1970: Landing marks near Lake Anten, Sweden

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: August 30, 1970

Sighting Time:

Day/Night:

Location: Lake Anten, Sweden

Urban or Rural: –

Entity Type:

Entity Description:

Hynek Classification: CE-II (Close Encounter II) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness, where physical traces (impression, burn, medical effect, etc.) are left or (electrical effect, heat) are felt

Duration:

No. of Object(s): 

Size of Object(s):

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s):

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses: Several

Source: Sven-Olof Fredriksson, FSR Vol. 17 No. 1

Summary/Description: Three round landing marks in a triangular formation were found in the garden of Richard Johansson’s small farm near Lake Anten, Sweden. Several witnesses in the area had seen a strange red light, almost the size of the moon, that same night. Soil samples were taken and analyzed, with the results showing an increased level of gamma activity (radiation) in the test samples from one of the landing marks.

Full Report

Close-up view of the landing holes found in the garden of the Johanssons’ farm. Photographs by GICOFF. (FSR)

The Johansson garden and house, and location of the holes. (FSR)

Diagram showing distances measured between edges of holes. Sketch by GICOFF. (FSR)

Gamma-activity from (a) background, (b) reference soil, (c) test soil. Graph by GICOFF. (FSR)

A LANDING NEAR LAKE ANTEN?
A new case from Sweden, with burn marks and analysis of soil samples.

by Sven-Olof Fredriksson

[The author is Secretary of Goteborgs Informations Center om Oidentifierade Flygande Foremal (GICOFF),* a group formed by a number of science students.]

The occurrence you will read about below happened the night between August 29 and 30, 1970, at a place west of Lake Anten, 40 kilometres north-west of Gothenburg, Sweden.

We, GICOFF, became aware of it on Wednesday, September 2, and, the day after, four of us went up to the place. First we talked to an inspector at the police station in Alingsas, the neighbouring town. He told us the occurrence had not really interested them. They had reported it to the military authorities, but they did not seem to be interested either.

We then went to the place where it had happened, a little farm or rather a croft called Enebacken. On arriving at the croft we found another car standing there. The owner of the house, Mr. Richard Johansson, 81 years old, was being visited by his daughter and a friend of hers. She came out to meet us and showed us a corner of the garden about 25 metres from the house.

“There they are,” she said— something she had probably done several times, because we soon learned that a lot of people from around about had been there. We went to the corner as directed and saw three burned marks that had been reported in the newspapers.

We took a lot of photographs, we measured the marks and the surroundings and we took a couple of earth samples, one from the marks and one from a place 4 metres away (more about this later).

Mr. Johansson, 81, told us: “I did not see or hear anything. You see I went to bed at 9.00 p.m., but my room is on the opposite side of the house. I am not particularly bothered about the incident, but it has been amusing to see people around this place. Whoever landed there has taken care not to destroy anything.”

Several witnesses of strange light

Then we had to find witnesses to the light observed above Enebacken. This is how the Karlssons at a nearby farm described it:

Mr. E. Karlsson: “I was going to go to bed—it was just before midnight—when I saw that the cars on the road were stopping and putting out their lights. Then the boy came running in saying something red in colour was seen above Enebacken, about 500 metres away. I went out to have a look, and caught sight of a strong red light. It went to and fro above the forest.”

Mrs. I. Karlsson: “Just when I saw it I heard a sound from it.”

Mr. Karlsson agreed: “That was what puzzled me most. First I thought it was an aircraft, but then I realised it could not be that. It behaved so strangely, and not only that, it was round and bright and very red. It went both up and down and to and fro above Enebacken. Sometimes it disappeared below the treetops only to reappear after a while. The speed varied, sometimes it glided slowly only to accelerate very fast. Once it was almost down at the meadow in front of the forest only 200 metres away. Then I saw some beams of light coming from it. They were yellow-white in colour and seemed to come from the side of the red sphere, which had the size of about half the moon.”

Mrs. I. Karlsson: “We were standing outside for a while but then we went in and watched it through the window. When going to bed at about 2.00 a.m. the light was still standing there.”

We managed to find witnesses from three cars:

Mr. P. Nilsson: “My friend and I came driving from Alingsas. It was about 11.15-11.30 p.m. We caught sight of a red light moving to and fro and up and down, and now and then it was standing still. My friend stopped the car, and we got out. The light was to the left of us above Enebacken. We looked at it for maybe 10 minutes, before going home.”

Mrs. Olsson: “My husband and I were returning from a visit to friends. We saw something which resembled a rear lamp on a car, red-yellow in colour. First we thought it was an aircraft, but we soon realised that it was not. We looked at it for 3-4 minutes. The time was then 12.25 a.m.”

Mrs. E. Aronsson: “Shortly before 11.30 p.m. I saw, together with a friend, a bright illuminated ball just above the treetops. First I thought it was the moon, but this was red and it was so bright.”

All these witnesses were located south or east of Enebacken. We found a further eight witnesses who had been to the north of the incident. One of them indicated how she had seen the light between two trees. When checking with a compass we found it to be precisely in the direction of Enebacken. Another, a Mr. E. Johansson, told us: “I caught sight of the red, bright ball above Enebacken at about 11.45 p.m. I was together with my wife and another couple. We estimate its size to be a little less than that of the full moon. It moved to and fro and up and down above the forest. We could also see something like a beam of light coming from the ground going up to the light. It was very beautiful to look at. The light was constant in brightness and created an illuminated streak on the surface of Lake Haslingen.”

The distance between Enebacken and these witnesses is about 1,100 metres. At 12.15 a.m. Mr. E. Johansson and the other man took the car to try to find out what the light was. When turning into the side road leading to Enebacken they found another car, a blue SAAB, standing there. In it were Iwo young men, who said that they too had tried to find out what the light was. While they were standing there the light went out, or disappeared.

Mr. E. Johansson and his friend thought someone at Enebacken was using a balloon, or something like that, so they turned the car and went back. After coming home they caught sight of the light again. At about 1.00 a.m. they tired of it and went to bed. What happened to the blue SAAB they do not know. It was still standing there when they left. (We have not been able to trace it.)

The next morning Mr. E. Johansson and a couple of others went over Lake Helsingin by boat, went up to Enebacken and found the round marks.

We also found one witness west of Enebacken. A woman had seen the light from her house.

For the locations of all these witnesses see fig. I.

Description of the site

Enebacken is situated in pretty rough country. There are lakes, forests and mountains and hills, and not many people living in the neighbourhood. The croft is surrounded by forest, and around the house there is a garden and a meadow. The corner of the garden where the marks were found is a little higher than the surroundings. It is an old lawn, rather uneven, with old fruit-trees standing on it. The marks were about 40 cms. in diameter and 4 cms. deep. They were not all alike but differed a little around the edges and in depth. One was a little less round than the other two. It did not seem as if something had been standing there, but rather as if three jet-beams had been used. The marks were located relative to each other as shown in fig. 2. See also the photographs.

We also checked the weather at three places around Alingsas, and found that it was cloudy at the time. The clouds were at a height of about 200 metres (mist-clouds). The wind was south-west and about 5 metres/sec. This has been confirmed by several of the witnesses.

Explanations

While we were conducting our investigations there was a lot of speculation in the press. One paper explained the mystery by saying that the young men in the blue car had made the marks and used a balloon as a hoax. Another explained it with a warm-air balloon being lost and then landing, sending for a car, and then taking off again, and, of course, there were several other explanations.

The police and the military authorities seem to have accepted [he balloon theory completely. Two young men were pointed out as having perpetuated this hoax. When we talked with one of them he denied it completely. We have several reasons for believing him. One is that he was pointed out because he had a green FIAT, whereas the mysterious car was a blue SAAB.

Radioactivity tests

We left some of the soil we had taken at Enebacken with a man working at the Chalmers Institute of Technology, the Institution for Nuclear Chemistry. Two men have been investigating it. There have been three tests over differing periods. The following is based on the last test which took 24 hours, 8 hours with empty instrument, 8 with the reference-soil (4 metres from the marks) and 8 with the test-soil (from one of the marks).

The soil samples were analysed by using a Hewlett Packard Multichannel Analyser, 54OOA. This instrument takes a gamma radiation spectrum.

In the reference-soil there was no activity, except the natural background one. The test – soil showed a weak gamma-activity at an energy of 660 keV, which had not decreased two weeks after the first test. This activity could possibly come from a barium isotope 137 Ba (gamma-activity at 662 KeV), which is created when a cerium isotope 137Ce radiates beta-radiation (137Ce has a half-life of 30 years). The measured activity is very low, less than 900 pulses in 8 hours, but nevertheless is exceptional. The man doing the last two tests has told us that 137Ce, to the best of his knowledge, can only be found in certain nuclear processes. Furthermore, the fact that no activity (except the natural background one) was present in the reference-soil, seems to rule out the possibility that the activity had come from a nuclear test in the atmosphere.

There seem, therefore, to be only two possibilities:

1. Someone has had a little fun at our expense, but he must then have used a substance to create the marks, which contains 137Ce, and such substances are not common. There is no possibility that he would have put the 137Ce there knowingly because the actual amount involved is too small.

2. Something unfamiliar to us, using something which contains 137Ce had been at Enebacken on the night in question.

There might be one more possibility left: that gamma-activity is not coming from 137Ce but from an even more unusual substance. But if so, we do not know from what (see fig. 3).

Other sightings

We have recorded at least 10 other sightings in this area since September 1, 1969. Most of them arc described as being round and red or yellow in colour. They are often seen for long periods, and on a couple of occasions there has been more than one object. In one case, when the witness thought it went very low over his house, a whistling sound was heard. All this has happened in an area of less than one square mile (I Swedish mile — 10 kilometres) around Lake Anten.

This case has some very interesting details, but poses a lot of questions. Let me point out some of these questions: Mr. E. Johansson says that when they came to Enebacken on the Sunday morning, they saw car-tracks on the lawn only 10 metres from the marks. Were they already there on Saturday, or did anyone go there in the night or early in the morning, or was there a hoax by a person or persons who had their car standing there? What happened to the blue SAAB? Did the lightbeam come from the object or from the ground?

Mr. E. Johansson said the light went out. Did it do that, or did it only go down below the treetops? If it went out, does that prove it was a hoax?

We do not think this is the end of this story, but we have decided to publish the results so far and we hope that some new facts will come to light in consequence.

This case-report has been prepared by GICOFF. All information presented is based on GICOFFs investigation. We have not used any second-hand material. I have shortened the report a little and translated it into English.

Comment by R. H. B. Winder:

With great respect to the investigators, who seem for the most part to have done a very good job, the scientific examination, although it sounds impressive, is actually a little weak. They ought, for example’ to have considered chemical tests to confirm the presence of Cerium— my professional chemist friend tells me this—and they ought to have been more specific about the sample. If it consisted of the ashes from the mark the burning might well have concentrated material deposited from the atmosphere. The suggestion that it came from a nuclear propulsion system, or the like, is not supported by the evidence.