The Voronezh UFO Landing, 1989
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As the USSR relaxed its media stranglehold in the late 1980s, it was finally revealed that UFOs were seen behind the iron curtain as well as in the West. One of the first, and easily the most bizarre, UFO stories to make headlines was the landing in Voronezh, Russia, 1989. The case contains elements of both traditional UFO sightings and much older anomalous experiences, and proves that UFO landings aren’t just inventions of American pop culture, but part of an enduring, global phenomenon.
The Story
On September 27, 1989, three children at South Park in the Russian city of Voronezh noticed a pink light in the sky that turned into a dark red ball as it got closer. It was about 5-9 meters wide and moving in their direction. Vasya Surin, Genya Blinov, and Julia Sholokhova watched the ball as it approached and hovered in circles about 12 meters over the park. The children could see grass being disturbed under the sphere as it moved.
Suddenly, the sphere floated away, and returned a few minutes later. By this time, a crowd of about 40 adults had gathered, and watched as a small hatch opened on the bottom of the sphere. A three-eyed creature peered through the opening. After briefly scanning the terrain, the creature disappeared back inside, and the object landed in the park.
To the shock of the witnesses, a door opened up on the bottom of the sphere, and the creature, or another similar one, walked out and into the park with a bizarre, boxy robot. The creature wore silvery overalls, bronze boots, and a large disk on its chest. It had a wide, but small, domed head that rested directly on its shoulders, and two white eyes with a red one in between them. The children guessed the being to be nearly three meters tall.
The creature uttered something, and a glowing rectangle appeared on the ground in front of it. He uttered another phrase causing it to disappear. He then adjusted something on the robot which caused it to start walking away.
Terrified, a boy in the crowd began to scream, but was paralyzed when the being turned in his direction. Light shot from the creature’s eyes as it locked its gaze on the boy, causing the crowd to panic. At that instant, the sphere, the robot, and the being simply disappeared.
Five minutes later, the visitors reappeared, but this time the being had a meter-long tube in his hand. He pointed it at a 16-year-old boy standing nearby, causing him to disappear entirely. The creature then climbed back inside the landed craft. The sphere ascended and flew off into the sky, and the teenager reappeared.
The Aftermath
A team of Soviet scientists investigated the original South Park landing, finding identical impressions in a diamond shape, and several deep, clean holes in the ground. The soil beneath an area of flattened grass had turned the consistency of stone. Based on the shape and depth of the depressions, Dr. Yuri Losovtsez estimated the object that landed to be as heavy as 11 tons.
The police investigated the incident, and the national Soviet information agency, TASS, reported on it, though they usually ignored anomalous reports. Newspapers took interest in the story, and reporters quickly discovered there were thousands of other sightings of red spheres and landings between the 21st and 29th of September. All took place between 6 and 9 p.m. Most involved only the glowing sphere; some involved the three-eyed alien and robot; some even involved short, greyish-green creatures in blue, loose-fitting overcoats.
In the U.S., the St.-Louis Dispatch picked up the story, and it was soon reported on by the New York Times. Western media generally reported that the object had only been witnessed by children, however, and did not draw much attention to the earlier sightings. The same sources often reported that there were two alien creatures present at the South Park landing, when in reality there was only one.
Significance
Under its strange veneer, the Voronezh incident contains elements common to some unlikely anomalous experiences.
First is the use of a tube-like instrument and the ability to paralyze onlookers. Similar hand-held devices are a common element in UFO stories, and they’re often used to affect witnesses from a distance. A French farmer named Maurice Masse was paralyzed in 1965 after a short being that emerged from a landed saucer pointed a small, straight instrument in his direction. Georges Gatay of Nouatre, France, saw a suited humanoid figure standing in front of a domed craft with a metal rod in its hand. Gatay and his crew of seven construction workers were all left paralyzed until the being and the craft simply vanished.
What’s more, remote paralysis and the use of tube-like devices can be traced back well before the flying saucer landings of the late 20th century. Like modern UFOnauts, fairies in the Middle Ages were reported to paralyze their witnesses, either by the stroke of their hand, or by use of little “wands.” The Paiute Aboriginals speak of a previous civilization in present-day California that used small tubes to stun their enemies from a distance. The Tzeltal of present-day Mexico share stories of the ikals: short, black humanoids that sometimes paralyze helpless onlookers.
Even shielded from outside media, the people of Voronezh saw the same strange beings and craft that people around the world have seen for centuries. This reminds us that the UFO phenomenon cannot be explained purely as a product of 20th-century American culture, as skeptics often allege. In one way or another, the witnesses’ experiences at Voronezh were real, and they are shared with people from all parts of the world.
Sources:
Jacques Vallee, "UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: a Cosmic Samizdat" (New York: Ballantine Books, 1992).
Esther B. Fein, "U.F.O. Landing in Fact, not Fantasy, the Russians Insist," in New York Times, October 11, 1989. Retrieved May 1: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/11/world/ufo-landing-is-fact-not-fantasy-the-russians-insist.html.
John Thor Dahlberg, "Voronezh Scientist Quoted by TASS Casts Doubt on UFO Landing Story," in Schenectady Gazette, October 11, 1989. Retrieved May 1: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19891011&id=-xQxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y-AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1042,2604606&hl=en.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain.
As the USSR relaxed its media stranglehold in the late 1980s, it was finally revealed that UFOs were seen behind the iron curtain as well as in the West. One of the first, and easily the most bizarre, UFO stories to make headlines was the landing in Voronezh, Russia, 1989. The case contains elements of both traditional UFO sightings and much older anomalous experiences, and proves that UFO landings aren’t just inventions of American pop culture, but part of an enduring, global phenomenon.
The Story
On September 27, 1989, three children at South Park in the Russian city of Voronezh noticed a pink light in the sky that turned into a dark red ball as it got closer. It was about 5-9 meters wide and moving in their direction. Vasya Surin, Genya Blinov, and Julia Sholokhova watched the ball as it approached and hovered in circles about 12 meters over the park. The children could see grass being disturbed under the sphere as it moved.
Suddenly, the sphere floated away, and returned a few minutes later. By this time, a crowd of about 40 adults had gathered, and watched as a small hatch opened on the bottom of the sphere. A three-eyed creature peered through the opening. After briefly scanning the terrain, the creature disappeared back inside, and the object landed in the park.
To the shock of the witnesses, a door opened up on the bottom of the sphere, and the creature, or another similar one, walked out and into the park with a bizarre, boxy robot. The creature wore silvery overalls, bronze boots, and a large disk on its chest. It had a wide, but small, domed head that rested directly on its shoulders, and two white eyes with a red one in between them. The children guessed the being to be nearly three meters tall.
The creature uttered something, and a glowing rectangle appeared on the ground in front of it. He uttered another phrase causing it to disappear. He then adjusted something on the robot which caused it to start walking away.
Terrified, a boy in the crowd began to scream, but was paralyzed when the being turned in his direction. Light shot from the creature’s eyes as it locked its gaze on the boy, causing the crowd to panic. At that instant, the sphere, the robot, and the being simply disappeared.
Five minutes later, the visitors reappeared, but this time the being had a meter-long tube in his hand. He pointed it at a 16-year-old boy standing nearby, causing him to disappear entirely. The creature then climbed back inside the landed craft. The sphere ascended and flew off into the sky, and the teenager reappeared.
The Aftermath
A team of Soviet scientists investigated the original South Park landing, finding identical impressions in a diamond shape, and several deep, clean holes in the ground. The soil beneath an area of flattened grass had turned the consistency of stone. Based on the shape and depth of the depressions, Dr. Yuri Losovtsez estimated the object that landed to be as heavy as 11 tons.
The police investigated the incident, and the national Soviet information agency, TASS, reported on it, though they usually ignored anomalous reports. Newspapers took interest in the story, and reporters quickly discovered there were thousands of other sightings of red spheres and landings between the 21st and 29th of September. All took place between 6 and 9 p.m. Most involved only the glowing sphere; some involved the three-eyed alien and robot; some even involved short, greyish-green creatures in blue, loose-fitting overcoats.
In the U.S., the St.-Louis Dispatch picked up the story, and it was soon reported on by the New York Times. Western media generally reported that the object had only been witnessed by children, however, and did not draw much attention to the earlier sightings. The same sources often reported that there were two alien creatures present at the South Park landing, when in reality there was only one.
Significance
Under its strange veneer, the Voronezh incident contains elements common to some unlikely anomalous experiences.
First is the use of a tube-like instrument and the ability to paralyze onlookers. Similar hand-held devices are a common element in UFO stories, and they’re often used to affect witnesses from a distance. A French farmer named Maurice Masse was paralyzed in 1965 after a short being that emerged from a landed saucer pointed a small, straight instrument in his direction. Georges Gatay of Nouatre, France, saw a suited humanoid figure standing in front of a domed craft with a metal rod in its hand. Gatay and his crew of seven construction workers were all left paralyzed until the being and the craft simply vanished.
What’s more, remote paralysis and the use of tube-like devices can be traced back well before the flying saucer landings of the late 20th century. Like modern UFOnauts, fairies in the Middle Ages were reported to paralyze their witnesses, either by the stroke of their hand, or by use of little “wands.” The Paiute Aboriginals speak of a previous civilization in present-day California that used small tubes to stun their enemies from a distance. The Tzeltal of present-day Mexico share stories of the ikals: short, black humanoids that sometimes paralyze helpless onlookers.
Even shielded from outside media, the people of Voronezh saw the same strange beings and craft that people around the world have seen for centuries. This reminds us that the UFO phenomenon cannot be explained purely as a product of 20th-century American culture, as skeptics often allege. In one way or another, the witnesses’ experiences at Voronezh were real, and they are shared with people from all parts of the world.
Sources:
Jacques Vallee, "UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: a Cosmic Samizdat" (New York: Ballantine Books, 1992).
Esther B. Fein, "U.F.O. Landing in Fact, not Fantasy, the Russians Insist," in New York Times, October 11, 1989. Retrieved May 1: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/11/world/ufo-landing-is-fact-not-fantasy-the-russians-insist.html.
John Thor Dahlberg, "Voronezh Scientist Quoted by TASS Casts Doubt on UFO Landing Story," in Schenectady Gazette, October 11, 1989. Retrieved May 1: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19891011&id=-xQxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y-AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1042,2604606&hl=en.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain.
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