Postcard from Bishkek

Apparently, today is the World Day of Ufologists – dedicated to those who study the phenomena that have no logical explanation, and the objects, which are attributed to be of extraterrestrial origin.

The term “Ufology” is derived from the abbreviation of UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) – which in Russian is NLO, “neopoznannyi letaushshiy obyekt“.

In fact, in the past there have been two dates that were called World UFO day: July 2nd and the 24th of June.   The day in June is thought to commemorate the first widely reported sighting of a UFO back in 1947 by Kenneth Arnold in Grand Falls Michigan.  However, the WUFODO, (World UFO Day Organization), has declared that July 2nd is the “official World UFO day” in order to eliminate any confusion.

As it happens, the first World UFO day was held on July 2nd, 2001, and the date was chosen to commemorate the alleged crash landing of an alien space craft outside the small town of Roswell in New Mexico – also in 1947.

I say “alleged” because, although there are many believers who cite all sorts of evidence … the official story is that the remains recovered from the New Mexico desert were nothing more than part of Weather Balloon which had been mistakenly identified in press reports.  People are are divided into two camps: those who believe in the existence of extra terrestrial … and those who doubt them.  Even if scientists – and even theologians – are coming to the opinion that “we are not alone” in the universe … there is still much skepticism about how they might travel the vast interstellar distances to reach us … and if they did whether they might be benevolent.

It doesn’t seem to matter what side of the fence a person sits on … those on the other side don’t appear to be able to persuade them to change their minds.

 

As it happens, here in Kyrgyzstan

 

Authors of Science Fiction often depict aliens visiting planet Earth. In many stories they visit large cities – the centres of civilization. In others they chose “out of the way” locations … where there are either small communities, or no human inhabitants at all … for their forays to this planet.

For some reason there have been a number of sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in Kyrgyzstan … some of them with considerable documentation – newspaper reports giving eye-witness accounts, photographs, etc.  We have even had our own Roswell incident – I wrote a postcard about that incident, (the Crash landing at Devil’s Bridge), back in 2010 … there have also been a number of other incidents albeit less well researched and reported:

 

January 2003 saw newspaper reports of one such UFO sighting – and this time it was apparently caught on video taken by a motorist on a Sony video camcorder.

According to the reporters who saw the 8 minute video clip, it showed a scene at daybreak.  In the sky two brightly luminous objects appeared – one of them very similar to a “classical” UFO such as appears in Hollywood films.  Shown clearly in a corner of the picture was the date of shooting – 13.01.2003 and the time.

Bishkek resident, Kolbek Ryspaev, was driving with his wife and young son from Osh to Bishkek. Having passed through the tunnel at the Too-Ashuu pass, just before the checkpost in Sosnovka, he suddenly saw some luminous points in the dark sky to his right.  They appeared to be about 3-4 kilometers away.  In the beginning he thought that it must have been military-transport planes from the newly established Ganci air-base, flying from Afghanistan to “Manas” … but for some reason the objects began to slow down above Kara-Balta, where there are no air bases. In addition, they were moving very smoothly, according to a completely inexplicable trajectory and they were flying completely silently, emitting pulsing flares.

This captured his attention – as he put it in the newspaper – “Before this, frankly speaking, I treated the subject of UFOs skeptically. And here suddenly such thing, moreover before my eyes!”

Having passed the village of Kyrgyz-Dyikan, he saw that the mysterious objects were now on his left. He stopped his vehicle, took his video camera and began to record.  Being an amateur cameraman – and presumably somewhat overcome by what he was seeing, the picture is unsteady.  He said that if he had had a stand (tripod) then it would have been very clear.  He recorded two of the objects, the largest.  After this, they began to fly off in direction of Sokuluk.  He tried to give chase, but trees lining the road obscured the view.

His young son expressed concern: “It’s extraterrestrials… They won’t take us away, daddy?”. His voice was apparently clearly audible on the recording.

The size of objects cannot be determined from the film, it was too far away, they were moving too fast and there was no point of reference to give an idea of scale.

Unsure what it was that he had filmed … he showed the film to family and friends. Opinions as to what it was he had recorded were divided.

Oddly enough – on the same day, two employees of one of the local television stations (KOORT) also reported seeing a UFO – a bright oval object which hung silently in the sky, somewhere in the direction of, or around, the Western Bus Station in Bishkek. It appeared to show signs of fires onboard, and seemed to shine down beams of light like spotlights.

There have been other occasions when bright lights have been seen over the city.

 

In May 2004, another incident was reported in the local press … Children rushed into a house near the Spartak stadium in Central Bishkek in the early hours of the morning and interrupted a party with claims that there was a UFO. The guests and the owners of the house went outside and saw two bright circles. Attempts to video the UFOs failed: the streetlights were on and blocked the view and moreover it was very difficult to focus on the mysterious circles.

Then, one evening in early March 2005, (at approximately 9:00p.m.),  some residents living close to the Zum department store in downtown Bishkek noticed two shiny objects in the sky.  The observation of one 10-year old boy was that “the stars are moving”.

At first, these “stars” appeared to move in tandem, then one of them moved smoothly westwards and the second, larger and brighter object, appeared to ascend vertically, up into the sky. According to the reports in the press, it was “hard to say exactly at what height they were flying, how big they were and how far away they were because there was nothing to judge by, but it seems they were a long way off. “

A reporter for the “Evening Bishkek” newspaper said that he could see them clearly through the zoom lens on his camera. The newspaper published some of his photographs – showing bright lights against a dark background. He reported that they appeared to be “bright whitish-bluish spheres” and that they moved erratically, zigzagging and they appeared to vibrate.

At approximately, midnight both objects disappeared without trace.

 

During the Soviet period, the area was a center for the training of pilots – and now that both the Russians and the Americans have Airbases near to Bishkek, it is possible that there is a rational explanation of some sightings that does not require a belief in extra-terrestrials … but all the same … it provides food for thought.

 

 

Tags: For_the_Record, Kyrgyzstan