Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, ancient artifacts, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
Rocket Ghosts, as is common knowledge, are the spirits left behind by long since exploded aerodynamic artillery. The most commonly sighted ghost rockets haunt the streets of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where they’ve been seen playing Dance Dance Revolution in empty shops at midnight.
Ghost Rockets, on the other hand, are a strange aerial phenomenon seen thousands of times in 1946 Sweden. They were caught on radar, reported hundreds of times – and even allegedly left a crater in the bottom of a lake. And perhaps the strangest part – according to an alleged government top secret memo, is this:
“These phenomena are obviously the result of a high technical skill which cannot be credited to any presently known culture on earth.”
Governments have had a long, weird, alleged history with UFOs. Remember a few weeks ago when we dropped ol’ Henry McElroy on you? He’s the retiring politician that said every single UFO/Alien story you’ve ever heard is absolutely true, or something like that. Well that’s the kind of upfront no-nonsense attitude we’ve all come to expect from all of our world governments – especially Sweden.
We know, we know – normally when you think of Sweden you just think ‘Well, they screwed Norway again,’ but this time we want you to think about the strange, extremely large UFO flap they had in 1946. Wikipedia really sums things up:
“Ghost Rockets (also called Scandinavian ghost rockets) were mysterious rocket- or missile-shaped unidentified flying objects sighted in 1946, mostly in Sweden and nearby countries. About 2,000 ghost rockets sightings were logged between May and December 1946, with peaks on the 9 and 11 August 1946. 200 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 meteors. For example, the peaks of the sightings, on the 9 and 11 August, also fall within the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. However, most ghost rocket sightings did not occur during meteor shower activity, and furthermore displayed characteristics inconsistent with meteors, such as reported maneuverability and being trackable on radar.”
There was another strange characteristic attributed to some of the ghost rockets as well – they made no sound. There it was, a giant piece of machinery chugging across the sky and not a peep was made – even when they’d explode. According to the August 13, 1946 New York Times:
“One of the best of the puzzling reports came from a meteorologist who observed an unknown object closely while he was outdoors watching cloud formations with a telescope. At first the meteorologist thought he was seeing an airplane on the horizon, brightly reflecting sunlight. The object’s very high speed soon disproved this idea. In a few seconds, the observer got a clear view of the ghost rocket: It was, he judged, ninety feet long, torpedo-shaped, and had a shiny metal surface. He estimated the object was but 2,000 meters distant, but made no noticeable noise. Abruptly the ghost rocket exploded — again without a sound.”
Certainly that sighting from an unnamed yet trusted Swedish meteorologist is enough to convince anyone of the credible oddity that are Scandinavian Ghost Rockets. But if you’re the type that prefers to read it in top secret government documents, well then – here you go:
“One of these? objects? was observed? by a Swedish? technical? expert near his home on the edge of a lake.?? The object crashed or landed in the lake and he carefully noted its azimuth from his point of observation.?? Swedish intelligence was sufficiently confident in his observation that a naval salvage team was sent to the lake.?? Operations were underway during the visit of USAFE officers. Divers had discovered a previously uncharted crater on the floor of the lake.?No further information is available, but we have been promised knowledge of the results.?? In their opinion, the observation was reliable, and they believe that the depression on the floor of the lake, which did not appear on current hydrographic charts, was in fact caused by a flying saucer.”
And there you have it. These things were flying around like mosquitoes in a swamp in ’46 Sweden. They were sighted by the educated, recorded on radar and some say one of them smashed a crater into the bottom of a lake. Were they UFOs? Certainly – because nobody knows what they were. But were they space ships?
Well…
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