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A copy of the lost photograph of the Petrozavodsk object

The Petrozavodsk phenomenon was a series of celestial events of a disputed nature that occurred on September 20, 1977. The sightings were reported over a vast territory, from Copenhagen and Helsinki in the west to Vladivostok in the east.[1] It is named after the city of Petrozavodsk in Russia, Soviet Union, where a glowing object was widely reported that showered the city with numerous rays.

Government officials from northern European countries sent letters to Anatoly Aleksandrov, president of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, expressing concern about whether the observed phenomenon was caused by Soviet weapons testing and whether it constituted a threat to the region’s environment.[2] Since 1977,[3] the phenomenon has been often, though not universally, attributed to the launch of the Soviet satellite Kosmos-955. In the same year, a preliminary report for the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was made, containing a large body of visual observations, radiolocation reports, physical measurements, and accompanying meteorological data. It concluded that “based on the available data, it is unfeasible to satisfactorily understand the observed phenomenon”.[4] The Petrozavodsk phenomenon contributed to the creation of Setka AN, a Soviet research program for anomalous atmospheric phenomena.

The Petrozavodsk Jellyfish UFO Sighting
By
Marcus Lowth
Published Date
June 30, 2022

In the early hours one September morning in the late 1970s in the Soviet Union, with the Cold War still very real and in place, residents of a small Russian town woke to see a bizarre light moving overhead. As they watched, the light took on the appearance of a strange jellyfish-like object which sent obscure beams of light to the ground even leaving behind physical evidence of its presence.

A depiction of Jellyfish-like UFOs
The 1977 case is one of the most well-known UFO sightings in Russian history

The incident remains one of the most intriguing UFO encounters on record, and despite several explanations put forward, in the minds of many UFO researchers the incident remains a complete mystery. That the incident occurred while the Cold War was in full swing and still a decade away from its end only adds intrigue and muddies the waters.

Were the residents of Petrozavodsk visited by alien beings from another world in the middle of the night? Or were the witnesses to some kind of top-secret Cold War technology or aircraft that was being discreetly tested by its own government?

Indeed, the incident we are about to examine is one of the strangest and most intriguing to come out of the Cold War period

An Intensely Radiant Star Like A Shining Jellyfish!

At around 4 am on 20th September 1977, according to the files of Michael Hesemann, multiple residents of Petrozavodsk, particularly those who were up early for work, witnessed one of the most bizarre sights ever recorded. According to the newspaper, Pravda, an “intensely radiant star which looked like a shining jellyfish, stood above Petrozavodsk”.

The report continued that the object moved slowly and threw “rays of light on the city”, elaborating that there were “thousands of beams” and that it “looked like heavy rain”. Eventually, this object “changed its brightness” before heading off in the direction of Onezskoe Lake.

Thin Rays Of Light Like Thin Arrows

As more and more people began to notice the curious anomaly in the sky, multiple “thin rays of light”, described like “thin arrows” came down from the sky heading toward the ground. And seconds after this happened, a surge of panic spread through the onlookers, who, until that point, had watched more out of fascination than fear.

Many ran back inside looking to take cover from what they believed was an imminent attack. Others flung themselves on the ground. There were rumblings among the local population in the immediate minutes following the display that what they were seeing was the imminent arrival of an American nuclear attack.

The more the onlookers watched the display, however, despite their fear, the more details they noticed. The object now had the appearance of a huge jellyfish – approximately 300 feet across – with “golden tentacles” that shone in many “beautiful colors”. What’s more, it was clear that the strange beams of light had a curve to them, much like the tentacles of a jellyfish or octopus.

What is also of interest, at least according to a report by TASS journalist, Nikolai Milov, was that many people looked decidedly ill in the minutes following the incident, a look that continued for hours afterward. Some of the witnesses who spoke with Milov claimed that they could feel some kind of “electric current” running through their body when the arrow-like lights appeared.

Even stranger, where these lights touched the ground, and sometimes windowsills, they left rough holes. Then, some of the witnesses recalled the object descending even closer.

“Either A UFO, Or A Field Of Energy That Came From A UFO!”
It settled once again, a short distance away near the harbor. The closer it had gotten, the brighter the object appeared, and was now so bright that many of the witnesses had to shield their eyes somewhat in order to view it.

Then, things turned stranger still.

Multiple residents saw a “bulb-shaped object” detach itself from the main craft and set out over the rooftops of the local houses and buildings, as if performing some kind of reconnaissance mission. It continued to do this for several minutes before returning to the main craft. Some witnesses claimed that it disappeared into an opening on the underside, perhaps suggesting some kind of remote-controlled drone.

Following this, according to statements given by the Director of the Meteorological Station of Petrozavodsk, Yuri Gromov, the object “gradually assumed the shape of an elliptical ring”. It then began moving once more, heading into a bank of nearby clouds in the direction of Onezskoe Lake. As it went into the clouds, it left behind a red hole, as if the clouds had been burned, which remained for several minutes.

Later investigations would show that there were no records of any aircraft over the skies of the town on the night in question, and Gromov dismissed that it could be ball lightning or any other atmospheric phenomena.

Gromov would further offer that it was “either a UFO, the messenger of a higher intelligence with crew and passengers, or a field of energy that came from a UFO”. In short, according to Gromov, there was no natural explanation for what hundreds, if not thousands of people had seen that autumn evening.

Multiple Letters Of Concern (That Went Unpublished)
In the weeks that followed the events over Petrozavodsk, the TASS news agency would receive in excess of 1,500 letters from concerned citizens. And most of them expressed deep worry about the incident, and if it might happen again, with many even questioning how safe residents of the area actually were. Others contemplated if radiation levels might be higher since the incident.

It would appear, at least according to retrospective investigations, that many of these concerns went unreported. Although the letters are to be found in the TASS archives, it appears that government officials forbid the news agency from reporting on it further. In fact, there was to be no further mention of the bizarre events of that night.

However, behind closed doors, scientists were asked to investigate the incident discreetly and out of the public eye. And this information would eventually be leaked into the public arena, particularly so after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

A depiction of a UFO
was there a cover-up in place?

One published who had particularly good government sources for many years, including at the time of the incident, was Vasil Zakharchenko. He claimed that the holes in the ground and windowsills were around the size of a typical coin. Of more interest, those in the windowsill had resulted in the nearby glass melting. One such window in a factory had become twisted in such a bizarre way that it was removed by authorities and taken for analysis.

According to a lecture given by Dr. Azhazha in late 1981, it wasn’t only the glass that showed signs of melting at many of the properties such holes were discovered, but there was significant distortion to the windows themselves. Of further interest, when this glass was inspected under an electron microscope, they discovered a “crystalline structure on the surface of the non-crystalline glass”, something thing which scientists claimed should have been impossible. Some of those who examined the data of the analysis reasoned that the only rational explanation was that the objects were “active”.

An Incident Caused By “Still Unknown Natural Atmospheric Phenomenon!”

According to further reports, samples of the glass were allowed to be analyzed by scientists and other interested parties in the West some time later. One of the first to do this was Dr. Dale Cruikshank, as well as sociologist David Swift – both of the University of Hawaii. They each traveled to the Academy of Sciences in Moscow in order to examine several samples. They too confirmed the presence of crystalline around the edges of the holes. When Professor Manfred Kage of the Institute for Scientific Photography at Schloss Weissenstein in Stuttgart would come to similar conclusions after the studies samples of the glass.

As news of the incident leaked out around the scientific community, there appears to have been a general interest in examining the most baffling events of that evening in Petrozavodsk. An official, while a discreet study of the incident was set up by the president of the Academy of Sciences and an intense study of the events went ahead. Ultimately, however, the conclusions were that the events and the holes that appeared as a result of the light beams were caused by “still unknown natural atmospheric phenomenon, possibly in connection with human technology, for instance, a rocket launch”.

A depiction of a UFO

There was plenty of evidence of the incident left behind

Although many researchers have rejected the notion that the sighting was simply the result of a rocket launch, it is still probably worth our time examining the phenomenon of “space jellyfish” that are often reported around the same time as rocket launches.

This is caused by sunlight that reflects from the rocket plumes at very high altitude, and we should note that there have been many UFO sightings over the years that have indeed been proven to be the result of a nearby rocket launch. However, there was something about this incident that made the explanation not quite sit right.

An Explanation That Doesn’t Offer A Satisfactory Explanation

While some in the UFO community would perhaps be suspicious of such conclusions, there does appear to have been a rocket launch on the morning in question, which was set in motion at 4:03 am, two minutes before residents of the town first noticed the bizarre aerial display. In Plesetsk, around 200 miles away from Petrozavodsk, the spy satellite, Cosmos 955 was launched. However, when the possibility of the satellite being the cause of what residents of the town witnessed was examined, it appeared unlikely at best.

For example, this launch was unlikely to have given the appearance of a jellyfish-like object, and it certainly wouldn’t explain why the object appeared to get larger and even come closer before then hovering in place for several minutes before moving off once more. It also wouldn’t satisfactorily explain the tentacle-like light beams that were witnessed by multiple people. Perhaps most of all, it wouldn’t offer an explanation for the many holes and melted glass and window frames that were also discovered.

In short, in the eyes of many, particularly those who saw the events with their own eyes, the encounter remained unexplained. That wouldn’t, though, be the end of the matter.

Many Witnessed And A Definite Route

The person who was part in charge of overseeing the investigation into the strange events of Petrozavodsk, W. Migulin, himself disagreed with the findings, and was not entirely happy with how it had progressed.

He would state in an interview with the Soviet newspaper, The Week, that there had been “insufficient investigation” of the incident and that the findings were essentially, flawed.

Migulin did reveal some intriguing findings, though, including that they had managed to put together a route that the object took – and it had gone further than most initially realized. According to official records, between 3:06 am and 3:10 am, a “bright ball of fire” was witnessed by police officers in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The glowing orb-like object hovered over the airport for just under five minutes before heading east. Even more amazing, radar operators at the control tower of Helsinki Airport also reported the anomaly.

Around 20 minutes later, another witness in Namoyevo, which is around 20 miles northwest of Petrozavodsk, saw the bizarre object through his telescope. He would state that it was “lens-shaped” and appeared to shine a violet color. It also appeared to be “surrounded by a shining ring” and had “bright pulsated rays of light” coming from it that appeared “like the tentacles of a jellyfish”.

Ten minutes after that, at around 3:30 am, several fishermen on Onezskoe Lake reported seeing the bright light moving through the sky. The object was unlike anything they had ever seen, and appeared to be “surrounded by a strange haze”. At 4 am, several employees of the Pulkovo Observatory witnessed a “ball of fire” move across the sky, while at approximately the same time, a pilot flying a passenger plane from Kyiv to Leningrad also witnessed the strange object.

As the object disappeared out of sight from Petrozavodsk, many people witnessed it moving across the sky, with several in Polovina reporting seeing the clouds suddenly light up, as if a light was traveling through them and making them glow from the inside.