'X' Zone Broadcast Network - Clas Svahn: Ghost Rockets, Swedish UFO Research and the AFU

 

My guest this week was Swedish Ufologist, Clas Svahn. Like me, he had become interested in UFOs at a young age, and like me, he wanted to get the first-hand observations of those who reported UFOs. We both were interested in checking the information that was circulating about UFOs. You can watch the show by accessing it on the video log to the left and listen to it by accessing the audio version just below.

Clas Svahn

One of the first things I asked about was the Ghost Rocket sightings made in Scandinavia and then in northern Europe. It had seemed that they began in 1946 and by the end of the year, had tapered off. According Clas, that wasn’t quite accurate. He mentioned sightings from the 1930s, though these seemed to be more about strange lights in the sky rather than some solid craft. After the end of the Second World War, the sightings of cigar-shaped craft began in depth, and although it was reported that the phenomenon disappeared by the end of 1946, sightings continued until the 1990s.

One of the interesting aspects of this were reports of the rockets dropping into lakes around Sweden. According to Clas, they were seen o hit the water and caused huge splashes. Comprehensive searches by military divers failed to find wreckage or evidence of these events. Clas said that there were no crashes onto land, contrary to what had been reported by others.

I did ask about reports that the Swedish military had suppressed newspaper reports of the Ghost Rockets, but Clas said that wasn’t the case. He also mentioned that he had seen the military files about the Ghost Rockets. Like others, I had heard that the Soviets (as opposed to the Russians) had been using the Ghost Rockets to intimidate the Swedish government, but that seemed to be wrong as well. Clas had the opportunity to review the Russian files on the rockets and there was no evidence of the Soviets using them or knowing what they were.

In the end, there seems to be no solution. The identity of the Ghost Rockets, whatever they might be, was not discovered. The important thing here was that the man who had done extensive research into the Ghost Rockets said that he didn’t know what they were which seems to be the same conclusion reached by the Swedish military.

Clas said that there was a serious attempt by the military to find an answer. Unlike the situation here, in Sweden, there was good cooperation between the military authorities and the civilian researchers. Having had access to more than a thousand reports made over the years, Clas found no evidence of the sort of sloppy and biased work done in the United States by the Air Force, the CIA and the Condon Committee.

We also talked about the Archives for the Unexplained (AFU), which began in 1973 and continues until today. According to Clas, that archives span more than 7000 square feet and is expanding. The collection includes the files and data from around the world but seems to have a disproportion of English-speaking files, many of them collected from Great Britain. This is an on-going project and much of the material has been scanned so that it is digitally available to researchers around the world. As noted in the name, they collect more than just UFO data, but have an interest in all paranormal activity. They are cooperating with the CUFOS project designed to digitize the Center’s UFO files. Those interested can find more information at www.afu.se.

Next week, I’ll be chatting with Tom Deuley about his investigations into UFOs. He has been around this field about as long as I have. We’ll get some interesting insights from him.

'X' Zone Broadcast Network - Clas Svahn (And Swedish Abductions)

 

This week I reached out to Clas Svahn. I was curious about Sweden’s UFO scene and if it matched that of the United States. The first case we talked about was an abduction case. I wondered if the abduction situation in Sweden mirrored ours and learned that abduction in Sweden is somewhat rare and it is often a combination of contact and abduction, rather than just abduction. The case was interesting because there was another, independent witness to it, who called the police. There is much more to the tale than this first, single abduction. Unfortunately, the police arrived after the UFO was gone, and the mysterious telephone caller has not been identified. You can listen to the show here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/51697969

And Clas mentioned what he called an interrupted abduction. This was something I have never heard of and found it interesting. Not sure what to make of it, but there are some implications that might provide an answer or two about alien abduction.

Clas Svahn

We did talk about crashes of strange craft or phenomena, in Sweden as well. It seems that witnesses see strange craft that dive into lakes. No wreckage of any kind has ever been recovered and apparently, these objects don’t hit dry land. It is another phenomenon that seems to be unique to Sweden, or maybe unique to all of Scandinavia.

I also asked about the reaction of Sweden to the current UFO sightings here. Clas said that the Swedish Air Force hasn’t been bothered in the way our Navy has been and that they have not chased UFOs for a long time.

One of the take-aways here is that the UFO phenomena in Sweden is different than what we have here. I found it interesting simply because you would think there would be an overlap in the types of reports. Of course, that might be explained by the cultural differences or the difference in emphasis in the UFO reports.

And, of course, we did talk about the Archives for the Unexplained (AFU), which covers more than just UFOs. This is an effort to create a repository files, documents and other material covering the paranormal with an emphasis on UFOs. You can learn more about the AFU here:

www.afu.se

The show is, I believe quite provocative given the wide range of the discussion. For those interested in the UFO phenomenon in the rest of the world, this will provide some insight.

Next week, I’ll talk with Curt Collins about his The Saucers Time Forget series as well as his blog, https://blueburrylines.com.

UAPs and National UFO Historical Records Center

 

As most people know, I’m more than a little skeptical of the new government interest in UFOs. We seem to be traveling a path that has been worn out in the past. A claim of interest and investigation that devolves into a propaganda campaign to debunk the idea of alien visitation with half-truths and a suggestion of National Security.

However, there is good news from the civilian side of the house. David Marler, the executive director of the newly created National UFO Historical Records Center, announced the establishment of the largest historical archives that is dedicated to the preservation and centralization of UFO material in the United States.

Marler said that multiple official agencies have begun programs to study the phenomenon and that there have been civilian researchers entering the field as well. They don’t have access to the vast array of historical material in the hands of private UFO researchers. The National UFO Historical Records Center has been created to gather that material. While, at present the physical holdings are in Albuquerque, New Mexico, there are efforts to digitize the materials for, as Marler says, “global accessibility.”

David Marler and his pals and lots of file cabinets.

Marler said that there is a vast array of UFO files and collections already destined to be added to the growing inventory. He added:

Currently, the collection consists of materials from over 25 countries derived from 70+ U.S. and foreign individuals. Some of the largest U.S. collections served as the cornerstone for this center. This included diverse materials from the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). We are also interested in anyone wanting to donate historical UFO/UAP materials to us. Efforts are underway to acquire a building to house this national treasure and make it readily accessible to researchers, academics, and the general public. Funding and donations will be vital to making this vision a reality. Thus, the creation of the non-profit organization to facilitate achieving that goal. We look forward to working collaboratively with similar free-standing worldwide UFO/UAP archives and those within the university setting. Together, we can preserve the history and, perhaps, gain insights into the mystery.

Marler did provide contact information: National UFO Historical Records Center, which can be found at P.O> Box 15541 Rio Rancho, NM 87174. On the Internet you can find them at www.nufohrc.org and you can email David Marler, the Executive Director at dbmarler@outlook.co.

This lines up with the work of Clas Svahn, the Swedish researcher who has been collecting materials for the Archives for the Unexplained or the AFU since 1973. The Archives contains information about paranormal activity as well as UFOs. You can listen to my interview with Clas here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/51697969

read more about the AFU here (along with links to the radio interviews:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/search?q=Clas+Svahn

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2022/10/x-zone-broadcast-network-clas-svahn-and.html

And civilians continue to report interesting UFO sightings. On October 1 of this year, the witness in Newville, Pennsylvania, said that while walking home he noticed a series of lights on what seemed to be a triangular-shaped object. The sky was a pale gray with light rain. The object was moving swiftly and according to the witness “sort of slid through the sky with no noise.” There were rows of lights on the object that blinked from red to white to green and seemed to be similar to LED lights. They filled the triangular shape of the UFO. The object was below the clouds and had a sharply defined triangular shape.

In Westminster, Colorado, on October 2 of this year, the witness was outside when four faint lights approached. There was a light at each corner of the triangular-shaped UFO and one in the center. The witness said that the object seemed to be translucent and made no noise. It disappeared traveling to the south.

And finally, on November 19 of this year, four people in Joplin, Missouri, said that they were outside about dusk, looking for Jupiter when they spotted a group of blue and yellow lights moving slowly toward them. They thought, at first, it was a formation but as it approached, they saw the dark, triangular shape and that the lights were at each corner of the triangle with one in the center which is an interesting coincidence with the Westminster sighting.

They thought the UFO was about five thousand feet above them, but said there was no way to judge the altitude or the size. They believed it to be large. It moved with no sound and eventually turned to the north, disappearing in the distance. Although they tried to photograph the UFO, it was too dark to be seen and the lights were just bright pin points in the video.

Coast-to-Coast AM -- UFO Archives and Sightings

 

Just the other day, I saw a request from MUFON to researchers looking to find a home for their files to think of MUFON as that repository. It wasn’t all that long ago that I learned that Dave Marler, along with Mark Rodeghier, were working to not only digitize the Center for UFO Studies files, that included much of material collected by NICAP but to collect the files of other UFO researchers as well. The project is called The National UFO Historical Records Center. For those interested, the APRO files are still in the hands of a family member but steps are being taken to retrieve them for the Center. Those files would be a great asset.

Clas Svahn in Sweden, has been collecting files of both UFO and paranormal interest for his AFU (Archives for the Unexplained). I know that Clas Svahn has been in contact with Dave Marler in Albuquerque to share their information. Philip Mantle, the owner and publisher of the Flying Disk Press in England, has just shipped a great deal of information to Marler.

Marler has organized the effort to create digital files of this vast amount of information. There is an army of volunteers using the latest in technology to convert paper files, audio recordings, and all other kinds of collected material into a form that can be used for online research purposes. Although it is in its infant stage, a great deal of material has already been digitized.

MUFON’s effort is known as Project Aquarius. The name, and not MUFON’s project, is somewhat problematic (Project Aquarius being one of the first of the discredited MJ-12 documents). I do know that some researchers have donated material to the project including the estates of Len Stringfield and Bob Pratt.

A sighting that I would add to an archive took place on April 7 of this year. The witness in Skowhegan, Maine, said that he had been studying glowing orb UFO sightings and wondering why they seemed to fly in triangular formations. He had been working at the computer for about two hours, when he noticed something in the sky that resembled the objects of his research.

He said that the object was green, and looked as if it was triangular shaped. He heard no sound, said the lights were fluctuating as opposed to flashing and it was floating across the sky.

He had created a circuit various components including fishing magnets with the idea of generating a high Tesla magnetic field. He routed it through his computer. He believes that this might have unraveled part of the UFO mystery, the suggestion being that he had created an EM field like those reported in many UFO sightings.

Finally, from Broomfield, Colorado, the witness said that he noticed an object that changed color on April 3 of this year. He said that he was looking west, over Boulder, Colorado, and watched the object for ten minutes. He said that it was circular, that it changed color and vanished after those ten minutes.

The Bloomfield, Colorado UFO

The UFO seemed to be shaped like that reported in the Japanese Air Line 1628 case from November 17, 1986. The pilot in that case reported a UFO that was confirmed by radar at the time. I provided a chapter about the sighting in The Government UFO Files, for those interested in the whole story. I will note here that I did interview John Callahan, who was the chief FAA investigator on the JAL case. The drawing made by the pilot of the jet looked like the object in the pictures taken in Colorado.

'X' Zone Broadcast Network: Dr. James Horan and the Journal of Scientific Exploration

 

This week I spoke with Dr. James Horan, who is the new editor of the Journal of Scientific Exploration. We had published an article about the Ramey Memo in the Journal in Spring 2002. You can listen to the discussion here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/48669630

We did talk about the Ramey Memo and that much could be learned from it. Because it was a document with a known and proven provenance, the legitimacy of

Dr. James Horan

it was not in question. The photograph shows General Ramey holding the document. We know that J. Bond Johnson took the picture and given that it was transmitted over the INS newswire with a time and date stamp on it, we know the picture was taken on the afternoon of July 8, 1947. I have to laugh because this is so well documented while other documents just show up in mail boxes with no clue as to where they came from and no way to verify the legitimacy of the documents. Just type Ramey Memo into the search engine and you will find a number of articles and discussions about it.

We discussed the experiment we conducted as a way of testing whether or not priming had any influence in the interpretation of the Ramey Memo. For those interested in the experiment, it can be found here, in the Spring 2002 edition of the Journal of Scientific Exploration:

www.scientificexploration.org

And, of course, we had to talk about the beginning of his interest in the Roswell case and the fact that there is no controversy about one aspect of it. Everyone agrees that something fell. It is the identity of the object that is in question. I did mention that the Air Force, in their massive report issued in the middle of the 1990s, pretty well eliminated any explanation other than a Project Mogul balloon. Of course, I, was well as many others, find that explanation lacking any authenticity. There was nothing classified about the balloon launches in New Mexico. It was the ultimate purpose that was classified, but even the name, Mogul, was known to those involved with the project.

All this sort of bypasses the discussion about vetting the witnesses, the difference between anecdotal testimony and scientific observation, and some of the failures of the Roswell witnesses. This wasn’t a way to dismiss the Roswell case, but a way of validating aspects of it.

We wrapped up our discussion with some comments about Avi Loeb’s Galileo Project and the search for alien artifacts. Loeb’s theories, while not universally accepted in the scientific community, have moved the discussion from the realm of the impossible to the realm of learning a new way of finding other intelligent life forms out there.

And, of course, we provided additional information about the Journal and Society for Scientific Exploration.

Next up is Clas Svahn, a Swedish UFO researcher, whose interests expand beyond just the UFO. We’ll talk about his latest book, Files of the Unexplained.

'X' Zone Broadcast Network - David Marler and Triangular UFOs

 

My guest was David Marler, who I had invited on to talk about triangular-shaped UFOs and the scanning project that involved files and documents from a variety of sources, including CUFOS, NICAP and CSI (Civilian Saucer Intelligence). Before I introduced him, I had a couple of other comments to make. You can listen to the radio broadcast here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49264301

And you can watch the show here:

https://rumble.com/vz47dh-kevin-randle-interviews-david-marler-cufos-scanning-project.html?mref=yqaz3&mc=8uhns

I mentioned that back in the middle of the 1990s, I hosted a radio show on KTSM-AM in El Paso, Texas. Although it was mainly about UFOs, I did delve into some

Hosting the radio show in Texas.

other aspects of the paranormal. I was able to book many guests who had experiences with UFOs, investigated UFOs, and believed them to be alien spacecraft. On the other hand, I couldn’t get any skeptics to participate in the program with the exception of Philip Klass, probably because I knew him personally.

This is relevant in the world today because it seems that it is easier to book a skeptic than someone on the other side of the fence. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it might be because they know they won’t get a free pass on my program. I’m going to ask tough questions and I expect the guest to answer the questions rather than dance off into evasion.

The second point I talked about was a new challenge to the veracity of the General Exon interviews. One fellow approached CUFOS asking for copies of the tapes and transcripts. Told that they were unavailable, he said that he would tell anyone who asked that the quotes were unsubstantiated.

Well, that’s untrue, and for those who would like to see the evidence, scroll on down to the following article. I’ve laid it out there, again, in great detail, including the letter from Exon acknowledging that the quotes are accurate.

David Marler

I brought on David Marler, and we began a discussion of the history of triangular-shaped UFOs. He did point out that sightings of triangles were not new, as some of the skeptics had suggested. One even talked about the inspiration being Star Wars… but, of course sightings of triangles predated the release of the movie in 1977

 As an example of these older triangle reports, he mentioned a sighting from the Albany, Georgia, area on January 28, 1953. It involved both a visual sighting and a radar contact. The Air Force labeled the visual sightings as “astro, (Venus),” meaning an astronomical answer, and the radar as “unidentified.”

Ed Ruppelt, wrote an article about UFOs for True, and one of the cases he touched on was this sighting. He wrote:

On January 28, 1953, at 9:35 p.m., a jet pilot near Albany, Ga., spotted “an extremely bright light” at 10 o’clock high. At first he thought it was another aircraft or an unusually bright star, but when he went up to 10,000 feet it appeared to be ahead and a bit below him. When first spotted, the light was white, but later it began changing constantly from white to orange and back to white again. The object was in view for 17 minutes. In the last 15 second it changed shape from circular to triangular, and the triangles split into two triangles – one immediately above the other – and both disappeared as if someone had snapped off a light.

The pilot called Albany, Ga., but before he could make his amazed report, ground asked him if he had seen anything unusual. They advised him that ground radar had picked up both his jet and a strange target. On the radar scope, when the jet had speeded up, the target had stepped up too, to maintain its lead on him.

There was, of course, a report to ATIC that provided some of the same information. The only differences are minor. For example, in the Air Force report, the object, for the last three minutes of the sighting, cycled from white to orange and back, but in the last fifteen seconds “turned a deep red color and triangular in shape… No trail or exhaust… PRPLN (propulsion) SYS UNK.”

David mentioned that the older reports suggested that the triangular craft were moving with the blunt end forward, which would not seem to be aerodynamic. Later reports had the apex leading which caused me to wonder if this might be a way to discriminate between something strange and something that reflects the current development of terrestrial craft.

We did talk about the scanning project which seems to be as massive as the one that Clas Svahn talked about a few weeks ago. There are many people involved in it including Jan Alrich and Barry Greenwood, as well as Mark Rodeghier. The ultimate goal is to create a digital archive that could be accessed by UFO researchers and interested parties on the Internet. The physical documents will end up in a collect at the university in Albuquerque.

Next week, I’ll chatting with Don Schmitt about the current state of UFO research and why we all should reject the nonsensical UAP designation. If you have questions, and Don has said that no topic is taboo, put them in the comments. They won’t be posted, and I’ll try to get them answered.

Coast-to-CoastAM: Roswell Crash and Newer Sightings

 

Just yesterday, I came across another website that I won’t name here, that was again claiming that recently declassified pictures proved that the Roswell crash was real, meaning extraterrestrial. The declassified pictures were not of an alien space craft, but of the crashed remains of an A-12 spy plane. The pictures came from the National Geographic website and were labeled as “Exclusive Area 51 Pictures: Secret Plane Crash Revealed” and were originally posted on May 21, 2011. National Geographics noted that the crash happened in 1963 in Utah, and that the pictures had been declassified by the CIA recently, meaning in 2011 and not in the last couple of weeks. I fully expect to run into these pictures again and again as those who don’t bother to check the original source will believe they show an alien craft. A careful look at the pictures should reveal the terrestrial nature of the craft.

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2022/01/attip-philip-corso-and-roswell-crash.html  

Continuing in this vein, John Greenewald of Black Vault fame, has managed, through the Freedom of Information Act, to obtain a copy of the 19-page report that was sent to Congress about UAPs. This is the more comprehensive version the one that was released in June of last year.

Well, it tells us nothing. It is nearly completely redacted with only a few words on the first page that have not been edited out. It’s not unlike the document that Stan Friedman used to show that was nearly blank, though we now have that entire document. Most of those redactions in Friedman’s document had to do with intelligence gathering rather than UFO sightings. Very little dealt with UFOs, but given the heavy redaction we didn’t know that at the time.

In this case, however, we know that it deals with UFOs, or as they now want to call them, UAPs, because that was the purpose of the report. But rather than transparency, we have a document that is as dark as the inside of a cave at midnight with no moon. There is no real hint about what was seen, who saw what, or anything to do with evidence. All we know is that we have those cockpit videos that the Navy has verified as having come from Navy fighters, but tells us nothing about the images recorded.

As I have said, none of this suggests that we are moving toward disclosure. Rather, we are retreating to the same situation that we have endured for more than seventy years. Just take a look at the historical situation as it existed in the fall of 1947 when Lieutenant General Nathan Twining set up program to study the flying saucers, something that he labeled as real.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t some interesting sightings being made in the world today. On March 1, 2022, the witness in Pacific, Missouri, reported a single craft that was flying low and slow. At first, it seemed it was a flock of birds, but it soon became clear that it was a triangular-shaped craft that had lights all around it. The UFO continued to glide off and was beginning a slight climb. The witness attempted to photograph the UFO, but there was nothing to be seen in the picture. The UFO was in sight for about a minute.

Another triangle was seen in Johnson Valley, California on February 22 of this year. The witness said that a bright white light that looked, at first, like a planet or star, continued to approach, growing bigger until it took up a large portion of the sky. It seemed to jump, or teleport to another part of the sky. The shape was that of a triangle that was emitting another light. I’ll note here that orange light, or lights, are frequently reported with this sort of craft. The UFO was in sight for two to three minutes and the witness reported no fear but thought of this as a casual observation.

Keeping with this trend of triangular craft and orange light, was a report from Wauchula, Florida, on February 19 of this year. According to the witness, it was rectangular shaped at first but then appeared to transform into a triangle. There was no sound associated with the object but interestingly, there were aircraft in the area that seemed to be chasing the UFO. The witness watched for about ten minutes as the formation, that is, the UFO and the aircraft flew toward the south.

On February 15, the witness in Smicksburg, Pennsylvania reported three lights in a triangular formation was in sight about two minutes. The witness stopped, got out of the car to take pictures of the UFO. It was slow moving and made no sound. Following is the photograph:

The Pennsylvania UFO Photograph.

In the coming few weeks, I'll be chatting with John Greenewald about what he had found in his latest FOIA requests and with David Marler about the CUFOS scanning project which is to put as much data about UFO on the web as possible. He's working with Clas Svahn on this as well