Ghost rockets (Swedish: Spökraketer, also called Scandinavian ghost rockets) were rocket or missile shaped unidentified flying objects first sighted in 1946, primarily in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, including Finland. The first reports of ghost rockets were made on February 26, 1946, by Finnish observers. About 2,000 sightings were logged between May and December 1946, with peaks on 9 and 11 August 1946. Two hundred 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 9 and 11 August 1946, also fall within the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. However, most ghost rocket sightings did not occur during meteor shower activity; furthermore they displayed characteristics inconsistent with meteors, such as reported maneuverability. Debate continues as to the origins of the unidentified ghost rockets. In 1946, it was widely believed that they originated from the former German rocket facility at Peenemünde, and were long-range tests conducted by the Soviets of captured German V-1 or V-2 missiles, or perhaps another early form of cruise missile because of the ways they were sometimes seen to maneuver. This prompted the Swedish Army to issue a directive stating that newspapers were not to report the exact location, direction or speed of any ghost rocket sightings; this information they reasoned, was vital for evaluation purposes to the nation or nations assumed to be performing the tests.
Descriptions and early investigations The early Soviet origins theory was rejected by Swedish, British, and U.S. military investigators because no recognizable rocket fragments were ever found, and according to some sightings, the objects displayed some combination of leaving no exhaust trail, moving too slowly, flying horizontally, traveling and maneuvering in formation, and appearing to be silent. The sightings most often consisted of fast-flying rocket- or missile-shaped objects, with or without wings, visible for mere seconds. Instances of slower moving, cigar-shaped objects are also known. A hissing or rumbling sound was sometimes reported. Crashes were not uncommon, and occurred almost always in lakes. Reports were made of objects crashing into a lake, sometimes then propelling themselves across the surface before sinking. The Swedish military performed several dives in the affected lakes shortly after the crashes, but found nothing other than occasional craters in the lake bottom or torn off aquatic plants.
The best known of these crashes occurred on July 19, 1946, into Lake Kölmjärv, Sweden. Witnesses reported a gray, rocket-shaped object with wings crashing in the lake. One witness interviewed heard a thunderclap, possibly the object exploding. However, a three-week military search reported nothing. Immediately after the investigation, the Swedish Air Force officer who led the search, Karl-Gösta Bartoll submitted a report in which he stated that the bottom of the lake had been disturbed but nothing was recovered and that "there are many indications that the Kölmjärv object disintegrated itself...the object was probably manufactured in a lightweight material, possibly a kind of magnesium alloy that would disintegrate easily, and not give indications on our instruments". When Bartoll was later interviewed in 1984 by Swedish researcher Clas Svahn, he again said their investigation suggested the object largely disintegrated in flight and insisted that "what people saw were real, physical objects". On October 10, 1946, the Swedish Defense Staff publicly stated, "Most observations are vague and must be treated very skeptically. In some cases, however, clear, unambiguous observations have been made that cannot be explained as natural phenomena, Swedish aircraft, or imagination on the part of the observer. Echo, radar, and other equipment registered readings but gave no clue as to the nature of the objects". It was also stated that fragments alleged to have come from the missiles were nothing more than ordinary coke or slag. On December 3, 1946, a memo was drafted for the Swedish Ghost Rocket committee stating "nearly one hundred impacts have been reported and thirty pieces of debris have been received and examined by Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOA)". The debris was later said to be meteorite fragments. Of the nearly 1,000 reports that had been received by the Swedish Defense Staff to November 29, 225 were considered observations of "real physical objects" and every one had been seen in broad daylight.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
