Ghost Rockets (also called "Scandinavian ghost rockets") is the name given to mysterious rocket or missile shaped objects which were sighted on many different occasions between May and December 1946, with peaks on the 9th and 11th August of 1946. They were seen primarily in Sweden and nearby Scandinavian countries, but also in other European countries as well. Altogether some 2000 reported sightings were logged, 200 of them being on radar, and a number of fragments were reported found by military authorities. Many Ufologists consider the Ghost Rockets to be the first widespread sightings after World War II of what later came to be known as Unidentified flying objects or UFOs. Ufology is the study of Unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings and other related phenomena. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... UFO redirects here. ...

Ghost rocket or meteor? This widely circulated photo of a "ghost rocket," taken July 9, 1946, in Sweden, was most likely a meteor. Even the photographer, Erik Reuterswärd, suspected as much. The Swedish Army, who released the picture, wasn't certain.

Investigations concluded that many ghost rocket sightings were probably caused by meteors. For example, the peaks of the sightings, on the 9th and 11th August, also fall within the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. However, most sightings did not occur during meteor shower activity and also could not be so easily dismissed because of various anomalous characteristics, such as reported maneuverability and being trackable on radar. (See descriptions immediately below) Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. ...

The origin of the unexplained objects is to this day unknown, but at the time it was thought likely that they originated from the former German rocket facility at Peenemünde and were long-range tests by the Russians 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 of a sighting, or any information regarding the direction or speed of the object. This information, they reasoned, was vital for evaluation purposes to the nation or nations performing the tests. Peenemündes position in Germany Peenemünde is a village in the northeast of the German (Western) part of the Usedom island. ... The Vergeltungswaffe 1 Fi 103 / FZG-76 (V-1), known as the Flying bomb, Buzz bomb or Doodlebug, was the first modern guided missile used in wartime and the first cruise missile. ... The Vergeltungswaffe 2 (V-2) (Reprisal weapon 2 Propaganda name given by Joseph Goebbels) , also known, in the Development Process as the A4 (Aggregat 1-4), was the first and till date has the most lethal combat record of any ballistic missile. ... A Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile of the Luftwaffe A cruise missile is a guided missile which uses a lifting wing and most often a jet propulsion system to allow sustained flight. ...

Descriptions and early investigations

The early Russian 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 usually left no exhaust trail, some moved too slowly and usually flew horizontally, they sometimes traveled and maneuvered in formation, and they were usually 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, almost always in lakes. Reports were made of objects crashing into a lake, then propelling themselves across the surface before sinking, as well as ordinary crashes. 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.

Swedish A.F. officer Karl-Gösta Bartoll searching for "ghost rocket" seen to crash into Lake Kölmjärv on July 19, 1946.

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 3 week military search conducted in intense secrecy again turned up nothing. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

Immediately after the investigation, the Swedish Air Force officer who led the search, Karl-Gösta Bartoll (photo right), submitted a report in which he stated that the bottom of the lake had been disturbed but nothing found 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." (Carpenter chronology, External links) 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." (Randles, 29-30)

On October 10, the Swedish Defense Staff publicly stated, "Most observations are vague and must be treated very skeptically. In some cases, however, clear, unambiuous 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. (Clark, 247)

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 FOA" (later said to be meteorite fragments). Of the nearly 1000 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. (Carpenter chronology) Willamette Meteorite A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earths surface without being destroyed. ...

U.S. involvement

In early August Swedish Lt. Lennart Neckman of the Defense Staff's Air Defense Division saw something that was "without a doubt ... a rocket projectile." On August 14, 1946, the New York Times reported that Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson was "very much interested" in the ghost rocket reports, so was U.S. Army Air Force intelligence as indicated nonpublicly by later documents (Clark, 246). Then on August 20, the Times reported that two U.S. experts on aerial warfare, aviation legend General Jimmy Doolittle and General David Sarnoff, president of RCA, arrived in Stockholm, ostensibly on private business and independently of each other. The official explanation was that Doolittle, who was now vice-president of the Shell Oil Company, was inspecting Shell branch offices in Europe, while Sarnoff, a former member of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's London staff, was studying the market for radio equipment. However, the Times story indicated that the Chief of the Swedish Defense Staff, made no secret that he "was extremely interested in asking the two generals advice and, if possible, would place all available reports before them." (Carpenter chronology) Doolittle and Sarnoff were briefed that on several occasions the ghost rockets had been tracked on radar. (Clark, 246) Sarnoff was later quoted by the N.Y. Times on September 30 saying that he was "convinced that the 'ghost bombs' are no myth but real missiles." (Carpenter chronology) The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (April 11, 1893 – October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer; as United States Secretary of State in the late 1940s he played the central role in defining American foreign policy for the Cold War. ... General James Harold Doolittle, Sc. ... David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891–December 12, 1971) was the Pioneer of American Television and founder of the [National Broadcasting Corporation][1], NBC. Throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities shortly after its founding in 1919 to his retirement in 1970. ... RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. ... The Shell emblem known as the Pecten Shell Oil Company (SOC) is the Houston, Texas based wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. ... Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American General and politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ...

On August 22, the director of the Central Intelligence Group. (CIG), Lt. Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg, wrote a Top Secret memo to President Truman, perhaps based in part on information from Doolittle and Sarnoff. Vandenberg stated that the "weight of evidence" pointed to Peenemünde as origin of the missiles, that US MA (military attaché) in Moscow had been told by 'key Swedish Air Officer' that radar course-plotting had led to conclusion that Peenemünde was the launch site. CIG speculates that the missiles are extended-range developments of V-1 being aimed for the Gulf of Bothnia for test purposes and do not overfly Swedish territory specifically for intimidation; self destruct by small demolition charge or burning." (Carpenter chronology) central intelligence group ... General Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg was the second chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. The general was born at Milwaukee, Wis. ... Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as Vice President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Bothnia (Fin. ...

Nevertheless, there are no reports of rocket launches at Peenemünde or the Greifswalder Oie after February 21st, 1945 (See also: List of V-2 test launches). Peenemündes position in Germany Peenemünde is a village in the northeast of the German (Western) part of the Usedom island. ... Greifswalder Oie is a small island in the Baltic Sea, located east of Rügen on the German coast. ... This is a list of the known test launches of the A4 rocket, better known as the V-2 rocket, which were made at Peenemünde, Blizna and Tuchola Forest. ...

Greek government investigation

The "ghost rocket" reports were not confined to Scandinavian countries. Similar objects were soon reported early the following month by British Army units in Greece, especially around Thessaloniki. In an interview on September 5, 1946, the Greek Prime Minister, Konstantinos Tsaldaris, likewise reported a number of projectiles had been seen over Macedonia and Salonika on September 1. In mid-September, they were also seen in Portugal, and then in Belgium and Italy. Thessaloniki or Salonica (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη) is Greeces second-largest city and the capital of Macedonia. ... Konstantinos Tsaldaris (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Τσαλδάρης) (1884 in Alexandria, Egypt - 1970 in Athens) was a Prime Minister of Greece two times He studied law at the University of Athens as well as Berlin, London and Florence. ... The White Tower The Arch of Galerius Map showing the Thessaloníki prefecture Thessaloníki (Θεσσαλονίκη) is the second-largest city of Greece and is the principal city and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. ...

The Greek government conducted their own investigation, with their leading scientist, physicist Dr. Paul Santorini, in charge. Santorini had been a developer of the proximity fuze on the first A-bomb and held patents on guidance systems for Nike missiles and radar systems. Santorini was supplied by the Greek Army with a team of engineers to investigate what again were believed to be Russian missiles flying over Greece. A proximity fuze (also called a VT fuze, for variable time) is a fuze that is designed to detonate an explosive automatically when the distance to target becomes smaller than a predetermined value or when the target passes through a given plane. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... Launch of a Nike Zeus missile Project Nike was a US Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Labs, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. ...

In a 1967 lecture to the Greek Astronomical Society, broadcast on Athens Radio, he first publicly revealed what had been found in his 1947 investigation. "We soon established that they were not missiles. But, before we could do any more, the Army, after conferring with foreign officials [U.S. Defense Dept.], ordered the investigation stopped. Foreign scientists [from Washington] flew to Greece for secret talks with me." Later Santorini told UFO researchers such as Raymond Fowler that secrecy was invoked because officials were afraid to admit of a superior technology against which we have "no possibility of defense." (Good, 23; Keyhoe, 142)

References

Jerome Clark (1946 - ) is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note. ... Timothy Good is a leading British researcher and writer on UFOs, and a former professional violinist. ... Donald Edward Keyhoe (June 20, 1897 - November 29, 1988) was an anus rimmer and a penis sucker in the Marine Corps officer with some flight experience, writer of many aviation articles and stories in a variety of leading publications, and manager of the promotional tours of aviation pioneers, especially of... Jenny Randles is a British author and member of BUFORA who specialises in writing books on UFO and paranormal phenomena. ...

See also

• List of major UFO sightings
• Foo fighter WWII predecessor of ghost rockets
• Unidentified flying objects

This is a list of UFO sighting flaps and well-known individual sightings. ... This article is about the aerial phenomenon. ... UFO redirects here. ...

External links

• The famous ghost rocket picture
• Extensive Ghost Rocket chronology by Joel Carpenter on Project 1947 website, many documents and photos.

v • d • e Ufology
Main Areas of Study	Contactees - Crashes - Exopolitics - Exotheology - Extraterrestrials - Locations - Sightings - Topics - Vehicles
Involvement	Culture - Government Personnel - Government Responses - Organizations - Religions - Ufologist