UFO-Aktuellt issue 3, 2005
A short summary in English, by Stefan Isaksson, of the contents in UFO-Sweden's quarterly magazine.
Page 2: The pictures keep a'coming
Every month, UFO-Sweden receives a fair amount of pictures. The amount has increased dramatically since the digital camera became a household item, and obviously we’re pleased that people turn to us for help. However, many of the pictures are fakes, but we’ve grown better and better and detecting them. For instance, the picture accompanying the article on Page 2.
Page 3: Editorial
Chairman Clas Svahn devotes this issue’s editorial to philosophizing about the nature of beliefs and manipulation; that is, how easy most people can be manipulated if what they are told fits with their preconceived ideas. It’s nothing new, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth mentioning over and over again.
Pages 4-5: The Riddle of the Little Man
Article by Clas Svahn, accompanied by both pictures and drawings. During a couple of winters during the 1970s, several people sighted a strange little man standing next to roads in northern Sweden. The strange man frightened and sometimes blinded passersby with a strange light, and the figure soon became a local celebrity, as papers continued to publish stories and more and more people reported having met him. A local man claimed to have met a perfectly normal man who said he was the mysterious little man, and that the whole affair was just a big misunderstanding. However, that particular explanation has a few problems, and to some the case is still a mystery.
Page 6: E.T. E-mail Home
Article by Andreas Ohlsson, about an on-line project called Invitation to Extraterrestrial Intelligence (IETI), a project started by professor Allen Tough at the university of Toronto. Using a webpage, extraterrestrials are urged to contact the site and tell Tough and his colleagues about themselves and their society. A joke? Absolutely not. The address is www.ieti.org and so far several alleged extraterrestrials have contacted Tough. But alas, in the end the extraterrestrials turned out to be every-day homo sapiens who just wanted to have some fun. Tough luck, I guess.
Page 7: Tintin and the Saucers
Article by Svahn. In the 1968 edition of a Tintin comic, a flying saucer appears, but the translation into Swedish turned out to be OFF ("Oidentifierade Flygande Föremål") instead of UFO. However, the comic is now out in a new and fresh translation, and this time around the translation is correct - after the translator consulted with UFO-Sweden.
Pages 8-15: Gideon Johansson’s amazing sighting Part 2
The second part of a VERY long article about Gideon Johansson and his bizarre sighting. Anders Liljegren continues his thorough investigation, and as always he’s very keen to make every little fact available, and the article is obviously accompanied by numerous pictures and drawings. The case is quite complex and contains many different leads and perspectives, and a short summary is more or less impossible. Suffice to say, though, that some people believe the case to be solved while others think the opposite. Readers who might have information about the case are welcome to contact Liljegren. Page 14 also has a bunch of ads for different books published by UFO Sweden.
Page 16: Various
Three short articles, and an ad for The Archive for UFO Research, the largest of its kind in the world.
Page 17: Digital Technology Creates Mysteries
Two things have created quite a buzz the last few years, rods and orbs; strange images seen on pictures and sometimes believed to be either extraterrestrial ships or ghosts. But the truth is not very paranormal, as Svahn tells his readers. Rods are simply insects or birds, and orbs are, well, moisture in the air. UFO Sweden will write more about these matters in the near future.
Pages 18-20: The Notorious Triangle
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 the strange place known as the Bermuda Triangle. It would be quite paranormal indeed if people DIDN’T know the stories about this triangle; however, over the years more and more researchers have started to put forth the idea that there really isn’t anything paranormal about the triangle after all. And, as always, Svensson’s article is a joy to read. Page 20 also has a short article about a mysterious cropcircle near Skellefteå in the northern part of Sweden.
Pages 21-22: Media Watch
C Göran Norlén gives a review of news clippings from Swedish media, this time from the middle of May up until the middle of August 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 23: UFO Norway and More Various
Ole Jonny Braenne, from our colleagues in UFO Norway, has written an article about balloons reported in 1946 in Norway, and its translated by Svahn. The balloons were reported before the infamous Roswell incident but were never associated with crashed saucers or any other enigmatic phenomena. UFO Sweden and UFO Norway often co-operate in various matters, and both organizations believe the friendship to be very good. Page 23 furthermore has three short articles, about among other things a new UFO dictionary (in Swedish) available on our website www.ufo.se.
Page 24: Book Reviews
Four books reviewed this time, Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea (Lionel & Patricia Fanthorpe) by Stefan Isaksson, and Faded Giant (Robert Salas & Jim Klotz) by Svahn, who also reviews two books in Swedish.
Page 25: Pilot Encountered Russian Rocket
On 16 June 2005, Swedish pilot Anders Ahlberg was on his way from Bangkok to Copenhagen, when he and his co-pilot saw a strange light in the sky. He managed to snap several interesting pictures of the light, and while he himself couldn’t tell what it was UFO Sweden managed to do just that: it was a Russian rocket carrying a Progress M-53 supply vehicle destined to international space station ISS.
Pages 26-27: International Ufology
Stefan Roslund has fourteen short news about the international UFO, and forteana, scene. Among other things, Roslund mentions ufologist Nick Redfern, cattle mutilations, James Randi, 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 Stål presents three of them, two taking place in 2005, and one in 1989. The article is also accompanied by two pictures.
Page 30: Philip Klass 1919-2005
Short article by Svahn, who met Klass for a long interview a couple of years back, about one ufology’s most famous skeptics, Philip Klass, who passed away earlier this year. UFO Aktuellt will have a longer article about Klass in an upcoming issue.
Page 31: Class of 2005
Picture of all the participants in the 2005 field investigator course.
Back Page: Crop circles
Article by Svahn about four crop circles in Tystberga south of Stockholm that appeared in July and August this year.