There is such a valley of Hessdalen, which is located about 120 kilometers from the city of Trondheim. The length of this valley is no more than 15 kilometers in length and five kilometers in width. To the west and east, around Hessdalen there is a mountain ring about one kilometer above sea level, and to the south of the valley there are two lakes.
There are tiny settlements in the valley, where about 150-200 people live. The oldest inhabitants of these places recall that mysterious phenomena in the skies over Hessdalen were noticed even before World War II, but not very often. But since the end of 1981, the lights in Hessdalen have become much more common, and people have become agitated.
Mysterious luminous objects could appear each time in different places: above the rooftops, high in the sky. Most often, such phenomena were observed in winter at night, sometimes several times. In summer, these lights were rarely seen. These mysterious luminous balls either hung motionless in the sky above the valley, or slowly moved across the sky.
And it happened that they swept over the Hessdalen Valley at great speed, with the help of radar, a speed of 8500 meters per second was once recorded. The shapes of these objects were different, the color - from white to yellow-white.
Ufologists from Sweden and Norway became interested in the mysterious lights of the Hessdalen Valley. Soon an expedition was organized in this area, consisting of three groups. It included researchers - ufology and psychobiophysics, who decided to unravel the nature of this phenomenon.
These groups, in support of the project, were joined by several serious people and organizations from various institutions, doctors of science. Officially, this expedition was announced at the BUFORA International UFO Congress, which took place in the UK in the summer of 1983. Within a few months, the work plan for the project was worked out in detail, and then announced to the inhabitants of the valley.
And in January-February 1984, five researchers were among the first to visit the valley to carry out preliminary work. Local residents helped and supported the visiting enthusiasts in everything - they provided transport, living conditions and food. The group was immediately lucky - they were able to observe the mysterious lights a little, a lot, but as many as 53 times!
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Numerous photographs were taken, reports, graphs, tables were written. When observing UFOs, they used the most modern technology and equipment - radars, seismograph, magnetometer, spectrum analyzer, Geiger counter, infrared camera and laser.
Several times, scientists pointed a laser in the sky. The lights did not react at first, but one day they blinked in response to a message from the researchers.
In general, the lights themselves were very unusual. For example, in the course of experiments, it was found that the spectrum analyzer sometimes did not record anything, but scientists could clearly see the lights in the sky. Radars sometimes received double echoes from the signal, but infrared radiation from the lights was not recorded. And on February 20, a strange incident happened. On that day, one of the local residents of Oge Mo, who was with the visitors, saw a small red beam of light flashing on his leg, similar to the laser used by scientists in their experiments. Only this time the beam came down from somewhere above, from the sky.
Well, according to initial observations, the researchers found out that all lights can be roughly divided into three types. The first type included short-term small white or blue flares that could appear in the sky anywhere. The second type is yellow or yellowish-white lights that have been observed over rooftops or in the sky. They could sometimes hang motionless in place for about an hour, and then slowly moved along Hessdalen. Sometimes yellow lights could move at high speed.
The main direction of the flares was recorded from north to south. There were also lights that were at the same distance from each other. These were very often two white or yellow round lights with a red rim.
Many people who saw this type of glow spoke of UFOs. In the spring of 1994, a scientific seminar was organized, the main topic of which was the mysterious outbursts of the Hessdalen Valley. It was attended by two dozen major world scientists, including from Russia. It was decided that the mystery of the Hessdalen Valley should be further explored.
After the seminar, in the same year, scientists from Italy visited the Norwegian valley. Four years later, in 1998, a joint Norwegian-Italian project was created. This time, the latest equipment for recording optical and radio-magnetic radiation was used to study the mysterious phenomenon.
Currently, a base has been built in Hessdalen - the Blue Box laboratory for tracking the lights. This station is constantly filming, taking photographs, observing weather conditions, and measuring electromagnetic radiation. Now the Embla program is working, which unites all those who are interested in solving the UFO in the mysterious valley.
Is the valley a huge natural battery?
Norwegian experts offered their version in New Scientist this week. According to them, the appearance of the lights may be caused by the presence of zinc, copper and sulfur in the valley, making it a kind of giant natural battery.
Project Hessdalen has been studying the phenomenon since 1998, but according to project leader Bjorn Gitle Hauge, associate professor at Estfold University College, this theory is still only one of many.
“The hypothesis originates from the old sulfur mines in the valley,” the scientist explained to TheLocal.no. "Every time it rains, the mines fill up with water, so sulfur falls into the river almost every day." In this case, the river acts as an electrolyte, and the two sides of the valley act as electrodes.
“It's just a kind of battery,” says Hauge. - Because of the sulfur, the water in the river becomes acidic, the mountainous part of the valley in the west contains zinc, and the slopes in the east contain copper. And like a battery, this combination creates electrical discharges in the air.”
Monari, an Italian engineer and a leading proponent of the battery theory, first visited the valley in 2000. By connecting both sides of the valley with the river, he experimented with enough electricity to turn on a light bulb.
Among the skeptics is the Norwegian physicist Bjorn Samset. According to him, the bright light phenomena in the Hessdalen Valley cannot be explained using the battery theory: the distances are too great, and the amount of natural electricity is too small. “In my opinion, New Scientist should not have published this article at all,” the physicist said.