. And most likely some that are, at present, untold and still to enter the public arenas of the UFO communities.

Two apparent extraterrestrial close encounters occurred within weeks of each other in the late-summer of 1980. And while many of the details and certainly the tones of the encounters differ greatly, some of the other details, not least their locations don’t. Whether there is a connection to the following cases or not remains open to debate. They are, though, both extremely intriguing accounts.

And both surely lead us to ask how many more reports of strange and fascinating encounters lay waiting to be pulled into the spotlight from the vast, mysterious, and enchanting land that is Russia. As well as the many proud and (now) independent countries that for a large part of the twentieth century, would make up the Soviet Union.

A Bizarre But Temporary Landing!

It was a little after 10 pm one evening in early-September 1980 when four friends, sat on the banks of the River Kumak, near the town of Orsk, night-fishing. They were busy arranging their fishing lines, preparing to cast them into the water when a “bright star-like” object appeared overhead. As it moved, it appeared to cast out “circular rings of light” which went through the air similar to how ripples appear on the surface of the water.

The light was growing in size and was very obviously descending. The witnesses would estimate, by the time it was just above the ground, its diameter was between thirty to fifty feet across. The closer it got to the ground, the circles of light began to morph into a “cone-shaped beam”. The four young men watched in awe. After several moments, the craft ascended once again. The cone of light, however, would remain on the ground. Then, after several seconds, it too faded away.

As bizarre as the incident undoubtedly was, the four men would leave their lines and nets in the water and return to their camp base nearby. They would eat dinner and discuss what they might have seen. Perhaps, they theorized, it was some natural phenomenon. Or even a rocket or missile test from nearby Kazakhstan. By 1 am, two of the men would turn in for the evening. The other two would return to the river bank to check their fishing nets to see if they had captured anything. It was a journey like neither had ever experienced.

A Sudden Change Of Surroundings

For the pair who ventured down to the river banks (it is unclear exactly which members of the group it was), the trip would take a very sudden and dramatic turn. Without warning, “the first witness” would find his surroundings change in an instant. He was suddenly inside a strange, round room. A strange voice suddenly appeared in his head instructing him to sit down. He did so, positioning himself on a “rectangular stool” in front of him.

He would take a look around him. The entire room appeared as though made from grey plastic. There was a closed doorway in front, along with an array of piping entering the room through the wall. On the floor was a small hatch. As he was looking at this hatch, it suddenly opened. Beneath, in another room, he could see his friend from the river bank.

Then, as if he were under some kind of remote control, the witness stood and began to descend into the room beneath the hatch. He jumped to the floor, landing next to his friend below. As he looked up it appeared the hatch was closing. A “bright light” was moving away from them. They were both trapped in this small basement-type room. He began to shout at their captors not to go. The next thing both of them knew, their surroundings had changed yet again.

A Most Mysterious Return

Suddenly, above them, the other two members of their group were stood calling their names. They were both stood in a crater around five feet deep. Neither of them could recall arriving here. And what’s more, despite the ground being soft due to recent rain, there were no footprints anywhere around this bizarre hole in the middle of nowhere. Furthermore, the time was now after 7 am.

One of the men who had gone to sleep for the evening had done so in the group’s car. He recalled waking at around 6:30 am to “bright flashes and a loud hissing sound”. Shortly after, he and the remaining member of the group would go out searching for their missing friends. The sighting was also corroborated, at least in part, by a hunter who had ventured into the surrounding woodlands early that morning. He would recall seeing a “star-like light emitting a beam of light towards the ground”.

It would certainly appear to be a case of alien abduction. And one that hypnotic regression would very likely unlock the missing hours and details of the encounter. Whether any such sessions have taken place is unknown. The incident comes to us via the book ‘Space Terrestrial Connections and the UFO” by Alexey Dmitriyev and likely has divulged all it will.

Only weeks earlier, however, another very similar incident would unfold.

Entities From Another Dimension?

In late-August 1980, early one morning at around 5 am at a summer camp near the Seoma River, in what is now the independent country of Tajikstan, “Nadi S” would suddenly awaken with the intense feeling that “something” was attempting to contact her. Another camper would wake also but would soon fall back to sleep. Nadi, though, would hear a voice inside her mind asking if she wished to leave the tent. Despite the hour, she did so, noticing how pleasant the breaking of dawn looked as she emerged outside.

As she began to look around her, she noticed a “tall figure”. It was behind some bushes, apparently attempting to squat and hide. Nadi looked at the mysterious figure a little longer. It was similar to a tall man. More to the point, she was sure the energy she felt inside the tent was coming from this humanoid entity.

Then, the figure stood and walked out in front of the hedge. Nadi would begin to walk towards it before a bizarre and strange “realization” that if she walked directly at the figure, she wouldn’t be able to see it. She began to walk in a circular direction. As she neared it, though, it eventually did disappear. In its place was a “shiny spark” which would fade away after several seconds.

Although she didn’t quite understand the nature of the experience, Nadi couldn’t escape the feeling that the encounter was of some significance. One point of interest here are the claims of those who can see entities from another dimension, but only from a certain perspective – was this why she “chose” to approach from a bizarre angle? Also, many people who witness shadow people state they can only see them at the very limits of their peripheral vision.

“Luminous Humanoid Entities” Emerging From The Water!

Still at the same camp two weeks later, Nadi would again awaken to the same energy seemingly calling to her. Once again, she would leave the tent. And once again, the humanoid figure was visible in front of her. It appeared to be slightly hunched over.

This time, though, the serenity of the early morning was suddenly disturbed rudely by noisy activity from the water nearby. As Nadi turned her head, she witnessed several “luminous humanoid figures” heading in her direction. They were seemingly floating slightly above the ground as they moved.

The luminous group would descend near to Nadi, who offered a mental greeting to them (for reasons she wasn’t sure). A voice would enter her mind, asking where “her friend Larissa” was. Nadi replied that her friend’s room was in another cabin. Then, a forgotten memory flooded back into her mind. Only the previous evening Larissa had been rather ill. Nadi was with her when these same luminous humanoids descended on them. One of them moved their glowing arms in strange but very specific motions. Almost immediately Larissa was well again.

Nadi would later describe these luminous entities as having large heads, with large “slanted-type” eyes. Their chins appeared particularly pointed but most noticeable was the “bluish aura” that surrounded them. This aura was like a blue flame and appeared “fluctuate” around them in a similar fire-like motion. Small protrusions were visible on their backs which one of them explained (via Nadi’s mind) that these were “natural power sources”. Suddenly Nadi’s memories became hazy. The next thing she knew, she awoke in her tent, the luminous humanoids gone.

A Description Of “Angels” From Ancient Writings?

This last detail combined with their glowing appearance and even Nadi’s own admission that these power sources very much resembled “small wings” is perhaps an obvious similarity to how angles are most often depicted. Nadi herself would state this was the easiest way to describe their physical appearance.

What might these entities have been? They interacted with the witness via telepathy much the same as in many extraterrestrial close encounters. However, there was no sighting of any “nuts-and-bolts” craft. These entities appeared and then vanished. However, again much like alien abduction cases, she would fail to remember their leaving. Her memory would become cloudy as if there was an intentional block against any recall.

Might these entities, who would appear to be more energy-based lifeforms, also be indigenous to the Earth? Or might they indeed hail from elsewhere in the cosmos and travel here through the use of portals? Regardless of their origin, given the descriptions and writings of “angels” throughout history, we have to assume their presence has been one that stretches back at least as far back as humanity itself. If not before.

And might it share a connection with the sighting and apparent abduction at Orsk only weeks later? Only further research and disclosure of other encounters will begin to move us collectively to the truth of this, and the wider questions that surround such mysterious encounters.

The short video below looks at some of Russia’s most mysterious UFO encounters.

The Underwater Battle Of Lake Baikal

Perhaps one of the strangest UFO encounters from inside the old Soviet Union occurred under the icy waters of Lake Baikal in Siberia. The area is claimed to be a UFO hotspot by researchers, with accounts of gigantic objects hovering over the water, and even claims of strange figures in “shiny suits” being sighted in the area. The lake itself is one of the deepest of its kind on the entire planet.

In 1982, according to leaked documents from a former officer in the Soviet navy, Vladimir Azhazha, military divers witnessed one of these crafts close up. ^[10] Furthermore, after monitoring it for several days, a deadly battle ensued between a team of divers and the apparent occupants of the vehicle.

Several humanoid beings, dressed in shiny clothing and wearing what appeared to be oxygen masks, were witnessed by a seven-strong team of divers. They were ordered to engage and capture the strange beings, which resulted in them defending themselves with some kind of “sonar wave” weapon. The underwater battle left three of the unit dead, with the surviving four divers substantially injured.

Interestingly and perhaps worth making note of, is that photographs of the Lake Baikal area taken by the International Space Station, appear to show at least two saucer-shaped objects deep below the water.

The Lake Pyrogovskoye Alien Abduciton

In the book Greatest UFO Case Files: Scintillating Encounters with ETs and Mysterious Aliens (published by V&S Publishers) an alien abduction encounter that occurred near the shores of Lake Pyrogovskoye in May 1978.

According to the account, the witness, named Anatoly, was walking along the shore of the lake when he was suddenly grabbed by two strange entities wearing suits that appeared to be made of cellophane. They would lead him to their craft that was seemingly landed nearby.

Here is where the account, however, appears to go into the realms of the unbelievable. Rather than conduct any experiments on him, they would speak to him about life on Earth, and specifically, the differences of capitalism and communism with the underlying notion being that “communism caused poverty” despite it being a “noble aim”.

They would eventually give him a strange clear drink that would help him forget the incident (although he clearly didn’t) before he found himself at the lakeside where he had been previously. According to the report, his wife advised him not to mention the incident in case he ended up “doing hard labor in a gulag”. However, he went against this advice and reported the alleged incident to his local commissar.

He would ultimately, be subjected to psychological examination and lie-detector tests. The report states that not only did he pass the lie-detector, but that those who examined found no further evidence that he was lying of the event.

While it is not clear where this account originally came from, it would appear to be one that is hugely embellished, at best, and most likely completely manufactured with the intention of achieving a change of attitudes in those who were to hear it. We have highlighted before that, rightly or wrongly, many similar close contact encounters appear to revolve around achieving a change of attitudes toward nuclear power and weapons, as well as climate change.

With that in mind, then, we should treat the above account with a pinch of salt, as intriguing as it might be.

Alien Battle Over River Kama

On the evening of 16th September 1989, a most bizarre scene would unfold. In the skies over the River Kama near to the port of Zaostrovka, an alien battle raged. Multiple people – residents and military – were witness to the events. According to the report, several silver discs fired laser beams at “darker colored craft!” During this aerial conflict, the electricity cut out in much of the surrounding areas.

Eventually, the dark-colored craft fell to the ground, landing in swampland at a military training base. For over two months armed guards watched over the area. Then, in November and with the cold weather of winter, the swamp would freeze over. This allowed the military to attempt a retrieval mission.

It is not clear what happened to the craft itself. However, four Soviet soldiers would suffer from symptoms akin to radiation sickness following the mission. The area became restricted, with even the airspace would become a strict no-fly zone.

As well as battles between rival alien factions, there are even reports of conflicts between aliens and the Soviets themselves. As well as the Battle of Lake Baikal in 1982, there are two other, particularly interesting cases on record.

In 1979 on the island of Barsa-Kelmes in the Aral Sea are reports of a “shoot-out” between KGB officers and a group of alien humanoids. According to the report, the specialist unit would shoot several humanoids. It is unclear whether any of these humanoids would end up in Soviet possession, alive or dead.

Perhaps an interesting point to note here is the location, itself. The island has a reputation for paranormal activity and UFO sightings, as well as many mysterious disappearances. The translation of the island’s name is rather ominously, “land of no return”.

Perhaps The Strangest Of Them All? Aleshenka, The Abandoned “Alien” Baby

One of the most intriguing stories to come out of Russia happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in the summer of 1996, in the small village of Kaolinory, near Kyshtym. ^[11]

An old lady came upon what appeared to be an abandoned baby while walking in the woods. She used her shawl to wrap the infant, and then took it back to her apartment, deciding as she did so to name the child, Aleshenka.

However, when the old lady’s daughter-in-law, Tamara, saw the baby for herself the following day during her routine visit, she was horrified. She would later describe it as:

…something not from this planet!

You can view several pictures below.

It should be noted that Tamara, despite being interviewed about the incident many times, has never deviated from her original version of events. She claimed that her mother-in-law would feed the baby, but although it “consumed” the food, its strange mouth didn’t seem to move as it did so.

She would also claim that:

…the pupils of its eyes were narrowing and widening – just like a cat’s do!

Despite Tamara’s best efforts, the old lady’s ravings of having a baby soon spread around the small village, and, in light of her previous mental health issues, she was incarcerated in a mental institution soon after. At the time of her detention, she pleaded with the medical staff that she had a baby in her apartment. However, authorities would ignore her pleas. Aleshenka would remain alone in the apartment.

Extra-terrestrial Or Disfigured Baby?

Although there are several versions of events following the old lady’s detainment, what is clear is that Tamara returned to the apartment and discovered the now dead Aleshenka. She would tell her friend, Vladimir Nurdinov, of the now deceased “baby”. Some sources claim it to be the other way around with Nurdinov finding Aleshenka and then informing Tamara.

Unsure what to do, the pair sought the help of a local policeman, Vladimir Bendlin, who took the body from the pair, and immediately had tests carried out on it.

Bendlin suspected that the body was the mummified remains of a small child. Dr. Irina Yermoleava initially confirmed this for him when she stated it was her belief “Aleshenka” was, in fact, the mummified remains of a disfigured premature child – possibly a victim of the 1957 Kyshtym Disaster. However, when Bendlin sought a second opinion on the remains from his clinical assistant, Lyubov Romanowa, the answer was much different.

Romanowa, an expert in many child deformities through her work, would state categorically that these remains were “not of human origin!”

She would point out too many differences in the skeletal remains for it to be a simple deformity (even naming twenty specific anomalies). She would also note that the head comprised of four distinctly separate bones, “completely different to a human being!”

You can check out the short video footage below. It comes from Tamara, Nurdinov and Bendlin shortly after the three of them became entwined in this strange encounter. Shortly after filming, the small village of Kaolinory would become the focus of UFO enthusiasts and researchers from all over the world.

Media Frenzy And Hints Of A Cover-up

Although most local residents dismissed the story of the “mad old woman” who had discovered an alien baby in the woods initially, the more news channels and TV stations that arrived, the more they were now ready to embrace the encounter – not least of which because many TV shows were “throwing money” at people who could tell them about Aleshenka.

Intense scrutiny also fell on Tamara and Nurdinov and whether or not they had created the whole encounter as some kind of hoax. There was, however, no proof that either had gained at all monetarily, and tests on the body proved that it was authentic and had once been “living tissue” and alive.

Respected ufologist, Boris Zolotov, also traveled to the small village and offered to have DNA testing performed on the remains. Bendlin would accept his offer and would hand the remains over to him. No one would see them again.

Months went by before a television station eventually tracked Zolotov down and asked him about the anticipated DNA results. His response was that his assistant was driving the body to the lab when “a UFO came down right there on the road and took him back!”

Theories differ as to what did happen to the body of Aleshenka. Some believe that Zolotov never intended to have a DNA test performed, but instead sought to sell the remains privately for huge financial gain. Others suspect that it was not a UFO that took the body back, but likely a Russian intelligence service.

Conspiracies And Loose Ends

Although the body of Aleshenka was no longer in Bendlin’s possession, a DNA test would eventually go ahead. An unknown woman would approach the policeman. And would subsequently inform him that she secretly had the blanket. The very one that housed the remains. She was happy to hand the blanket over to Bendlin. Then, he could have tests performed for traces of Aleshenka’s DNA.

Upon testing the blanket, it would show traces of two sets of DNA. One of them was human – most likely the old lady’s. The other however was “unknown to science”. Whatever Aleshenka was, it didn’t appear it was human.

In a further morbid twist, the old lady would mysteriously die in a hit-and-run accident. Coincidentally or not after she had “escaped” from the mental health facility. She was due to meet with respected hypnotic regression expert, Mark Milkhimer in the days following her death as part of his investigations into the Aleshenka story. Coincidentally or not, Milkhimer died from a sudden heart attack. Suspiciously, only days after arriving in Kyshtym to conduct the interview. Make of those events what you will.

Check out the video below from TV’s “Unexplained Files” that look at the Aleshenka case in a little more detail.

The Train Number 1702 Incident

An account that occurred on 17^th February 1985 and that first entered the wider public arena in the number 8, 1989 edition of the journal Technology of Youth is another that is perhaps little known to many but regarded as one of the most unusual and intriguing cases to have unfolded in the Soviet Union. ^[12]

The incident occurred along the Petrozavodsk to Suoyarvi section of the Oktyabrskaya Railway in Soviet Karelia (today the Republic of Karelia) when a freight train was approached by a strange, glowing object that then kept pace with it for over an hour.

The train was on its way to Kostomuksha and carried with it 70 empty wagons, as well as the driver, Sergey Orlov and the assistant driver, Viktor Mironov. The journey had so far been uneventful. Shortly after passing through Essoila Station, however, at a little after 8:30 pm, Orlov noticed a strange, spherical or ball-shaped object around 100 feet above the trees that lined the track, approximately 500 feet away from them. What’s more, this strange “moon-colored” object appeared to be keeping pace with the locomotive, even matching the bends of the track the train took.

He alerted his colleague to the object. Initially, the two men tried to convince themselves that it was merely a star that appeared to be following them. However, when it directed a beam of light directly toward them, they realized it was something a little more extraordinary.

Then, things became even more alarming as the object headed straight toward them before flying directly in front of the speeding locomotive at a distance of around 100 feet. As soon as this happened, Orlov switched off the engines and applied the brakes. The train, though, didn’t slow down. In fact, it appeared as though it was being pulled along the tracks, seemingly by the bizarre round object in front.

The Approach To Novye Peski

As the speeding train neared Novye Peski Station, Orlov picked up the radio to contact the station attendant, who on this particular evening was Zoya Grigorievna Panshukova. He would inform her of the strange object moving ahead of them, and of their apparent inability to stop. Uncertain of exactly what was unfolding, the attendant left her station and made her way out to the platform to view the approaching train.

As it approached, just like Orlov had stated, in front of it was not only one strange object, but two of them. As well as the luminous ball she claimed to also have seen a disc-shaped object that appeared to be orange or dark red in color. It was not clear to her if this object was in front of the round one, or inside it. Panshulova, incidentally, was the only person who claimed to have seen this second object, with the drivers of the train unable to see it due to the ball-shaped object being directly in front of them.

Of more immediate concern to Panshulova, however, was the fact that the train was speeding toward the station with the object seemingly destined to crash into the station house. Bracing herself for the imminent impact, she was more than relieved when the object moved away from the train at the last minute and circled around the station house before taking up its previous position in front of the locomotive. During the few seconds when the orb was not in front of the train, its speed slowed dramatically which, in turn, caused several objects to hit the drivers as they were flung from shelves in the cabin. This further suggested that the unknown object was indeed dragging the vehicle along the tracks.

With the glowing sphere back in front of the train, it sped right through Novye Peski Station and continued tearing down the track.

A Temporary Stop!

The next station on the route was Zastava. This time, however, as the train neared the station, the object in front moved off to the side and disappeared into the forest at the side of the track. Much to the relief of the two driver’s they managed to slow the train enough that it eventually stopped at the platform.

Orlov would immediately exit the cabin in order to see if the train had suffered any external damage. However, a short time after doing so, a strange light suddenly fell on him from above. Even more alarming, the light seemed to physically push the driver against the side of the train, holding him there. Although he managed to get back inside the cabin, it took considerable effort.

The train remained motionless for around 30 minutes, during which time, another train approached. As it did so, the light that had remained on the concentrated on the cabin went out. The drivers opted not to tell the crew of the passing train of the encounter, and a short time after it had passed, they set out, hopeful that whatever the object had been, it had now gone. A short time after they had set off, however, the object returned once more.

Like before, it appeared to drag the train onward for a considerable time before suddenly moving high into the sky at around 9:45 pm, eventually disappearing over behind the trees of the forest. They arrived at their destination of Suojarvi I Station a short time later and would hand over the locomotive to another crew.

It was later discovered that the train had around 30 kg of diesel than it should have left in its tanks. Furthermore, their account was corroborated by the data recorders onboard the train. In short, as bizarre as the incident might be, it would appear to be very credible. Incidentally, it would later come to light that several other people witnessed the object while stood at Kutizhma Station just before it was witnessed by the train drivers.

Nothing But Venus? Surely, Not Likely!

Although Soviet officials could not offer an explanation for the incident, planetary scientist KK Khazanovich did offer one. He would claim that what the train drivers saw was most likely Venus, which was particularly close and bright around the time of the sighting. He would offer that the Halo effect could result in crowns that would have made the object appear even bigger. He would also suggest that the red object witnessed by the attendant from then station platform was most likely Mars, which was in the same region of the sky.

Of the beam of light that appeared to fall onto Orlov from above he would offer that this was most likely the headlights of the oncoming train, and that pure fright on the train driver’s mind resulted in him imagining that the light was coming from above and was making it difficult for him to move.

We perhaps should note that it is true that many distant UFO sightings do end up being probable sightings of Venus. However, as compelling as that argument might be if this was just a sighting, we have to ask how would it explain the train speeding up and being “pulled” along the tracks despite the engines being off and the brakes applied, something the excess fuel that remained attests to? What’s more, this happened on three separate occasions surely ruling out some kind of coincidental technical error.

There is also the issue of the sudden beam of light, as well as the light that illuminated and physically pressed Orlov to the side of the carriage. Can they really be explained as a halo effect from our cosmic neighbor or simply the lights of the oncoming train? Did this cause Orlov to imagine the “pushing” of the light that appeared to pin him to the carriage? And what about the disc-shaped object witnessed by the station attendant?

We then might then ask about the sightings from other witnesses at Kutizhma Station. Did they too all mistake Venus for a strange, moving UFO? While it is important to keep an open mind on all UFO cases – in both directions – it would appear there are more details that suggest something truly strange occurred that evening than not.

If we assume, then, that the object was a craft under some kind of intelligent control, why did it seemingly pull the train along? Was it merely some kind of magnetic force that it employed while it surveyed the train, perhaps looking to inspect the cargo (even though on this occasion the carriages were empty)? It truly does remain one of the most intriguing encounters on record.

The video below documents the incident, and while it does not have subtitles, is still worth watching to give a feel of the incident.

 

The Bizarre Encounter Of Senator Richard Russell

Although it involved a US senator, an incident that was kept out of the public arena for 30 years ^[13] occurred in the Soviet Union in October 1955 is of interest to us here. Not least due to the apparent response of the hosts to Senator Richard Russell upon the incident unfolding.

According to the declassified documents of the case – that came to light in 1985 – on the 14^th October 1955 Russell – who was at the time the chairman of the Armed Services Committee – was on a train traveling through the Transcaucasus region of the Soviet Union with two colleagues. As they did so, Russell noticed a suddenly appearing disc, which “ascended almost vertically at a relatively slow speed” to an altitude of around 6000 feet. As it climbed it rotated slowly to the right.

Upon reaching this altitude, it suddenly sped up dramatically and headed toward the north. Around a minute later, a second shiny disc appeared, ascending in the same manner, and eventually moving off in the same direction.

At this point, Russell got up from his chair as the second disc appeared to pass over the top of the moving train, heading toward his colleague (and aide), Colonel Hathaway, and his interpreter, Ruben Efron. By the time they went to a window of the carriage, the three men saw the first object disappearing into the distance. However, all three of the men clearly saw the second object as it traveled through the sky.

According to one report, a short time after the three men resettled at the window, a Soviet train conductor approached them, leaning toward the windows and pulling shut the curtains. He would then order the men to keep them closed and not to look outside.

Each of them would later give the same description – that they were “round, disc-shaped crafts”. When he arrived in Prague in Czechoslovakia, Russell and his two colleagues would make an official report of the incident at the US embassy.

We’ve Been Told “There Is No Such Thing, But All Of Us Saw It!”

In the report, Hathaway stated that they had all seen a “flying disc (that) we’ve been told for years there was no such thing, but all of us saw it”.

Efron would state in his interview with the CIA that the strange object “gave the impression of gliding” and that “no noise was heard” while it displayed no evidence of “exhaust glow or trail” (suggesting an unknown propulsion system).

Interestingly, later declassified CIA documents would reveal that the three agencies were later interviewed again about the sightings by the intelligence agencies. Even more interesting, there was an unidentified “fourth witness”, whose name was redacted, who also seemingly saw the object.

The report stated that this mystery fourth person also claimed the object was disc-shaped and that it “had a slight dome and white light on top”. Furthermore, the edge of the object was “glowing pinkish-white” and that as the object rose into the sky this glow would move “slowly around the perimeter in a clockwise direction” which made the object appear like a “pinwheel”.

It is perhaps worth noting the comments of Dr. Bruce Maccabee – a respected UFO investigator – who said of the case that the “long secret documents are of major importance” as they clearly demonstrated that one of the “most powerful US senators (had) witnessed and reported a UFO”. And this was less than a decade after the Roswell sighting at a time when many other citizens of the United States and many other countries around the world were doing the same.

Although official files were not released until three decades after the incident, there were rumors and limited media coverage of the encounter in the immediate years that followed.

Perhaps one of the earliest reports that Senator Russell had seen some kind of strange object appeared in the 20th January 1957 edition of the Los Angeles Examiner, in an article in the Aviation News column by Tom Towers.

Towers had sent a letter to Russell requesting information on the “sighting in Russia” to which Russell responded and Towers, in turn, published the response in his column. Russell would politely acknowledge the request for information regarding “reports that have come to you regarding aerial objects seen in Europe”. He would then go on to say that he had further discussed this matter with the “affected agencies of the government” and that ultimately, they stated “it is not wise to publicize this matter at this time”.

An Important Case For Many Reasons

There is perhaps a lot of reasons the sighting of Senator Russell and his colleagues is of importance to those who are looking to get to the truth of the UFO and alien question. Perhaps not least, as Dr. Maccabee stated, it showed that a high-level government official had gone on record and reported the event.

What it further suggests is that the US government and intelligence agencies had much more of an active interest in UFO sightings than they publicly stated, as well as a much more proactive desire to cover over and suppress such incidents.

We might also examine why the Soviet conductor chose to pull the curtains shut and order the mean to not look out of the windows. This action surely was not one the conductor made of his own accord but appears rather to be one that he had received previous, predetermined orders to do so. This would make a certain amount of sense, for several reasons.

Firstly, it might suggest that conductor was fully aware that the objects were secret Soviet objects and so knew that the American visitors should not be seeing them. This, however, is unlikely, especially when many of the Soviet UFO files were released upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. We know that Soviet authorities, while similarly secretly interested in them much like the Americans, often informed their own people that these sightings were secret weapons and spy vehicles of the West, perhaps in an attempt to have them viewed as “the enemy” in the eyes of the population.

With this in mind, the second option is that while the conductor didn’t know what the objects were, he was aware that the Soviet authorities would not want Americans to inform the world that there were unknown objects over Soviet territory. This is perhaps more likely. After all, many aspects of the Cold War came down to simple propaganda. It might be such a propaganda victory for the United States if the Soviet Union to have to defend themselves of objects in their airspace that they knew nothing about and were essentially defenseless over.

This also perhaps suggests that the railroad – like others throughout the territories of the Soviet Union – might already have been noted by Soviet authorities as having increased sightings of these strange aerial objects.

Soldiers “Turned To Stone” By Alien Humanoids?

More recently released to the public is a report of a similar battle taking place in the Siberian regions. The report comes via a recently declassified CIA file, ^[14] itself taken from the aforementioned smuggled KGB files. The date of the file is 1993, although it doesn’t say when the actual incident took place.

According to the report, a silver saucer-shaped craft suddenly appeared over a military training ground. Whether intentionally or accidentally, a rocket fired from the ground hit the craft and brought it down. Shortly after five humanoids with “large heads and large black eyes” emerged from the stricken vehicle. A group of soldiers closed in to inspect the site. Suddenly, the aliens “merged into one single object” the shape of a sphere. A loud hissing and buzzing filled the air, and the sphere itself would grow, both in brightness and size. It suddenly flared up intensely. The group of soldiers “at that very instant…turned into stone!”

Twenty-three soldiers in total suffered this bizarre and terrible fate. Two soldiers who remained back in the shadows escaped harm and it is through them that the report comes.

Although the whereabouts of the alien humanoids is unknown, the ruined craft became the property of the military. It would travel to a “secret research institution” in Moscow. Perhaps the sphere and the activity that followed was some kind of portal. Maybe transferring the humanoids back to a mothership as opposed to an outright attack on the unfortunate soldiers. Maybe it was a self-destruct mechanism?

Although it is worth taking the report with a pinch of salt in the ever-increasing march to the old Cold War days between East and West, it is one of the most interesting, if chilling, claims of such activity on Soviet soil.