'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.