During the First World War, reports of mysterious and unexplained events were especially frequent. Scientists are still powerless to explain the nature of these paranormal phenomena. Here are just a few of them:
During World War I, soldiers and civilians reported paranormal activities that historians and ufologists have never been able to provide a logical explanation for. And then a reasonable question arises: did aliens from other planets monitor earthlings even 30 years before the legendary crash of an unidentified flying object near the city of Roswell in the state of New Mexico?
Some of this amazing evidence is reflected in Nigel Watson's book UFOs of the First World War.
"Red Baron" shot down a UFO?
The famous German fighter pilot who became the best ace during the First World War was Manfred von Richthofen, better known by the nickname "The Red Baron".
In the sky, he had no equal, both among the pilots and, apparently, among the aliens. In the spring of 1917, during a morning mission, flying in the skies over Belgium, Richtofen allegedly managed to spot an unidentified flying object that looked like an inverted silver saucer with orange lights.
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Baron's co-pilot Peter Waitzrick, who also witnessed this phenomenon, said: “We were scared because we had never seen anything like it before. The Baron immediately opened fire on the object, and he began to fall directly into the forest, breaking the treetops."
It seemed to them that two men had got out from under the wreckage of the aircraft and disappeared into the forest. Whitzrick and his squadron initially thought the flying object was a secret US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft. But after reading the report, where the description of the "flying saucer" was given, he would question what he saw.
Whitzrick made the case public when he was 105 years old - only 80 years after the mysterious incident, and an article about him was published in 1999 in TheWeekly World News. He stated: "In my opinion, there is no doubt that the Baron shot down some spaceship that came from another planet, and those guys who hid in the forest were space aliens."
However, historians question this story, arguing that the FokkerDr. I, on which the Baron flew, was commissioned in August 1917, that is, after this incident.
Disappearance of soldiers
During the failed Dardanelles operation, about 4 thousand people from the Royal Norfolk Regiment disappeared from the battlefield without a trace in a thick cloud of gray fog while moving through the ravine.
On August 21, 1915, three New Zealand soldiers watched several hundred British soldiers advance towards Hill 60 off Suvla Bay in Turkey.
“At the top of the hill, we noticed a dense, almost solid cloud about 250 meters long, 60 meters high and 60 meters wide. The British regiment went straight into it without hesitation, but none of the soldiers at Hill 60 never showed up or took part in the battle. About an hour after the last group of soldiers disappeared into the cloud, it easily left the ground, merged with the rest of the clouds, and together they swam northward."
When Turkish troops surrendered, Britain demanded the return of its regiment, which had been declared "missing." However, Turkey replied that she never took this regiment prisoner, did not engage in battle with it and did not even suspect of its existence.
While many considered this statement to be sheer falsehood, it was subsequently confirmed by the final report of the Dardanelles Commission, the materials of which were collected in 1917 and declassified in 1967.
According to the ufological version, British soldiers were abducted by aliens.
Angels of Mons
Some believe that this event was some kind of sign, which meant that God was on the side of Great Britain during the First World War. During the retreat of British soldiers at the Battle of Mons in 1914, strange figures suddenly began to appear on the battlefield, which prevented the Germans from moving forward.
Later, rumors began to circulate among the people that the soldiers then saw St. George, the Archangel Michael, or an army of warrior angels. News of this miracle spread so quickly that an article was even published about it in The Evening Standard. However, many ufologists believe that the "angels" were nothing more than guests from outer space - representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations who took the guise of soldiers.
UFO expert Kevin Goodman noted: "During the First World War, people did not know anything about UFOs, so the soldiers could only associate this supernatural intervention with the messengers of God."
UFO from Oldborough
In 1968, Daily Mirror reader A. Whiteland reported to the newspaper about a strange aircraft that his mother allegedly saw from the window of the second floor of her house in Oddleborough during the First World War.
Whiteland's 84-year-old mother had told him the same story many times over the years, so he decided to find out what really happened then.
Whiteland wrote: “Equipped with railings, the circular platform of this aircraft was slightly above the level of the house. There were from 8 to 12 people on it. My mother could see them very clearly. They wore blue uniforms and small round hats that did not look like sailors' headdresses. The aircraft did not make any sound as it rose from the swamp into the sky. It turned around, flew through the railway station, and then disappeared behind the houses."
According to the original version, Whiteland's mother saw the zeppelin - a German airship of a rigid system. However, aviation historian Charles Gibbs said that this was unlikely to be true, because the observation deck at the airship is so small that it can accommodate only one person and is not able to descend so close to the ground.
UFO researcher Karl Grove conducted his own thorough investigation, but could not find a reasonable explanation for this incident.
