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Sketch by the document’s author. 1: Flight path of the unidentified object. 2: Size of the object. 3: When the radiation stopped, the object flew straight up into the sky and disappeared after two minutes. |
Flying saucers no longer captivate readers as they once did. Most reports of sightings turn out to be simply cases of “seeing a chicken in the crow.”
These unidentified flying objects—known as UFOs in English and colloquially referred to as flying saucers—are often just rockets, airplanes, or weather balloons.
However, the story below, which appeared in the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda published in Moscow last week, has been taken seriously by Alexander Afanasyev, a manuscript expert at the Russian State Historical Museum. Indeed, in the early 19th century, there were no airplanes or rockets. Afanasyev recently stumbled upon a document in the personal archives of Peter Poludensky—a senator in Moscow who worked for the Tsar’s intelligence agency and passed away in the mid-19th century. This document describes a mysterious phenomenon that Afanasyev believes refers to a UFO.
Alexander Afanasyev told the aforementioned Russian newspaper: “UFOs are not within my area of research. Nevertheless, I believe the author saw a flying saucer.”
The document states: “On September 1, 1808, at 8:07 PM, in a clear starry sky, an unprecedented phenomenon appeared with brilliant beauty and enormous size accompanied by a loud explosion. It flew in an arc from the horizon and then stopped above the Kremlin. At this moment, it resembled a flat structure measuring 9 arshins (6.35 m) long and half an arshin (0.35 m) thick. Then, the front edge of the object emitted an oval flame approximately 2 arshins (1.4 m) long and about 1.5 arshins (1.05 m) high, similar to a phosphorescent light, illuminating the entire area as bright as day. The flame then suddenly extinguished, but the flat object remained luminous. It slowly ascended vertically towards the stars. It was still visible for about 2 minutes before it vanished.”
According to Afanasyev, the description of this mysterious flying object bears a striking resemblance to modern flying saucer accounts, with characteristics such as sudden stops and changes in direction, continuous illumination, and sudden appearances and disappearances. Could this document be a forgery? Afanasyev does not believe so, stating that “the paper is indeed a product of 1805, and the handwriting and spelling are consistent with the early 19th century. The author was educated and could possibly be a professor from Moscow University since that institution is located near the Kremlin.”
P.THANH
