Product Code Database
Ghost rockets (, also called Scandinavian ghost rockets) were rocket- or missile-shaped unidentified flying objects sighted in 1946, mostly in Sweden and nearby countries like Finland.
The first reports of ghost rockets were made on February 26, 1946, by Finland observers. About 2,000 sightings were logged between May and December 1946, with peaks on 9 and 11 August 1946. Two hundred sightings were verified with radar returns, and authorities recovered physical fragments which were attributed to ghost rockets.
Investigations concluded that many ghost rocket sightings were probably caused by . For example, the peaks of the sightings, on 9 and 11 August 1946, also fall within the peak of the annual Perseids. However, most ghost rocket sightings did not occur during meteor shower activity, and furthermore displayed characteristics inconsistent with meteors, such as reported maneuverability.
Debate continues as to the origins of the unidentified ghost rockets. In 1946, however, it was thought likely that they originated from the former German rocket facility at Peenemünde, and were long-range tests by the Soviets of captured German V-1 or V-2 missiles, or perhaps another early form of cruise missile because of the ways they were sometimes seen to maneuver. This prompted the Swedish Army to issue a directive stating that newspapers were not to report the exact location of ghost rocket sightings, or any information regarding the direction or speed of the object. This information, they reasoned, was vital for evaluation purposes to the nation or nations assumed to be performing the tests.
The sightings most often consisted of fast-flying rocket- or missile-shaped objects, with or without wings, visible for mere seconds. Instances of slower moving, cigar-shaped objects are also known. A hissing or rumbling sound was sometimes reported.
Crashes were not uncommon, and occurred almost always in lakes. Reports were made of objects crashing into a lake, sometimes then propelling themselves across the surface before sinking. The Swedish military performed several dives in the affected lakes shortly after the crashes, but found nothing other than occasional craters in the lake bottom or torn off aquatic plants.
The best known of these crashes occurred on July 19, 1946, into Lake , Sweden. Witnesses reported a gray, rocket-shaped object with wings crashing in the lake. One witness interviewed heard a thunderclap, possibly the object exploding. However, a 3-week military search reported nothing.
Immediately after the investigation, the Swedish Air Force officer who led the search, Karl-Gösta Bartoll submitted a report in which he stated that the bottom of the lake had been disturbed but nothing was recovered and that "there are many indications that the Kölmjärv object disintegrated itself...the object was probably manufactured in a lightweight material, possibly a kind of magnesium alloy that would disintegrate easily, and not give indications on our instruments".Carpenter chronology When Bartoll was later interviewed in 1984 by Swedish researcher Clas Svahn, he again said their investigation suggested the object largely disintegrated in flight and insisted that "what people saw were real, physical objects".Randles, 29-30
On October 10, 1946, the Swedish Defense Staff publicly stated, "Most observations are vague and must be treated very skeptically. In some cases, however, clear, unambiguous observations have been made that cannot be explained as natural phenomena, Swedish aircraft, or imagination on the part of the observer. Echo, radar, and other equipment registered readings but gave no clue as to the nature of the objects". It was also stated that fragments alleged to have come from the missiles were nothing more than ordinary coke or slag.Clark, 247
On December 3, 1946, a memo was drafted for the Swedish Ghost Rocket committee stating "nearly one hundred impacts have been reported and thirty pieces of debris have been received and examined by Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOA)". The debris was later said to be meteorite fragments. Of the nearly 1,000 reports that had been received by the Swedish Defense Staff to November 29, 225 were considered observations of "real physical objects" and every one had been seen in broad daylight.Joel Carpenter chronology
On August 22, 1946, the director of the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), Lt. Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg, wrote a Top Secret memo to President Truman, perhaps based in part on information from Doolittle and Sarnoff. Vandenberg stated that the "weight of evidence pointed to Peenemünde as origin of the missiles, that US MA military in Moscow had been told by 'key Swedish Air Officer' that radar course-plotting had led to conclusion that Peenemünde was the launch site. CIG speculates that the missiles are extended-range developments of V-1 being aimed for the Gulf of Bothnia for test purposes and do not overfly Swedish territory specifically for intimidation; self-destruct by small demolition charge or burning".
Nevertheless, there are no reports of rocket launches at Peenemünde or the Greifswalder Oie after February 21, 1945 (See also: List of V-2 test launches).
The document also mentioned a search for an object crashing in a Swedish lake conducted by a Swedish naval salvage team, with the discovery of a previously unknown crater on the lake floor believed caused by the object (possibly referencing the Lake Kölmjärv search for a ghost rocket discussed above, though the date is unclear). The document ends with the statement that "we are inclined not to discredit entirely this somewhat spectacular theory extraterrestrial, meantime keeping an open mind on the subject".Good (2007), 106-107, 111; USAFE Item 14, TT 1524, (Top Secret), 4 November 1948, declassified in 1997, National Archives, Washington D.C.
See also: 1954 Greek UFO flap
The Greek government conducted their own investigation, with their leading scientist, physicist Paul Santorini, in charge. Santorini had been a developer of the proximity fuze on the first Nuclear weapon and held patents on guidance systems for Project Nike and radar systems. Santorini was supplied by the Hellenic Army with a team of engineers to investigate what again were believed to be Soviet missiles flying over Greece.
In a 1967 lecture to the Greek Astronomical Society, broadcast on Athens Radio, Santorini first publicly revealed what had been found in his 1947 investigation. "We soon established that they were not missiles. But, before we could do any more, the Army, after conferring with foreign officials (presumably U.S. Defense Dept.), ordered the investigation stopped. Foreign scientists from flew to Greece for secret talks with me". Later Santorini told UFO researchers such as Raymond Fowler that secrecy was invoked because officials were afraid to admit of a superior technology against which we have "no possibility of defense".Good (1988), 23; Keyhoe, 142
|
|
