UFO-Aktuellt issue 2, 2005

A short summary in English, by Stefan Isaksson, of the contents in UFO-Sweden's quarterly magazine.

Page 2: ETs don’t grow on trees

Nope, they sure don’t. Some people apparently thought so after having seen a picture posted on the internet. The picture in question was taken in Poland on April 4 this year, and Polish ufologist Robert Lesniakiewicz published it online wondering whether it was “an alien”. But no, it wasn’t. It was just a trick played by lights and the camera.

Page 3: Editorial

Chairman Clas Svahn devotes this issue’s editorial to one of the most amazing and thorough documented UFO cases in Swedish history: Gideon Johansson’s sighting of a “flying saucer” and its crew back in the fall of 1959. The case came to be known as one of UFO Sweden’s most important cases in the 1970s, and many lectures were devoted to it. Anders Liljegren of The Archive for UFO Research has done some extensive digging in the old case, and Svahn is proud to devote a large segment of this issue to the case.

Pages 4-15: Gideon Johansson’s amazing sighting

A long article by Anders Liljegren, Archives for UFO Research, about the UFO sighting of Gideon Johansson in 1959 and the close encounter that followed a few years later. Liljegren has done a very impressive job; digging through old material donated to the Archive from various sources, and it’s safe to say that never before has an investigation as thorough as Liljegren’s been done over this, one of Sweden’s most famous cases of all time. Johansson, who passed away in 1981, never hesitated to tell anyone who wanted to listen about his experience. But what, then, did he see? Well, in many cases it was a "traditional" saucer sighting, including a dome-shaped UFO piloted by strange-looking humanoids. But it's not the sighting in itself that makes out the majority of the article. Instead, Liljegren details HOW the sighting was handled by different Swedish ufologists, and the fact that Johansson himself sometimes seemed to have difficulties remembering details such as what year it all took place. The sighting was even reported to NICAP (with a photocopy of the report accompanying the article), and all in all the article is a brilliant example of how one critically examines historical UFO cases. The article – which will have it sequel in the next issue of UFO-Aktuellt – is accompanied by numerous photographs and drawings.

Page 14: Advertisements

Various advertisements of books sold by UFO-Sweden.

Page 16: Subscribe!

Another ad, this one about the magazine UFO-Raden, UFO-Sweden’s magazine mainly for its investigators, but obviously available for everyone else as well. Reading it is a good way to keep oneself up to date with everything ufological.

Page 17: More ads and a bit of Rael

Two ads, one about the field course for our investigators, held in late August 2005, and one about the new web-based shop that can be found on UFO-Sweden’s website. There’s also a short article by Stefan Isakssonabout some of the latest controversies surrounding the Raelian Religion, the well-known “UFO cult”.

Pages 18-22: The sometimes friendly robot

UFO-Sweden’s expert on fortean phenomena, Richard Svensson, writes (and as always, draws beautiful pictures) about bizarre things, not necessarily UFO related. This time it’s all about robots. Not the ones putting cars together in factories, but the ones sometimes arriving on Earth in spaceships or sometimes wreaking various havoc. Mythologies, science fiction, and modern day UFO sightings are filled with different robotic beings, and Svensson has no problem whatsoever finding different stories to relate to the readers. And, as always, his article is a joy to read.

Page 21: Book Reviews

One single book reviewed this time, Sighs Unseen (Budd Hopkins) by Stefan Isaksson. Isaksson isn’t particularly fond of the book, but he at the same time acknowledges that Hopkins’ devoted readers will have nothing to complain about.

Pages 22-23: Media Watch

C Göran Norlén gives a review of news clippings from Swedish media, this time from the middle of January up until the middle of May 2005. As always, there have been both very good and very bad things said in Swedish media about the UFO phenomenon, and Norlén thinks it’s about time the establishment took UFO-Sweden seriously.

Page 24: Great donation to the Archive

Short article by Svahn, about the large donation of different UFO material (books, letters, investigations et cetera) devoted to the Archive for UFO Research by famous Swedish ufologist Boris Jungqvist. Jungqvist is very well-known among Swedish ufologists, and now when he’s decided to end his active research he devoted his entire collection to UFO-Sweden. The article details the collection, and is accompanied by a picture of Anders Liljegren and Håkan Blomqvist happily displaying the gift.

Page 25: No explanation yet

Article by Svahn, about the world famous picture taken by Hannah McRoberts on October 8, 1981 near Kelsey Beach, Vancouver Island, Canada. The article details the events surrounding the picture, which is still waiting for its explanation. The picture accompanies the article.

Pages 26-27: International Ufology

Stefan Roslund has ten short news about the international UFO, and forteana, scene. Among other things, Roslund mentions official UFO research in Brazil, more about the Mary Celeste, difficulties for the Norwegian magazine UFO, some info about Jack the Ripper, and so on.

Pages 28-29: News from the Report Central

Strange things are indeed taking place in the skies. The Report Central run by UFO Sweden receive several hundred reports annually, and in this issue of UFO-Aktuellt Jenny Ståhl presents three of them, one taking place in 1997, one in 1991, and one in 2005. The article is also accompanied by three pictures.

Pages 30-31:

This year’s UFO Expo in Sweden took place way up north in Luleå on 28-29 March 2005, and is summarized in an article along with a few pictures from the event. The event was a great success, Clas Svahn and Andreas Ohlsson gave lectures, people got together and discussed all things ufological, and when everything was over UFO-Sweden was very pleased with the outcome. Page 31 also has a short presentation of member Tiia Grenman, responsible for the northern parts of Sweden.

Back page: UFO Expo

Two short articles by Svahn, the first about a meeting that the Brazilian military recently conducted with some of its countries most prominent ufologists, and the other about a giant balloon launched from northern Sweden.