The Bryansk region has already become the focus of Ufokom's attention - in 2012, when we visited a village to investigate the case of a fire poltergeist. This time, the occasion for another visit to this region of Russia bordering with Belarus was several recent cases of UFO sightings that took place in the Trubchevsky region, which, as shown by a review of available information on UFO topics, seemed to us quite promising in this regard.
UFO in the ravine. Observation October 23, 2014
In October 2014, one of the residents of Trubchevsk (Bryansk region), Sergey Konovalov, contacted the forum of the public organization "Cosmopoisk", who informed him about the story of a recent UFO sighting in his hometown that interested him. He learned about her from a friend of his, who accidentally heard this story from his neighbors in the garage - direct eyewitnesses. That is, from second hand. To us, it turns out, the story came from the hands of the third.
The essence of the story is as follows. On October 23, three men, who were resting in a dacha village near the northern outskirts of Trubchevsk, witnessed a large luminous ball take off from a ravine and disappear. Guided by the descriptions received, Sergei independently calculated the approximate location of the events and sent the photographs taken there. Unfortunately, it was not possible to conduct a survey of direct eyewitnesses due to the lack of their contact information. They could only be found by chance in garages.
This case is interesting in that it assumes a "landing" or low hovering of a UFO above the ground, which in ufological practice has become a great rarity not only in recent years, but also in the last decade or two. In such cases, there is a possibility that the observed objects or phenomena could have left some physical traces of impact on the environment, which is a very important aspect of practical research in order to determine the nature of these phenomena.
The inability to interview eyewitnesses at the site of observation is a big drawback, but in order to collect additional information on this case and information on other observations in the Trubchevsky district, it was decided to organize a trip to the Bryansk region. The trip was carried out on November 15-16, 2014 by a group of four (from Minsk, Brest, Moscow and Smolensk). In the course of it, the person closest to the source of information was interviewed - the same neighbor of eyewitnesses in garages. Here is a transcript of his story from the tape recorder:
“As they said, they came to the dacha for potatoes. Three of us. They didn't come, but arrived by car. We drank. And they haven't finished yet. One, of course, did not drink - he was driving. They say it was already a bit dark. And they noticed a light in the ditch, like a glow, how it was not clear what was burning. Let's go see what it is … yellowish, bluish. Came out. They began to approach. We have not yet reached the ditch and saw something like a ball. And I didn’t understand: either it illuminated them with a beam, or a reflection from the ball, or they did it because of fear.
Promotional video:
We, grit, fell all three. And he began to climb and climb the hill and went out. As if I had quit glowing. No sound, no noise, no din … there was nothing. And they, grit, as they rushed to the car, and forgot to close the dacha, in the morning they went and closed it. And I came to the garage, and they talk. Well, I caught a glimpse, not just talked to them, but heard it in passing. One of them works in Moscow, and I know those … Well, how, to say, I know … We say hello to the other, but I don’t know their name.
View from the side of the cottages in the direction of the ravine
We visited the supposed place of the described events, designated by our guide, Sergei Konovalov. As mentioned above, this is a ravine, which is, apparently, a dry bed of a former river - a tributary of the Desna flowing near the city. The section of the ravine we are interested in is located behind the summer cottage village, located to the north of the village of Progress.
It was a wide, flat bottom of a ravine, bordered by rather steep slopes and overgrown with vegetation typical of flooded meadows, in places interspersed with bushes and rare trees.
We were shown a small, irregularly shaped platform with a flattened deadwood. In the center of it was a pit, partially filled with water. A bush grew on its edge, indicating its still long-standing origin. Near the pit is a frail birch tree with a twisted trunk at the base. A meter from the hole under the tree is a hill of soil taken out of it, already overgrown with vegetation.
In principle, no visible traces were found that could be reliably associated with the UFO sighting. Nearby, in a ravine, there were other rounded areas with flattened vegetation. It was hardly possible to attribute to them anomalous origin. Visual inspection of the nearby sections of the ravine did not reveal anything unusual. Thus, without the testimony of eyewitnesses, one cannot speak of the exact location of the place of the event under discussion.
Just in case, an express survey of the site indicated by the conductor was carried out. Radiometric measurements were carried out with two RKSB-104 dosimeters along a profile laid through the site with a step of 5 meters, soil samples were taken at four points.
Also involved were: a compass for searching for places of magnetic anomalies, a tungsten sensor, devices for measuring parameters of electromagnetic radiation - BE-meter-st-002 (5Hz - 400kHz) and "Impulse" (20Hz - 2kHz). No anomalous deviations were found. If the upcoming study of the taken soil samples gives interesting results, they will be published in a separate article.
A strange phenomenon on the lake. Observation May 28, 2014
In this case, we will talk about the system of lakes of karst origin, Bolshoye and Maloye Zhereno, which are located in a forest area south of Trubchevsk, being part of the Desnyansko-Zherensky biological reserve. Both lakes are connected by a channel about 300 meters long.
Whereas Bolshoy Zhereno is overgrown, Maloye Zhereno still represents a beautiful clean lake with an area of 18 hectares, as if specially created for outdoor recreation. On the northern coast of the latter, there are places of rest for the population. It was here on May 28 that a large company gathered to rest, and at the same time to celebrate the day of the border guard.
On Lake Zherenskoye (view from the observation point)
Eyewitness 1: “At the far (southern) end of the lake, a light stripe has appeared - from coast to coast - as if something were taking off. As ducks fly through the water - a strip is obtained through the water. But it was a brighter glow. And there - back. And something luminous flies up, like something alive. And goes beyond the forest, there to a large lake. It was in the shape of a ball, and in the middle it seemed like a bird, some kind of glowing, like something alive. But it could not be a bird, since it was huge. It looked vaguely - it seemed like it was, and once - and disappeared.
The size, if you estimate how we looked from a distance, then ten meters. We watched all this for seconds. Those who were sitting backwards did not even have time to see it. Three to four seconds, maybe five. The color of this one was of the type of the same Moon, only brighter, matte, grayish-white. It was after ten o'clock in the evening, when it began to get dark, it was twilight. There were about fifteen of us, but fewer, about seven people saw."
Eyewitness 2: “This strip moved through the water with an amplitude of about fifty to seventy meters. This distance it covered somewhere, well, in a split second. That is, it was like that. It moved like this for maybe a minute or two. And it began to rise. There were five of us who saw. I say: “Look. Wow, what is this? " The shape of someone a sheet of iron reminded someone of a pipe … Here's a piece of pipe [in a horizontal position] that reminded me. There was no pure outline of some kind. And against the background of the trees, we saw how it rose and rose, and already when it was higher than the trees, it dissolved.
And after the whole thing happened, there was some kind of pillar fog on the water, on the surface of the lake it was already closer to us. Well, that’s all … Then we drove off, and as a result my phone was discharged - five hundred numbers flew away, my driver's phone was discharged, and Ivanitch's camera was discharged. Although I had a charge, I was able to turn it on only after we got to Borodenka. After that it started to rain immediately. Maybe this is most likely some kind of outlier. Gas emission of some kind. I don’t know … Because there was no such clear subject. [Question: "But was it not a ball?"] No, not a ball, nothing like that was there. Most likely it was an energy release … the gas was coming out. Because this winding is chaotic …
[Question: "Light winding?"] It's not like light, like a foggy, milky one. Not a bright light … How to say? When you drive a whip through the water, it's like this, only milky white, like fog. It didn't glow. When it rose above the trees, it simply blended into the background. I did not see further. [Question: "Was it already twilight?"] Well, somewhere, yes, the tenth hour, in my opinion, was. They say that it has already been seen there more than once. You see, this is the confluence of two lakes. One is sapropel, nobody knows anything about its depth, very deep. There is almost 70 cm of water, then sapropel. And the second is a clean lake, its water is red. And this is exactly at the junction of two lakes. There is a stream, they are connected to each other. And there, they say, is very deep. Maybe it’s some kind of rot, or the release of gases, maybe something else… well, I don’t know.”
Eyewitness 3 (watchman): “It was like the northern lights, something like that, bright. Everyone was sitting right here. And it's on this side, over the big lake, this way over there over the forest like this … wooooh … Quite quickly, maybe a second. [Question: "How did it start?"] But no way. We just sit, talk, leaning our elbows on these railing … And then: oops, what kind of phenomenon is this? It was right over the woods on this side. You looked like the northern lights, such a bright one. You probably know the northern lights? Blinking like that.
[Question: "Was it getting dark then?"] Well, yes … the twilight was just beginning. [Question: "What color was it?"] White and blue like that. [Question: "Was it glowing?"] No, it kind of blinked and faded away. [Question: "And what was it in the form?"] Well, not that a circle, but like a glow. [Question: “Were the trees illuminated?”] No, it was somehow far away, and there was no such lighting. It's kind of like a flash. [Question: “How long have you been working here?”] Sixth year. [Question: "And have you seen anything like that in six years?"] No. But the phenomenon was certainly interesting. About fourteen of us stood here. They talked about their own. And then wooh … what is it? Not to say that it is very bright. And so here is something vague. There was no sound. But here the wind was, maybe it was not heard."
Of the possible seven eyewitnesses, we managed to interview three and visit the direct observation site. As you can see from the given readings, the descriptions of the appearance are quite different. In ufological practice, a similar aspect of mass observations is known. This is especially true for observing objects or phenomena with complex or fuzzy shapes. Here you need to take into account many variables: the peculiarities of a person's perception, visual acuity, worldview and education, from what moment a particular eyewitness began to observe, and much more.
In this case, we can say that a strange phenomenon (possibly of a natural nature) was observed on Lake Zherenskoye, the description of which seems to be a difficult task. Eyewitness No. 2, as one might assume, was able to notice the beginning of the process before anyone else, therefore, the time of observation was indicated to them much longer. The taken off object was perceived by him as an oblong body ("a piece of pipe" - side view). Closer to this moment of separation from the water surface, eyewitness # 1 joined the observation.
Eyewitness number 3, as you can understand, found only the very ending. In readings 1 and 3, a distant similarity can be noted in the descriptions: a ball with a vague bird-like silhouette inside and a semicircular glow over the forest. Eyewitness # 2 does not have this moment, since he could not distinguish anything against the background of the sky, and this final lasted for a few seconds. All of them have only one thing in common - a color comparable to a hazy haze. It can be assumed that something was released from the lake and dissolved in the air. A vague, like a living silhouette inside the "ball" can be explained by the unstable density of this mass, presumably gaseous.
Perhaps, specialists in the future will be able to give a rational explanation of what happened, but this case is just interesting for these differences in the descriptions. Surely the other eyewitnesses, with whom we could not communicate, would have given completely different versions of what we saw.
New information about UFO sightings in Trubchevsk in the past
During the trip, it was possible to collect new information about cases of UFO sightings over the city of Trubchevsk in the past years. The first dates back to the Caribbean (Cuban) crisis of 1962, caused by the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States with the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
According to the recollections of one of the residents of Trubchevsk, Ivan M. (born 1947), on one of those alarming days at midnight, a planned regional military alert was announced. The eyewitness had to arrive on time at the collection point as the chief for the preparation of equipment in the area. He remembers how they fled with other obliged persons, including servicemen from the military registration and enlistment office, through the city center. And then they saw something strange and frightening in the sky.
From west to east (towards Gorodtsov and Usoh) over the city at an altitude of about 8 km (according to subjective impressions) something huge ("half the sky") was floating silently, whose dimensions were indicated only by two flashing dotted lights (like an airplane), located on both sides - at an altitude of about 30 degrees. over the horizon. From the center between them, a long fiery "fistula" stretched in the opposite direction.
No body of the object was visible against the background of the night sky, but it was all perceived as a whole. This invisible object with such angular dimensions (100-120 degrees) at an altitude of several kilometers should have been truly gigantic, which was amazing. After 2-3 minutes, he went out of sight.
There were enough witnesses. After arriving at the assembly point, they still discussed this strange object for a long time, but no one could give an explanation. Perhaps, on this occasion, other evidence will emerge that can clarify the real picture of what was observed.
The second case dates back to times not so distant. It happened in August 2007 or 2008. Our assistant from Trubchevsk Sergey Konovalov became an eyewitness. At about 1-2 o'clock in the morning on one of the weekdays, he and his companion happened to pass through the central square of the city. Above the building of the regional house of culture at an angular height of about 30 degrees. hung two white luminous balls, arranged vertically one above the other.
Their diameter was comparable to the visible disk of the full moon. Suddenly they flew higher (to a height of about 50 degrees), slightly dimmed the brightness. Then, suddenly appearing in the sky, flashing point luminous objects (comparable in size to satellites) began to approach them from all sides, which disappeared when approaching the balls. After what time this extravaganza stopped, a bundle of two balls took a horizontal position and, rotating in a horizontal plane clockwise around a common center, they moved east-southeast. The total observation time was approximately 15 minutes.
UFO observation over Trubchevsky DK (reconstruction)
Chronicle of UFO sightings in Trubchevsky district
A review of the available publications on UFO topics in the Bryansk region shows that this region is far from being deprived of UFO sightings. As for the Trubchevsky district, the bulk of the messages was collected by Alexander Yuryevich Kushelev, some of which he published on the pages of his website. Here are the most notable of them.
February (April?) 1990 A section of the highway between the villages of Gnilevo and Radutino. Four passengers with two children were returning in the evening by car from Gnilev to Trubchevsk. Before reaching Radutino, they noticed in the sky a certain luminous object with red, as if incandescent edges. This something moved, increased in size and, finally, turned into a "red-hot plate" slowly moving across the car. When the UFO began to cross the road, eyewitnesses stopped. The object, finding itself on the other side of the track, also stopped, hovering at an altitude of 15-20 meters. After that, the luminous "plate" began to "melt" simultaneously from the upper and lower parts, until after a few seconds it disappeared altogether.
This description is based on a newspaper publication, a scan of which was posted by A. Yu. Kushelev in one of his articles. The note is dated February 1990. Another source [2] gives a slightly different retelling of this story, which is dated already in April. For further details, the following can be added. The orb originally seen looked like a setting sun with varying brightness.
He moved over a ravine and a birch grove from the Desna towards the road. The shape of the object was constantly changing: it turned into an upward convex plate, then again into a ball, then into a downward convex plate. It can be assumed that this was caused by his rotation of the "saucer", which alternately turned towards the observers with its upper, lateral and lower sides. Flying over the road, the UFO hovered over a large tree in front of the monument. At that moment, eyewitnesses clearly distinguished the plate-like shape of the object. Then the latter turned its edge to the ground (again assuming the form of a ball) and then slowly extinguished ("as if turned off").
The total observation time was about 10-15 minutes. Frightened eyewitnesses turned around and went back to the village of Gnilevo. A few hours later, they went to Trubchevsk again, but on the way they saw nothing more unusual. The calculations are also given according to the testimony of witnesses. When viewed from a distance of about 500 meters and the assumed angular size of the object is 0.5 degrees (when compared with the solar disk), the diameter of the object can be approximately estimated at 4.5 meters.
According to A. Yu. Kushelev, UFO sightings in the area of the villages of Gnilevo and Arelsk are quite frequent (they occur almost every year). He mentions a certain observation of 1993. When interviewing the local population in 2006, the researcher was told about multiple sightings of UFO groups that ply over the forest beyond the Desna riverbed.
March 1990, village Usoh. According to the testimony of milkmaids from a local dairy farm, a crimson ball was observed here. He appeared here about an hour before sunrise and illuminated the entire wasteland hundreds of meters around with a bright orange light. It seemed to eyewitnesses that the whole sky was on fire. Half an hour later, one of the milkmaids saw an orange cone from the window of her house. When after a while the sun rose, nothing reminded of these strange phenomena.
August 22-24, 1991, Trubchevsky district. These days there was a massive UFO sighting [2, 3, 4]. Here we can probably talk about thousands of witnesses on the territory of the Bryansk region: from the cities of Starodub, Klintsy, Pogar, Unecha, Trubchevsk, Novozybkov and Bryansk. For three days, a slowly drifting metallic cigar-shaped object was observed high in the sky, oriented at a certain angle to the horizon (closer to the vertical position). We will not dwell on this case in detail here, since it deserves a separate investigation. We will only mention that during our questioning of eyewitnesses in Trubchevsk, many recalled this case as well-known.
1993, d. Arelsk. Two villagers at the same place on different days saw a "flying saucer" made of blue metal with a diameter of about 3 meters and with portholes. The observation was carried out from a close distance - from several tens of meters. Unfortunately, no further details are provided, except for the graphic reconstruction.
UFO sighting in Arelsk 1993 (reconstruction)
July 1995, village Gorodtsy. A spherical UFO with a honeycomb surface of hexagonal faces hung over a small ravine - an offshoot of a large ravine stretching from Gorodtsov to Usoh. This object was in this place from the time of sunset until at least half past seven in the morning. In the morning, he gleamed his facets in the rays of the rising sun. The eyewitness, Vera Semyonova, had to take the cow out to the pasture. When she returned, there was no longer any UFO in that place.
UFO sighting in Gorodets 1995 (reconstruction)
Winter 1997 (?), Woodland south of Trubchevsk near the river. Nerussa. At about 7 o'clock in the morning, an eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous, while on a winter fishing trip, walked through the forest to the river. Passing a forest clearing, I noticed a snow whirlwind and heard a strange hum. Coming out into the clearing, he saw a "plate" about eight meters in diameter, which revolved madly at a height of 6-8 meters above the ground. A whirlwind of snow swirled beneath her. She began to slowly tilt until she was at an angle of 60-70 degrees, after which she suddenly rushed into the clouds, after a split second disappeared from view. At the same time, a loud bang was heard, from which the eyewitness was deaf for a minute.
UFO sighting on the river. Nerussa 1997 (reconstruction)
1997, pos. Bearded. Waking up at night from a strange hum, an eyewitness (Natalya) looked out the window and saw five round objects of yellow color with a reddish tint, which were moving in a circle at the same distance from each other. They made a complete revolution in 5-6 seconds. "Plate" spun over one of the houses on the street. Ozernoy. Natalia watched this for about 15 minutes, then went to bed, but an unpleasant hum was heard for another half hour. Natalia's brother also saw a UFO in these places - a luminous ball that floated over the meadow towards Gorodtsy.
July 10, 2006, village Sdeslovka. Three people in the forest apiary (her owner and his family) at 01.30 saw a large glowing white ball hanging at the level of the treetops. The glow from the ball illuminated almost the entire field. It was so bright that even clear shadows were cast on the wall of the house. After half an hour, he began to slowly descend vertically down. At the very ground, it began to slowly go out, and against the background of its disk, three spiral threads of crimson color appeared - like "red-hot spirals of a giant incandescent lamp."
Then they went out together with the ball. Arrived on July 29 in Sdeslovka A. Yu. Kushelev, using azimuths from two observation points, determined the hovering / landing point of the object. According to him, at this place he managed to find a fuzzy spot of burnt vegetation, through which new green grass had already sprouted.
UFO sighting in Sdeslovka 2006 (reconstruction)
Mid-July 2007, pos. Bearded. On the street Haymarket saw a pink UFO emitting lightning and a loud sound of "breaking glass" was heard.
July 27, 2007, dd. Makarzno - Kvetun. The first eyewitness, Oleg Frolenkov, was at a bus stop near the village of Makarzno around 1 am. From here, in the direction of the kurgan near the village of Kvetun, he observed a dark disk, on the lower part of which were placed 10-20 multi-colored lights (red, green, blue, white), which swirled and flashed brighter in turn. The second eyewitness was in Kvetuni. At 2-3 in the morning she went out into the garden and noticed a bright semicircle of fire on the side of the road. It was thought that it was a burning car on the track, but these assumptions were not confirmed the next day.
UFO sighting map in Trubchevsky district
Afterword
The cases presented in this publication represent a far from complete list of UFO sightings in the Trubchevsky region. Researcher A. Yu. Kushelev mentions a much larger number of them, but, unfortunately, it was not possible to find more or less comprehensive information on them. Perhaps in the future this gap will be filled.
As for the Trubchevsky region as a whole, it should be noted that it is promising for conducting ufological research. There are quite local zones of frequent manifestation of the UFO phenomenon, for example, the area of the villages of Arelsk - Gnilevo - Radutino and the field east of Trubchevsk near the villages of Gorodtsy and Usoh.
At the same time, most of the cases of UFO sightings, based on the available descriptions, are rather extraordinary and can hardly be explained by commonplace common reasons. It is also noteworthy that among these cases a large proportion are close observations, which still occur today.
PS We would like to thank Sergey Konovalov for his help in collecting information from eyewitnesses in Trubchevsk.