UFO invasion of the BALTIC States

The only scientific institution in which they continued to collect and study reports about UFOs, without ridiculing citizens and without coming up with strained "natural" explanations for what they saw, in those years remained the Vilnius Observatory. In 1978, when large‑scale research on the "Grid-AN program" began in the USSR, its director Vytautas Strajis handed over the collected evidence to Moscow scientists.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, UFOs in those years came across random eyewitnesses and people who are well acquainted with the sky. In January 1974, a UFO over Vilnius was observed by astrophysicist student V. Shlapkauskas:

Around 9-10 p.m. I watched the sky, it was quite clear. Suddenly I noticed that a yellow star of the first magnitude was floating in the sky from the south to the northeast at an altitude of about 30 degrees above the horizon. Its speed was less than that of the satellite. I directed a 12 cm reflector at the star with an increase of 50 times. It turned out that an oblong and dark object was visible, and two yellow "lamps" were shining at both ends of it. The object was darker than the background of the night sky. It was observed for several minutes and, without changing either the speed or the direction of movement, disappeared into the horizon.

Here's what he said:

On August 20, 1974, amateur astronomers K. Chernis, R. Klimovich, and Ya. Klimovich observed another object over Vilnius.

The object was spotted at 20.24 Moscow time in the western part of the sky

the description they compiled says:

Altitude 6 degrees, azimuth 119 degrees from the south during twilight after sunset in the form of a very bright star (-6) white. From 20.30, the object was observed with a binocular with a lens diameter of 74 mm and a magnification of x 40 in the form of a triangle with a diameter of 4 arc minutes. It was visible as a brightly glowing body of a pale triangular shape with sharp contours. The object changed its shape and color, over time it changed its shape to a quadrilateral and a rhombus. The intensity of the color changed over time, the shine fell, but not very smoothly, but in leaps. A periodically appearing star-shaped detail could be observed on the body.

At 21.09, the entire object abruptly weakened for a few seconds and was visible through the telescope (-4 magnitude), but soon became bright again. B-21.13 the object turned sharply red and was red until the end of the observation. At times, the clouds near the body dispersed, and then the star-shaped condensed body was as bright as possible. At 21.25, clouds entered the area, and the object was observed in the cloud breaks for another 6 minutes until the clouds completely covered it. By this time, it had again assumed a triangular shape.

The same UFO was seen by the teacher of the 1st secondary school P. P. Lazdauskas, his son L. Lazdauskas, students of the school V. Shlyazas, V. Krasauskas, A. Belchiauskas, an employee of the military enlistment office A. Stalmokas and many other residents of the city of Raseiniai. It looked like a very bright white star to the naked eye, but a triangle with three edges was clearly visible through binoculars. The angle at the lower vertex changed over time, which is why the shape of the triangle changed somewhat.

The brightness of the triangle in different places was not the same, in some places it seemed as if transparent. Teacher P. P. Lazdauskas noted the slow rotation of the object around the axis. Due to the high altitude above the horizon, it was very difficult to observe. There was a very slow movement from north to northeast, about 5 degrees in 2-3 hours. In the evening, small stars lit up in the corners of the triangle, which then disappeared. Some claimed that by the evening three small dots separated from it, which moved away from the object and disappeared.

After dusk, the UFO became a "very bright star", comparable in brilliance to Vega. The object was observed until about 22 hours and finally "lost" among the stars.

Comparing the UFO sightings from Vilnius, Raseinia, and Radviliskis, Vytautas Strajis calculated that this object was at an altitude of 17-20 km and had a diameter of 140 m. He hung for half a day almost in one place north of the city of Raseiniai and only then flew towards Vilnius.

On June 24, 1975, another huge UFO crossed the territory of Estonia. Ufologists Tunne Kelam, Velpo Leito, Jaak Lykhmus, and Yuri Lina have compiled a detailed description of its route.

The object appeared in the afternoon, apparently from somewhere in Finland. The border guards announced the alarm. Over Tallinn, this huge object made its first stop, turning into a triangle, a line, a ball, etc. It was silver, with a metallic sheen.

At about 17 o'clock, he was noticed over Kehra by 27-year-old teacher Mati Vaktramae, graduate Alar Viirman, 17-year-old Kaale Miaekalli, and hundreds of other people. The weather was warm, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing moderate (at least at an altitude of 16 km) to the southwest. By the evening, the wind with a force of 5-6 points turned to the south. The object slowly moved to the east and finally stopped. At the same time, they were watching him from Aegwijdu and Rapla. Witnesses from Kehra described the object as a triangular pyramid that turned over from time to time and constantly seemed to sway. The older residents of Kehra took it for a weather balloon. The Tallinn Meteorological Station responded to the researchers ' requests that they did not have such devices. In addition, no weather balloons were launched in these parts.

A lot of people watched the object in Aegvijdu, among them– Eda and Erna Karsanov. According to witnesses, there were only thin cirrus clouds and this T‑shaped object in the sky. There was some kind of "funnel" in its lower part, and in the upper part, there was a triangular protrusion. The UFO material seemed transparent. Technicians from the Aegwijdus television tower determined the height of its flight at 18 km. Since it seemed to be the size of an airplane at normal altitude, the object must have been huge. Local military units were in an anxious state, because they were always warned about all flying objects, and they knew nothing about this one. At about 19 o'clock, a fighter plane appeared. Near Tallinn, another fighter plane was spotted chasing a UFO.

About 21 hours, the residents of Kehra saw the object worse: the sky began to be covered with clouds. At about 22 hours, the UFO headed for Kivyili. From the Rakver fire tower, they watched his flight. Engineer Uno Kylviste followed this object together with neighbors between 22-23 hours from Rakvere. He also noted in his message that the UFO changed its appearance and the strength of the glow. In 2.5-fold binoculars, it was visible that for about 22 hours the UFO was a cylinder, about 22.30-a triangle, two sides of which shone with orange light. By 23 o'clock, the glow became weaker, and the UFO flew to the east.

During sunset, the object was observed from the Kohtla-Jarve area. Erwin Waher from Ulva wrote to the editorial office of the newspaper "Noorte Haal" that he was returning home from haymaking when he suddenly noticed a matte‑white ball the size of a tennis ball floating out from behind the clouds. It was located in the northwestern part of the sky at about 40 degrees above the horizon. It seemed that he was standing in one place. Looking closer, Erwin noticed that it was not completely round, but elongated in a vertical plane. From time to time, a UFO disappeared behind the clouds. About two hours later, the balloon began to move to the northeast, towards Narva. The height above the horizon remained the same. In the twilight that came after sunset, the UFO suddenly shone brightly. The witness got the impression that searchlights were lit on him. Soon, this light disappeared. The movement of the UFO was very slow. It seemed that the object was at a great height. At midnight, the UFO that descended below began to disappear against the pale north‑eastern sky.

The Baltic countries were not bypassed by UFOs of ordinary forms – in the form of disks, cigaroids, and balls.

The first time I saw such an object was in 1974, in the month of March. I don't remember the exact date, but the clock showed 17.35, I looked. I was traveling by bus from Tallinn to Rakvere. He was flying at an altitude of about 300-400 m from the ground. The object was yellow-red in color, flying slowly, about 140-170 km/h, like a fighter going to land. The exact location is 5 kilometers from the village of Kuusalu (from Tallinn, it will be 39 km along the Leningrad highway). I paid attention to this object because planes never fly in that direction. He was flying from the south to the north, towards the sea. The color was the same throughout the object, but there were dark circles, like portholes.

Estonian X wrote to the Commission on AI. Kareva:

The next evening, on Finnish television in the "News", I saw and heard people talking about this object, its route and time coincided with mine. They showed a map where the route over Estonia, the Gulf of Finland, and Finland was marked." At the beginning of October 1974, Vambola Vaarmets, Mati Kruuskand, Mati Tutk and Ago Pärn were walking from the bus stop to Alatskivi at midnight. On the right was a wide field, on the left-a low shrub.

At a distance of 300 meters, they suddenly noticed a ball with a diameter of about a meter on the field, which glowed like the Moon. He was moving towards the main road at a height of about a meter from the ground. As they approached the road, the speed of the fireball increased. At the roadside, he suddenly disappeared, leaving no traces. The route of its movement, observed by them, was about 200 m. The glow during the observation, about 30 seconds, was uniform.

This object was photographed by Estonian students on the afternoon of February 5, 1973, 10 km from the top of Yamantau. The experts 'conclusion states that" a color slide... it is an authentic photo, and not a double exposure, an emulsion defect or the result of directed film processing." Skeptics, however, say that clouds over mountain peaks often take a lenticular shape

Two months later, on November 24, 1974, Estonian ufologist Yuri Lina himself saw a spherical object.

On Sunday evening, I felt very cheerful. An irresistible impulse to find a secluded place in the forest made me call two friends, and we went to our old observation platform. When we arrived at the place, we noticed a strange red light above the trees. Not a sharp light, but a diffused heat. We went to the place we knew and immediately felt what we would see. After a short time, the area around us lit up in a strange way, and our bodies became extraordinary to the touch. It was dark, but it was getting lighter and lighter around us. At the same time, the temperature increased. It was about half-past eleven at night. We heard a noise, something like the striking of a match, but much louder. A green glowing ball appeared from the east and hovered 2 m above our heads. It was about 1.5 m in diameter. We broke out exclamations: "This is a UFO!" The balloon flew past and disappeared after about 100 m. We felt very happy. It was a wonderful feeling. All three of us felt a sense of complete security, that no one could do anything wrong to us...

he said already in exile:

Early in the morning of August 7, 1975, at about half-past three, in the Estonian village of Aniya (6 km from Kehra), several people saw a cigar-shaped UFO.

We were returning from the evening in Kehra. >When we came to Aniya, we stopped in our yard to talk. Suddenly there was a flash, we turned around and noticed a bright cigar-shaped object in the western part of the sky. It was slightly tilted and pointed upwards. Soon the object became brighter and lit up the entire sky like lightning, then assumed a constant brightness. A little later, the "cigar" disappeared. The duration of the phenomenon is 15-20 seconds. There was no sound. The object did not change its color. He was white all the time.

Leeter Sots told ufologists:

However, it was not mass UFO sightings that helped to legalize the research of "saucers" in Estonia, but the good old nature. On February 11, 1976, over the entire northwest of the USSR, including Estonia, people saw the flight of a grandiose car. Unaccustomed to the heavenly sights, people thought that it was something unusual.

The object was flying approximately between the stations of Nimme and Rahumae from the side of the TPI buildings. The flight altitude can be considered equal to 1-1. 5 km. The time of day is 18.55 plus or minus 2 minutes. I didn't see the wings, because it was dusk, but the body looked like an airplane or an airship. Behind, a fiery pulsating stream came out of two exhaust pipes in the tail… Ahead of the streams of flames, a row of lighted windows began, I took them for the portholes of a passenger plane. The light in the windows did not pulsate, and if so, it was very little, reflecting the beams of the exhaust pipes. In front of the body, about 0.25 of the entire length, there was a dark conical part in which there were no windows...

A. Tooma was near the Tallinn station that evening‑Nimme:

On February 11, 1976, in the evening, a little before 19 o'clock, I noticed, while skiing, a body slowly flying from approximately the northeast and moving to the southwest.

In Nimma, the grandiose phenomenon was watched by H. Halliste:

this is how the "Baltic car" appeared before H. Halliste

The body was in my field of vision for about 3-4 minutes. Attention was attracted by an unusual glow around the final part of the body. The correct row of light sources on the side of this body was striking. Looking more closely, I noticed that the glow came from thin sheaves of parallel rays of light (about 20 in number) stretching back, which, breaking up in clouds of gas or steam or fog around the body, seemed like bright blue sparks. The sources of the radiation of the sheaves of light were not visible. The same pattern, but to a much weaker extent, was observed around the front part of the body. The light of the row of lights on the side of the body was yellowish – the sources themselves were square. The body of the flying body had a bronze-brown tone.

In Figure A. Tooma from Tallinn, it looks like a real rocket with portholes

The body of the body was very poorly lit, so it differed from the background of the sky in the tone of light. The gases around the back of the body swirled in slow-moving twists. When I was behind the traverse of the body, a blue light source of a circular shape became visible, which (presumably) was located above the contour of the body…Since the body had a cigar-shaped shape, I could not detect any bearing planes, I decided that I was dealing with an airship. This was confirmed by the low speed of the body. I was surprised only by the small size of the body compared to the size of the lamps taken for windows. In my opinion, it is impossible to take this phenomenon for a car – there are too many signs of the technical origin of the body…

The Tyravera Observatory addressed the witnesses of such a colorful phenomenon on radio, television, and through popular newspapers in Russian and Estonian, including a local television program. Astronomers collected hundreds of letters, which later helped to recreate the true picture of what was happening.

The "Baltic Bolide", as astronomers called it, was also seen over Leningrad.

At about 19 o'clock on February 11, thousands of Leningraders witnessed a rare sight: a large meteor body slowly sailed through the darkened sky of the city in the direction from the northwest to the southeast. Enveloped in flames and accompanied by a bright cloud, it briefly illuminated the evening sky. During the flight, numerous sheaves of sparks were clearly visible, and a hissing sound was heard. 10-12 seconds and the celestial alien disappeared from sight…

Two days later, a note by journalist V. Savin appeared in Komsomolskaya Pravda:

As in Estonia, there were also people who "saw" technical details in the flight of the car, but... it was not a UFO! Mihkel Jyveer and Theophilus Tynnisson from the Tyraver Observatory conducted a detailed analysis of the phenomenon:

The geography of the letters alone – a fireball was seen in all regions of Estonia-suggests that we are dealing with a body moving high above the Ground. Let the" burning plane " seem to the residents of Tallinn, Tartu, Hiiumaa, etc. just a few kilometers away, it did not fly through our republic at all since all observers in Estonia saw it flying past them from the northeast ... From Leningrad, the fireball was visible in the southwest… From this, we conclude that at the zenith the body was moving somewhere between Leningrad and Narva, but closer to Narva. A glance at the map shows that the path of the fireball passed approximately 200 km northeast of the Tallinn line‑Tartu… According to the Committee of Geophysics under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the fireball flew from the northwest to the southeast through Staraya Russa and the Marevo of the Novgorod region at an azimuth of 146 degrees. The fireball went out south of Selizharov, Kalinin region, where the remains of the flying body could reach the Ground

He said:

This message did not fall into the hands of astronomers, but it perfectly shows that the falling body ended its flight here:

On February 11, 1976, after 19 hours, at an altitude below the flying supersonic planes, a huge fiery‑red triangle suddenly broke out, and there were many smoke and fire parts in it," wrote A. Belova from the village of Selishche in the Selizharovsky district of the Kalinin region. – The base of the triangle, in my opinion, was 4 m long. The triangle flew to the west, between the villages of Sosnovatka and Mosolovo, near Lake Volga. The triangle disappeared very quickly. 10 minutes later (maybe seconds? - m. G.) after the disappearance, I heard muffled explosions and even felt tremors under my feet, which I had never experienced before.

He said:

According to the calculations of astronomers, the speed of the object was 6.7-13.3 km/s, or 24,000-46,000 km / h. Averaging, we can assume that the flight speed of the fireball was about 10 km/s. The speed is too high for a satellite burning up in the sky. There is only one assumption left – it was a bright car that flew along a gentle trajectory. Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences A. Simonenko confirmed the calculations of his colleagues from Estonia.

According to him, the car was moving in the atmosphere, deviating from the north‑south direction by 34 degrees to the east. The car passed west of Leningrad, over Staraya Russa and over the Marevo of the Novgorod region. It moved along a very high and very gentle trajectory, which is why it was so unusually long-about 500 km, not only within the Soviet Union but also in Finland. At the coast of the Baltic Sea, its height was more than 100 km, and at the end of the trajectory – in the southern part of the Kalinin region – more than 30-40 km. The car had a huge size, about 100 m.

The photo of the "Baltic bolide" does not show any technical signs

This ufo incident led to unexpected results: people remembered the addresses where they can report the mysterious phenomena they saw in the sky. The Tyravera Observatory and other scientific institutions began to receive dozens and hundreds of letters about real UFOs over the Baltic States. All of them were in the dossier of the Grid-AN program in 1978.

A letter from Vytautas Strajis about the transmission of messages about UFOs to the Grid-AN program"

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About author:

Serg Toporkov Ufologist, Ph.D., blogger, I go on my own expeditions for UFOs. I use scientific methods to investigate the UAP phenomenon. Write to me

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UFO  1974  Vilnius  invasion  UFO sightings  cigar-shaped UFO  cigar-shaped