Norway in Ufo Photographs The First Cata

FOTOCAT Report # 4
NORWAY IN UFO PHOTOGRAPHS: THE FIRST CATALOGUE
By Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos (*) and Ole Jonny Brænne (**)
(*) Apartado de Correos 12140, 46020 Valencia, Spain.

[email protected]
(**) Karl Staaffsvei 70, N-0665 Oslo, Norway. [email protected]
ABSTRACT
TH E H ESSD ALEN REGION IN N ORW AY IS RECOGN IZED W ORLD W ID E AS A
LOCATION W H ERE AN OMALISTIC LU MIN OU S EVEN TS H AP PEN FREQU EN TLY.
IN ORD ER TO BE A STIMU LU S FOR TH E LON G-AW AITED , COMPLETE, AN D U P -
TO-D ATE CEN SU S OF PH OTOGRAPH ED ACTIVITY IN TH E AREA, A
PRELIMIN ARY CATALOGU E OF P ICTU RES , FILMS AN D VID EOS OF ALLEGED
U FO PH EN OMEN A OB TAIN ED IN N ORW AY 19 0 0 -2 0 0 5 H AS BEEN PREP ARED .
TH IS CATALOGU E P LACES TH E H ESS D ALEN PH EN OMEN A IN TO PROPER
H ISTORICAL AN D N ATION AL PERSPECTIVE D U RIN G TH E TW O LAST
CEN TU RIES, IN RELATION TO OTH ER U N ID EN TIFIED EVEN TS IN TH E
COU N TRY. IT IS IN TEN D ED TO SERVE AS A REFEREN CE FOR OBS ERVATION AL
AN OMALOU S ( LU MIN OU S AN D N ON -LU MIN OU S, EXPLAIN ED AN D
U N EXPLAIN ED ) AERIAL PH EN OMEN A IN N ORW AY.
FOREW ORD
FOTOCAT is a worldwide databank comprising photographic UFO records

managed by the first author (http://fotocat.blogspot.com/). A major objective
within this project is the preparation of national catalogues and surveys, ideally
in association with local investigators (1-3). The present paper is FOTOCAT
Report #4.
The authors are members of the EuroUFO network (http://www.euroufo.net), a

large pool of UFO researchers, and the launching of this cooperation arose
quite naturally in the course of mutual correspondence. The exercise has
proved to be both fruitful and interesting. It has been a long-distance working
relationship between Valencia (Spain) and Oslo (Norway). The dense and
frequent exchanges easily materialized thanks to electronic mail and related
technologies.
The first author started research on the UFO phenomenon in 1965 (4). The
second author has devoted himself to the study of UFOs since 1986 (5). Both
develop this activity in conjunction with their full-time professions (the first
author early-retired in 2006.)
IN TROD U CTION
Photograph, in the popular philosophy, is the best evidence to prove the

existence of something, e.g. “a picture is worth a thousand words”. In
observational sciences, astronomy for instance, photographic records are basic.
Hessdalen in Norway has produced innumerable eye-witness reports of

anomalous phenomena, and is therefore an area of special interest (6). In
addition to the human observers, there is a large amount of instrumented
evidence, in the form of photography and video, either by persons or through
automated recordings by on-site equipment.
In spite of a recurrent phenomenon photographed at least since the early

eighties (7), surprisingly no one has decided to produce a decent inventory of all
photographic and film evidence obtained over the years in this area.
We do not intend to produce such a long-awaited, exhaustive register of

anomalous activity in Hessdalen; however with this catalogue we attempt to
stimulate the interest of Hessdalen researchers to compile such a definitive
work.
Starting with data from the FOTOCAT Project and combining that data with
documentation supplied with the cooperation of Ole Jonny Brænne, from local
organization UFO-Norge, we test the possibility of creating a preliminary
catalogue of all UFO occurrences reported in Norway. Although the present
catalogue also collects the photographic events in Hessdalen (collated by
performing a comprehensive, but probably not exhaustive, review of the
literature), it is mainly targeted at the gathering of UFO reports in Norway, as far
as pictures and films are concerned.
PROCED U RES
Or what we have done and what we have not done. Our starting point was an
initial Norway catalogue from the FOTOCAT database as of early January 2007
(it gathered together photographic cases from Norway found in the mainstream
international literature). By then, we had compiled some 40 cases for this
country (by comparison, the number of independent cases for Norway stored in
the largest world UFO catalogue, UFOCAT, was just 18).
The next step was to proceed to a deep review of UFO-Norge and the second
author’s personal files, the Norwegian UFO literature (books and specialized
journals), and available collections of newspaper clippings where UFO stories
were described. Then, national UFO-related web sites were visited. This
procured the addition of an important number of new cases. At the same time,
the first author reviewed Project Hessdalen’s official site, PH-produced reports,
as well as related articles and web sites worldwide in order to capture data on
every photographic event reported in the Hessdalen Valley.
The resulting catalogue grew in size from 40 to 744 cases! Roughly, we have
extracted the cases from the following set of sources examined:
Initial catalogue 40
Local literature & files 120
Newspaper clippings 65
Web sites 50
Hessdalen reports 469
Final catalogue 744
This is a fine example of the potential cooperation that internet communication

brings. We have accomplished all that in a 6-month period, in spite of the long
distance between the two authors. It was possible only thanks to the
possibilities that the global net allows for data exchange.
Explained cases are those which were so identified by original sources, the
advice of our colleagues, as well as some obvious misinterpretations. Except in
a few particular instances, we have not subjected the unexplained cases to any
forensic study. Reports have not been re-investigated either. Witnesses have
not been located for data improvement. Original information sources have not
been contacted for detailed discussion, re-inquiry or analysis. This is something
we feel must be done, because our experience shows that a process oriented
towards the investigation of individual cases will solve many “unsolved” reports.
Norwegian UFO researchers are strongly encouraged to follow-up on the

present work along the lines mentioned above.
A COLLECTION OF REPORTS
A brief synopsis of every case on record follows. The present on-line publication
is an extended version to the original’s full paper, and it is aimed to provide as
many photographs as possible so that the reader has a complete visual
coverage of the phenomena being reported.
When a photograph is available it is inserted just beneath its corresponding

summary.
A note on the quality of some pictures will be in order. For a number of these
photographs, our only sources have been newspaper clippings, or even
photocopies of such. It explains their poor condition. But at least we have
provided some clues for others to follow-up.
27 July 1909, night – Drøbak, Frogn
This photo is variously said to be from 1907 or 1909, and was first published as
a “UFO” photo in 1967 by an Italian weekly magazine. It turns out to be a
cropped and retouched version of a previously published photograph of
noctilucent clouds by Carl Störmer (1874-1957), a Norwegian researcher into
the aurora borealis and professor of mathematics. He initiated a project to
measure the height of the aurora borealis as well as various types of clouds.
The project (1908-1912) consisted of separate stations for triangulation
purposes, and one of these was in Drøbak. Several hundred photos were taken
during this time, and he later published a photographic atlas of the aurora
borealis.
1947, day – Norway, unknown location

The father of Reidar Hovdsveen’s live-in girlfriend shot the photo of a house,
which shows an obvious development flaw. Not much more is known about this
case.
19 September 1952, afternoon – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in the North
Sea
During Operation Mainbrace, the first major NATO exercise in the North
Atlantic, several UFOs were observed and reports were published in various
newspapers, both in Norway and other countries. On one of these occasions, a
reporter named Wallace Litwin observed a white sphere above him and took a
series of photos of it. The myth of these photos is quite interesting, for example
it is rumored that the photos were never published (another proof of the cover-
up by the US military). However, Ole Henningsen of SUFOI (Denmark) actually
tracked down the photographer, and the photos were published in 1978. Litwin
initially believed this to be a balloon, as well it might have been.
Easter 1953, April 4, approximately, day – Holteskaret, Hemsedal

Just-married Esther Wilberg was on an Easter skiing holiday together with her
husband. She claimed they observed a red ball of light coming out of the
clouds, continuing across the sky for 5-6 seconds. She managed to get her
camera up and take one photo before it disappeared into the clouds again. The
shape of the image definitely suggests that a drop of fluid fell onto the film.
Perhaps the observer really did see a phenomenon, took a photograph of the
empty sky, and the image was subsequently damaged in the development. The
negatives cannot answer this because they have been lost.
30 June 1954, 13:30 – Heggedal, Asker
Dorothy Huitfeldt took a photo of the solar eclipse this day, and a lens flare
appeared on the photograph. Because of the vast media interest following the
Bjørnulf/Conradi film (see below), we suspect quite a few photos like this were
published in local newspapers during 1954. No exhaustive search of local
newspapers has been initiated yet.
30 June 1954, 13:30 – Norway airspace
A number of scientists and movie crews left Gardermoen in three aircraft, to
photograph the moon’s shadow during the solar eclipse. Johnny Bjørnulf took a
photograph where a lens flare is evident.
30 June 1954, 13:35 – Gardermoen, Ullensaker

Major Hans Hauge, an Army Air Force photography pioneer, took some photos
of the solar eclipse, at Gardermoen airport. When developed, the photos
showed lots of lens flares.
30 June 1954, 14:17 – Lifjell, Seljord

This is the movie shot by Raun Conradi from the same aircraft as Johnny
Bjørnulf, Toralf Viking, and often erroneously attributed to Bjørnulf himself. On a
good quality version one can clearly see the sunlit window on the opposite side
of the aircraft reflected in the window through which the film was shot.
August 1956, day – Hegra, Stjørdal
A person took a photo of a house that was burning, and something appeared on
the photo when developed. Nothing much is known about this case.
We suspect a simple lens flare.
11 August 1956, evening – Mo i Rana, Rana

Sigurd Gaasland took some 100 frames of 8mm movie film of a luminous ball of
light, slowly moving from east to west. He spotted the object while filming a
family event that evening. Original cine film is unavailable, but from descriptions
in newspapers it is probably a balloon.
24 July 1957, day – Coast of Norway

Mrs. W. Felton Barrett, an American tourist, shot landscape photos of a fjord.
One of the photographs was ruined by a saucer-shaped reflection from a
diamond ring she was wearing.
July 1960, day – Norway, unknown location
A young man with a camera passes an old house. While looking at the house, it
suddenly and explosively bursts into flames. He took lots of pictures of the fire.
When developed, it appeared a flying saucer was hovering above the farm,
sending down three powerful beams of light that joined above the burning
house. The source is a single Swedish newspaper clip.
We consider this to be a hoax. Possibly this is a distorted account of the August
1956 case.
May 1966, day – Trondheim

Monrad Kjellby, photographer for the Adresseavisen newspaper, took a
photograph of an unusual cloud formation. Probably just as an illustration for the
article.
8 September 1967, 01:00 – Rørvik, Vikna
A woman saw a flashing red light moving slowly across the sky and took one or
more photos. From the description, it seems to be a satellite, but unless we can
find the photos we cannot decide with absolute certainty.
Insufficient information.
1968, night – Båtsfjord

The observer was a child at the time, when she and other children were outside
making angels in the snow. It was a full moon this night and suddenly they saw
another moon as well. They were not sure which moon was the right one. She
ran home and got her parents out to see this thing. Her father, now deceased,
filmed the phenomenon – also observed by others – and there was an article
about it in the newspaper a few days later (unknown Finnmark newspaper).
This happened in either 1967 or 1968. The film is unavailable, and newspapers
of Finnmark from 1967-1968 have not been searched yet.
From description of phenomenon this may be a moon dog – a paraselene halo.
21 January 1968, 19:13 – Østlie, Dal (UFO)

Ola Arnesen and his family observed a bright red-white object moving towards
the north for four minutes. His daughter took a few photographs, but according
to the newspaper article, they had not been developed yet. As both “Ola” and
“Arnesen” are very common names, the possibility of tracking down this family
is virtually impossible. Perhaps complementary information can be located in
later editions of the newspaper.
May 1969, day – Meråker

Not much is known about this photo, except that it was a journalistic fake.
28 July 1970, 14:00 – Hemsedal

An anonymous Swedish pilot and his family (wife and two sons) who were on
vacation in the Norwegian mountains, managed to film a strange object that
seemingly hovered without any motion at 1,000 m altitude or more. The portion
of film showing the object was only about 10 cm long. They saw the object for
many minutes before he started to film it, then he ran out of film and went inside
to change to a new roll. When he came outside again, the object had
disappeared.
Most likely a high-altitude balloon of the triangle-shaped kind, which were very
common in Europe during those years.
29 July 1970, 16:05 – Strandavann, Hallingskarvet

Five people observed a triangular-shaped object with a round ball underneath. It
was more or less stationary for the 15 minutes it was observed, even though the
wind was strong at ground level. It was occasionally obscured by moving
clouds. As the observers had to leave with a bus, it is unknown how the object
disappeared.
Most likely a high-altitude balloon of the triangle-shaped kind, most prolific those
years in Europe.
1 January 1972, 04:15 – Moss

At a New Year’s party in Moss, pilot Peter Bull was the first to see the objects.
Everyone at first though this was just some delayed fireworks, but soon decided
this was not so. About 20 seconds went by before Einar Hotvedt shot the first of
three photos of the objects as they flew past them almost directly overhead.
1 January 1972, 04:15 – Askøy
Atle Liland first thought the objects were regular aircraft, so he didn’t react until
he noticed there was no aircraft sound. He then shot an 8-second time-
exposure photo, before the objects disappeared on the horizon.
1 January 1972, 04:15 – Lillehammer

Steinar Aurmo, a police student, was on his way home from a New Year’s party,
when he spotted two lights coming from the northwest (from the direction of
Bergen). He first thought they were regular fireworks, but the lights continued to
rise and get brighter, followed by three more and then still three more. He
managed to shoot two photos. The objects stayed in formation and had a
constant speed.
The events of J anuary 1, 1972 should be used in the education of field investigators – NUFOC
(and the n ewspapers) received dozens of UFO reports on this date. People were even describing
cigar shaped objects with windows! However, all the reports from J anuary 1, 1972 were caused
by the re-entry of the Kosm os 453 rocket booster.
6 January 1972, night – Kjøpsvik, Tysfjord

A luminous object was observed by many people, and it fell down nearby.
Freelance journalist Kristian Larsen took two photos of the object after it fell
down. The debris was then shipped off to Bodø by the military.
The photos show a paper balloon with some wires attached at the bottom.
Probably some candles were also involved, causing the balloon to rise and to
appear luminous.
16 January 1972, night – Rendalen, Engerdal
Odd Westgård, a student at Evenstad Forestry School, was on his way back to
school after spending the weekend at home in Engerdal. On the mountain pass
from Engerdal to Rendalen, he noticed a luminous ball of light in the sky. He
estimated the apparent size as twice that of the moon, and he watched it for 45
minutes.
We suspect he misinterpreted a planet. The newspaper article doesn’t mention
the azimuth of the observation, so it is not possible to find the proper
astronomical correlation (the planets Mars and Saturn were above the horizon
that night, in the SW). The picture certainly looks like an out-of-focus
astronomical object. Insufficient information.
8 February 1972, estimated 00,33 – Holter, Nannestad

At “midnight,” Mr. and Mrs. Kjell Christensen sighted an object in the sky. It
pulsed with an orange ember, but was more red-colored near the edge. Coming
from the west, it seemed to grow in size and then make a slight sudden jump,
then dimming out and disappearing.
Harvard professor Jonathan McDowell indicated a match with the launch of a
sounding rocket at 23:33 GMT on February 7th (00:33 of the following day,
Norwegian time) from Kiruna, in Sweden. There is every indication of this,
including the "sudden jump" of the object, when a new stage of the rocket is lit.
Brief information on this event published three years later dates the film as
February 12th. We believe this is a dating mistake.
12 February 1972, 23:00 – Holter, Nannestad

The weather is clear, no wind, temperature is -8°C. Kjell Christensen notices an
object towards the west at about 30° elevation. The phenomenon (on film) looks
like a mushroom with many colors, mostly orange-yellow, but also white, green,
and blue. The intensity of the light varies during the film. The object went
towards the north, then towards the south, then to the north again and
disappeared. Super-8 film with 18 frames per second was shot with 32mm
telescopic lens. Most likely a balloon.
8 March 1972, 22:40 – Askøy

Finn Fossmark observed a reddish object towards the west-northwest. Weather
reported to be calm, a few clouds, no moon visible. The object was stationary
and still visible when observation was terminated after 10 minutes. According to
the scant report available, this was the same object as the one photographed by
a journalist of the newspaper Dagen. The planets Saturn, Mars, and Venus
were visible low above the horizon in the west (Venus at 10º, Mars at 22º, and
Saturn at 29º).
In our view, the planets Mars and/or Venus are the most probable explanation
for this long sighting.
17 March 1972, 18:35 – Bergen (UFO)

The observer was casually looking out the window when he noticed a trail of
yellowish sparks above a nearby hill. He continued to observe this phenomenon
and grew aware of a large dark ball-shaped object in front of the sparks. The
phenomenon was then on a southerly course, and suddenly made a sharp turn
towards the east. While this was happening, his wife was running inside to fetch
the movie camera for her husband and her own slide camera. He filmed it and
she took two photos. When the object came towards them, they saw three lights
on the front end. When it was right above them, it seemed to rotate, and the
wife seemed to hear a pleasant sound from the object. The object moved to the
east and disappeared behind a mountain. The elevation of phenomenon was
approximately 45°. Clear weather, no wind, temperature of +9°C , and no moon
was visible.
The slides and film have not been located. Insufficient information.
October 1972, 04:00 – Trondheim

During several nights late in October, Alf Haugan observed a strong yellow-
white light, sometimes for several hours at a time. I see it every night. I don’t
know w hat it is, but it’s not a star or a satellite. It is sm aller than the m oon,
som etim es it is stationary , and som etim es it is m oving, even rotating around
its ow n axis. The phenomenon was usually most visible in the early morning
hours from four to seven, and it was described as a cigar-shaped UFO w ith
half-m oon w ings. He even filmed the object, waited anxiously for the results,
but after development there was nothing on the film.
On the 25th, the planet Venus rose in the eastern horizon at 04:10, and by 07:00
its elevation was 18º approximately. Sunrise (and daylight) was around 08:40,
and Venus would have disappeared from view around an hour before that.
We find that the confusion with the planet Venus is the most likely explanation.
1973 – Holter, Nannestad

We have four frames of an 8mm film recorded by “repeater observer” Kjell
Christensen. No other information is available to compilers. Photographs look
like flares that an aircraft would launch.
1973 – Hektnersletta, Rælingen
There exists only a time-exposure picture with a note attached to it. It is not
known who was the photographer, or any direction or time data. It could be a
photograph of any bright planet.
11 January 1973, 23:00 – Tønsberg

A boy and his fiancée were driving along near Tønsberg this clear starlit night,
with no fog or wind. The boy spotted a large ball of light in the sky. It was more
luminous than a star, and it had two blinking outgrowths. They were blinking in
many colors at the same time. It was standing still for approximately 3-4
minutes, then moved out over the Oslo Fjord. It stopped again and stood still for
about an hour. Many people was gathering to observe this phenomenon,
among them journalist Roar Hansen as well as the photographer Jens Petter
Gjelseth (both of the Vestfold newspaper). The object disappeared after three
hours.
To us this sounds like a combined case of an aircraft first, and then a star.
1 April 1973, 20:10 – Holmestrand

Jan-Ivar Mellingen and a friend, John-Arne Thomassen, first observed a
luminous white point of light over a hill in the SE. The light was moving north
without any sound and it disappeared. While they were discussing their
observation, another light of the same appearance appeared and followed the
same course. All this elapsed within 10 minutes, from 19:40 to 19:50.
They both drove to another vantage point. At 20:10 they spotted in the NNE a
luminous, white object, a little brighter than a star. It traveled west with constant
speed until it changed to the north, then it turned towards the observers and it
appeared to accelerate. The light grew red and yellow. It passed behind a low
formation of clouds, and when it appeared again it was more deep red,
disappearing finally towards the ENE.
Three photos were shot when the object was traveling away. Nothing is shown
on the negatives because of wrong exposure.
8 April 1973, 20:10 – Horten

Mellingen and friends continued to observe various phenomena/objects on the
6th and 7th. On the 8th, at 19:51, they were at Horten again (at the same vantage
point), when they saw a white luminous object over the Oslo Fjord going NNE
with constant speed. No sound was heard. At 20:10 a light was seen moving
towards the NW. Its color varied between red, yellow and white, disappearing
behind a mountain. A series of photos was shot.
9 April 1973, 20:04 – Horten

This night, five people (including Mellingen) observed a bright stationary object
towards Røkke (in the east). It appeared suddenly, and after a while it moved
towards the SSW, changing to a red pulsating light, disappearing in the
distance. During the next 20-25 minutes several lights/objects were seen, and
at one time three were seen simultaneously. All were without any sound.
Numerous photos were shot with at least two different cameras. Because of the
great distance and difficult light conditions, only a few of the photos showed
anything at all.
We consider these continuing observations to be most probably caused by
aircraft (soundless because of wind) and possibly stars (Vega and Arcturus).
Sunset in the west was around 20:00 and the stars were just starting to become
visible around this time.
20 September 1973, 21:45 – Rælingen
A light was seen near Ursa Major (also known as Big Dipper). A photo was shot
as the light grew weaker, as if it was entering the Earth‘s shadow. The object
disappeared in the WSW at approximately 35º elevation.
Sounds very much like a satellite.
10 December 1973, night – Hamar

Theodor Abrahamsen (rector of Hamar Cathedral School, 1971-1987) was
doing some astronomical photography work, taking photos of the moon from his
private observatory. Three of the photos show what appears to be a luminous
object next to the moon.
Actually it is a common lens flare. The photos were printed upside down in
Hamar Dagblad, February 5, 1974. Also, the planet Saturn is visible in the
photos as a small luminous dot near the center of the frames.
1974, night – Holter, Nannestad

Photograph taken by “repeater” Kjell Christensen showing obvious lens flares.
1 January 1974, night – Ålesund
Until January 1st, a luminous object was seen passing by nightly in the
southwestern sky. It appeared in the afternoon and took a couple hours to go to
the south where it disappeared.
This sounds very much like an observation of the planet Mars.
7 January 1974, 17:30 – Ulvensletten, Bergen

“A young man” delivered a photo, shot towards the SW, after the newspaper
published an article about the comet Kohoutek. In the following editions the
discussion about the photo and the object continued.
Both planets Venus and Jupiter were close together directly in the SW at the
time.
28 February 1974, 17:30 – Noresund, Krødsherad
A 17-year-old boy sent a faked photo to the Verdens Gang newspaper, just to
show that it is very easy to fake such photographs.
13 March 1974, 18:25 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

Note: On the evening of March 13, 1974, a brightly shining lum inous object was observed for an
extended period of tim e from various places in eastern Norway. J ohn Oldertroen at Tynset saw
the object from 16:35 until 18:55. At Bøn (Knut Aasheim ), Lillestrøm (Eldbjørg Fjeldberg), and
Nesbyen (Sverre Gulbrandsen) it was followed from 18 :25 until 19:20 . The object m ade changes
in course, height, and speed. First with slow speed SSE for 90 m inutes, then stationary above
Tronfjell for about 30 m in utes; at 18:50 it was again m oving slowly before accelerating and
finally disappearing. Ten years later this was still considered, by certain Norwegian ufologists, to
be very good evidence for UFOs. However, it is quite clear this was only a scientific research
balloon.
Eldbjørg Fjeldberg shot several photos of the object with ½ to 1 second
exposure time.
13 March 1974, 18:30 – Nesbyen, Nes

Sverre Gulbrandsen shot several (12?) photos of the same object, with from 1/8
second to 1/30 second exposure – mostly with 1/15 second exposure time.
13 March 1974, 18:45/19:10 – Gjøvik

Terje Olsen, a journalist with the Oppland Arbeiderblad newspaper, got a call
about the object from John Myhre and Olav Gamme. They had just come back
from a flight in their Cessna airplane. Olsen and colleague Trond Stenberg then
traveled to Osbakken, near Skumsjøen, Gjøvik. They arrived there at 18:30
(and stayed until 18:45), and Trond Stenberg shot a photo of the object. The
object was then stationary. Together with Olav Gamme (pilot) and John Myhre
(passenger), the four of them chased the object which had started to move
again, for about 20-25 minutes, aboard their Cessna. With a top speed of 160
km/h they did not close in on it. They were then about 100 km west of Gjøvik. A
few black & white photos were taken from the airplane by Terje Olsen.
1 December 1974, night – Ål (UFO)
An anonymous report to the press of a luminous object observed moving north.
The object then stopped, and after 1½ hours it disappeared towards the north-
west at high speed. At least one photograph was taken.
2 December 1974, 22:30 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

A red light traveling from east to west 5-6 degrees above the horizon, was seen
by Kjell Christensen and his wife. He managed to take two photos of the light.

15 minutes later, a red-orange light came from the north flying to the south, 7-10
degrees above the horizon. It was moving at a low speed and it changed light
intensity. During 2-3 minutes, Christensen shot five photos. Three normal and
two time-exposure (5-9 seconds) photos were taken. Photos were published in
the weekly magazine Vi Menn.

Kjell Christensen and wife observed a red-orange object traveling north to south
at 5-6 degrees above the horizon, at slow speed, eventually disappearing
behind a hill.
Note: This set of descriptions during the m onth of Decem ber by frequent UFO
photographer Kjell Christensen seem s to be fully com patible with the
observation of aircraft.
19 December 1974, 12:00 – Kvalsund

People all over Finnmark County observed this. A luminous, plow-shaped
object, traveling on a straight course, was visible for approximately one minute.
It eventually split into two or three parts and disappeared. A photo was shot of
the object, at Kvalsund, but the image accompanying the newspaper article is a
drawing, as the photo was of a poor quality.
We suspect a fireball or meteoroid (no re-entry in NASA log for this day).
21 September 1975, 00:00 – Lierdalen, Lier

It was just past midnight between the 20th and the 21st, when a woman noticed
a red light 20-30 degrees above the horizon. She called her husband and he
saw the same light. She went outside to watch, and shortly after that her
husband went outside, but the light had disappeared by then. She said the light
vanished suddenly, as if a lamp was shut off. Shortly thereafter, two lights
appeared near where the first one disappeared. These were also yellow-red in
color. The husband then ran inside to get his camera. He came outside again
and took a photo of the two lights. He took photo number two just as one of the
lights disappeared, and then another shortly after the last light disappeared as
well. They saw clouds in the background the whole time (approximately 8
minutes) and there was no sound.
The lights were also seen by another couple in Egge, Lier. They first saw one
red light that disappeared, then another that appeared and disappeared in the
same general place as the first one. Total observation time for them was 5
minutes.
The local newspaper received an anonymous call about a week later, claiming a
party that night was responsible for shooting up some fireworks. This seems a
likely explanation, as some fireworks are equipped with small parachutes
(Roman sun), and thus last a long time.
1976, day – Valdres

A landscape photograph shows a white elongated light. It could be a lens flare
or a development/film flaw. Author of picture is well-known producer of UFO
photos, Kjell Christensen.
1976, day – Åsgårdstrand, Horten
Through a second-hand source we received four photos of an object on the
ground. Allegedly the object was observed while landing, photos were then
taken, after a while the object took off and it disappeared in a flash of light. A
fifth photo is said to have been shot just as the object disappeared (not seen by
any investigator). No written report exists.
We consider this to be a crude hoax.
20 February 1976, evening – Steinsholt, Numedal (UFO)
A shining ball of light, gliding through the evening darkness, illuminating the
valley with a reddish glow, was filmed by Mary Anne Berg. Her husband, Kåre
Berg, was also a witness. It was completely soundless, with a steady course
northwards through the valley, maintaining the same altitude during its entire
flight. Then, just before it disappeared, flashing red lights were emitted,
resembling welding flames pouring out in the darkness. The light flashed in a
series around the ball, until it disappeared completely.
The film was submitted by NUFOC to the Department of Astrophysics at the
University of Oslo: W e have m easured the blackening of the film w ith our
m icro-densitom eter. This show s that the cam era w as out of focus, w hile all the
pictures have a light ring just inside the edge of the light area. This is also
apparent on copies (negatives) of the m ovie. If one exam ines the report of the
w itnesses, the apparent size of the object is said to be about 0 .5º (a pea), but
the film show s it as about tw o degrees. This indicates that the cam era
adjustm ent m ust have been out of focus. As consultant Andrés Duarte explains,
this image is not that of the observed object, but the camera aperture’s shadow
or iris and some concentric diffraction rings. Nothing is seen of the object’s
actual appearance.
April 1976, daytime? – Raufjellet, Osen (UFO)

We have no written account of this photo. We are not even sure of the province,
as there are other cities with the same name elsewhere. The photo shows an
extremely small point of light, and could be anything.
4 June 1976, midnight – Skarvevannet, Ringerike (UFO)
Kjell Fremnes and Halvard Greftegreff spotted a bright light in the sky. It
appeared to be “dancing” up and down, while also moving forward. They first
thought this had to be an aircraft, but the way it was moving caused them to
exclude that possibility. Light was orange-yellow, had no sound, it was on a
course from north to south, and it disappeared behind some trees. Height was
at approximately 35º, and the weather was clear with no moon. Fremnes shot
two photos of the object.
The reproduced photo is of such low quality that it is impossible to evaluate
what it represents. Insufficient information.
20 August 1976, 19:45 – Lillehammer

A journalist was at work outside Lillehammer Kirke (a church), waiting for a
colleague. Quite by accident, he saw a cigar-shaped object with no wings, flying
south. It had no sound or exhaust, and the sunlight caused the object to appear
shiny. The object was first at some 60º height, and it disappeared low on the
horizon after 90 seconds. He estimated the size of the object at 10-20 meters,
with the speed of an aircraft. It passed below a few clouds. The observer shot
several photos, but nothing appeared on the photos after development.
We consider it was likely an aircraft.
September 1976, night – Ullensaker

We have this photo with some notes on the back saying it was a double
exposure. Photo shot by Kjell Christensen some three kilometers west of
Gardermoen (Gardermoen is on the border between Nannestad and
Ullensaker), in the beginning of September. This is a time-exposure of the
northern sky, while the photographer was indoors. Allegedly the light track it
shows just appeared after development. A fake.
November 1976, night – Svalbard (UFO)
During the winter of 1976-1977, several polar researchers were living in
Svalbard. One of aims of this project was to photograph the aurora borealis
every minute. Monica Kristensen, a Norwegian glaciologist/meteorologist/polar
explorer, saw a round white light come in from the sea and fly slowly towards
Ny-Ålesund. She first thought it might be a helicopter. It seemed to sweep the
landscape with a searchlight. It was later discovered that the object had been
photographed by the All-Sky camera on top of their research station, and had
also been seen by Ole Christian Røren, another member of the expedition. The
photo was never properly investigated by the Norwegian Polar Institute or other
researchers. Several inquiries have been made, but the photo is now believed
to have been lost.
1977, day – Holter, Nannestad

Kjell Christensen again! Just a photo, no written report or other information
exists. The picture looks very much like a cloud.
10 March 1977, 22:15 – Ålesund

A luminous object quite low in the western sky, moving south-west, was seen.
Torkild Børs Lind managed to shoot four photos of the light. Two of the photos
were time-exposures of 2.5 minutes each. The photos show the course of the
object. He followed the light for about 10 minutes. One of the time-exposure
photos was published in the newspaper, showing the three lights of the radio
tower on top of the Aksla Mountain to the left, and the object to the right. We
can see from this photo that the object has traveled down and to the right,
following the rotation of the Earth.
Both planets Jupiter and Venus were visible in the western sky at the time.
Venus eventually set on the NW horizon at 23:45, and it seems to be the culprit.
Summer 1977, day – Veståsen
The witness reports: On a sum m er night I w as fishing at Veståsen. I had no
luck w ith the fish, so I w as w atching the sky now and then. Suddenly , one
object after another glided off at tree-top height, and disappeared quickly
tow ards the east. This cannot be true as the picture shows the “objects” moving
in the direction of the setting sun (west). The article was published in the satire
and humor section of the newspaper. We feel confident the photo is a fake.
August 1977, day – Gossen, Aukra

A photographer with the Romsdal Folkeblad newspaper was taking photos of
the Aukra Bruk facilites, on the island of Gossen. Upon development of the
photos, at least two of them showed a small black object in the sky he had not
seen. The article had a joking text about aliens and industrial espionage.
A development flaw?
September 1977, day – Hallingskarvet

In the beginning of September, Hans Fredrik Parr was on a mountain trip with
his wife and two children. The weather was clear, sunny, with no clouds. They
shot numerous photos of the landscape. After development, a small black thing
was on one of the photos, against a clear sky.
Probably an out-of-focus insect caught close to the camera.
November 1977, night– Jaren, Gran (UFO)
A person observed a light in the eastern sky in the early evening for two
minutes before it disappeared behind a cloud. Later the same night, he saw a
light in the western sky, close to the horizon. He shot a photo of the light. This
happened “last week”, i.e. between the 14th and the 20th. The text of the
published article is again in a humorous tone, joking about radioactivity and the
small number of people who have not seen UFOs yet.
Both planets Jupiter and Mars were visible in the eastern sky from 20:00 to
22:00 hours.
The photo shows a half-circle of light and could be just about anything.
26 December 1977, 22:00 – Åsbygda, Ringerike

A luminous ball of light with a comet-like tail moved horizontally back and forth
over a hill for half an hour. I have seen the sam e phenom enon before, said a
young woman to the newspaper. This tim e I w as lucky enough to have w ith m e
a cam era w ith film on it. I w as w ith another w om an, so I have w itnesses. It
w as just before 22:0 0 , the w eather w as clear and no w ind, around -10 °C. W e
w ent outside to see better, and I shot several photos of the strange
phenom enon.
That night, the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, Sirius, as well as the moon
– all bright objects – were visible in the eastern sky. The article does not
mention anything about direction or what other objects were visible.
1978, night – Norway, unknown location (UFO)
Photo shows a red blob of light against a black background. No details
available.
1 January 1978, 00:20 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

Together with three other people, Eldbjørg Fjeldberg observed an orange light
for eight minutes. She first suspected some fireworks. The object was observed
through 10x50 binoculars, and it looked like two ellipses standing on edge close
to each other. They went outside; the object was at a height of 35°, and it
started pulsating. As it got closer to the horizon, small white flashes were seen,
and at one time sparks were shooting out from the light. Fjeldberg estimated the
size as similar to signal light fireworks, and close to three times the apparent
size of the planet Jupiter. Four photos were shot by Fjeldberg.
We suspect some kind of fireworks.
28 January 1978, night – Bergen

Svein Åge Olson was photographing the ship Bolero leaving the Bergen harbor.
He had his camera on a tripod and set it to take time-exposures. Several photos
were shot. After development, a UFO had appeared on all of them.
Photos show a typical lens flare.
For example, an identical lens flare found in another landscape pictures, this
time in Miami, Florida, in the seventies:
21 March 1978, 22:55 – Holter, Nannestad

Kjell Christensen was about to go to bed, when he took a look outside the
window. He saw a light moving low in the sky. He fetched his camera and took
two or three photos. A few seconds elapsed and the light came lower while its
speed and light intensity increased three-fold. He now took some more photos,
at least one of which is a time-exposure of three seconds, showing a yellow-red
light against a black background, moving across the sky in an undulating up-
and-down fashion (camera movement?). The light was first in the north and
disappeared in the southwest.
Most likely an aircraft.
July 1978, 16:00 – Nordfjordeid

A white object was stationary over Nordfjordeid and it was observed by many
people. Sonja Osnes, together with her parents, also saw it and she managed
to take a photo. The object was white against a blue sky towards the WNW, and
it remained stationary for about 45 minutes in total. 15 minutes after the photo
was taken, it started to shrink and grew more diffuse, which it did for 15
minutes. After 15 minutes more, it had disappeared. It was about the size of the
moon at its largest. This happened sometime between the 9th and the16th of
July.
It appears to be consistent with a cloud.
19 July 1978, 22:30 – Nes

Yngvar Askvik was going to get the dogs inside for the night, when he spotted
two bright lights low on the western horizon, moving south to north. He called to
his wife, who observed the same thing. A press article said they have observed
this same phenomenon at least 12 times since April. He managed to take ten
photos with a borrowed camera. Time-exposure caused them to be a little
fuzzy.
This was just after sunset, and the stars and planets were becoming visible. We
suspect the planets Mars and Venus were responsible, plus some atmospheric
scintillation.
10 December 1978, 07:50 – Odda

A bright object, “three times as large as a star,” was seen low in the horizon for
1 hour and 20 minutes, both with the naked eye and through binoculars. It was
moving upwards to the SSE, getting smaller (less bright) until it disappeared
around 09:10. Several color photos were taken, but only a sketch was published
in the newspaper.
The planet Venus rose in the SE shortly after 06:30 and continued to rise to 8°
by 08:00. Sunrise was around 10:30. We consider these photos to be Venus.
4 January 1979, 23:15 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

Kjell Christensen spotted a small light in the eastern sky. He first thought it was
a planet, but as the light was growing he next thought it was an aircraft. He got
his binoculars and concluded this could not be any helicopter or aircraft. He saw
no navigation lights at all, and it filled a third of his field of view when looking
through the binoculars. It seemed like a bundle of yellow-white lights. In a half-
circle above and to the left there was a strip of many colored lights changing
quickly between red, green, and white. He also saw aircraft at the same time,
but this object was traveling much slower. He took several photos with a
400mm telescopic lens. All but the first photo was black.
The photo shows a “dog-shaped” yellow blob of light. KC credibility is nil for us,
so we feel his pictures are just fakes and misinterpretations.
6 February 1979, 08:00 – Magnor, Eidskog
On his way to the school bus, Tore Evensson observed something unusual in
the eastern sky. First, an orange ring high in the sky, then a long saucer-shaped
object with a ball on top of it. It was followed by an undulating stripe with a sort
of spiral in it. His sister, Gro, and his friend Per Kvesetberget also saw the same
thing. Svensson took some photos of what they saw. Very unfortunately, when
the photos were developed, they did not show anything. The newspapers
reported the same object was also seen by others at Eidsvoll and Stange.
The description made by the 15-16 years old children reads similar to a flying
kite.
8 October 1979, 04:55 – Oslo

Tom Bliksmark (age 12) was out of bed around five in the morning to get a
glass of water. He was at the kitchen window, drinking his water, when he saw
a strange luminous object over the houses 100 meters away. It moved with high
speed above another building, and then it stopped and remained stationary
there for about a minute. He went to get his Kodak Instamatic camera, and
when he came back the object had become dark. It w asn't m ade of m etal, but
it w asn't a cloud either. It w as like a blob of light and dark, he said. He took a
photo of it, and then it came closer as it changed shape.
He then took another photo, as he started to feel odd. His eyes were itching and
tears started running. He observed this object for about five minutes. Then it
disappeared at high speed. No sound was heard from the object during this
time. It w as no spaceship or fly ing saucer, but som ething unusual. I w as
scared and m y ey es hurt for a long tim e afterw ards. My hands w ere shaking
w hen I took the photos. I though God w ere com ing to get us, he said.
There are several problems with this case. Allers magazine gives the time as
around 5 o’clock, and Vi Menn says 04:30, both dating it in November 1979.
UFO-Norge archives show that the date of the case is October 8, 1979, at 04:55
hours. The report form was filled out and signed by Tom Bliksmark himself on
November 3, 1979. Both the photos show daylight outside. However, on
October 8th sunrise was at 07:39, and at 08:39 on November 1st. So the photos
could have not been taken at the time reported. The photos themselves look
like an out-of-focus piece of paper pasted on the window.
We suspect a hoax.
Another picture by Kjell Christensen. This time it is a time-exposure, enlarged
photo of a moving light source leaving a streak of blue-white light. No data
available except the photograph.
Probably another fake.
7 January 1980 – Sistranda, Frøya (UFO)

Bjørn Tore Valvåg had been skating on the ice together with a friend, and they
were going home. They saw a big light at 45° elevation that seemed to be
following them. After a while, when they had almost arrived home, it seemed
that the light was in front of them. Bjørn then ran home and got his camera. The
two ran up to a nearby hill and took two photos before the light disappeared
behind the horizon. Nothing appeared on the photos when developed later. The
observation lasted 55 minutes. No direction or time was noted in this report, so
there is no way to evaluate the sighting, although the planet Venus did set at
19:15 in the SW that day. We do not know if it was a daytime or night–time
event.
2 March 1980, 03:00 – Møre og Romsdal

A photo of the Moon where two other points of light to the right of the satellite
appear. The light in the lower right of the picture is a reflection in the window.
The anonymous photographer sent the photo to the newspaper (it was
published on March 18th) along with a letter asking readers about the two other
tiny lights. The photo was claimed to have been taken in the western sky, a
Sunday in February.
However, the moon seems to be full and it was in that phase on February 1st.
The nearest Sunday was February 3rd, but then the moon was in the south. It
means the photographer was not sincere.
Consultants Victorio Uranga and Manuel Borraz found that on Sunday, March
2nd (full moon was one day before), the planets Jupiter and Mars were located
in the same celestial position as the two light points in the photo beside our
satellite, in the western sector of the sky.
10 or 17 July 1981, day – Aure, Nordmøre
A dark, oblong object was observed over Aure, and the newspaper staff
photographer shot a photo. It looked like a “garbage bag filled with gas,” he
said. Nothing is known about how the object disappeared. There is uncertainty
about the date of the newspaper (July 23rd or 27th), so “Friday 14 days ago” may
be either July 10th or 17th.
Most likely explanation is a balloon.
30 July 1981, 14:30 – Sandefjord

15-year-old Lars Sperre spotted a dark object through a window. He estimated
it to be at only 50 meters height, cigar-shaped with pointed ends, and about six
meters in length. The boy ran upstairs to the second floor, from where he shot
one photo (or two) before the object passed behind a nearby hill. The
observation was reported in Sandefjords Blad on July 31st (which got the news
the day before).
NIVFO submitted a press release on the observation, which was featured in
many newspapers on August 18th. The explanation came from Leif Nylèn on
August 18th, precisely in Sandefjords Blad, where he told having seen the same
object together with other people. He identified it immediately as a balloon.
When seen through binoculars, Nylèn could even distinguish yellow letters on
its side.
12 November 1981, 19:45 – Strømmen, Arendal (UFO)

Note: In Novem ber 1981 strange aerial phenom ena were observed night after night in the
suburbs of the city of Aren dal. It all began when a fam ily at Strøm m en, on the western side of
Arendal, started to see UFOs every night, and finally called Hans Aass of UFO-Norge on
Novem ber 8 th . On that evenin g the fam ily was on the porch looking towards the southwest
where the UFOs appeared from the sea m oving northwards. The light in the apartm ent was
turned off. The planet Ven us was low in the southwest and the first UFO was seen a little to the
right of the planet, it flew up and down and in various other directions, as if perform in g som e
sort of irregular dance and flashed with a bluish, quiverin g light which varied both in intensity
and color, som etim es blue/ green and som etim es yellow/ red.
The light was m ostly weaker than that of an aircraft, but som etim es, after a series of sm all
flashes, the light would becom e strong enough to illum inate the clouds above it and the ground
below. The UFO then went towards the south and disappeared.
It later returned from the south-east and showed an unusually strong light which cam e towards
the porch. The object passed at a distance of approxim ately 50 0 -8 0 0 m and it was clearly
visible. Above the object there was a dom e which seem ed to be lit from the inside by a
yellow/ white light. Beneath the dom e there was a row of squares that looked like illum inated
windows, although nothin g could be seen inside them . Beneath the squares there was a circular
or oval body, and below that a rin g of red, green and blue lights which seem ed to be rotating.
Durin g the few seconds when the object was at its closest, the fam ily could see a cone of light
com ing from the underside and tapering down and backwards in a curve.
Several other people also reported UFO sightings in an d around Arendal during Novem ber 1981.
(On Novem ber 8 , 1981 sun set was at 17:19. The planet Venus then becam e visible, and set in the
SW around 18:45.)
The same day, three investigators of UFO-Norge (Hans Aass, Alf Thommassen,
and Arne P. Thomassen) drove to the family at Strømmen, Arendal, equipped
with binoculars and a good camera (Minolta XG-2 SLR, with 400mm lens). 15
photos were shot by Arne P. Thomassen (film roll A). Photos were taken
towards the south and the southwest, between 19:00-21:00 (or 19:30-20:00 in
another source). Of 15 photos made, nine captured light phenomena.
Thomassen also shot some photos of aircraft for comparison and reference.
Because of business commitments at the time, the team instructed the father of
the family on how to shoot good night-time photos, and left the camera and
equipment in his care.
Note: During the following days, this person shot 63 photos (film rolls B to E). All were shot
with 5-10 seconds tim e exposure with a solid tripod and triggered with a cord. The photos were
not shot at random but deliberately aim ed at the lights dancing in the sky that had first been
seen with the naked eye. One-third of the photographs were quite good, another third had the
wrong aperture, and the rem ain ing third was m issed entirely since the UFOs m oved out of
fram e just as the photographer squeezed the trigger.
18 November 1981, 19:45 – Vik, Arendal (UFO)

Film roll B was shot at Vik, West of Arendal, 19:30-20:30 (or 19:00-20:00 in
another source). Why at Vik and not Strømmen? Apparently there was a “very
exciting car-chase UFO hunt” involved…. Of 16 photos shot facing west, only
nine captured light phenomena. Exposure time was 3-10 seconds. On the
original photos it is said some stars are also visible in addition to the light
phenomena.
21 November 1981, evening – Strømmen, Arendal (UFO)

Film roll C was shot from Strømmen, Arendal. 36 photos were taken, of which
18 show light phenomena.
28 November 1981, evening – Strømmen, Arendal (UFO)

Film roll D was shot at Strømmen. Out of nine made, six present light
phenomena.
1 December 1981, evening – Strømmen, Arendal (UFO)

Film roll E was shot at Strømmen, and only two photos were obtained.
Note: Of the 78 photos in total, 44 photos captured light phenom ena. 14 of those 44 photos are
especially interesting with varyin g shapes and colors. All photos were shot outdoors, never
through any windows. The initial enlargem ents proved difficult since the interesting parts were
only sm all points of light in a large dark sky. The published photos are all enlargem ents, at
16x/ 32x/ 64x/ 128x, of sections of the original photos . No detailed analysis has been done in
order to correlate the lights appearing in the pictures with aircraft or astronom ical sources. The
scientific validity of this m aterial is questionable.
A pending matter in this paper is to exactly recognize the dates of certain

pictures from Arendal. Examples of photographs taken from November 12,
1981 to December 1, 1981 follow:
5 December 1981, night – Arendal

The newspaper received calls this night about a UFO in the sky above Hisøya,
“definitely not a star.” The staff photographer went outside, and he saw a very
bright light in the night sky himself. A photo was shot of the scene. They called
up local experts who were able to quickly identify the stimulus as the planet
Venus.
17 December 1981, 15:30 – Kjeller, Skedsmo

A black ball suddenly appeared in the sky towards the SSW. The object
stretched out, changing its shape to more like a cigar, black and vertical. It
continued to stretch farther down and grew more grayish. It was observed from
Kjeller (by 10 people), Solheim, and Skårer. Several photos were shot by a
newspaper photographer, one of which was published. That day there was no
spacecraft re-entry recorded.
Consultant Alan Pickup disclosed that the streak might be the shadow of an
aircraft condensation trail falling on a layer of cloud.
.
18 January 1982, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen
A point of light moving across the sky seemed to tilt slightly up and down along
its course. After a while these movements became steadier. Six time-exposure
photographs (5 minutes, 3 minutes, and four at 30 seconds each) were shot by
Nils Kåre Nesvold of the Arbeidets Rett newspaper. The photos show an object
moving on a linear course across the sky with steady speed (the length of the
image corresponds to the exposure time). The jagged movement appears to be
caused by camera movement. The length of the light streaks also corresponds
very closely to the speed of the natural rotation of the Earth.
No direction is mentioned, so it is impossible to correlate with any particular
star. Sirius was visible that night rising from the SSE horizon and it is the most
probable culprit, although it could have been any star.
7 February 1982, 11:30 – Møsvatn, Vinje (UFO)

Trygve Gøytil was driving by car to his cottage on Våmartveit in Vinje, on a road
he traveled almost every week. At Møsvatn, he observed a shining ball of light
that radiated beams. It was all shaped like a cross or a T. At first the light from
the ball was faint, but then it shone stronger and stronger before it went out
again. According to Gøytil the colors varied a little, mostly blue, but all the colors
of the rainbow were present. The whole observation lasted three minutes, and
during this time he shot three photos. There are no houses along this stretch of
road. Two of the photos were shot from the same spot, with only a few seconds
in between. These two photos show different colors on the sky and the snow.
The sky was quite clear, and the temperature was -34°C.
11 February 1982, 19:36 – Hessdalen, Holtålen
Freelance journalist, photographer and author Arne Wisth initially went to
Hessdalen as a skeptic, to write a quick piece about the UFO observations
there. He later wrote a book about the phenomena in Hessdalen. A star cam e
tow ards us and near the top of Røhovde Mountain, w ith a trem en dous speed.
The star w as no longer a star, but an intense grow ing light source. Above the
m ountain top it suddenly stopped. Then it sunk slow ly dow n along the top. I
fetched m y cam era w ith 60 0 m m telescopic lens to take a picture. The sight in
the view finder w as im pressive. “It” w as great. “It” w as oval. “It” cam e just
m oving. Then it stopped short again. I had a strange feeling: It has caught
sight of us! I pushed the releaser. Suddenly the object w as gone. It w as like
som eone pulling dow n a curtain. Jon Gisle Børseth was also an observer of
this incident.

Arne Wisth was in Hessdalen again, and he observed and shot photos of a
phenomenon, gliding slowly up the valley. It shone with a pulsating light with
fascinating colors, disappearing to the north. Some 30 people also observed the
same phenomenon from Fjellbekkhøgda Mountain.
Twenty minutes later, a long red-white luminous phenomenon appeared over
the hill. It moved slowly away between Fjellbekkhøgda and Finsåhøgda
mountains, a few meters above the ground, being also photographed by Wisth.
March/April 1982, evening – Mo i Rana, Rana

Right before Easter, a lady came out of her house and saw a round ball in the
sky. She thought it seemed unusual and called her husband. They fetched a
small camera and shot two photos in a few minutes. The ball then disappeared.
The case was later explained by NIVFO as a meteorological balloon.
17 March 1982, 20:39 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Leif Havik wrote: On March 17th -20 th , w e w ere on a four-day expedition to
Hessdalen. During this period w e had six sightings and took four successful
pictures, a y ield w ith w hich w e w ere very pleased. The first tim e it w as 19:32
on the first evening. W e had packed our equipm ent on a sledge, because none
of us considered the possibility of observing any thing that day . But suddenly
Lars Lillevold exclaim ed: “There it is!,” and at the sam e m om ent w e ran to the
road w hich lay 25 m eters ahead. There w e stood, observing an oblong object
that slow ly passed in front of Finnsåhøgda Mountain. It w as com pletely
soundless, and it disappeared to the north. It passed in front of the m ountain
top at an estim ated altitude of som e 60 0 m eters. Unfortunately , w e didn’t have
tim e to get the cam era equipm ent, packed on a sledge, into position before the
object disappeared. Som ew hat disappointed, w e fetched the sledge and w ent to
the Vårhusvollan m ountain hut w hich w as to be our base for the follow ing
day s. After a w hile, w e returned to Aspås Hill w here representatives from the
N orw egian Air Force and som e new sm en had taken their position. At 20 :39
“som ething” appeared in the north and passed above Finnsåhøgda Mountain
tow ards the w est. Som e pictures w ere taken, but they turned out to show
nothing. At 21:45 w e returned to Vårhusvollan and spent som e of the night
w atching stars, planets and a bunch of satellites. Several airplanes w ere also
observed, on w hich our attention w as focused, in order to com pare their
appearance w ith our UFO observations.

Leif Havik wrote: The next day w as very successful. First w e looked for landing
prints in the area around Finnsåhøgda Mountain. Unfortunately , w e found no
traces, so w e got to sleep a couple of hours in the early afternoon. At 19:0 0 w e
reached our observation site som e 40 m eters from the cottage at about 690
m eters above sea level. Here w e w aited for about half an hour w hile w e
observed the sky above us. The planet Mars could be seen very clearly in spite
of a few clouds and it w as thoroughly observed, because an astronom er and a
leading UFO skeptic in N orw ay had stated that it w as the planet Mars w hich
m ost people had seen as UFOs. In the m eantim e the clock approached 19:30
and w e w aited for the 19:30 “rush.” Suddenly , at 19:33, a light appeared in the
sky in the south. W e could see an oblong object w ith a constant red light at the
front end, then a y ellow -w hite light, a dark patch, and then a y ellow -w hite
light at the back. It seem ed to be quite near, but it w as not easy to estim ate the
distance correctly . The “light” appeared clearly and distinctly , but it looked as
if it w as covered w ith som ething; it w as a very strange light, or a light source
w hich w e w ere not accustom ed to. After having w atched the object for a couple
of seconds, w e began to shoot w ith our cam era equipm ent. My colleague, Kai
Johansen, had his cam era m ounted on a tripod, but I shot in hope of luck. I
took a couple of pictures, w ith the shutter on 1/ 15 second, F/ 5.6 and a telephoto
lens of 2x135m m – though I couldn’t see the UFO in the finder. In the m eantim e
the object passed in front of Fjellbekkhøgda Mountain and a short w hile
afterw ards behind Finnsåhøgda Mountain. The distance to the object w as
about 2.7 km and it had an estim ated length of about 25 m eters. It passed w ith
a low speed and could be seen for som e 45 seconds. I am sure that its altitude
w asn’t very great. One of the first pictures in this series becam e very
successful.

Kai Johansen also shot photographs together with Leif Havik; see above.

Leif Havik took a photograph of a light phenomenon that appeared from the
south and passed low over Finnsåhøgda Mountain.

Leif Havik wrote: On Friday , March 19 th , at 19:0 0 w e w ere at the sam e spot
again. It w as still a cold w ind w ith a tem perature of -12°C. Precisely at 19:38
there appeared a new “star” in the south-southeastern sky . Could it be a
satellite? A point of light w hich appeared as an ordinary star m ade a slow
m ovem ent in a northerly direction. After a w hile it assum ed a “w arm er”
y ellow -w hite color and it grew m uch larger, at the sam e tim e it seem ed as if it
flew low over the terrain. W e shot som e pictures, since the “star” passed in
front of Fjellbekkhøgda Mountain on the sam e course as the other objects.
During this observation w e checked for any possible deflection on a com pass,
but w ith no reaction. Also, an Earth-m agnetic detector w as tested, but again
w ith no result.
20 March 1982, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Jon Gisle Børseth recorded a 16mm film of the phenomenon.
30 March 1982 – Hessdalen, Holtålen
On April 1,1982, the newspaper Arbeider-Avisa carried the following April Fools’
Day story: One of the lum inous objects in Hessdalen has been identified. It is a
spacecraft from an alien planet w ith creatures onboard. Sensational pictures
shot by Magnar Kirknes at Hessdalskjølen confirm it all. Magnar Kirknes has
been hiding in the m ountains for several w eeks now , w aiting for the fam ous
Hessdalen UFO. On the night of the 30 th he achieved the photos every
photographer dream s about. The alleged witness is said to claim: “I suddenly
saw a bright object on the night sky above Finnsåhøgda. It cam e tow ards m e
and it m ade a perfect landing. I find no reason to describe the object. The
photos speak for them selves. At 250 m eters distance I could see w hat happened
next. Out of the object stepped a creature, dressed sim ilar to an astronaut. It
w ent around the object, stopped, peed on the snow and re-entered the object.
Seconds later it rose and disappeared in the direction from w hich it had com e.”
The story continued with references to NASA, Erik Tandberg (national space
authority), and the space shuttle Columbia. The story was also accompanied by
photos of the alien creature and the spacecraft.
Leif Havik of UFO-Norge went to Hessdalen to interview the local people there.
Some of the locals had also initially believed the story. Havik later phoned the
newspaper to congratulate them on a well-performed joke. Magnar Kirknes
faked the photos by using a 60W light-bulb on which he drew some “windows”,
and the creature was really a 5-year-old boy with a skiing outfit.
3 September 1982, evening – Hessdalen, Holtålen

During NIVFO’s visit to the Hessdalen Valley, an object was observed in the
sky. At first it was believed to be a star, but it soon began to move and everyone
present thought they could distinctly see the object approach in a zigzag
movement. Pictures were taken with infrared film and sharp telephoto lenses,
with different exposure times. They showed a jagged and faint rising movement,
perhaps indicative of an astronomical cause.
Insufficient information (no date or time is known, and we have not seen the
photographs).
25 September 1982, 19:00 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

One photograph was taken by Arne P. Thomassen from the south of
Finnsåhøgda Mountain, looking towards the east, with a 400mm lens.

A light was seen just above Heggsethøgda Hill. In the background you can see
Stordalshøgda Mountain. Two groups of people, located 2.5 km apart, saw this
light at the same time. These two groups were in contact by walkie-talkie during
the observation, and discussed the location of the light, while they were seeing
the phenomena. When this picture was taken, the light was 2.5 km south-east
of the observers which took the picture, and 3 km south of the other group of
people (Erling Strand was in this group), which was located at Vårhuskjølen Hill.
The light showed up at 19:15, and moved slowly around in the area for one and
a half hours (until 20:45). During this time it was standing still for several
minutes, to then move slowly to another location, standing still there for some
minutes. It could move slowly around in the area. Sometimes a beam of light
could be seen coming up and down from the phenomenon. The observers could
see that the beam illuminated the ground beneath the light.
Arne P. Thomassen wrote: On Septem ber 25, 1982, at 19:50 the first UFO
popped up in the south. It hovered low over the m ountain and it shone and
flickered. Because the object w as m otionless, I w as able to take tw o pictures on
tim e exposure (3-5 seconds); in that w ay I got the cliffs and a m ountain crest
in the background into the picture. It w as overcast w ith a little w ind.
W e had clim bed Fjellbekkhøgda Mountain (1,0 78 m eters above sea level) in the
afternoon and settled dow n in a little cliff-ledge in the southern declivity . Four
tim es w e observed UFOs this night on three different locations. W e took 81
pictures, som e of w hich show the square shapes of the UFOs.
At 19:50 the UFO-hunt took a dram atic turn. The object, w hich w as fly ing to
and fro over Lake Øy ungen, suddenly began to use som e sort of a spotlight.
The spotlight w as turned in every direction and illum inated the area w here w e
w ere situated. My com panion w as frightened and threw him self to the ground;
at just that m om ent the object turned aw ay .

Arne P. Thomassen wrote: One of the UFOs w as seen by Arne W isth, just in the
act of descending through the cloud cover and illum inating it. But before he
could reach his cam era in the car, the object disappeared behind a hill.
Notwithstanding this, a newspaper reported that Wisth took some 70 pictures!

Arne P. Thomassen wrote: The follow ing evening, how ever, Arne W isth
succeeded in taking a couple of pictures from Fjellbekkhøgda Mountain
tow ards the east, tow ards that part of the m ountains w hich lies about 7 km on
the other side of Hessdalen.
October 1982, evening – Finnsåhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Photograph shot by Kurt Anderssen. He was located in Hessdalen, one evening
during the winter 1982/1983, looking towards Finnsåhøgda Mountain. He used
a 2,000mm lens and 400 ASA color slide film. He saw a yellow flashing light
moving in the sky, coming above the mountain. The camera was on a tripod,
and Kurt directed the camera towards the light. He took a picture with some
seconds’ exposure time.
1 October 1982, evening – Fjellbekkhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A moving light photographed by Arne P. Thomassen, while he was standing on
the southern part of Finnsåhøgda Mountain, looking towards the east. The
camera was a Minolta XG-2 with a Vivitar 400mm, F/5.6 lens. It was standing
on a tripod and Fujichrome 400 slide film was used. The exposure time was 5 to
10 seconds.
1 October 1982, 22:44 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Per Moen, of NIVFO, shot some 30 photos of a luminous phenomenon moving
along the “regular route” above Finnsåhøgda Mountain. Through binoculars, the
phenomenon looked identical to the one seen Friday, September 3rd, at 22:50.
Unfortunately, the distance was too great, so the photos only show a small dot
of light. This was seen from Hessdalskjølen, and many other observers were
present. An interesting detail was that the phenomenon, or a similar one,
returned after approximately 15 minutes and seemed to follow the same
trajectory in reverse.
14 October 1982, 02:03 – Alta

Photo used in Altaposten to illustrate an article dealing with a UFO sighting. The
photo caption says: “It was in this area the luminous phenomena were observed
Thursday night. The ‘UFOs’ in the picture come from the Altaposten photo lab.”

Arne P. Thomassen wrote: The next expedition started on Saturday , October
16, and ended on Sunday , October 24 th . Its clim ax w as on Friday . W e had
taken position early at our observation site, very heavily protected w ith w arm
clothes and equipped w ith a Russian m irror-telephoto lens w ith focal length of
10 0 0 m m in addition to an 8 m m m ovie cam era.
This evening the phenom ena began at 17:40 , and w e m anaged to get a lot of
pictures. The object hovered m otionless for a relatively long tim e over tw o
sm all closed m ines (zinc-silver-copper), and the direction w as 8 9° in relation
to m agnetic north.

Arne P. Thomassen wrote: After som e tim e, the object m oved a bit and it w as
now accom panied by another one; in that w ay w e got them on several
pictures, both still and m ovie. W e decided to send signals of light w ith a 50 W
halogen lam p w e had brought w ith us. Just w hen I began to signal, one of the
objects disappeared and shortly afterw ards the other did the sam e. It didn’t
seem they w anted to m ake a closer contact.

Arne P. Thomassen wrote: At 18:0 5 the objects returned and w e m anaged to
get som e final pictures before w e clim bed dow n from the m ountain.
Arne P. Thomassen wrote: At 20 :20 , w hen w e carried our equipm ent indoors,
an oblong object appeared. It flew low and soundlessly w hile it em itted
blinking red lights from the edge. I listened for noise from a m otor-plane, but
there w as none and I becam e suspicious. Tw o pictures w ere taken quickly
through the 40 0 m m lens.
25 October 1982, 19:00 – Finnsåhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A photograph was taken by Arne P. Thomassen from Finnsåhøgda Mountain,
towards the east. The light was stationary during the exposure time of several
seconds. 400mm lens and 400 ASA film was used.
6 November 1982, 18:30 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

A photograph of the “Hessdalen phenomenon,” taken from Vårhus. It was shot
with a 750mm lens on a tripod.
December 1982, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Local eccentric Rolf D. Tønseth published a photo in the newspaper that was
claimed to have been shot in Hessdalen during December. The UFO in the
photo is described as saucer-shaped and yellow-green in color, with a red top.
The newspaper described his photos as not sharp and therefore enlargements,
but still “remarkably good.” The distance is also claimed to have been 100
meters! We consider this to be a hoax, as the man was at the time a frequent
producer of alleged UFO pictures.
3 December 1982, 17:20 – Hessdalen, Holtålen
Freehand (no tripod used) photograph taken by Leif Havik.
4 December 1982, 17:53 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Leif Havik observed a red ball-shaped phenomenon appear from behind
Litlfjellet Mountain. He first thought it might be a signal flare from the nearby
military exercise field, but later checked and there was no military activity on
that date. The phenomenon was photographed towards the north.
18 January 1983, day – Bjærangfjorden, Bodø

Hjalmar Hansen together with his wife was one of the first people to notice the
seemingly strange object. It appeared to have landed on the mountain top: it
was a central cylinder with three or four legs, reflecting the rays of the sun. The
Air Force was notified by local people as well as by the press, and it scrambled
an F-16 jet to the area (later in the day, a helicopter was also dispatched). The
pilots were stunned to see a rocket-shaped object on top of the mountain,
complete with three landing legs, brightly reflecting the rays of the sun. As they
got closer it resolved into an ice-coated trigonometric beacon used for mapping
purposes, and therefore appeared to be unusual from a distance.
22 January 1983, 13:30 – Rislamoen (UFO)
Helene Østgård, together with her grandchildren, observed a glowing object
appear from behind a nearby hill. Her grandchildren, who were playing outside,
said the object made a crackling sound. The phenomenon was oblong and
appeared to have “arms.”
The photo shows only a blob of light against a dark background. Insufficient
information.
Winter 1983, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Arne P. Thomassen took this photograph while the camera (400mm lens and
400 ASA color film) was standing on a tripod during the exposure time of some
seconds. A yellow light was moving irregularly during the exposure, leaving a
yellow trace on the film.
Winter 1983, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Leif Havik took a time-exposure photograph a light. But it disappeared so fast
that the observer did not see the end of it. After the film was developed, the
photographer realized that he actually managed to capture the disappearing
movement of the light, as a streak of light was registered on film.
12 February 1983, 08:15 – Seljord (UFO)
Retired carpenter Arne Bekkevold observed a mysterious flying object floating
towards Kviteseid. It didn’t look like a parachute or anything else he had seen
before, it moved horizontally or just a little diagonally downwards. It couldn’t be
an aircraft with condensation trail either, since the object moved slowly. It was
definitely a physical object with trailing smoke. His wife found a camera and
binoculars, and Bekkevold shot some photos, but by then the object was too far
away to be registered on film.
12 February 1983, 17:53 – Litlfjellet, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Two pictures were taken by Leif Havik. In the first photo you can see the
northern part of Aspåskjølen Mountain. The light moved towards Litlfjellet
Mountain following the Hessdalen Valley. The second picture was taken just
before the light disappeared behind the mountains in the eastern part of
Litlfjellet. The direction was south. It was a very foggy day, and the clouds were
low down on the mountains. Sometimes snow was falling.
N o te o n H e s s d ale n p h o to grap h s : m an y o f th e p h o to graph s take n in
H e s s d a le n p ro ce e d fro m th e o fficial w e b s ite o f Pro je ct H e s s d a le n .
Cre d it is give n to Mr. Erlin g Stran d , p ro je ct m an age r. Ple as e s e e :
h ttp :/ / w w w .h e s s d a le n .o rg
March 1983, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

After local eccentric Rolf D. Tønseth published his first photos in the
newspapers in January 1983, he offered more photos that were claimed to have
been shot in Hessdalen during the first week of March. They were allegedly
shot with a 200mm telephoto, and a time exposure of five seconds. The
photographer claimed to have seen similar photos in American UFO
magazines. He claimed he saw a luminous triangle for several minutes before it
disappeared, and it was rocking sideways with the pointed end downwards, like
a pendulum, at the same time it was moving in a wavy fashion.
Arne Wisth didn’t believe the Tønseth photos and went public: the photos do not
fit their descriptions, i.e., a triangle is described as being luminous, yet the
photo shows it dark. Also, it they were time-exposed, images would look
differently, because of the claimed motion. Tønseth insisted he didn’t fake
anything. He claims to have achieved approximately 25 UFO photographs.
We consider this to be a hoax because of all these internal inconsistencies. We
even believe it is likely the photographer got guiding ideas to create the images
from a UFO booklet by Ted Wilding-White & Kenneth Garland (published in
Norway in 1978).
19 August 1983, 13:00 – Aure, Nordmøre
In August 1984, the Verdens Gang newspaper published a UFO photo, shot by
Pål Kristian Vaag one year before: I called m y m other to com e outside to see
w hat w as hovering close to our courty ard, but unfortunately she didn’t, and
there w as no one else at hom e. The distance to the space ship w as 150 -20 0
m eters. I heard no sound – every thing w as absolutely silent. Suddenly the
color of the object changed from bright silver to dim gray , and it rushed as if it
w as kicked by som ebody . Vaag thinks the object must have been 10-15 meters
in diameter. He definitely declares the picture is genuine. I’m not at all
interested in photography , and I have no idea how to m ake such a forgery , he
says.
The newspaper followed up the story on the following days, with news on the
developing investigation. Experts were consulted at the Air Force Base at
Rygge, as well as at SINTEF/NTH (now NTNU, University of Trondheim), yet
VG failed to provide assistance to NIVFO researchers. Jan S. Krogh and Bjørn
Erlandsen managed to interview Vaag, who was in his basic army training at the
time: I w as sitting on the doorstep outside the house, ty ing m y shoelaces, w hen
an object cam e dow n the hillside in the southeast. I ran into the house to fetch a
cam era. But I w as a bit paraly zed. My brain w anted m e to go, but m y body
w ould not. I m anaged to take only one picture of the object. At first, the light
had a m etallic color, later it changed into gray ish. I had just m oved the cam era
from m y ey e w hen the object disappeared w ith a jerk into the m ist, in an
easterly direction. The w hole observation lasted for about tw o m inutes. I felt
deeply surprised during the w hole observation. Before I fell asleep that
evening, I w as ly ing aw ake a very long tim e, as I w as thinking over the
observation. I think the object w as a space ship, either from space or from the
Earth, preferably from space, Vaag told the investigators.
Finally, on February 20, 1985, Verdens Gang announced (again on the front
page) that the UFO photo by Pål Kristian Vaag was a fake. SUFOI had sent the
photo to GSW (an already defunct US UFO organization which first applied
computers to photographic analysis, which techniques were later very much
criticized). GSW analysis showed the object to be a suspended model. When
Vaag was told of the findings, he confessed the hoax.
26 September 1983, 03:00 – Ås
Kai Remi Jensen’s neighbor called his attention to the appearance of a
luminous object, one that disappeared and re-appeared successively for 4
hours. It appeared to rotate and move about with different speeds, and
sometimes appeared to be metallic. Jensen got his camera and shot a few
photos of the object.
Venus rose in the eastern sky at around 03:45 and continued to rise to 24° in
the ESE horizon until sunrise came at 07:08. Clouds and atmospheric haze can
cause stars and planets to “appear and disappear” and false motions are due to
scintillation, auto kinesis and atmospheric refraction.
29 September 1983, evening – Justøya, Lillesand (UFO)

Arne P. Thomassen had several UFO sightings both on the 28th and the 29th.
He compares these sightings to the sightings in Arendal during 1981/1982.
About 50 slides were shot on the 29th.
There was only a short news item in a newspaper, no photos have been seen,
and no further details are known. Insufficient information.
21 October 1983, 00:30 – Longyearbyen

A photo published in Svalbardposten showed a coal power station with two
“UFOs” to the right of the building chimney. However, the image is just a pair of
lens flares.
Autumn 1983, day – Valdres (UFO)
Marit Semeleng and her husband were on a berry-picking trip. She had just shot
a few photos of the landscape with her Kodak 224 camera, when a bright light
flashed above their heads. It was as bright as the sun, and she reacted almost
automatically when the object stopped for about four seconds, and shot a photo
of the object. It disappeared after only 5-6 seconds, so fast that her husband
didn’t see it at all. She didn’t even manage to call out to him before it was gone.
It was completely soundless, and the color was intensely white.
A few years later, she delivered the photo negative to Fagernes
Lensmannskontor (Police Office at Fagernes), who in turn sent it to Forsvarets
Overkommando (Defense High Command). Semeleng received a letter some
time later stating that there was a flaw in the negative. The negative was never
returned from the police/military.
The negative being unavailable, it is not possible to reach a final conclusion.
December 1983 – Hessdalen, Holtålen
According to the press, NRK journalist Ingar Øien took some photographs of the
Hessdalen phenomenon during the month of December.
1984 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A photograph taken during the Project Hessdalen fieldwork during 1984. One of
the participants of the fieldwork used one of the cameras standing outside the
main headquarters at Aspåskjølen. The camera was mounted on a tripod and it
had black and white film. The picture shows one moving lights in the northwest,
just above the horizon of Finnsåhøgda Mountain.
1984 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A photograph taken during the Project Hessdalen fieldwork during 1984. One of
the participants of the fieldwork used one of the cameras standing outside the
main headquarters at Aspåskjølen Mountain. The camera was mounted on a
tripod and it had black and white film. The picture shows two moving lights in
the northwest, just above the horizon of Finnsåhøgda Mountain.
21 January 1984, 18:05 – Aspåshøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen
Note: Project Hessdalen started on J une 3, 1983. On August 27th it was presented at the
BUFORA’s 3rd International UFO Congress in En gland. During the following autum n, a
research program was established and on Novem ber 19 th , the project was presented to the
people in the valley. Durin g the first part of J anuary 1984, an inform ation bulletin, describing
the project and attaching a sim ple report form , was sent out to 3,30 0 households in the
Hessdalen district. The fieldwork for Project Hessdalen Part 1, with all the instrum ents, went
from J anuary 21 to February 26, 1984. Fieldwork started with a "test weekend", Friday to
Monday, J anuary 20 -23, 1984. This weekend should be a trainin g session for Part 1 of project.
Durin g the test weekend about 22 persons were present. From then up to February 10 th , there
were from 1 to 5 volunteers. During the m ain project term , February 10 to February 26 th , the
num ber of volunteers was 12 on average. The people in the field were divided in three groups
during the test weekend. Som e were at the headquarters in Aspåskjølen Mountain, som e in
Finnsåhøgda Mountain, an d som e in Fjellbekkhøgda Mountain. For a short period, som e people
were at Heggset, too. During the m ain period, from February 11th to February 26 th , people were
divided in three groups, but now the field-station s were at Hersjøen and Litlfjellet. The
headquarters was still at Aspåskjølen Mountain . The headquarters was a caravan, equipped with
a set of scientific instrum ents, includin g cam era with gratings, seism ograph, radar, spectrum
analyzer, m agnetom eter, laser, Geiger counter and IR-viewer.
At 18:05 on January 21, 1984 a red/silvery blinking light was sighted to the
south direction; it turned out to be two objects. Seen visually and on radar from
the headquarters at Aspåskjølen Mountain.

A yellowish object from the south passed the observation posts. Distance was
less than 1 km, its altitude some 700 meters.
A series of flashing lights appeared over Litlfjellet Mountain. They kept on
flashing from time to time during the evening and night.
22 January 1984, 01:50 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Flashing lights above Litlfjellet Mountain again, almost like electron blitz to look
at, never twice in the same place. Some red lights were also observed beneath
these flashes.
22 January 1984, 19:22 Hessdalen, Holtålen

Photos were taken between 19:20 and 19:25.

A light (very similar to one observed at 07:22 on the previous day) appeared
from the south. There were variations in speed and height.

Some more flashing lights photographed above Litlfjellet Mountain, at the same
place and a little farther north.

Some more flashing lights photographed above Litlfjellet Mountain, at the same
place and a little farther north.
25 January 1984, 19:10 – Finnsåhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A yellow light, as bright as the planet Venus, stood motionless a couple of
minutes in the southwest, 20 degrees over the horizon. Suddenly, it started to
move towards the north. Arne P. Thomassen took three pictures with a camera
with grating and mounted on a tripod. Just after he took the shots, the light
suddenly sped up and disappeared behind Fjellbekkhøgda Mountain.
28 January 1984, 15:49 – Finnsåhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen
Observation on radar between Finnsåhøgda Mountain and headquarters (less
than 500 meters apart). It was not visual, but several pictures were taken in that
direction. Distance to echo: 463 meters. Duration: 10-12 seconds. Speed: 1,620
km/hour. The blips were approximately 1/3 larger than the echo from a single-
engine aircraft.

Leif Havik wrote: I w as sitting at Jon Aspås’ hom e, drinking coffee, w hen the
telephone rang. It w as the neighbor giving this m essage: “It’s com ing now !”
The phone had hardly been put dow n, w hen it rang again. This tim e it w as
Lars Lillevold on Vårhus w ho had seen “it.” From this m om ent on, every thing
happened very quickly . I literally jum ped into m y shoes and “dived” outside,
grabbing a cam era on the w ay , equipped w ith a 40 0 m m lens – it being m y
only “w eapon.”
A w ell-lighted, oblong object w ith y ellow -w hite lights and a red one in front
w as traveling north. A series of photos w as taken, but unfortunately w ithout a
support. It is therefore uncertain as to w hether they w ill turn out good. The
tim e w as 20 :11 and there w ere nine w itnesses in total at three different
locations.
8-15 February 1984 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

According to the 1984 Project Hessdalen Technical Report, Leif Havik took
photographs marked 7 to 32. Many of them are described as a “lightst” (a streak
of light made on the picture, because of the long time of exposure). Only one
“case” is considered by us. If there is a reliable record of actual dates, times and
images, we request that the photographer come forward with it, in order to
improve the present catalogue of UFO-like phenomena in Hessdalen.
11 February 1984 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

According to the 1984 Project Hessdalen Final Technical Report, a
photographer code-named as “H001” took eight pictures of lights and “lightst” (a
streak of light made on the picture, because of to the long time of exposure)
from February 11th to 12th. Only one “case” is considered by us. If there is a
reliable record of actual times and images, we request that the photographer
come forward with it, in order to improve the present catalogue of UFO-like
phenomena in Hessdalen.
15-17 February 1984 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

According to the 1984 Project Hessdalen Technical Report, Leif Havik took 20
photographs from February 15 to 17. Various lights and “lightst” (a streak of
light made on the picture, because of the long time of exposure). Only one
“case” is considered by us. If there is a reliable record of actual dates, times and
images, we request that the photographer come forward with it, in order to
improve the present catalogue of UFO-like phenomena in Hessdalen.
17 February 1984, 18:05 – Lake Hersjøen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

The report written by Ove Lövgren, reads: At 6:0 5 pm Ove Joakim Karlsson
and Dick Ekenhage w ent up to the observing place. They cam e from the
cottage. W hen they w ere 150 m eters from the cottage, they saw a light on the
w est side of Hersjøen. At 6:15 pm they m ade som e film ing and took som e
pictures. At 6:25 pm they thought it w as a cottage, because it hadn't m oved.
Joakim thought he saw tw o flashes from the light, but they w ent on up to the
observing place. At 7:30 pm , a y ellow light cam e, w hich w as tw o lights close
together, from the w estern part of Hersjøen. It w ent to the northeast, but
changed direction, and w ent right tow ards us. W e took photos. W hen Joakim
called on the w alkie-talkie, it took a couple of seconds and the light burned out.
The light w as about 60 0 to 10 0 0 m eters from us, w hen this happened. N othing
m ore w as seen and no sounds could be heard, even w hen it w as close to us.
The Project Hessdalen 1984 Final Technical Report adds: W hen w e study the
local m ap, w e see that there is 3 to 4 km from the observing place to the
m ountain on the w estern part of the lake Hersjøen. If they used that distance
as a reference, the distance they indicated w here the light burned out m ight be
correct. It w as the sam e light as Joakim and Dick saw betw een 6:0 5 and 6:25
pm that m oved at 7:30 pm . The report w as not clear on that point. They looked
at this light often during the interval from 6:0 5 to 7:30 pm . The film they took
show s only a m oving light. N o other reference is in the m ovie. So w e can't be
sure if the m ovem ent is caused by the light m ovem ent or m ovem ent of the
cam era.
18 February 1984, 20:18 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A strong light appeared, just over the horizon in the east. It was slowly moving
horizontally to the south. It was slowly "flickering": it gradually became very
strong, and then it gradually became very weak. Again, it became strong and
weak and so on up to five to six times. Each time, Roar Wister managed to take
a picture. These pictures have a very good quality, compared to what we could
expect under such circumstances. The phenomenon’s display ended at about
20:20 hours.
According to the 1984 Project Hessdalen Final Technical Report, Leif Havik
took 15 photographs marked this day, both daytime and nighttime pictures of
lights and “lightst” (a streak of light made on the picture, because of the long
time of exposure). Only one “case” is considered by us. If there is a reliable
record of actual times and images, we request that the photographer come
forward with it, in order to improve the present catalogue of UFO-like
phenomena in Hessdalen.

According to the 1984 Project Hessdalen Technical Report, from January 21st to
22nd, Erling Strand took 13 photographs of lights and “lightst” (a streak of light
made on the picture, because of the long time of exposure). Only one “case” is
considered by us. If there is a reliable record of actual dates, times and images,
we request that the photographer come forward with it, in order to improve the
present catalogue of UFO-like phenomena in Hessdalen
21 February 1984, 19:23 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A photograph was taken by Roar Wister with an exposure time of 10 seconds.
The aperture was F/5.6. Camera used was a Pentax ME Super with a Vivitar
zoom lens with a range of 75-205mm, adjusted to 75mm. Just after the picture
was taken, an oscillation could be seen. The frequency was 7 Hz. It then
increased in amplitude, until the light went off. There was a plane in the same
direction some minutes before this light was seen.
26 February 1984, 03:08 – Lake Hersjøen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Bjørn Lagesson, Bjørn Thyselius, and Gøran Ohlsson were on location at the
field station at Lake Hersjøen. Two spectral pictures were taken by Bjørn
Lagesson. The observers wrote in their report: W e w ere on location, drinking
coffee, w hen Gøran saw a flash of light. Tw enty seconds later he drew m y
attention to it. The light show ed up again and it had an intense brilliance
tow ards us. I run to the cam eras and m anaged to take three pictures during
the 3 m inutes of observation tim e. During the first seconds the light pointed at
us, som e seconds afterw ards it pointed straight dow n, then “the spotlight”
turned around in a half circle tow ards us. I got the im pression it w as standing
still. Suddenly , the light turned off.
July 1984, day – Otta, Sel (UFO)
During 1995-1996, UFO-Norge received some photos from a woman. The
photos show landscape and sky, with a dark spot or something in the sky. It is
not known if this was seen by the photographer or not, and no further
information is available. The negatives were thrown away during moving
between houses.
18 July 1984, day – Oslo

A newspaper article says that several people reported seeing an oval saucer-
shaped object glide slowly down Grorud Valley in Oslo. The object w as visible
both to radar and to the ey e for several m inutes. After five m inutes it just
disappeared. It m ust have either dissolved or gone aw ay w ith an incredible
speed. The object cam e gliding slow ly along the valley , and w as plainly visible
in the clear w eather. The sun reflected on a shiny m etallic surface w hile it
banked carefully as if to change direction. I ran inside to get the cam era and
shot a photo right before it disappeared, Eivind Sjåstad is quoted as saying.
The article also refers to one Rolf Forbo from Norsk Ufologisk Forening. Both of
these people are non-existent, and the photo is a crude hoax (a montage).
August 1984, day – Hamar
Two boys, Per Olav Sanner and Ole Kristen Øverberg (both aged 12), are sure
they have seen an unidentified object in the sky. The boys were at home, and
suddenly the phenomenon appeared in the sky. They boys were quick to get
the camera, and shot a photo of it. There w as very bright sunshine around
it...and after a few m inutes it disappeared, they said.
The photo shows a dark banana-shaped object, with no details, and no
reference points.
August 1984, day – Hamar

Two months after the previous photo appeared, another one, this time by Peter
Elverhøi (also age 12) was published in the same newspaper. This time the
photo shows a dark saucer-shaped object, with no details, above a few
rooftops. Assisted by a journalist from the newspaper, UFO-Norge
representatives discovered that both were hoaxes created by pasting a piece of
paper to a window. In fact, the two places are located just a few hundred meters
from each other. It is not known if Elverhøi made it jointly with Sanner and
Øverberg or not.
10 August 1984, day – Fredrikstad
An article in the Fredrikstad Blad newspaper about GSW analysis methods
pertaining to UFO photographs, contained a faked photograph to illustrate the
simple technique used to forge one.

A bright light phenomenon was spotted in the direction of Lake Øyungen.
Photos were shot until the light disappeared at 20:34. Through binoculars the
phenomenon looked like a high pointy fire, like a burning cabin.
A blue light phenomenon appeared in the SE and photographs were taken.
Some panic ensued when the spectral camera film got stuck. A new roll of film
was put in, and the light was still there. At two occasions a fast light was moving
next to this phenomenon. The blue light phenomenon didn’t disappear until
06:00, approximately.
December 1984 – Voss

In the period between December 1984 and May 1992, Gunnar Pedersen, a man
living at Voss, recorded almost 600 sightings of unidentified flying objects. Voss
is a village located some 100 km east of Bergen. He forwarded reports of his
sightings to UFO-Norge. In fact, members of this organization were present at
Voss in two occasions when alleged UFOs were being observed. The simple
verdict was that the man (and in later years, also a young companion)
continually interpreted ordinary airplanes as “UFO crafts.” Due to this, UFO-
Norge took no more steps to further explore the sightings, since they are
useless. Nevertheless, the main witness accused UFO-Norge of neglecting the
value of the reported phenomena. Early in 1992, this organization received a
video cassette, containing several shots of an alleged UFO. This was analyzed
by Erling Strand, who concluded that the lights in the recorded video could have
been anything. The lights lacked points of reference (i.e. surrounding
landscape, background, etc.), hence no distance, dimensions, or speed could
be determined.
12 December 1984 – Northern Norway (UFO)

According to the Finnmark Dagblad newspaper, a pilot took a photograph of a
UFO. No further details known.
30 December 1984 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Arne Wisth has independently pursued the elusive lights of Hessdalen for years.
This day, in the course of a one-man expedition to the valley, he obtained two
photographs. Prints and the original negatives were furnished by Wisth to Dr. J.
Allen Hynek, of the Center for UFO Studies. In spite of the fact that these
represent the same object taken just a few seconds apart, the marked changes
in the pictures were described as “striking” by Dr. Hynek.
6 January 1985, day – Hallingby, Ringerike
A photographer shot a photo of the church at Hval, in Hallingby, and after
development a dark spot in the sky appeared to the left of the church steeple.
Newspaper text says the negative has been investigated and no film flaw has
been found.
We consider this image to be caused by a drop of water on the camera lens.

Note: Project Hessdalen Part 2, an extension of the project originally held for J an uary-February
1984, was carried out from J anuary 13 to 27, 198 5. Three observation sites were in use durin g
the project period. Headquarters was installed in Ham m arkn eppen (70 0 m eters above sea level,
at the northern side of Aspåskjølen), field station 1 at Finnsåhøgda Mountain (1,0 46 m eters),
and field station 2 at Rognefjellet (917 m eters). Lots of equipm ent and m easurin g devices were
transported in by snowm obiles (two spectrum analyzers, radar, seism ograph, m agnetom eter,
three VCR’s, three video cam eras, laser, IR-viewer, about 20 different cam eras, and m ore than
10 tripods), and a total of 30 people devoted at least one week of their tim e to the investigation .
Most of the people were from UFO-Sverige, as well as UFO-Norge and UFO Research of Finland
– a truly Scandinavian co-operation .
Durin g the entire period, approxim ately 220 sightings of identified phenom ena (aircraft,
satellites, etc.) and approxim ately 55 sightings of un certain origin (possibly aircraft without
corresponding sound) were m ade. No positive observations were m ade, due in part to rather bad
weather.
Photographic records durin g Part 2 of the project. 38 black and white film reels were taken, and
20 m ovie film s (super 8 m m ) were also shot. Although each reel of still photographic film had a
capacity of 20 pictures, very few observers m anaged to fully utilize this capacity.
Part of this photographic record has to do properly with the “Hessdalen phenom ena,” another
involves staff, general panoram ic views and equipm ent.
At the end of Project Hessdalen Part 2 (January 27th and 28th), all equipment
was dismantled and most of the personnel left the area. Leif Havik, Mariann
Överström, and Björn Lagesson were the only three people remaining,
equipped with their own photographic cameras. They stayed until February 10th,
at Hammarkneppen, the site of the former Headquarters.
An orange ball of light shining intensely to the northwest, did hover motionless
for about 30 seconds. First they thought it was a signaling light (hanging from a
parachute) estimating the distance to be rather short. Later, rifle shots were
heard and one more light was observed and photographed. Conclusively, they
found out that the lights originated from a civilian guard training center in
Haltdalen some 10 km away, towards the NNW. This of course implied that the
distance first assumed was grossly underestimated.

An object appeared from the south at the speed of an airplane, traveling the
customary airline route towards the north. However, no sound was heard, and
for this reason Leif Havik took four photographs. One of them also included the
planet Venus, as the object passed apparently in front of this celestial body.
Additional witnesses: three other persons situated at Aspåskjølen. Observation
time: 3 minutes. Meteorological conditions.: a clear sky, temperature -9.5°C,
with a northerly breeze.

An airplane (confirmed) traveling towards the south was observed and
photographed to be used as a comparison to the above 20:13 observation.

A weak dark yellow-orange colored light was observed on the eastern side of
Rognefjellet Mountain. The object was seen by Leif Havik and Björn Lagesson
and it reappeared four times at the same spot. The event was photographed
(four pictures), but we have not seen the resulting pictures. Total time of
observation: 17 minutes. At the same time the moon (NE) and the planet Venus
(SW) could also be seen, located in different positions with regard to the UFO.
Meteorological conditions: half clear sky, temperature: -10°C, northwestern
breeze. The next day Leif Havik went to Rognefjellet Mountain to check for
possible snowmobile tracks, but saw none in the area.

An object traveled southwards, three minutes after an airplane had passed to
the north. Both Björn Lagesson and Leif Havik photographed it.
16 April 1985, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Another photo shot by Gunnar Senbom, commercialized then in the form of
postcards for sale. Apparently large, meaningless enlargements, no further
details are known. Insufficient information.
19 May 1985, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen
Another photo shot by Gunnar Senbom, according to his postcard series.
Apparently a large, meaningless enlargement, no further details are known.
September 1985, night – Vinstra (UFO)

A 9-second long video clip shot at Vinstra by Michel Marcel in either 1985 or
1986. No written report exists, and no further details are known. The video itself
shows no reference points, only a dot of light moving erratically against a black
background, one that could have easily been produced artificially.
13 July 1986, 00:50 – Torpo, Ål, Hallingdal

The night between Saturday and Sunday, July 12-13, 1986, the married couple
Tova and Torfinn Tonning, together with their son Christer and some friends,
were enjoying the fine Nordic summer night. The location was the Breiset
Mountain Farm near Torpo in Hallingdal. Suddenly, at 00:50, they realized that
Mrs. Tonning was staring out the window, and asked why she was so
astonished. She said: Look at the light up there! N ow it has ascen ded from the
horizon and m oved across tw o crossbars in the w indow !
They all moved outside the house, and Torfinn Tonning could finally use his
video camera after having battery problems. With the camera fixed on the car
roof, he directed the lens towards the phenomenon, which was located in an
east/northeast direction somewhere in the distance.
In addition to using the camera they also had the time to observe the
phenomenon with a pair of 12x binoculars. With it, they could observe clearly
discernible details. The object looked oval at the top and bottom. Three clearly
separable circular lights were situated in the middle. The object appeared to be
illuminated by the three lights, which had a blue-white color. Simultaneously,
Mr. Tonning observed some flashes of light coming downwards to the ground
from the object. 10 to 12 flashes could be seen in each burst, evenly distributed
in time. These blinks resembled those of a flashgun. Furthermore, the object
spewed out rapid sparks of light on each side; this particular phenomenon being
especially clear and distinct.
An important feature regarding the object’s movement, is the tilting at an angle
of approximately 45° (with both sides alternately shifting position), toge ther with
the apparent maneuvering towards and away from the witnesses. Moreover,
ups and downs, more or less combined with sideway sliding, altogether gave a
complicated pattern of movement. After some time, it descended to a hill,
permitting both the object and parts of the landscape to be visible in the same
video frame (although this feature couldn’t be recognized in the subsequent
analysis). After a short while it ascended so abruptly that Mr. Tonning was
unable to keep pace with his camera.
Gradually, Mr. Tonning became aware of a second object just as he and the
others were observing the first one. The latter was located just opposite the first,
in a west/southwest direction, and had a stronger (i.e. more color-saturated)
red-white hue. However, because this object seemed to be at a much greater
distance (it was considerably fainter), the appearance on the video was of a
rather limited duration and quality. It was observed for a relatively short time,
leaving the witnesses to study the first object more closely.
The video film lasts for about 10 minutes. The actual observation lasted to
around 3 o’clock, i.e. for more than two hours. Both objects disappeared at a
great speed at an angle to the horizon. Before disappearing, the main object
became smaller and smaller, thus indicating a gradual withdrawal along the line
of sight.
When Mr. Tonning replayed the videotape on his recorder at home, he was
rather disappointed at first. The image of the phenomena captured by his
camera didn’t appear quite as impressive as the actual observation through
binoculars. The video camera was equipped with a zoom lens with 6x
magnification. However, when using the recorder’s stationary image option,
many of the details became visible again.
Weather conditions were fairly good; a cloud base at 1,500-2,500 meters,
varying in extent from 1/8 (almost clear sky) during the evening of July 12th to
8/8 (completely overcast) on the morning of July 13th. Visibility was 75 km or
more.
Early in 1987, the video was sent to William Spaulding’s Ground Saucer Watch,
in the United States, via Australian ufologist Paul Norman. GSW reported that
there were no reference points in the video and also that there appears to be
little ‘object’ m ovem ent. The m otion is attributable to cam era m ovem ent
caused by the photographer. At one portion of the film ing the ‘object’ is
partially obscured. This could be attributable to clouds m oving in front of the
‘UFO’, and finally that the anom alous light streak is evaluated as a video
artifact. The obscuring of the light is consistent with the weather conditions. At
midnight, the planet Jupiter was rising in the east, reaching 19° in the SE by
03:00. Directly opposite (180°) was the star Arcturus, descending from 32° at
midnight to 10° at 03:00. The apparent magnitude of Jupiter was -2.62, while
the apparent magnitude of Arcturus was -0.07.
We consider the whole sighting to be compatible with the apparition of the
planet Jupiter (the first object, the object filmed on the videotape) and Arcturus
(the second object, observed visually only).
24 July 1986, day – Norway

Knut Aasheim shot a photo showing sailboats on the water, as well as two small
black objects in the sky, that were not seen at the time.
[After this paper was finished, we found out that this picture was actually taken
on the west coast of Sweden, at 12:30 hours, and it probably shows birds.]
Summer 1987, evening – Horten

Øysten Johnsen was taking some photos of the ferry to Bastøy, in the Oslofjord,
from Horten. There was a nice, red background sky. When the photos were
developed, one showed a dark elliptical object in the sky above the ferry.
We consider this to be a bird in flight.
19 December 1988, 02:30 – Kragerø
Kamran Baramfarsi (age 22) was listening to some music at home that night,
when he saw a luminous object coming at high speed from the south-southeast
(faster than a jet plane), stopping for 2-3 minutes over the fjord to the east, then
speeding away again as fast as it had come, towards the north-northeast.
Kamran said the object was without any sound, and estimated its size to be 12-
15 meters in diameter.
The photo shows a bright object in the night sky, with some landscape in the
lower part of the photo. The bright object is elongated, either because of time
exposure photography or due to camera movement.
According to journalist/photographer Egil Mathisen, the photo also has street
lights at the bottom, and the shapes of these and the bright object in the sky,
are identical. Therefore, he concludes, the photo is that of the Moon. The
elongated shape is because Baramfarsi moved the camera, and this is evident
since the islands in the background also have a “shadowy” appearance. It also
appears the moon is casting a reflection in the sea.
In various newspaper articles, the date is given as the 18th or the 20th. The
moon was visible in the western sky at this time. However, in one newspaper
article, Baramfarsi says it was a clear night, with stars, and no moon.
It seems obvious that an attempt at deception is involved in this story, and that
the photo shows the moon.
January 1989, day – Vestby

Photo published on January 19th, said to be shot “a while ago” by Trond Erik
Hanssen. Photographer insists he photographed a flying saucer, while it is
simply a lenticular could.
30 January 1989, day – Smøla
Photo of a bright cloud on the morning of Monday 30th. It shows a noctilucent
cloud illuminated by the sun just before sunrise.
1990, day – Norway (UFO)

Two photos (from a video film?) showing a white dot in a blue sky. Some trees
visible in the lower part of the pictures. No other details known.
2 July 1990, 15:00 – Tromøya, Arendal (UFO)
Leonard Tønnesen was out in his boat, together with his son-in-law, coming
back from a fishing trip. The son-in-law then spotted a luminous silver ball in the
sky. Tønnesen was at the time filming with his video camera, and directed it
towards the object. The object seemed to be planning to land, it stopped,
Tønnesen zoomed in on it, zoomed out again, and the object sped away
towards the sea. Alf Thomassen, who was ashore, observed the same object.
The video has not been seen by the authors of this paper, so we are unable to
evaluate it.
Summer 1990, evening – Gussiås, Molde

Three photos were shot by a man (aged 45-50) at Gussiås, 40-50 km from
Molde. According to the report, the man and his daughter (in her 20s), observed
a bright object “dancing” in the overcast sky. The three photos were shot in less
than a minute.
We wonder if it was it the moon seen through cloud cover?
1991, day – Hauglandslia, Bergen

No report accompanied this photo. It was just published to illustrate how easy is
to fake UFO photographs with a suspended model.
10 January 1991 – Kabelvåg, Vågan (UFO)
Odd Bjørn Hjertø (age 10) saw three lights that were flashing, 100 meters away.
He estimated their size to be about 20 meters, like a jet plane. He ran the 400
meters home, to notify his mother and get a camera. The object followed him
and then took off. A photo was shot, but then the object was too far away and
nothing turned out visible.
On the same day, 60 km away, another observer also saw a similar object – a
dark object with 40 synchronous flashing white lights and 25-30 red lights.
Another couple also saw it, and the wife experienced headaches and vomiting
afterwards. During the observation she was totally deaf (although her hearing
was fine prior to and after the observation).
4 February 1991, 18:55 – Bergen (UFO)

From January 16th to approximately February 10, 1991, the newspapers (and
the UFO-Norge organization) received 30 UFO reports from the Bergen area.
On February 4th, Johannes Rolland and Sølvi Irene Hagebø observed an object
with red, green, and white lights hanging in the air over Herland, Bergen. It
moved towards Blom in Osterøy, then stopped for 30 seconds at a height of
200-250 meters, before moving on. It stopped again, at 300-400 meters from
their home. No sound was heard. Rolland shot two photos, before the object
started moving and disappearing towards the northeast. The object is described
as a belt of red lights, two larger white/green lights above, and a white light
below a half-round shape.
4 February 1991, 23:11 – Bergen
Video recording of a soundless phenomenon above Trengereid, northeast of
Bergen. The video itself shows no details other than the phenomenon itself.
This was identified as an aircraft landing at Flesland airport.
25 March 1991, 19:50 – Herøysund, Kvinnherad (UFO)

A couple observed a bright light outside their living room window, and they went
out on their porch. The bright light was gone, but they saw two flashing lights.
One was white and the other was red, and they flashed 3-4 times per second.
The object was moving slowly. Then the bright light was there again, and the
flashing light could not be seen. The light is described as yellow-white, like
burning magnesium. The object was moving in zigzag course out the
Hardangerfjord, and no sound was heard. When seen through 8x40 binoculars,
there seemed to be “something” between the flashing lights. It disappeared
behind a mountain top and after it appeared again it disappeared straight up as
the lights went out.
Three photos were shot when the distance was approx 500-600 meters. The
photos were shot without tripod and they are very hazy. In the pictures, a streak
of light is visible above the treetops.
3 August 1991, 01:30 – Svergjesjøen, Nord-Østerdalen

Three women observed two luminous oval shapes which moved slowly in the
sky for a couple of hours. It was Bodil Gerxhaliu (29) who saw the light first. She
was playing cards with Elisabeth Herrebrøden (38) and Kristine Haagaas (38)
late at night. They went outside the cabin, and none believed her own eyes. It
w as a large lum inous oval shape – of the size and shape of four full m oons
stacked together in a line, w hich blinked w ith even intervals. Over this oval
there w as a light point w hich changed in color from red to y ellow -w hite, the
women said. Elisabeth had a video camera, and she directed it towards the
point where the oval flashed up intermittently. She managed to get one flash
recorded, before the battery exhausted. It is ty pical that such a thing happens
w hen it’s m ost critical, she said. They also managed to take some photographs
of the phenomenon.
Erling Strand interviewed Mrs. Bodil Gerxhaliu just a few days later. He got a
written report on the incident, together with 4-5 photos of the phenomenon and
the environment. The report corrected some prior information given by the
press. Exact place of observation was near Lake Svergjesjøen (868 meters
above sea level). The phenomenon was still visible when the women went to
bed at 03:30. The phenomenon was initially discovered in the northwest
(azimuth circa 315°), and during the next two hours it moved slowly further north
(azimuth circa 350°). The elevation was estimated at 30° for the large flashing
oval, and 40° for the accompanying red/yellow -white light source. Their relative
positions were fixed during the entire observation.
The flashes from the oval came at 2-9-minute intervals; duration of each flash
was from a split second up to three seconds. The video was shot at 02:50 and
shows one flash before the battery was discharged. Later on, when this
recording was replayed in slow-motion, the flash resolved into two distinct
flashes. A short-lived, point-like light source could be seen in the center of the
last flash. A short crack in the sound channel could be heard simultaneously.
Unfortunately, the video didn’t show any points of reference, which might have
indicated size and/or position of the phenomenon.
One of the photographs, taken at 02:40, showed a reddish, diffuse light source,
together with a white, more concentrated light beside. Unfortunately, the photo
was taken without the use of a tripod or any other support. Hence, the images
were smeared to a large extent. In addition, no points of reference could be
traced.
The distance to the phenomenon was loosely assessed by Mrs. Gerxhaliu to be
at least a couple of kilom eters. No sound could be heard at any time, nor did
they have any aftermath – no physiological and/or psychological effects.
Due to the fact that the women were alone, they assumed that no others had
witnessed the event. However, it turned out that Mr. Øystein Emanuelsen, a
farmer living in Dalsbygda (some 40 km ENE) observed two flashes of light at
00:45 the same night. The direction was due west (azimuth 270°), and the time
between flashes was some 20-60 seconds.
We consider it very likely that the four witnesses observed atmospheric
electrical discharges, i.e. lightning, 12-15 km or more away.
October 1991, 03:30 – Songe, Arendal (UFO)

An anonymous person called the newspaper to report she had observed
som ething that looked like an eight-sided lum inous football low in the horizon.
She observed the phenomenon until it disappeared into the horizon. The sky
w as full of stars, but this w as not a star, she said, because it w as m uch
brighter. She attempted to take some photos, but they were not developed yet,
so it is unknown what, if anything, they showed.
Both planets Jupiter and Venus were in the east horizon around 03:30, but they
were rising, while Sirius was in the southeast. Was it astronomical?
1992, day? – Norway (UFO)

A photo showing something dark gray against a gray background. No text report
or further details exist.
May 1992 – Voss
In the period between December 1984 and May 1992 a man living at Voss
(Gunnar Pedersen) claimed to have recorded almost 600 sightings of
unidentified flying objects. Voss is a village located some 100 km east of
Bergen. He forwarded reports of his sightings to various members of UFO-
Norge, particularly the report center. However, representatives from the
organization were present at Voss on three occasions; two times they actually
observed the alleged UFOs. The simple verdict was that the man (and in later
years, also a young companion) continually interpreted ordinary airplanes as
UFOs. Due to this fact, UFO-Norge has taken no steps to further explore the
observations, since they are of virtually no value. Nevertheless, Pedersen
accuses UFO-Norge of being passive and neglecting both him and the reported
phenomena, which according to him obviously have a great potential for further
investigation. Early in 1992, the report center received a video cassette
containing several shots of the phenomenon. After analysis (by Erling Strand),
the conclusion was that the lights shown on the video could have been
anything. The lights lacked points of reference (i.e. surrounding landscape,
background, etc.); hence no distance, dimensions or speed could be
determined.
7 September 1992, 23:55 – Hammarøy, Harstad (UFO)

Just before midnight, a large light was seen in the sky above Hammarøy near
Harstad. The light seemed as large as the moon, but was flat. The phenomenon
brightened, then darkened, and finally it brightened again before disappearing.
The distance was estimated at 150-200 km. The wife of a photographer shot
some photos. The photos have not been seen by us.
21 September 1992, 21:30 – Eksingdalen, Masfjord (UFO)

The Gullbrå family (Nils, Lillian, Jon Ingvar, and Albert) had a strange
experience this evening. Nils, his wife and their eldest son were in the living
room. The TV was on. Suddenly their dog and two cats went crazy (the dog was
also in the living room, their two cats were outside on the porch). Nils went
outside to see what was going on. Nothing could be seen, so he went around to
the front side of the house. From there he saw a strange column of light in the
distance. Then I understood w e had strangers visiting us. Nils called his
brother and asked him to bring his video camera, but the resulting image was
too dark and faint. Nils used binoculars the last 10 minutes of the observation,
and saw some red lights appear. The column of light was sharp yellow-white
and pulsated with a frequency of 30-35 per second. The column of light went
out and the lights disappeared in a southerly direction at a speed of
approximately 1,000 km/h. The size was estimated to be 300-350 meters.
29 January 1993, 11:50 – Voss
Another aircraft video shot by Gunnar Pedersen.
26 May 1993, 00:15 - Kyrksæterøra, Hemne

Oddbjørg Bakk and Leif Aunhaug observed a luminous object low on the
horizon, just above a nearby hill-top. It looked like the full moon if it had split in
the middle. It also seemed to move up and down while slowly moving to the
right. The color changed between orange-red and white. It grew gradually
weaker for a while, before disappearing completely. The whole observation
lasted 40 minutes. No sound. Clear weather, 0°C. Five photos were shot with a
Konica C-35 camera with 38mm lens, speed 1/60 second. Sunset was at 22:49
hours, so there was still some daylight remaining in the sky. The planet Jupiter
was at 18° in the SW at 00:15, descending to 15° at 00:55 (magnitude -2.22,
bright enough but too high). The planet Mars was at 15° in the west at 00:15,
descending to 11° at 00:55 (magnitude 1.31, too dark). But the moon was at 6º
elevation in the WNW horizon at the beginning of the sighting and at 2º
elevation in the NW at the end, posing as a very good candidate to explain the
case. The problem is that its phase seems too early to provide this image. We
wonder if the pictures were really taken a few days later.
2 or 3 July 1993, 01:20 – Rørholt, Kragerø (UFO)
After returning from a fishing trip, Jan Arne Ekkeren and a friend of his, had just
come back to a cabin. Suddenly they saw a triangle of light appeared
approximately 15° above the horizon. A minute later two more formations
appeared. They all had an insane speed. During the next hour they observed
another nine formations, each consisting of three lights, with a total of 36
objects. They excluded the possibility of both ball lightning and falling stars.
The next night, from 03:30 until 04:40, the same phenomenon repeated, and
they observed a total of 37 lights in sequential formations. They estimated the
speed to be 3,000 to 6,000 meters per second. The formations were only visible
for 1-2 seconds each time. The phenomenon was also seen through 8x40
binoculars. Ekkeren also shot some photos, either on the 2nd or the 3rd, or both.
We have not seen these photos.
9 November 1993, 20:00 and 21:00 – Hadsel (UFO)

This covers three observations, at 18:59 lasting five-six minutes, at 20:00
lasting five minutes, and at 21:00 lasting three minutes.
It all started with the observer discovering by chance a large white circular light,
as big as the moon. It came in from the sea, just a few meters above the fishing
ships in the harbor. She first thought there was someone searching for
something. She was blinded by the light and went out on the steps to see
better. The distance was approximately 150 meters. She was still blinded by the
light, so she couldn’t see if the light had wings or not. There was no sound at all.
She thought it was strange that an airplane could travel that low and slow,
without engine noise, and not fall into the sea. The light then changed course,
and turned to the right. She could then see that the object was oblong with
pointy ends and somewhat thicker in the middle. A quarter of the front body was
illuminated, the rest was dark. The object started to rise, and at the same time
the color of the light changed from white to yellow to orange and then to red.
She thought she had seen a new type of aircraft.
She phoned a few relatives to tell them about this, and regretted she didn’t have
any other witnesses to the event. So she went to get her camera, in case the
light should return.
And at 20:00 it did. A red-orange luminous cigar-shaped object appeared flying
from the south and illuminating the area like a neon light. The contours could
easily be seen against the dark sky. The phenomenon was thicker at the middle
and resembled the first object when that one had disappeared. It seemed larger
than the first object. It disappeared behind an island, re-appeared on the other
side, and disappeared behind a mountain towards the west. She managed to
shoot four photos from outside her house.
At 21:00 she spotted the light for the third time. This time it was green, at the
same height as before, and moving from north to south. The green light had a
dark body behind it, but she could not discern if it was pointy of rounded. It
looked like a rocket. This phenomenon was also without sound, and moved at
the same speed as the others. She shot several photos from outside her house.
Nothing appeared on the film when developed.
19 November 1993, 17:08 – Voss

Another video taken by Gunnar Pedersen.
It is considered to be an aircraft.
20 November 1993, 13:00 – Kvam

Magnar Hagen was on his way up Veikledalen Valley at Kvam, approximately
90 km north of Lillehammer, when he saw something moving down the side of
the valley, from north to south, in a flash of light. He grabbed a Polaroid camera
from the back of his car, and managed to shoot one photo before the light
disappeared.
Looks like a chemical flaw in the film.
December 1993, 00:30 – Heistadmoen, Kongsberg (UFO)
According to a newspaper article, Lars Olav Iversen photographed a strange
phenomenon, when he was with Ann Helen Hansen. They observed some
bright lights in the sky, red lights rotating and joining to other mushroom-shaped
lights.
The reproduced photo is of low quality, and it is impossible to decide what it
shows or could be. Insufficient information.
3 January 1994, 00:30 – Rakkestad (UFO)

A few days before or after Christmas 1993, Ng Hyng Lyng observed a bright
luminous object in the sky. It was his eldest daughter who first saw the light at
01:30 hours.
The next night they spotted the light was January 3rd at 00:30. It was his eldest
daughter again who saw it first. Ng Hyng Lyng brought his video camera outside
and started filming. The video is 4-5 minutes long, showing a single point of light
against a background of dark sky. Reportedly seen towards the east, it
appeared to flicker quite a bit, and the camera was apparently not on a tripod as
it appeared very unsteady to the journalist who reported the case. Lyng’s video
camera has an 8x zoom, and on his 26-inch TV, the light appears to be from ½
to 1 cm in diameter.
We have not seen the video in question, so we do not know if it contains any
points of reference. Sirius (as well as the moon) was visible in the SE, at 12°
elevation. An on-the-spot inquiry can confirm or eliminate this possible
explanation by determining the exact direction of the UFO.
27 January 1994, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Bjarne Lillevold, who was with his son, filmed a phenomenon above
Finnsåhøgda Mountain.
21 March 1994, 05:30 – Harstad (UFO)

Several people observed a strange phenomenon in the northeast sky. It was
visible for almost an hour before it disappeared or was obscured by clouds.
Wemunn Aabø shot several photos around 05:30. When developed, they
showed a small point of light, and also three small black dots. These black dots
appeared in different areas of the various photos.
The newspaper source published only one of the photos, highly enlarged. The
star Vega was at 46° elevation in the east (azimuth 102°), and Capella was at
29° elevation in the NW (azimuth 329°). But if the phenomenon was really seen
in the NE, none of these stars fits.
4 April 1994, 01:15 – Vivestad, Ramnes/Re

Amateur astronomer Jan Qvam sent UFO-Norge some photos he had shot, two
of the planet Jupiter and two of the northern lights. In one of the photos of
Jupiter, the planet appears very much larger than in the first photo. The
probable cause of this was a drop of water on the camera lens. This could also
have been caused by a time exposure, even if the stars appear more or less the
same, since Jupiter is much more luminous than the surrounding stars.
Photo number three shows a dark saucer-shaped form silhouetted against the
northern lights in the background. The fourth photo, taken a few minutes later,
shows the same scene but the dark object is revealed to be a cloud as it is
dissolving.
Late April 1994, day – MS Lofoten
This photo was shot from the deck of the merchant ship Lofoten. It goes on a
regular cruise from Bergen to Kirkenes (six days) and back to Bergen again
(five days), with several stops along the way. It is impossible for us to know
exactly where the ship was, specially with an imprecise date.
The photo shows a strange phenomenon, not seen at the time, looking a little
“rocket”-like. We had the negative investigated, and it was soon obvious that
there was a flaw on the film itself.
21 July 1994, 24:00 – Skåbu, Nord-Fron
The witness reported: I w as looking out the w indow , w hen suddenly a y ellow
half-m oon-shaped light rose up from the m ountain. The light w as quite
intense. Outside this lum inous ball w as a y ellow -orange halo. I had no idea
w hat this could be. The sun had set in the opposite direction a w hile before. The
Moon w as not visible y et, even though it w as clear w eather. After a w hile the
light m oved dow n and behind the m ountain to the right. Then it cam e back
w ith high speed (the ball w as getting sm aller) and m oved in a zigzag w ay to
the left w hile going up, and then sort of exploded and disappeared.
He managed to take a photo of the phenomenon. And on the photo we can see
the mountain is in several places in this photograph, and the light is reproduced
as a streak of light. This is the result of the photographer moving the camera as
he took the photo.
He watched the sky the next night as well, and all he saw was the full moon, but
not in the same direction as he had seen the prior phenomenon.
The sun set in the NW at 22:12. The moon was in the S-SE (10° elevation, 172°
azimuth at 23:59 on July 21th, if this is the right day of the event). Consultant
Andrés Duarte analyzed the picture and concluded that the object is a static
point of light placed at the edge of the m ountain. A ground source of light on
the terrain or just the m oon that w as right over the edge of the m ountain.
7 August 1994, evening – Saltrød, Arendal
Kurt Asbjørn Olsen, together with many other neighbors, observed a luminous
ball of light traveling slowly across the sky. He got a video, and it was featured
on the TV2 evening news. The footage showed points of reference as well as
the small luminous ball of light. Much speculation resulted from the “bat-like”
image produced when he zoomed in on the object (this is a normal effect,
caused by distortion in the camera optics).
The next day, TV2 news provided the viewers with the explanation. It was just a
balloon – a plastic bag with some wires and candle lights that was sent aloft
from a birthday party.

Photo shows some landscape and a dark object in the blue sky with some
clouds. This is most likely a bird in flight.
1995 – Norway
A photograph was received by UFO-Norge in 1995. It shows a landscape scene
with a bridge over a river and some mountains in the background, and an
overcast sky. In the middle of the photo there is a triangle-shaped white
“object.” It appears to be a lens flare.
1995 – Gausdal
A fake photo by Kjell Christensen.

An orange ball of light was seen by three people, moving from south to north.
The phenomenon was captured on a video that we have not seen.
27 May 1995, 01:20 – Norway (UFO)
A video recording of a point of light against a dark sky background,
approximately 7.5 minutes long, without points of reference. We do not know in
which direction this was shot, or from which location, so this is impossible to
correlate with anything. The planet Jupiter was visible in the south at 8°
elevation and 177° azimuth.
29 May 1995, 18:35 – Stavanger

A passenger on flight BU278 from Bergen to Stavanger shot this photo shortly
before landing at Stavanger Airport. This is a flight that takes some 35 minutes
from lift-off to landing. BU278 took off from Bergen at 18:10, and this photo was
shot 10 minutes before landing, so we estimate time at 18:35. The passenger
saw something pointy sticking up through the layer of clouds, and shot a photo
out the left window of the aircraft, towards the east.
During 1996 Odd-Gunnar Røed was giving UFO lectures to workers on the oil
rigs in the North Sea. After showing this photograph to the audience, a Mr.
Roger M. Jensen returned from the library with the December 1995 edition of
Offshore Engineer. Here’s y our UFO, he said, and showed Røed a photo of
Saipem 7000. This is a crane vessel, a ship that is specialized in lifting heavy
loads. The Saipem 7000 was the world’s largest crane vessel up to year 2000,
reaching 220 m height (almost twice the height of an oil rig), and it is usually
docked just north of Stavanger. No wonder then that its two peaks were visible
through a low cloud cover.
13 July 1995, 13:00 – Evje (UFO)
The Andreassen family (four people) was driving north towards Evje, followed
by Elin Solstad (42) and her husband in another car. They all saw a cigar-
shaped object with no wings or tail, traveling parallel to the road, disappearing
behind trees every now and then. The color was grayish metallic. Some times it
seemed to stand still, and at other times to speed up. They finally found a place
to stop by the road, and the object was then about to go behind a hill. John
Gunnar Andreassen (40) quickly reached for his video camera. He had just got
the camera ready, and started filming, when there was a flash of light and the
cigar-shaped object disappeared behind the mountain. The only thing visible on
the video is the flash of light lasting 1-2 seconds. Elin Solstad thought she had
seen several flashes as the object disappeared.
The video has not been seen by the authors. Insufficient information.
15 July 1995, 04:00 – Lakselv, Porsanger

15-year-old Kjell Ivar Simensen was outside shooting landscape pictures. After
they were developed, he discovered a fuzzy dark object in one of the photos.
We suspect this is an insect close to the camera.
18 August 1995, 08:00 – Madlatua, Stavanger (UFO)

This morning, Kjell Aksdal suddenly saw a strange object flying in the sky. He
got his video camera and started filming. The video lasts 2.5 minutes. Ten
minutes later Aksdal saw the object again, but only for a few seconds. The
video was shot through the living room window, and it has been described as
showing a cylinder-shaped object. According to the source (a newspaper
article), the object was stationary at first, then accelerated violently to the right
and to the left, and then made a circle. It is not clear if the video shows any
points of reference, and if the motion is that of the object or is caused by the
camera movements.
The video has not been seen by the authors. Insufficient information.
16 November 1995, 21:45 – Solund
Freddy Indrebø was taking a stroll this night. The weather was clear and cold,
with a starry night. Suddenly a light reflected on the wet asphalt in front of him.
He turned around at once and looked at the sky, and he saw a bright flash of
light, like a fireball with a red core. It lasted only a few seconds. After walking
farther along for a few minutes, he heard a powerful detonation. He thought the
sound must have come from the light phenomenon, and if so he estimated the
distance to be approximately 100 km.
At the same time, Finn Hugøy was experimenting with taking photos of the night
sky (50 ASA film). He shot a photo of the western sky at 21:45 hours, exposed
for 30 or 45 minutes. The photo shows the stars as diagonal streaks, but
something else (vertical) was also captured by the camera. The image of the
stars corresponds to what the sky looked like at the time.
We consider this to be a fireball entering the atmosphere.
27 November 1995, 22:30 – Klæbu

Solveig Trolie (27) and her boyfriend Per M. Langrød saw a light above
Vassfjellet at Klæbu, a big yellow-white ball of light with no sound. First it was
stationary for 1.5 minutes, then it started to move, at first slowly with no sound,
then faster with sound. Color changed between red, green, and white. It
seemed to move in a southwest direction, then towards the north, and in the
end towards the northwest. Solveig Trolie shot some photos of the object, both
when it was stationary and when it was moving. The camera was a Pentax 70
with 100 ASA film.
It is likely this was an aircraft, as there was an aircraft in the sky at the time,
coming in from Bergen and landing at 22:39 hours.
6 January 1996, 14:30 – Tromsø
N.K. took three photos of the red sky, and in one of the photos an irregular
white spot appeared after development. She would have ignored it if she hadn’t
seen a mysterious light herself that same day, some 1-1½ hours later.
When we checked the negative it was clear this was a developing flaw
produced from some dust on the negative. Later prints from the negative
showed no white spot anymore.
17 January 1996, 18:00 – Sandnessjøen, Alstahaug

A ball of light appeared in the sky, and there were several witnesses. Siv Dalen
videotaped the phenomenon.
Sunset was at 17:11 hours, and shortly after that the planet Venus became
visible in the south.
13 February 1996, evening – Oslo
TV-channel NRK1 news at 22:30 showed a video recording of the western sky,
taken from Oslo. First it showed a relatively weak light in the distance, against a
dark sky, and then it zoomed in on the light. A little later an aircraft could be
seen taking off from Fornebu Airport. NRK1 news said the light was stationary,
but by fast-forwarding it could be seen to move slowly towards the west.
13 February 1996, evening – Kristiansand

TV-channel TV2 news at 24:00 also reported on the same video as above. In
addition, they showed another recording from Kristiansand. The second video
showed a black sky with a light above, with some houses in the lower part of the
image. UFO-Norge contacted the two TV stations to inform them about the
explanation (the planet Venus).

Jan Barwin and Andreas B. Olsen were on a trip to Hessdalen to see if they
could see the phenomenon by themselves. At approximately 22:50, Andreas
spotted a light blinking in the south, low on the horizon. Through a telescope,
Andreas Olsen observed it as a white pill-shaped object. It was stationary at
first, with a blinking white light on the right side. A few seconds later it started
moving in relation to the stars, and it descended in an even speed, before it
stopped again. Then Jan Barwin observed the stationary object through the
telescope, and it started moving towards the left, and then stopped once more.
When Andreas Olsen was going to watch it again through the telescope, it was
already gone, and they couldn’t find it again. They had a 20x50 telescope, i.e.
20x magnification and 50mm lens. Photographs of the phenomenon were taken
during their sighting.
Sirius was at 9° altitude and 194° azimuth (almost south).
1 July 1996, day – Valdres

Erlend Wiborg (12) and his classmates were on a trip to Valdres. Many photos
were shot during the trip, and on one of these a black spot appeared in the sky.
Nothing unusual was seen. The photo shows a few people walking along a
track, with landscape (mountains) in the background, and a blue cloudless sky.
The photo was discovered because of his experience of August 30, 1996 (see
next case).
We suspect a butterfly or other insect close to the camera.
30 August 1996, 21:00 – Våler (UFO)
This day, Marianne Bruheim, one of Erlend Wiborg’s classmates, had a birthday
party. A camera was available and a few photos were shot of the party and the
10-12 guests. Erlend and another friend went out on the veranda on the second
floor to get some fresh air. They were standing there talking, when suddenly a
strange phenomenon flew past them only 5-10 meters away. It w as about as
big as a car, and flew at the sam e height as the flag pole outside. The object
m oved very fast, and w as visible for only tw o-three seconds. It w as blue w ith a
red stripe across the m iddle, round at one end and pointed at the other. And
there w as sort of a y ellow shine around it all, says Erlend Wiborg. They went
inside to tell the others what they had seen. Needless to say, no one believed
them. Five minutes later, however, they all saw it again. A little farther away,
behind some trees, they saw some flying objects. Similar in form to the first one,
these were not colored but luminous all over. They came and went, until four
objects could be seen at the same time. The camera was fetched and several
photos of the objects were shot. Also, while the children were watching the
objects, three cars stopped on the road near where the objects seemed to be,
and after about 10 seconds they drove on. When developed, all the photos on
the film were blank.
21 September 1996, 15:00 – Bjoreidalen, Eidfjord

Rune Grønstøl sent a photo to UFO-Norge, showing people rowing a boat on a
lake, landscape and a blue sky with some clouds. There was also a small dark
spot in the sky.
Seen through a microscope, the negative displays some irregularities, the film
layers appear to be contaminated, which caused the flawed image.
7 August 1997, 23:30 – Lake Øyungen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Arne-Johan and Pål-Andrè Rauan tell this story: At 23:30 w e suddenly saw a
phenom enon in the sky . It looked like a big star, w hich m oved rapidly . It cam e
from the south, m oving tow ards the north-east, and it disappeared over the
horizon. W e did see a sim ilar phenom enon at 0 0 :30 the sam e night, but this
started w hen a plane w as com ing. It m oved fast tow ards the east. The speed
w as too high to be a plane. W e film ed the phenom enon w ith a VHS Sharp
video-cam era for about 5 to 10 seconds.
27 August 1997, 22:45 – Florø, Flora

G.B.S. was at the restaurant outside Quality Maritim Hotel to take some photos
of the moon. Later, when the photos were developed, she noticed a “second
moon” in the photos.
Moonrise was at 00:22 on the 27th, so the time must have been somewhat later
than the photographer thought. Anyway, it seems like a typical lens flare.
1-15 September 1997, day – Levanger (UFO)

Sometime between the 1st and 15th of September, Lillian Olsson shot two
photos of a phenomenon she and her husband observed low on the NNE
horizon. The phenomenon was seen for about 5-7 minutes, while it slowly
moved towards the northeast (from left to right in the photos) and then
disappeared. The light was oval-shaped and was intensely yellow in the middle.
Around the yellow, almost fluorescent light, there was an orange corona.
11 October 1997, 21:15 – Morkevollhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Note: The Triangle Project was a group of people (students, engineers, and journ alists) who did
observational and photographic field work in Hessdalen in 1997-1998 . The group consisted of
Werner Anderson , Henrik Th. Strøm , Vidar Andersen, Andreas Olsen , Erlin g Strand, Akhtar
Issak, Gisle Førsund, Vidar Løvlund, and Lars Færevaag.
Andreas Olsen suddenly saw a strong light slightly to the left of

Morkevollhøogda Peak. The light seemed to come from the point where “the
mountain met the sky.” Both Akhtar Issak and Andreas Olsen first assumed that
it was the moon coming up over the mountaintop, but they soon realized that
they had observed the moon much farther to the east earlier in the evening, and
this light was much more intense than the light reflected from the moon. Akhtar
pointed a flashlight with a red filter at the phenomenon, while Andreas notified
both Alpha and Charlie camp positions (unfortunately, the sighting fell outside
the Triangle area under close surveillance).
Akhtar shot a series of pictures (see comment below) when the light started to
move up and down “like a yo-yo.” The light had the shape of a pyramid and was
emitting an intense light. Each time the “pyramid” went down under the horizon
(the mountain top) they could see a beam of light coming up from behind the
mountain, from the point where “the pyramid” had disappeared. This repeated
several times before the light went down for the last time and “went out.” The
observation lasted for 15-30 seconds. The light beam had a wider dispersion
than any car headlights. The light source was bigger and more intense than any
other light that was observed from Bravo camp position. To the observers, it
looked like the beam of light was directed towards Bravo each time “the
pyramid” emerged from behind the mountain (probably a subjective illusion,
since it was observed only from this position). The crew calculated the distance
from Bravo to the light to be one kilometer. No sound was heard during the
observation. The local map shows no paths or roads in the area where the light
was sighted. At 10:35 pm the moon appeared again, still at the far east of
Morkavollhogda. The eye-witnesses stated: Neither of us can give a reasonable
explanation of w hat w e saw .
It turned out later that the film showed no trace of the light. Field researchers
deliberately tried to underexpose the film, as most pictures of the Hessdalen
phenomenon suffer from overexposure, and it is not possible to analyze what is
“inside” the lighted spot on the films. This time they went too far in the opposite
direction.
11 October 1997, 23:45 – Morkavollhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Akhtar Issak pointed out a red light west of Lake Øyungen. Andreas Olsen
thought that he had seen the light one minute earlier, but he was convinced that
it was the taillight of a car. When Akhtar caught sight of it, he came to the same
conclusion. The light was traveling westward away from Bravo at a rather high
speed. Akhtar then studied the light through the 200mm lens of his camera. He
saw that the light changed color from red to yellow, and was moving towards
Bravo very quickly. For Akhtar, the light source seemed to be very big, it
completely covered his field of vision through the camera lens, and he was
completely blinded. When the object shifted from red to yellow, Akhtar started to
shoot with his camera. The light moved back and forth over Øyungen before it
disappeared in the south. Immediately after the light disappeared “behind
Morkavollhogda,” the western part of Lake Øyungen was illuminated as by an
enormous spotlight. The line between the light circle and the dark surroundings
was well defined. “The spotlight” was not in sight, but it seemed like the light
was emitted from a point behind Morkavollhogda Mountain where the light ball
had just disappeared. In the middle of Lake Øyungen there is an island
(Storholmen). This island was not visible in the dark, but as “the spotlight was
turned on,” we could clearly see the whole island, even details such as trees.
This was also the case for the western shore of the lake. “The spotlight”
searched the western part of the lake, while it “was turned on and off.” The light
was enormously intense. The next part of the observation was by Akhtar Issak
alone. As he studied the dark surface of the lake through his camera, a light
circle formed on the lake, between Storholmen island and the southwestern
shore. The light was bluish, like burning gas, but not so intense. It resembled
more the northern lights that are often seen in this part of the country, but far
from lightening the sky, this light seemed to be emitted from a submerged
source. Both Andreas and Akhtar checked the sky for northern lights, but it was
heavily clouded, and no reflection from the sky was visible on the lake. The
“submerged” light slowly vanished. Akhtar tried to shoot some photos of the
phenomenon, but the light was too faint to expose the film. Both Andreas and
Akhtar noticed that only while “the spotlight” was illuminating Lake Øyungen,
some small, compact fog “globes” came drifting from the lake towards them,
wrapping up the camp for approximately one minute as they passed by.
Both members of the Bravo crew experienced this last observation over Lake
Øyungen as dramatic and frightening. The camera was mounted on a tripod,
equipped with a motor, and the time between each exposure was less than 1/2
second. He used a 200mm lens, of 5.6 aperture, and shutter speed 1/125 sec.
The distance to the light was estimated at 3 km.
20 November 1997, 22:00 – Levanger

Quite a lot of people gathered together around the town of Levanger this night
to observe two mysterious circles of light in the sky which rotated around each
other at high speed. Many people shot photos of the lights. Later in the night if
was found out that they were two searchlights from a party.
22 November 1997, 22:40 – Bjørga, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Günther Schnell, Gard Gramstad, and Ann-Cathrin Morteng reported: W e have
been in Hessdalen w ith som e equipm ent, from 21st to 23 rd , try ing to see the
Hessdalen phenom ena. W e did see it! W e had 3 observations for certain and a
couple that could have been som ething else. One observation lasted 5 m inutes
and w e m anaged to capture it on our video. It w as not earthlight, car light, or
aurora borealis. W e saw a soundless object, w ith a w hite light at the top and
tw o red lights beneath. It had a norm al speed, like an "airplane," until it
started to m ove jerkily and go dow nw ard follow ing a line like the steps on a
stair. It m oved like this until it disappeared behind Granåshøgda Mountain.
This object w as diffuse in the beginning, but shortly after the light becam e
sharper. It looked like it w as looking at us. It could be at about 10 0 m eter
above the m ountain ridge before it w ent dow n behind the ridge.
15 December 1997, night – Bergen

Several people in the Bergen area phoned police and newspapers about lights
moving in the sky. Rotating beams of light as well as circles of light were
reported. Police finally established that it was all caused by searchlights from a
local supermarket.
3 January 1998, 22:38 – Lake Øyungen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

At 21:00, Günther Schnell, Gard Gramstad, and Ann-Cathrin Morteng went to
Aspåskjølen, and at 21:30 they saw some irregularly-flashing light towards the
southern part of Hessdalen. Lights were within the mountain fog. It looked like
the light moved towards the west. This observation lasted for 5 minutes. They
remained in the same place until 22:15, when they decided to move to Lake
Øyungen, south in Hessdalen. While driving towards the lake, they saw a big
blue light coming up from behind the mountain in the west. It moved very fast,
made a 180° turn, and went down behind the mountain again. It lasted 2 -3
seconds. Later on, they were walking by the lake area and saw a light behind
the trees. Günther Schnell writes: W e ran up the hill and got a good view dow n
to a sm all valley . There, 40 0 to 50 0 m eters from us, a red light w as hovering.
N o sound could be heard. The light w as in front of the hillside, on the other side
of the sm all valley . W e could see that it w as an object w ith a shape like an
oblong triangle. The red light w as on that object. W e saw this for about tw o
m inutes. It m oved from left to right in a jerky m ovem ent. It disappeared
behind the m ountain at 22:40 . Looking at the “light” in m y cam era, the color
w as m ore orange. I m anaged to take tw o pictures, but sadly , that part of the
film w as destroy ed. It looked like it w as overexposed.
14 February 1998, 20:00 – Moss (UFO)

Several people in Østfold observed a strange light in the western sky during
Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday. Britt Kirsten Pedersen was
one of those who saw it: I discovered the light around 20 :0 0 and w ent out on
the veranda w atching it. The light w as incredibly beautiful. It w as w hite,
som etim es w ith a greenish tint. She got her camera out and shot some photos
of the light. Several neighbors also saw the light, among them Susann Linnerud.
Theories put forward by Jan Erik Hansen (lighthouse keeper at Færder) said it
might have been the light from the lighthouse reflected through the clouds.
Usually multiple-observer cases suggest that conventional explanations exist,
although no particularly bright planet was visible in the western sky at that time.
We have not seen the photos in question. Insufficient information.
16 February 1998, 17:30 – Fredrikstad

The time was 17:15 when sports journalist Morten Andersen observed a streak
of light in the sky. He ran upstairs to the 5th floor of the newspaper office to get
his camera. But by the time the film was placed on it, the streak of light was
gone. However, it returned again at 17:30. Then, photographer Geir A. Carlsson
shot a photo of the phenomenon. The streak of light moved south.
Flight leader Jack Schanke at Rygge Airport said it was probably a temperature
inversion reflecting the sun. However, the photo looks like a normal aircraft
condensation trail to us.
April 1998, evening – Rørvik, Vikna (UFO)

Kjellrun Olsen Haug discovered a bright red light in a bay near her house. At
first she thought it was her neighbor doing work on his boat, but as she kept on
watching, she also saw a white light under the red one. She moved over to the
window to see better, and she saw that the light was hovering above the boat,
some 200 meters away, illuminating the boat itself. She also saw two other
similar lights, but farther out in the bay. She remembered that she had a camera
available, and just managed to shoot a photo before all the lights started moving
together further out in the bay. They shortly started to rise straight up into the
sky. She then shot another photo. Eventually the lights disappeared.
May 1998 – Nesodden (UFO)
Second-hand information about a UFO photo published in the May 25, 1998,
edition of the newspaper Akershus Amtstidende. Unfortunately we have been
unable to locate it.
28 May 1998, 22:00 – Hardangervidda

Five people were driving through Gudbrandsdalen Valley when they spotted a
light in the sky. The light followed them for four hours, all the way to
Hardangervidda. Eventually the driver stopped the car and got out to shoot a
photo.
There are several problems with this story. The photo is very bright, it appears
to have been shot at the sun during daytime, and it shows a lens flare. Sunset
was at 22:35 hours. The story is not plausible and the photo doesn’t match with
the story or the atmospheric/astronomical conditions. We therefore consider this
to be a hoax.
8 July 1998, 00:06 – Eidsøra, Eidsvåg
Six minutes past midnight, Trine Marit Olsen spotted a bright stationary object in
the northern sky. The shape reminded her of an upside-down parachute. The
reflection of the light could be seen in the Tingvollfjorden Fjord as a long yellow
streak. She videotaped the phenomenon.
Other people also observed strange lights this night. Svanhild Mykløy observed
a bright light for an hour and a half, through 40x binoculars. She said the object
was shaped like a cone turned upside-down. (See next case).
8 July 1998, 01:30 – Farstad, Fræna

Sigurd Brekvikhaug also videotaped the same phenomenon, between 01:30
and 02:00. Jon Bjordal at the University of Bergen reached the correct
conclusion that these two videos show a stratospheric balloon.
14 August 1998, 00:05 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.
Note: From August 7, 1998 to Novem ber 7, 20 0 3 (with som e downtim e lapses in between),
Project Hessdalen, under the capable leadership of Erlin g Strand, set up an Autom atic
Measurem ent Station (colloquially called the “Blue Box”), in order to m on itor the Hessdalen
Valley on a 24-hour basis and record any unusual light m anifestations (alarm -triggered
photograph and video). The resulting AMS pictures and videos can be found on Project
Hessdalen’s official web site http:/ / www.hessdalen .org/
Also, in the “References and Sources” colum n of the FOTOCAT Norway catalogue, the proper
case lin ks have been included to help the reader find the pictures and their inform ation. For this
reason, and given the large num ber of cases of this type, no sum m ary will be included in the
present paper. Only when the recorded event has been explained, the explanation found will be
indicated. AMS cases will be just described here with the date, the tim e, the com m on location of
Hessdalen, Holtålen , followed by the descriptor “Autom atic Station Picture.” (See the source
section of the Norway FOTOCAT spreadsheet in the Appendix.)

Picture recorded at 08:23:13. The two lights on the photographs are just two
ground spots illuminated by sunlight. When the subsequent video was studied,
it confirmed that the sun had found a small opening through the clouds.
1 September 1998, 00:24 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.

12 September 1998, 00:22 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station
Picture.

Picture.
Pictures recorded 22:55:46, 23:01:08 and 23:01:27. They registered a lamp or
flashlight that some young people threw up in front of the camera, up to three
times.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
9 October 1998, 18:16 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.

5 November 1998, 00:15 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.


Video recorded 20:42:17. There was a lot of air-traffic above Hessdalen at this
time. The video shows a flashing light moving towards the south. The flashing
frequency and the speed tell that this is a plane.
20 November 1998, 03:46 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station

Picture.
(see inverted image)
20 November 1998, 18:05– Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.

Video recorded 12:21:53. Project Hessdalen’s web site just mentions that a
solution is found, without other details. For the sake of this catalogue, in such
cases we will enter “Aircraft,” as the probable, simplest solution.

Video recorded 12:21:53. Aircraft.

Picture.

Picture.
Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
2 December 1998, 04:24 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.


Video recorded 15:48:16. The light was identified as a snowmobile.
10 December 1998, 18:24 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
Picture.

Picture.
14 December 1998, 03:2 1– Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
31 December 1998, night – Eidsvoll

Photo of a house shot at night, showing several so-called “orbs.” “Orbs” are
caused by camera flash being reflected on environmental dust and/or moisture.
12 January 1999, 20:30 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.

Videos recorded 22:08:06, 22:08:22 and 22:08:45. Aircraft.





Video recorded 19:46:16 and 19:46:49. Aircraft.



26 January 1999, 13:00 – Kraby, Lena, Østre Toten

Marthe Oddbjørg Gran looked out of her kitchen window and discovered a
strange round dark object with some smoke trailing after it. She got her camera
and shot a photo of the object from inside the house. Shortly after that the
object dissolved or disappeared.
The investigation by UFO-Norge shed light on a firemen’s training exercise that
day. Five liters of diesel fuel were burned explosively, the flames rising several
meters up, and the smoke producing a dark ring at a height of 50-100 meters. In
clear weather this kind of smoke rings can be seen from great distances. The
reason the photo shows a line and not a circle, is that the ring was seen on
edge.

29 January 1999, 00:30 – Refnes, Moss

Two observers saw a bright “star” in the southwest. They grew interested in this
“star” because it was brighter than the others. The light pulsated regularly. At
first it seemed stationary, but after a while it moved slowly towards the west on
a slight downward course. At this time a photo was shot. After a while longer the
light seemed to move faster. It moved downward and still a little to the right. The
observers were all the time making reference to a radio tower (with a red light at
the top), also visible in the photo. The light seemed to be moving slower, and
stopping below the red light on the radio tower. Another photo was shot. The
light then moved further northwest, turning redder in color, then pulsating a bit
before disappearing.
Witnesses said the weather was clear, 10°C, and the moon was behind them.
They estimated the apparent size of the phenomenon as 1-2 mm on an
outstretched arm.
At 00:30 the moon was at 45° elevation and 211° azimuth (near SW). So the
moon was not behind them…. Alternatively, if it was, the phenomenon they saw
must have been towards NE. No planets were visible in the sky at the time
(00:30-01:00).
The stars in the NE sky were rising up in the sky, and the stars in the SW sky
were setting. Assuming the SW direction is correct – it fits the reported
geographical information, as well as the motion of the phenomenon, we find the
star Sirius at 12° elevation and 194° azimuth, setting to 11° elevation and 201°
azimuth at 01:00. We consider this to be a likely identification.
February 1999, 12:00 – Tyristrand (UFO)

There was a strong wind from the northwest outside the witness’s house when
he saw a flying object disappearing past the house, so he went to another room
to continue observing it. Then he saw the object had stopped and it was
stationary, despite the strong wind. He went to get his camera and shot a photo,
which was partly destroyed as it was the last picture of the roll of film. When he
finished changing the roll of film, he discovered the object was coming back
from where it stopped initially, and it was moving opposite the wind until it
stopped outside the living room window. The object was standing still long
enough to be photographed again. The object then disappeared in a high speed
straight back over a distant hill.
The observer found it difficult to estimate the actual distance to the object. It
could have been anything from one meter to two kilometers, but he guessed
some 20 meters.
It was clear weather and sunshine outside.
Although the photo itself may indicate a kite of some kind, the report suggests
an unknown phenomenon. This photo needs to be investigated further.
2 February 1999, 19:35 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.



9 March 1999, 23:45 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.
17 April 1999, 00:21 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.
4 May 1999, 23:49 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.


15, 16 and 19 June 1999, evening – Gjøvik
Video recording made on three days, showing a bright light low in the evening
sky, shortly before or after sunset. Lots of zooming in and out, and an unsteady
camera. The Macro of the camera was on automatic mode, and the surprised
commentary from the cameraperson indicates they were not aware that this
distorting effect is entirely caused by the video camera.
On these dates, the planet Venus was low on the horizon just in the particular
direction the video recording was shot.
17 June 1999, 04:19 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.
25 June 1999, evening – Holter, Nannestad

Kjell Christensen again. This time he brings forward a 30-second video showing
a lonely pink cloud-like image over a blue sky background. The pink cloud is
moving back and forth, but without any reference points it is impossible to
decide whether or not it is the camera that is moving instead.
We consider this to be a cloud, illuminated by a setting sun.
27 July 1999, day – Norway
A single photo without any supporting text. It shows just a blue sky with a
treetop at the bottom, and a black dot with what appears to be a white tail
behind it.
We consider this to be a film flaw.
10 August 1999, 23:00 – Lierne (UFO)

Two friends from Oslo were on a week-long hiking trip in the Lierne mountains.
That night, before going to sleep, they were watching the starlit sky. There was
some cloud cover. They observed a star that seemed to increase in size, but it
was actually coming straight towards them at high speed, before suddenly
stopping. It was a big round light, stationary and soundless. They estimated the
apparent size at outstretched arm at 2 mm. One of the two observers estimated
the size of the light at 40-50 meters in diameter. Its color was yellow-white.
Suddenly, the ball of light retracted along the same path it had come, until it was
as small as when it started, and then again it came towards them at high speed.
This time it was stationary long enough for them to get the camera and shoot a
photo. They took only one picture because they were getting scared. Before
going inside their tent, the ball of light started moving sideways, changing to a
triangular shape. They remained in their tent for the rest of the night.
The photo has not been seen by us. Insufficient information.

10 September 1999,22:17– Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.
Mid October 1999, night – Åsnes

Three anonymous persons made a video recording of a bright luminous object
in the night sky, and another in the early morning hours of the following day.
The video was shot towards the SE, and is said to contain reference points like
buildings and trees, so the phenomenon must have been low in the sky. Traffic
is also heard on the video, in addition to the commentary by the three
observers. The video recording has not been seen by the authors.
We consider the planets Venus and Jupiter, and Sirius star to be likely
candidates. They were all visible in the SE sky between late evening and
sunrise, during the middle of October.

Picture.

Note: Som etim es, as in the present case, the m onitor screen tim e shows the sum m er tim e,
instead of the correct winter tim e, which is one hour ahead.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Video recorded 22:10:24, 22:11:32 and 22:15:12. Aircraft.




Picture.
Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
25 December 1999, night – Eidsvoll

A photograph without any back-up information, showing camera flash reflected
on environmental dust or moisture – various so-called “orbs.”
Picture.
2000, day – Holter, Nannestad

A single photo without any other information, possibly made by known
“repeater” Kjell Christensen, showing camera flash reflected on environmental
dust or moisture – a so-called “orb.”

2000, night – Romerike
“repeater” Kjell Christensen, showing a light reflected in a window.
2000, day – Frogner, Romerike

3 January 2000, 16:35 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture

Video recorded 16:34:48 of a flashing light moving towards the south.
Probably a plane.

Picture recorded 18:59:38 of a flashing light moving towards the south.
Probably a plane.

Video recorded 19:43:34, 19:47:52 and 20:08:53. This is probably water on the
window in front of the lens.

Video recorded 19:52:18 and 19:52:59 of a flashing light moving towards the
north. Probably a plane.

Video recorded 20:41:47. A flashing light moving towards the north with a speed
of 0.4º/sec. Probably a plane.

Video recorded 20:53:53 of a flashing light moving towards the south. Probably
a plane.

Video recorded 20:45:46 of a flashing light moving towards the north. Probably
a plane.

Video recorded 19:06:09, 19:06:37 and 19:08:00 of a flashing light moving
towards the north. Probably a plane.


Picture recorded 21:26:38. A flashing light moving towards the SW. It might be
a plane.

Video recorded 20:52:18. It is a worm moving on the window in front of the lens.
Summer 2000 – Frogner, Romerike

“repeater” Kjell Christensen, showing a lens flare.
5 August 2000, 23:11 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Note: In August 20 0 0 a team of Italian physical scientists, working in collaboration with
Norwegian scientists from Østfold College, carried out an instrum ental expedition in Hessdalen ,
which was just the first of a series of future scientific m issions planned by the joint Italian-
Norwegian EMBLA Project. The EMBLA Project was born in 1998 as a joint research initiative
between the CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), the Instituto di Radioastronom ia (IRA)
based in Medicina, Italy, an d the Østfold College of En gineerin g based in Sarpsborg. The goal of
EMBLA is the study of the electrom agnetic behavior of unexplained lum inous phenom en a
occurring recurrently in H essdalen, by using sophisticated radio receivers and spectrom eters.
The radio spectrum analyzers, which were autom atically functionin g continuously for 25 days,
perm itted the discovery of highly anom alous periodic signals that were characterized by a spike-
like and a Doppler-like m orphology. Moreover, during the m any plan ned sky-watchin g sessions,
it was possible to sight repeated lum inous atm ospheric phenom ena in various points of the
Hessdalen Valley.
That day, it was made a video recording of a strong white light, pulsed
irregularly. Distance: from 20 to 25 km. Direction: south. Position: between two
mountains. Duration: 10-30 seconds for each pulsating event. Motion:
approximately standing still. Number of events: several events during three
nights. Luminosity: very high with drastic change of radiating surface, it
occasionally showed a saturated nucleus. Shape: approximately spherical.
Height above ground: probably a few meters. Dimensions: from 1 to 10 meters.
Time: 23:00–01:00. Witnesses: four to six. Report type: visual, video,
intensified/IR, binocular, and photographic (photos underexposed).
For astrophysicist Massimo Teodorani (Ph.D.) it was an example of the plasma
geophysical phenomenon recurrent in the Hessdalen area. For technologist
Jader Monari (MScEE), who took the video, it was just the headlight of a car.
13 August 2000, 23:15 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen (UFO)

A small stationary light in the woods. Distance: about 100 meters. Direction:
east. Position: standing still behind the first row of trees and just in front of the
meadow. Color: white-yellow, “neon-like.” Noise: a whistle while its light was
slowly turning on. Duration: about 10 minutes. Number of events: one.
Luminosity: constant and at low level (100 W bulb-like). Shape: elliptical with
well-defined contours, clearly distinguished through binoculars, point-spread-
function not resembling a plasma-like object. Height about the ground: about
two meters. Dimensions: 30-40 cm. Time: 23:00-23:30. Witnesses: three.
Report type: visual, binocular and photographic.
19 August 2000, 21:55 – Gullikstad

Larry Lemke, Thor Stuedal and Erling Strand were on their way back to
Hessdalen, after a short visit at Røros. At a point just north of Røros, they saw a
strong flashing light down on the hillside, towards the southern part of the
Hessdalen valley, which is on the other side of the mountain. Erling Strand said:
W e did not react at once, but w hen w e w ere driving, w e saw that the light w as
m oving up the hillside. Then w e becom e aw are that this could be the Hessdalen
phenom enon. W e w ere at Gullikstad w hen w e decided to turn back to the place
w e saw it for the first tim e. It w as a better v iew from that location. W e parked
the car at a sm all parking spot close to the road, and w ent out. The Hessdalen
phenom enon had then reached the top of the hill. It w as flashing all the tim e
w ith a frequency of about 1 Hz, and it w as m oving. Som etim es it w as above the
horizon, and som etim es below . Som etim es it m oved to the left, and som etim es
to the right. It w ent on like this all the tim e. I m anaged to take one picture w ith
som e success. During the exposure tim e of 4 seconds, w e got four flashes and
som e of the m ovem ent. W e looked at it for 15 m inutes.
Camera used was a Canon AE1 with an 80-205mm Osawa lens, which was
adjusted to about 160mm. Exposure time was close to four seconds. A 400
ASA, 135mm film was used. The tree in the left of the photo was about six
meters from the camera. They did not have any tripod with them, so they had to
use the car as support.

Video recorded 22:04:39 of a flashing light moving towards north. Probably a
plane.

September 2000, day – Leirsund, Skedsmo
A journalistic fake to illustrate an interview, made by superimposing a lamp into
the photo.
Autumn 2000, day – Gjerdrum

Another picture taken by Kjell Christensen. It just shows a dark spot against a
daytime sky background, apparently greatly enlarged. Could be just about
anything, but most likely another fake.

Picture.
a plane.
13 September 2000, 08:33–Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.

Video recorded 08:32:51 to 10:50:04. This was probably reflections from the
window of a tractor. A farmer was working his fields.
Picture.
a plane.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
Video recorded 22:04:13 of a flashing light moving towards north. Probably a
plane.
Picture.
a plane.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
a plane.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

a plane.

a plane.

a plane.

a plane.

1 November 2000,20:36 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.

a plane.

Video recorded 18:21:44. This is the moon, the clouds are moving in front of the
moon.

a plane.

a plane.

a plane.

6 November 2000, day – Frogner, Romerike

Photo by Kjell Christensen of a dark object in front of a cloudy sky. It appears to
be a bird in flight.

New picture by Kjell Christensen. The authors cannot perceive any kind of
“UFO” in this photograph. A fake.

Kjell Christensen took this photograph of a green, grassy landscape where a
hazy gray object appears in the foreground, most probably an insect. The print
seems to be highly cropped or enlarged.
Late November 2000, 23:00 – Rørvik, Vikna
A woman sometimes observed a light in the night sky. As no one believed her,
she bought a video camera (Hitachi VM-H 650E) to get proof. This time, the
weather was quite bad with rain and winds. She ran outside to film the light, but
had to return inside after only 2-3 minutes because of the low temperature
outside. (See early December 2000 sighting by the same lady.)
1 December 2000,18:47 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.
Early December 2000, 23:00 – Rørvik, Vikna

Five days later, the weather was nice. The woman’s husband and son also
witnessed the phenomenon. She managed to videotape it for 6 minutes, before
it disappeared at “high speed.” The video recording was shown on NRK1
program Redaksjon 21 on January 23, 2001. The light phenomenon appears to
change shape a little bit, and also varies in color. This was also seen with the
naked eye as well as through binoculars.
Arnulf Løken from UFO-Norge tested filming the planet Jupiter, a street light at
2 km distance, and the moon with a digital camera. After this, it was perfectly
clear that the auto-zooming function on a point light produced a large image
distortion. As long as the zoom is not used, the light presented a stable image.
The exact same effect is apparent in the video recordings from Vikna in late
November and early December.
The planet Jupiter was visible in the night sky (44° elevation at 147° -157°
azimuth) during late November and early December. We consider it very likely
that these two videos show Jupiter.

a plane.

a plane.

14 January 2001, 15:54 – Tønsberg

Morten Lund was outside filming with his 8mm digital camera, testing it after
having it back from repair. He spotted an aircraft and followed it with his
camera. After a few seconds, another bright object entered the view and
appeared to cross paths with the aircraft. The mysterious ball of light appeared
to grow smaller and then it disappeared.
The video has no reference points other than the aircraft, so it is impossible to
ascertain if the phenomenon was moving or stationary.
Odd-Gunnar Røed from UFO-Norge made onsite investigations. At the start of
the video, part of a tree is visible. By taking the height of the camera, distance
to the tree, etc., the angle of the video recording was estimated at a little less
than 30°. The planet Venus wa s indeed visible at this time, towards the south
(21° elevation at 169° azimuth).
18 January 2001, 23:00 – Oppdal (UFO)

A light phenomenon was captured on video. The observer filmed it for nearly 30
minutes, between 23:00 and 23:45. He was 8 km south of Oppdal, which is
west of Hessdalen. A shapeless light in the sky was turning into a perfect
isosceles triangle. The person who made the video wisely “calibrated” the
anomalous event by aiming his video camera at a luminous star and then
zooming it, in the same way in which the real light phenomenon was zoomed, in
order to exclude any possible instrumental effects. The zoomed star (with
magnitude slightly smaller than the real light event) was just a circle, while the
phenomenon was a perfect illuminated triangle. So the phenomenon was real.
The phenomenon’s position was south-east. We have seen only a sequence of
2 minutes, 20 seconds of this video.
February 2001, day – Stovner, Oslo
Only a single daylight photo of two parallel diagonal white streaks in the blue
sky. No other information exists. Consultant Andrés Duarte feels it is an over-
exposed image of a time-exposure photograph of an airplane.

Video recorded 19:04:10 of a flashing light moving towards the south.
Probably it is a plane.
8 February 2001, night – Holter, Nannestad

A short, 10-second video clip film by Kjell Christensen shows a staff-shaped
light in the dark night sky.
Consultant Andrés Duarte states it corresponds to any star.

Kjell Christensen again. A still from a video recording is available and it shows a
distorted globular blob of light, seen against a dark sky.
Probably the planet Venus.
Kjell Christensen once more. This time, he provided a highly enlarged and
distorted image, with no supporting documentation. It could be just about
anything. We feel it is another fake.

a plane.
27 February 2001, 19:00 – Holter, Nannestad

A bright light recorded on video by Kjell Christensen with no supporting
information. It could be anything, including a fake.


Video recorded 16:37:46. It is the exhaust of a plane.

a plane.

a plane.
“Old friend” Christensen produces a video with a bright light recorded. No other
information is available. It could be anything, including a fake.

a plane.

A still from a video recording, made by Kjell Christensen, shows a distorted
globular light against a dark sky. No more details known. It could be anything,
including a fake.


Video recorded 19:51:20 and 19:51:39 of a non-regular flashing light moving
slowly towards the north. It might be a plane.
Video recorded 20:53:20 and 20:54:17 of a strong flashing light moving towards
the north. Probably it is a plane.

it is a plane.
22 March 2001, night – Holter, Nannestad

Kjell Christensen’s material. Now, a still from a video recording, showing a
street light and an unknown light above it, against a dark sky. No more
information. It could be anything, including a fake.

Video recorded 21:26:41 of an intensity-changing flashing light moving towards
the north. Probably a plane.

A still from a video recording shot by Kjell Christensen. It just shows a light in
the sky through some tree branches. No information. It could be anything,
including a fake.
a plane.
12 April 2001, night – Holter, Nannestad

From Kjell Christensen. A highly enlarged and distorted image that could be just
about anything, including a fake. No other information.

29 April 2001, night – Norwegian coast

An English tourist shot a photo of the Norwegian coast from a ship. An
anomalous object, seen in the top left hand corner of the photo, is apparently
below cloud cover. The image resembles so many other reflections, so this is
most likely another reflection of a lamp on a window.
19 May 2001, day – Lindeberg, Sørum

Daylight photo of trees and bushes, showing two triangular lens flares, by
predictable Kjell Christensen.
29 May 2001, evening – Holter, Nannestad
Kjell Christensen photo of some clouds in the sky, with a streak of white light. It
appears to be an elongated cloud or possibly an aircraft contrail.

Video recorded 05:00:25. This is probably snow falling just in front of the
camera. The video shows snow is falling.
18 June 2001, 21:00 – Kristiansand

An anonymous husband and wife (in their 40s) from Kristiansand photographed
a gray-colored object above their house. They were outside taking a walk, and
on their way home, some 500 m from their house, when they noticed a growling
sound above them. The object w as gray , oblong and round. It w as stationary
for approxim ately seven seconds, before m oving quickly back and forth a little.
After som e 10 seconds of these m ovem ents, it took off at high speed aw ay from
us. They estimated the size of the object to be 20 meters and the distance 150
meters. They observed the phenomenon in a northeast direction. Photograph
was shot with a digital camera.
The photo looks like a balloon, but the low quality of the published copy makes
it impossible to confirm. This needs to be investigated further. Insufficient
information.
25 June 2001, day – Holter, Nannestad
A six-second video clip of a rose-colored cloud. Made by Kjell Christensen.
Between 20 and 29 July 2001, day – Halden

Three photos of a fireball smoke trail taken by P.A.G.
29 July 2001, 23:25 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen.

Note: In the m onth of August 20 0 1, EMBLA 20 0 1: The Optical Mission was accom plished. It
was a new joint collaboration between Italians scientists and Norwegian engineers. This year’s
Italian activity concentrated on the acquisition of optical data com ing from conventional
photography, video im agin g and video-spectroscopy. The final research report was signed by Dr.
Massim o Teodorani, Erlin g P. Strand and Bjørn Gitle Hauge.
A video was acquired showing a spherical white-yellow light at a distance of

some kilometers during a few seconds. It was a pulsating light ball, standing still
in S-SE direction. It was witnessed by three persons.
August 2001, night – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Note: Unfortunately, on five instances during August, a series of interestin g im ages were
collected by the EMBLA in vestigators where no date or tim e is known . They were registered on
film by chance without any visual support by the team m em bers and there is not a record of day
and hour. Those flashes were seen every night and everywhere in the valley, m ostly low in the
sky, but also on the top of the hills and som etim es also very near the ground. These m ostly-
globular-flashin g lights lasted norm ally less than a second, and they were m ostly white-blue in
color, m uch m ore rarely also red and yellow (the latter ones, being the largest in dim ension).
On one instance, a ball-like flash accidentally made an image on the camera’s

100 ASA film during an exposure of two minutes. The direction was south. The
light had a very energetic nucleus. Photographed, processed and analyzed by
Dr. Massimo Teodorani.
On another occasion, a ball-like flash accidentally made an image on the 200
ASA film during an exposure of several minutes. Photographed, processed and
analyzed by Dr. Massimo Teodorani.

On yet another occasion, on a time exposure of 2 minutes a ball-like flash
accidentally made an image on the 100 ASA film. Photographed, processed
and analyzed by Dr. Massimo Teodorani.

On another time, a ball-like flash accidentally made an image on the 100 ASA
film on a time exposure of several minutes. Photographed, processed and
analyzed by Dr. Massimo Teodorani.

On another occasion, a pulsating ball-like flash in motion accidentally made an
image on the 100 ASA film on a time exposure of several minutes.
Photographed, processed and analyzed by Dr. Massimo Teodorani.
Simona Righini videotaped the apparition of a spherical, yellow, faint, small light
some kilometers away, during a few seconds. It was a pulsating light ball
standing still to the SW. There were five witnesses.

Dr. Massimo Teodorani videotaped for “tens of seconds” a pulsating light ball
standing still. It was spherical, yellow, faint bright, small and located in the SW
at a few kilometers away. There were five witnesses.
2 August 2001, 23:11 – Øyungen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

A slow-motion ball of light was captured on video by Simona Righini. It was a
small sphere of faint yellow light at several kilometers’ distance, located in the
south. There were five witnesses.

Dr. Massimo Teodorani took pictures of a blinking, weak light, standing still at
some kilometers to the south. It was spherical, red in color, faint, and small.
There were three witnesses.

A blinking light was videotaped by Simona Righini. The summation of 30
contiguous video frames (1/25 sec each) reveals an internal structure
composed of sub-balls vibrating around a common barycenter (center of
gravity).

Pictures taken by Dr. Massimo Teodorani of a spherical, white-blue, faint, and
small blinking light. It was in the south, standing still some kilometers away.
There were three witnesses.

Video by Simona Righini and pictures by Dr. Massimo Teodorani were taken of
a blinking light, standing still some kilometers to the south, for 30 seconds. It
was a medium-bright, medium-sized, sphere of yellow-white color. It was seen
by eight persons.
11 August 2001,22:51 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station Picture.

Both video and pictures were obtained, during 10 seconds, of a spherical light,
white-blue in color, faint in brightness, small in size, seen some kilometers away
to the south. It was blinking and standing still. There were three eye-witnesses.

15 August 2001, 23:35 – Øyungen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Through Night Vision System equipment, Dr. Massimo Teodorani got
photographs of a slowly-moving flashing light, ellipse-shaped, white in color,
faint brightness, small, located some kilometers away. It lasted 30 seconds.
There were six witnesses.
16 August 2001, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Three different video recordings were made this night (times unknown) by
Simona Righini.
18 August 2001, night – Hessdalen, Holtålen

One video recording achieved at an unknown time by Simona Righini.

For 20 minutes, Simona Righini videotaped and Dr. Massimo Teodorani
photographed, in the company of two more, from two to seven medium-sized,
multicolored blinking lights. They were located some 2.5 km to the SE. They
were spherical (but changing shape). Video-spectra were achieved.

For 30 seconds, Simona Righini videotaped and Dr. Massimo Teodorani
photographed, in the company of four more, a blinking light, standing still,
spherical in shape, white-blue in color. Both size and brightness were medium
and it was in the south at some kilometers’ distance. Video-spectra were
obtained.
19 August 2001, 23:30 – Fjellbekkhøgda, Hessdalen, Holtålen
A mysterious object appeared in a digital photograph made by B. G. Hauge, not
visually seen. Enhancement processed by Dr. Massimo Teodorani shows the
object to be floating in the sky. According to Dr. Teodorani, it can be explained
in a prosaic way, i.e., a flying insect, whose wing beating rate is 1/250 sec.
While the exposure time is the flash time (1/90 sec), it is impossible to see the
wings because the exposure time is three times lower.

During a period of 30 seconds, both video (Simona Righini) and still photos (Dr.
Massimo Teodorani) were obtained of a blinking light, standing still, some
kilometers away to the south. It was spherical in shape, white-blue in color,
medium-sized, and medium brightness. There were three witnesses. Video-
spectra were obtained.

Picture.
11 September 2001,23:04 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station

Picture.
17 September 2001,22:06 – Hessdalen, Holtålen. Automatic Station

Picture.
23 September 2001, night – Holter, Nannestad

Highly enlarged photo made by Kjell Christensen of a light source against a
dark background. No more information is known. It could be anything, including
a fake.



Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.

Picture.
Picture.

Picture.
February-March 2002 – Stange

A short video recorded by Geirfinn Øvergård, showing a light increasing in
brightness in the sky above a lawn. It started to pulsate before disappearing.
Most likely an aircraft.
18 February 2002, day – Hokksund, Øvre Eiker

Photograph of a cloud shaped like a jet fighter.
9 March 2002, day – Holter, Nannestad

Still picture from a video made by Kjell Christensen, showing some tree tops
with a light in the sky above them. No other information available. It could be
anything, including a fake.
13 March 2002, day – Holter, Nannestad

Still picture from a video made by Kjell Christensen, showing some treetops
with a light in the sky above them. No other information available. It could be
anything, including a fake.
19 March 2002, 21:15 – Stange

Two women observed white/green/red lights every Tuesday for several weeks.
Then on the 19th they managed to videotape the phenomenon. A hand-held,
analog video camera with auto focus on was used, so the short video achieved
is quite erratic. Still, two white lights were visible in the sky. Most likely aircraft.
5 April 2002, night – Holter, Nannestad

Still picture from a video taken by Kjell Christensen, a light is seen through
some tree branches. No more information exists. It could very likely be a planet
or an aircraft?
9 April 2002, 21:15 – Stange

An orange ball of light was seen and photographed by journalist Espen Solli.
Larger than a star, it w as stationary , so it didn’t look like an aircraft, say
Ingunn Siefarth Vasaasen and her mother Hilde Siefarth Vasaasen, who both
saw the same phenomenon. The light was in the southern sky, low on the
horizon (the photo shows buildings and trees as reference points). Gardermoen
Airport is also to the south. Was it an aircraft?
24 May 2002, day – Notodden
Nineteen stills from a video recording showing what appears to be a kite or
balloon.
16 June 2002, 21:49 – Hemnessjøen, Trøgstad

R.M. was out testing his newly-acquired Olympus C-100 digital camera. On a
few of the photos he registered some odd white objects, like streaks of light.
The photos have the lake and surrounding landscape as reference points.
Enlargements indicate the objects are birds. EXIF meta-data in the photos
indicate the photos were shot on the date stated, at 21:49 and 21:53.
13 July 2002, 09:22 – Oslo
A woman shot a photo of a dark object in the sky above Oslo. The photo was
emailed to UFO-Norge a few days later. The photo shows the clear blue sky
with a small dark round object. It appears to be a typical weather balloon,
launched every morning by the meteorological institute. EXIF meta-data in
photo indicate it was shot with a Sony Cyber-Shot at 09:22 on the date stated.
24 July 2002, 23:40 – Salsvann

UFO-Norge received two photos in August, of a man (brother of A.J.) holding a
fish – the catch of the day. In both photos we find displays of what is known as
“orbs,” virtual images produced when the camera flash is reflected off
environmental dust or moisture. The EXIF meta-data indicate the photos were
shot with a Canon Ixus, the day and time as stated by photographer (F/3.5 –
one photo shot at 1/30th second, the other at 1/60th second). The brother of A.J.
also had a camera (not digital) and he also reported the same effect in some of
his photos.
25 July 2002, 21:35 – Ny-Hellesund, Søgne

Bjørn Haugen and his wife were on a boat trip together with friends, when they
observed a mysterious luminous phenomenon in the sky, 15° above the
horizon. The phenomenon was moving northeast. Haugen says that the two
tails piqued his curiosity – if it had only had one tail he could have believed it
was a meteor.
Scientists consulted by the press provided different random explanations, all of
them wrong.
On the next day the newspapers published the real explanation. Erling Krange
(formerly at the air traffic control center at Gardermoen) made inquiries and
found out that SAS flight 901 from Copenhagen (Denmark) to Newark (New
Jersey, USA) was above Ny-Hellesund at that precise date and time. The image
on the video is created by the four jet engines producing two thick stripes of
exhaust/condensation, on which the sun is shining, since the aircraft is at
36,000 feet altitude (12 km).
Summer 2002, 21:00 – Notodden (UFO)
J.K. and his wife, together with her sister and sister’s boyfriend, were outside
one Friday night relaxing after a barbecue. His wife noticed something flying in
the sky. A “dark” object moving horizontally along the valley, which started to
rise vertically. It was soundless, and J.K. managed to videotape it for a while.
We have not seen the video ourselves.
August 2002, evening – Lakselv, Porsanger

Two photos of a ”UFO-like” cumulonimbus cloud, shot towards the end of
August. Photographer says lightning flashed inside the cloud, with no apparent
thunder. One of the photos shows a small black dot between two streetlights,
probably a bird or a bug.
5-18 August 2002, 22:00-24:00 – Aspåskjølen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Note: From August 5 th to 18 th , Dr. Massim o Teodorani was able to take photographs of light
phenom ena in Hessdalen on 15 different occasions. At least six of them were retained for
analysis and are docum ented in the literature, in spite of the fact that no exact date is known for
these occurrences. The followin g general description is com m on to all six photographic events.
A light phenomenon appeared several times in two weeks, as seen towards the
south from the Aspåskjølen site. Photos were taken using a Yashika 107
Multiprogram reflex camera of 70 mm and a Praktica BX-20 reflex camera at
270 mm, with exposure times ranging from 30 to 120 seconds, 100 ASA Kodak
Ektachrome film. The observed and recorded phenomena occurred between
22:00 and 24:00 hours, in almost all cases the light appeared very close to the
ground, it blinked very fast with a pulsation rate of less than a half second, and
the entire performance lasted from 1 to 30 seconds, most frequently 5 seconds.
The processing shows that the light-phenomenon was occasionally seen up to
several tens of meters above the ground. The light appeared in different
positions, evaluated as about 100 m orthogonally to the observer. In one case,
the light-phenomenon ejected a smaller light-ball. Distance was some 9 km and
calculations by Teodorani indicate absolute luminosity values ranging from
36,000 to 52,000 watts, total energy values from 1.8 to 3.7 x 1012 ergs, and
temperature values from 8,400º to 9,600º Kelvin, for the six photographic
events.

Astrophysicist Dr. Massimo Teodorani took photographs and spectra of a
cluster of light-balls, during time exposures from 30 to 120 seconds, on 100
ASA film, characterized as a plasma geophysical phenomenon, according to his
general theory for the Hessdalen light-ball events. Calculations by Teodorani
indicate an absolute luminosity of 100,000 watts, a total energy of 5 x 1012 ergs,
and a temperature of 10,000º Kelvin. The phenomenon appeared to be located
very close to the trees on the top of a hill, 9,000 m away. If the distance was
higher, the luminosity and energy values would be proportionally greater. The
calculated radius of the light was 10 m. The entire performance lasted from 1 to
30 seconds, averaging five seconds.
On the other hand, physicist Matteo Leone, also from the EMBLA team, has
disagreed on the above conclusions and presents a mundane scenario for
these images, namely that they belong to the headlights of a car. Some other
scientists have also contributed to an, unfortunately, too over-charged scientific
debate.
2 November 2002, 04:00 – Rollag, Numedal

Thomas Mogen was outside walking when he noticed a bright point of light in
the night sky. When he went home and got his binoculars, it seemed the light
was pulsating. Slowly, very slowly, it went from east to west. He called a friend
of his, Amund Henriksen, who had a digital video camera. Henriksen started
filming the phenomenon from his home. The light disappeared around 05:30
behind a hill towards the east (or possibly west, there is some confusion in the
sources).
Kåre Aksnes and other astronomers suggested either planet Jupiter or Sirius as
the explanation. This is a quite probable explanation, as both Jupiter and Sirius
were visible at the time. Jupiter was at 29° elevation and 110° azimuth (ESE)
04:00, and at 39° elevation and 134° azimuth (SE) 05:30. Sirius was at 11°
elevation and 161° azimuth (SSE) 04:00, and at 13° elevation and 183° azimuth
(S) 05:30.
19 November 2002, 15:40 – Asker

Helene Solberg glanced out her window on a dark wintry afternoon and saw
something she won't soon forget. Solberg noticed an object with a long, bright
tail. Luckily, her family's video camera was close at hand. She excitedly called
her husband, Stig Solberg, while marveling at the comet-like flying object that
soared through the late afternoon sky. Just the night before, the couple had
tried to capture video of the Leonid meteor shower. Helene Solberg then
grabbed the video camera and started shooting. The entire episode lasted
about eight minutes, with three minutes of it captured on tape, before the
unidentified flying object disappeared from view.
As the time printed on the video clip is wrong, there was initially some confusion
due to this, but, finally, Clas Svahn of UFO-Sverige identified the phenomenon
as an aircraft condensation trail illuminated by the setting sun.

12 February 2003, 09:50 – Lillehammer
Dick Johansson, a Swede visiting Norway at the time, shot a landscape photo
outside Lillehammer – towards east-southeast. Three white dots, one above the
other, appeared on the photo. Probably badly-set, EXIF setting indicate
February 11th, at 11:49 hours. The camera was a Sony Cybershot, with ISO100,
F/5.6 and exposure time at 1/500 second.
Most likely the automatic flash on the camera has kicked in, and the camera
then registered the reflections off of three snowflakes.
14 February 2003 – Juovlavuotna, Tana

Viktor Trosten shot a photo of a phenomenon he observed low on the horizon,
just above a mountain. We do not even know the time.
It could be a sunset or sunrise partially occulted by the clouds.
22 April 2003, 16:30 – Sirdalen
Geir Rasmussen was photographing some people skiing during the winter
holiday, sometime between 16:00 and 17:00. On one of the photos a white
blob-like object appeared. According to photographer, nothing strange was
visible at the time of the photography. A Canon digital camera was used.
We consider it likely the white object in the photo is a cloud.
13 July 2003, 14:50 – Gilsådalen, Meråker

Anita Grande was on a trip to Meråker during July 14th to 20th. Sometime during
this week, “in the middle of the day,” she shot two photos in which a gray spot
appeared. This was discovered much later. She doesn’t remember there being
any aircraft nearby at the time, or any sound when the photos were shot.
Camera is of the type Canon Powershot S40 digital camera. EXIF meta-data
reveal the photograph was actually shot on July 13, 2003 at 14:50 hours (1/500
second, F/2.8).
This looks very much like a bird in flight, even its wings are visible.
14 and 15 July 2003, 01:30 – Vestby
Younès Stubberud observed and videotaped a phenomenon on both the 14th
and the 15th, between 01:30 and 03:30 (same time both nights). The TV2 news
aired the video on the 18th. The video was recorded towards the south. TV2
also interviewed Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegård (astrophysicist at the University of
Oslo), who stated that it was probably the planet Mars.
Mars was indeed visible in the low sky towards the SSE: at 01:30 hours, the
planet Mars was at 7° elevation and 134° azimuth; and at 03:30 it was at 15°
elevation and 163° azimuth.
29 July 2003, 01:38 – Sørum

UFO-Norge received a series of pictures from G.A., from Sørum, who had
observed a strange reddish light in the sky. The photos received by email were
all shot with exposure time of two seconds (ISO80 and F/2.4). EXIF meta-data
revealed the exact date and the times: 01:38, 01:39, 01:40, 01:41 and 02:26
hours. The camera used was an Olympus E-10.
The planet Mars explanation of cases dated July 14th and 15th also applies here.
31 July 2003, night – Sørum

all shot with exposure time of two seconds (ISO80 and F/2.4). The camera used
was an Olympus E-10.
6 August 2003, 00:43 – Sørum

all shot with exposure time of two seconds (ISO80 and F/2.4). EXIF meta-data
revealed the exact time: 00:43 hours. The camera used was an Olympus E-10.
29 August 2003, 22:50 – Hessdalen, Holtålen

Note: Durin g the sum m er of 20 0 3, the Italian Com m ittee for Project Hessdalen (ICPH in its
Italian acronym ) (info@itacom m .n et) developed a scientific cam paign in Hessdalen to control
and test instrum entation, VLF and ULF radio, radar, MPS, etc.
During this activity, Jader Monari and Luca Andreoli observed a luminous
phenomenon in the atmosphere on August 29th at 22:50 hours. It was qualified
as of “unknown nature.” During the event, a video was successfully obtained.
27 September 2003, 23:24 – Vista Point, Hessdalen, Holtålen
28 September 2003, 00:59 – Vista Point, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Italian observers Massimiliano Di Giuseppe and Ferrucio Zanotti were at Vista
Point (62º 50’ 19.6’’ N, 11º 11’ 15.8’’ E). They sighted luminous flashes in the
south direction from 22:30 hours on September 27th to 01:21 hours of
September 28th. They were able to videotape the lights at 23:24 and 00:59
hours.
29 September 2003, 00:14 – Lake Øyungen, Hessdalen, Holtålen

Italian observers Massimiliano Di Giuseppe and Ferrucio Zanotti were beside
Lake Øyungen on a night watch mission from 22:30 hours of September 28th to
02:20 of September 29th when they registered visually, by video and by still
photography a number of “light flashes.”
7 December 2003, 16:30 – Drammen

K.V. was outside to take some shots of the beautiful sunset. After transferring
the photos to her computer, she discovered two luminous spots among the
clouds in one of the photos, and sent it to UFO-Norge.
We consider this to be just two small patches of cloud illuminated by the setting
sun, thus appearing luminous.
12 December 2003, 01:09 – Lillehammer

M.H. was testing out his new camera, a Nikon E2100. He sent a photo to UFO-
Norge with the following description: Shot of the m oon, w ith long exposure tim e.
There is som ething strange above the m oon.
The light above the moon in this photo is the star Pollux, smeared by unsteady
camera. EXIF meta-data indicate the photo was made with a two-second
exposure time (ISO80 and F/4.4).
15 December 2003 – Elverum (UFO)
R.S. and a friend observed a phenomenon in the sky for 30 minutes. For 10-15
minutes it was recorded on a digital video, one which the authors of the present
paper have not seen.
15 December 2003, 16:16 – Songdalen, Kristiansand

A.G. was outside photographing nacreous clouds (polar stratospheric clouds)
and in one of his photos there appeared a number of similar-looking inverted T-
shaped “things.”
The fact that this effect only appeared on one photo of the series he took,
makes us consider this to be a digital camera artifact.
14 January 2004, 12:00 – Stord

Journalist Wenche M. Eriksen was shooting photos of landscapes in two
different woods near Stord, on the 14th and the 20th. On both occasions she
registered so-called “orbs” on her photos. Camera was a Nikon Coolpix 5400.
“Orbs” are caused by camera flash reflected on environmental dust or moisture.
17 January 2004, 09:00 – Lura, Sandnes

Aftenbladet photographer Knut Vindfallet observed a dark smoke trail that
seemed to follow an object. This was observed low towards the horizon, in the
southeastern sky around 9 o’clock, and the event was videotaped.
Consultant Alan Pickup considers this to be an aircraft condensation trail.
17 January 2004, 09:00 – Norway

A photograph was received from E.T., showing the sunset illuminating a long,
spiral-shaped “cloud.”
As this was shot at the approximate same time and place as the previous case,
we consider this to be the same aircraft condensation trail, from a different
perspective.
20 January 2004, 12:00 – Stord
Another photo by Wenche M. Eriksen, also showing “orbs,” i.e., camera flash
reflected on environmental dust or moisture. See the 14 January 2004 case.
27 January 2004, 14:25 – Son, Vestby

Professional photographer S.S. was shooting some landscape photos on the
27th and the 30th, to be used in an exhibition. On some of the photos he
discovered some dark and white spots. He then sent them to UFO-Norge for
evaluation.
The first photo was from the 27th, shot with F/7.3 and 1/144 second exposure
time. It shows a fjord with snow-covered landscape and a red house in the
middle. Above the house there is a small white dot.
We consider this to be a digital camera artifact.
30 January 2004, 12:22 – Son, Vestby

Another landscape photo by S.S., shot with F/7.9 and 1/86 second exposure
time, showing a snow-covered landscape with a bridge across a river. A little
above the bridge there is a small dark spot.
We consider this to be a bird in flight.
1 April 2004, 00:45 – Eikesdalen, Nesset
Three people observed a bright light in the night sky just above the hills on the
western horizon. A digital video camera was used to videotape the
phenomenon. Photographs were made as well. During a conversation held with
the principal witness two weeks after the event, it became obvious that it was a
planet that had been filmed. Image appears severely distorted, as usual.
The planet Jupiter was at 34° elevation and 197° azimuth (SSW, left to the
moon). The planet Venus was also visible at 6° elevation and 308° azimuth
(NW). Since the light observed was “low in the horizon,” it seems Venus is the
better candidate.
4 July 2004, 18:30 – Nordhamarvik, Frøya

UFO-Norge received a photo from Rolf Martinsen, shot at Nordhamarvik,
showing a forested mountain landscape. Something odd, a gray object in the
sky, was noticed in the photo after it was shot. Camera used was a Canon
Powershot S1.
We consider this to show a bird in flight.
20 July 2004, 19:00 – Saltstraumen
S.N. photographed her mother, next to Saltstraumen, and discovered an object
in the photo afterwards. Camera is a Canon Ixus, exposure time is 1/200
second. Probably by a bad setting, EXIF meta-data indicate July 17th and 13:32
hours.
It is most likely a bird caught in flight.
29 July 2004, 11:15 – Dovrefjell
A woman shot some landscape photos at Dovrefjell, and later discovered a
diffuse spot in one of them after transferring photos to her computer. Camera
was a Kodak CX4210, photo was shot with 1/300 second exposure time, F/8
and ISO100.
We consider this to show a bird caught in flight.
19 September 2004, 02:23 – Os

Vegard Kristoffer Emanuelsen and 12-15 other people observed a bright
luminous object in the morning sky. The phenomenon varied in luminosity as
well as in color. Two video cameras were used to record the phenomenon, one
by Emanuelsen himself, which resulted in a total of 55 minutes of video
recordings. These were recorded in periods between 02:30 and 10:15 – not
continuously.
Emanuelsen showed the recording to US scientist Marsha Adams and students
from Østfold College, who were in Hessdalen during Science Camp 2004. They
concluded that it was Venus what had been videotaped.
The planet Venus rose in the NE at 02:25 hours. At 03:00 it was at 3° elevation
and 63° azimuth and continued to rise up some 7° every hour and moving some
13° in azimuth towards the SE every hour. Sunrise started 06:54 hours.
November 2004, evening – Storsjøen, Rendalen

Grete M. shot this photo at Storsjøen during November. We see a landscape
with a frozen lake, some trees, and a large light low in the horizon. Judging from
the shadows in the photo, among other things, we consider this to be a photo of
the sun setting behind the hill in the distance.
30 December 2004, 15:30 – Trondheim
Tor Halvor Barstad, his wife, and her sister observed an elliptical white
phenomenon in the sky. The weather was partly clouded, some patches of blue
sky, with mostly dark clouds. The phenomenon was very white in comparison
with the surrounding sky. When some of the dark clouds parted, the white
elliptical phenomenon became more visible. The color was mostly white, with
traces of yellow and pink around the edges. Barstad managed to videotape this
for 2 minutes before it disappeared behind a rain-cloud. He contacted Frank
Lervik of the local TV station TV-Trøndelag, who in turn contacted UFO-Norge.
The phenomenon was then quickly identified as a polar stratospheric cloud.
2005 – Oppdal (UFO)

Source is a website relating experiences and theories from contactee Magne
Olav Istad. Nothing is stated regarding the three photos at the bottom of the
site. The photos show blobs of light shot through bushes or tree branches, and
it is unknown if these come from a video or from stills.
Contacteeism background from the promoter of the UFO photographs suggests
we consider them unreliable and probably faked.
9 January 2005, night – Mehamn, Gamvik (UFO)

A 24-second long video (shot with a cell phone) was sent to UFO-Norge. Two
women observed a light for some two minutes and recorded it. The video shows
only a small point of light against a dark background. Without any points of
reference, nothing much can be deduced from the video.
26 March 2005, 20:01 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

J.R., a man from Lillestrøm, took three photos of the moon with his Sony DSC-
P41 digital camera. On one of the photos a strange disc-shaped light appeared.
The three photos were shot at 1 minute intervals. The photo shows the city
lights of Lillestrøm, with an orange moon low in the horizon, and a strange disc-
shaped object to the left of the moon, all against a dark sky. EXIF meta-data
indicate 1/40 second exposure time, F/2.8 and ISO250.
In the lower right-hand corner of the picture one can see some streaks
indicating the photo was shot through a window, what proved that the strange
lens-shaped object is merely a reflection from a light-source inside the house.
9 May 2005, day – Østfold
UFO-Norge received three photos from a man who was helping a 60-year-old
woman transfer her photos to a computer. The woman had just bought a digital
camera and needed some assistance. Some round diffuse-looking “objects”
were discovered on some of her photos, shot on a rainy day.
The round “objects” are caused by water droplets on the camera lens.
23 July 2005, 21:00 – Ulla, Haramsøy

A man sent a photo to UFO-Norge. He says an object was moving back and
forth in the sky, and afterwards it stood still in front of the sun. He snapped a
picture of it. It shows a fjord, the blue sky and a black spot right in the middle of
the sun.
The photo is simply the Sun. The black spot is caused by over-burning
(overexposing) the CCD (charge-coupled device), the electronic light sensor
digital cameras are equipped with. Of course, the story about the “object” is
considered to be a hoax.
30 July 2005, 00:18 – Galdhøpiggen, Lom
UFO-Norge was alerted about a Web camera that had registered a strange light
effect, a vertical streak of yellow light. We checked the Webcam address, and it
was found that this effected repeated every night. In our view, this is just a
reflection from a nearby light source.
9 August 2005, 22:36 – Åndalsnes, Rauma

A woman from Hamar sent two photos to UFO-Norge showing the same
landscape. The first one was a dark, spoiled photo. It was made at 22:36 and it
shows an irregular white dot on it. The second one was well-lighted. It was shot
one minute later and no “UFO” appears. In the first photo (1/60 second
exposure time), a flash was used, but not in the second, good photo.
We consider this to be a reflection from an insect near the camera.
20 November 2005, 18:59 – Trondheim
UFO-Norge received a report from an amateur astronomer, who had
photographed Mars through a Helios telescope, using a Casio EX-Z750 digital
camera. He reports that he first took a photo at 18:45 with an exposure time of 4
seconds, but it came out very fuzzy. Two minutes later he took another
photograph, this time with 1/8 second exposure time. On this photo he also
registered three streaks of light.
Birger Andresen (Trondheim Astronomical Society) checked for possible
satellites, and found that a triple satellite had indeed passed in front of or near
the position of Mars, but the time was a little off. Later it was found that the time
on the digital camera was a little off as well, and when corrected it fits perfectly
with the satellite’s passing. This was actually a NOSS (Naval Ocean
Surveillance System) satellite formation, having three satellites in close
proximity to each other. Normally these satellites are relatively dim to the
unaided eye, but on occasion they brighten sufficiently to be easily seen in a
dark sky.
8 December 2005, 19:46 – Volda (UFO)
Two women from Sæbø, south of Ålesund, sent UFO-Norge a report about a
phenomenon they observed at Volda: From the fjord at Volda an orange ball of
light was flying. I first thought it might be a flare or emergency rocket, but it
started floating towards the roof of a nearby building, looking more like a street
light. Then another ball of light came from the same direction. People around
me started to take notice. I stopped the car, shut the engine off, and opened the
window to listen for any sounds. It was soundless. Then, the two balls of light
started moving along, with the same distance with respect to each other. Then
yet another ball of light, the third, came along and placed itself next to the two
others – making the same motions as them. The light then disappeared from
the first two lights, then the third went out as well.
She photographed the last ball of light with a Sony Ericsson cell phone (1.3M
Pixels).
TH E U FO PH EN OMEN ON IN N ORW AY – A CAN D ID REVIEW
1909 to 1981
The basic figures the reader must keep in mind before entering further into the
analysis section are these:
Total cases collected for Norway 744

Non-Hessdalen-origin 265
Hessdalen-origin 479
As the reader will realize at a later stage, any analysis of the UFO reporting in
Norway must divide the reported events into two parts: up to 1982 and after
1982. The year 1982 was the commencement of the copious sightings in the
Hessdalen valley. Speaking from the records of the present theme catalogue,
UFO reporting was rather poor in Norway from 1947 to 1971 (with only one
potential true UFO, in 1968). The exception within this period was marked by
1954, when a few photographs of the Sun during the total solar eclipse of June
30 produced curious flying saucer-looking images that were just instances of the
optical phenomenon called lens flare.
Reports in general were scarce during the fifties and sixties. The probable
reason behind this is that the first local UFO groups in Norway were organized
only in 1967-1968, with national groups forming from 1971-1972. We suspect
we would find many additional sighting reports if newspaper microfilm files were
systematically searched.
On January 1, 1972, a Russian spacecraft decayed over Norway generating

plenty of sightings and several pictures. Overnight, it attracted people’s interest
to the heavens, and astronomical confusion increased considerably since then.
We feel UFOs also became more newsworthy for the media, and this media
curiosity expanded in 1973 (with part of the cases being observational mistakes
by a single individual, J.-I. Mellingen), where aircraft and astronomical
misidentifications were common. 1974 contributed even more reports, several
of them due to the extended flight of a stratospheric research balloon over the
country, and part of the others due to the continuing supply of cases by
“repeater” eyewitness and photographer K. Christensen.
A less intensive peak appears in 1976-1978 (with more hoaxes by KC,

misinterpretations of many kinds, and fakes as well). Obviously, the
phenomenon as a social myth was established in both the society and the
media in Norway. Calm returned in 1978-1980, yet the average rate of incoming
reports is two-fold that of the decade of sixties.
1981 shows a miscellaneous set of explained reports, but late that year,
witnesses claimed to see frequent UFOs in Strømmen, a suburb of Arendal.
Moved by the wave of reports, some ufologists visited the place and snapped
many photos of everything moving and took them to be flying UFOs. Not happy
with this procedure, they had the bright idea to leave the camera and operating
instructions for using it to a man who was key in UFO spotting. Naturally, in the
following days a vast number of pictures was obtained.
In the following Figure 1 we show the annual distribution of total incoming
reports 1947-1981 (87 events), as well as the segment of UFO cases therein
(16 events).
NORWAY, 1947 TO 1981
14
12
10
8
CASES
0
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
YEAR
TOTAL 1947-1981 UFO 1947-1981
In order to see if there is a parallel pull or drive between UFO and IFO reporting,
we have computed the correlation coefficient between the two series. It is 0.43,
which shows a positive and significant correlation. Also, we have performed a
time-series regression, and the estimated coefficient value found (0.16) is
positive. In addition, and according to the t test statistic (with probability value
0.01), the null hypothesis that both series are unrelated can be rejected at a 5%
significance level.
Looking now at the possible true UFO cases, with just a single “insufficient
information”-graded report in 1968 as the first precedent, actual UFO reports of
the photographic kind only started in Norway in the decade of the seventies,
with one double event in 1972 where neither the slides nor film have ever been
located, one in 1974 (anonymous), four in 1976 (an interesting movie, a
photograph without background information, a poor picture, and a valuable
photographic record by scientists that was never studied and was eventually
lost), one in 1977 (a weak case), one in 1978 (another of those pictures without
supporting information), and one in 1980 (nothing showed up in the developed
photos). Up to 1980 the situation is dismaying as far as UFO reality is
concerned.
In 1981, the five dates when film rolls A (by Arne P. Thomassen) and B to E (by
the afore-mentioned man from Strømmen) were taken are noted as “UFO” in
our catalogue simply because we do not have enough information to analyze
every photographic event of this series of pictures. On the other hand, there is
no indication that this phenomenon was recurrent in time, and everything points
to the explosive mixture of someone eager to see UFOs and who has a camera
at hand.
One would expect to find good UFO reports by the time flying saucers were
seen all over the world, according to what the newspapers published, since the
phenomenon exploded in the late forties, or in the fifties, when the movie
industry produced plenty of films on Martians, aliens and flying saucers, or in
the sixties or seventies when several remarkable UFO waves had already
occurred in several nations. But this is not the case.
UFOs are a popular phenomenon since June 1947, as everybody knows. In

Norway, however, we have to wait at least 30 years to have the first
unexplainable photographic event which at least follows two parameters, it is
well documented and it appears strange-looking. This does not happen until
February 20, 1976. Because in previous ones, like January 21, 1968, the
available information is so poor that general credibility is near zero, or like
March 17, 1972, with photos and film that no one has ever seen, or like
December 1, 1974, when the only source is anonymous press information.
With a UFO phenomenon manifesting generally since the late forties, it is quite
suspicious that true evidence in the form of a genuine picture took so many
years to arise. And it is not because witnesses waited until UFOs become
socially accepted, because there are in Norway photos even predating the 1947
sighting of Kenneth Arnold. Yet all photographic documents have mundane
explanations, until only recently; therefore we are tempted to theorize that it is
probably more linked to modern camera sophistication and techniques at hand
(it makes fakes more difficult to track) than to actual activity of unknown
physical phenomena randomly produced in the environment.
It is not unexpected that after a profusely-publicized “wave” of UFO apparitions

in Arendal, it was followed by another crisis that would become a long-term
episode: Hessdalen was born... or rediscovered. Even some of the first
eyewitnesses and photographers of the Hessdalen phenomena were those who
were involved in the Arendal “UFO” sightings.
1982 to 2005
The history of UFO sightings in Norway can be divided into two periods, before
and after the public appearance of the Hessdalen phenomena. It is quite
evident that the notoriety of the Hessdalen events has influenced the flux of
UFO reports in the country. Figure 2 shows all the cases reported between
1982 and 2005, divided by Hessdalen and non-Hessdalen origin.
HESSDALEN vs NON-HESSDALEN, 1982-2005
140
120
100
80
CASES
60
40
20
0
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
YEAR
NON-HESSDALEN 1982-2005 HESSDALEN 1982-2005
From 1947 to 1981 (35 years), there were 87 (explained and non-explained)
reports computed in Norway, or an average of 2.5 per year. However, from the
start of the Hessdalen phenomena, and all the publicity attached to it, there
were 177 such cases in the following 24 years, an annual average of 7.4, three
times as much.
In the annual plot of cases we observe an increasing tendency in the reporting

frequency of general cases in line with the volume of incoming Hessdalen
events. This pull effect is confirmed when the correlation coefficient is
computed, as it is as much as 0.57. Alternatively, the increase in non-
Hessdalen cases in the recent years may simply be due to the opening of UFO-
Norge’s web site in 2001, where witnesses report their experiences (and
photographs) online. Probably a combined effect is in force here.
This table summarizes the non-Hessdalen cases:
Total UFO IFO

Up to 1981 88 16 72 2.5 cases/year (0.5 UFO)
After 1981 177 39 138 7.4 cases/year (1.6 UFO)
TOTAL 265 55 210
Signal-to-noise ratio
An analysis on the relationship between UFO and IFO reports was performed in
2006 with 5,200 cases from the 13 main countries in FOTOCAT records (8). It
showed that the worst ratio was Australia with 75/25 (3.00) and the best was
Spain with 41/59 (0.69). If we query the latest FOTOCAT database (8,300
reports), we find a 60/40 average ratio, or 1.50.
The work by Allan Hendry with 1,300+ sightings concluded that the comparison
rate of unexplainable to explainable reports was 10/90 (0.11) (9). Recent
disclosures from the French GEIPAN database note that the ratio 25 to 75
(0.33) applies to a set of 6,000 eyewitness reports (10). Therefore, a rate from
0.10 to 0.30 would appear to be a standard metric for signal-to-noise ratio. In
other words, this can be considered a measurement of an acceptable level in
case analysis.
Assuming that imaged UFO reports do not deviate from all-category, general
UFO reports, we now consider figures from the set of non-Hessdalen cases in
Norway. The actual ratio is 21/79, or 0.27, which seems to show a good level of
case evaluation.
Weight
Regarding now the pure UFO cases (unexplained), there were 39 cases in this
period, less than two cases per year, but triple than in the prior term of 1947-
1981. We have examined the potential validity of the cases by using a very
simple matrix, where levels of Documentation (how well-investigated a case has
been) and Strangeness (how anomalous the phenomenon looks) are assessed
as Low (0 value), Medium (1 value) and High (2 value). The addition of both
values results in what we call Weight, and it can be Low Weight (0 and 1
values), Medium Weight (2 value) and High Weight (3 and 4 values).
HIGH(2)
2 3 4
DOCUMENTATION
MEDIUM(1)
1 2 3
LOW(0)
0 1 2
LOW(0) MEDIUM(1) HIGH(2)

STRANGENESS
We have assigned values for the two parameters in the 55 UFO (unexplained)
cases in the sample (non-Hessdalen), and the resulting Weight data can be split
as follows:
Weight
Total 0 1 2 3 4
Up to 1981 16 4 8 4 0 0
After 1981 39 13 15 10 1 0
40 of the events in this group of best cases (or 73%) have a low weight, this is,
these are poorly documented and present a low anomalistic profile. 14 cases
(or 25%) have a medium weight (either 2 middle value or 1 high and 1 low
value), and only 1 case (or 2%) has a high weight (1 high and 1 medium value).
In other words, there are 15 cases in the sample that have the intrinsic
elements to demand a scientific scrutiny. However, the fact that reports softly
adapt to the reporting trend of the Hessdalen cases, adds a suspicious variable
to the equation.
In order to compare the magnitudes of both UFO (55) and IFO (209) cases from
1947 to 2005, we have plotted a graph where reports are grouped by decade.
Figure 3 shows a continuing upwards tendency of explained cases, while
unexplained events – which shared this trend until the nineties – tend to
decrease, probably due to sharper research tools used by present-day
ufologists.
UFOs vs IFOs By Decade, 1947-2005 (Non-Hessdalen)
80
70
60
50
CASES
40
30
20
10
0
1947-1949 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 2000-2005
YEAR
IFO UFO Polinómica (IFO) Polinómica (UFO)
Time of sightings
From 265 non-Hessdalen cases, the exact hour of the day is only known for 150
incidents, 31 for UFO and 119 for IFO events, 56% and 57%, respectively.
Figure 4 distributes the number of cases along 24 hours. Main similarities and
differences are found in the following summary table:
Sharpest peak UFO IFO
Period 19 to 21 hours 22 to 01 hours
Number of cases 12 41
Percent of total 39% 34%
Wider peak UFO IFO
Period 18 to 00 hours 18 to 02 hours
Number of cases 20 72
Percent of total 65% 61%
As the correlation coefficient evidences (0.27) both plots relate to each other,
however there are also some remarkable variances as well, probably due to the
size of the samples. UFO events peak some 3 hours earlier than IFO events, if
this has any meaning. Yet in both groups of cases, most of the events happen
in the same time period of 7 or 9 hours that goes from late evening to early
morning).
NON-HESSDALEN CASES - TIME CURVES
7
14
6
12
5
10
4
EVENTS
3
6
2
4
2 1
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
TIME
IFO CASES UFO CASES
Duration
For 265 non-Hessdalen sightings, the duration of the observations is known in
105 cases, 40% of total. The tabulation of cases by percentage, for three given
time intervals, follows:
Duration UFO IFO Description

0 to 60 sec 15% 19% short-lived occurrences
61 to 300 sec 55% 26% medium-lived occurrences
Over 300 sec 30% 55% long-lived occurrences
UFO reports tend to be medium-lived phenomena, mostly existing from 1 to 5
minutes, while IFO reports seem to be long-lived phenomena, mainly over 5
minutes.
Figure 5 plots the distribution of duration for both sets of data.

NON-HESSDALEN, DURATION CURVES
60
50
40
PERCENT
30
20
10
0
0-60 SEC 61-300 SEC > 300 SEC
DURATION INTERVAL
UFO IFO
Repeater Witnesses
Usually, one may see one alleged UFO or snap one photo of it in a lifetime. But
there are people who seem to be blessed by good fortune to have observed or
photographed UFOs several times. In our essay, these “repeaters” are those
who claimed to have photographic evidence of UFOs more than 2 times.
In any analysis of UFO sightings in Norway, the distinction between Hessdalen

and non-Hessdalen cases is noteworthy. It also applies to this subset of cases.
The concept of repeater is, at the end of the day, related to the prank or the
fake (11). But this cannot be applicable to the Hessdalen sightings, because the
specifics of the area’s phenomenology required that reduced groups of people
conduct field missions, with the result that a few names achieved several
photographs or videos over the years. Of course, there are also persons who
have faked photos systematically in Hessdalen, but we will center on the non-
Hessdalen chapter of events.
Repeaters produce very many sightings (photographs or videos in our case).
The criterion we have followed to include those cases in our catalogue is
simple: we include them when we have an image for the alleged report.
Firstly, we have Kjell Christensen (died 2002), with 39 entries from 1972 to
2000 in the county of Akershus (#02). This gentleman is responsible for dozens
of “UFO” photographs. In our view, he is only one source of faked imagery or
images of strange-looking, normal occurrences. Or, as the British expert Martin
Shough has aptly put it:
The stills are m ostly unintelligible blobs that could be alm ost any thing. In a few cases an
explanation is clear. These include a bird, a dram atically -defocused blade of grass or sim ilar
inside the lens focal distance, som e lens flares, a possible rain droplet or bubble defect on a
glass w indow , and probable em ulsion dam age on old negatives/ prints. In other cases it
appears that fortuitous patches of shadow s, etc. are being interpreted as anom alous. In short,
I see nothing of an y value in these pictures (12).
Gunnar Pedersen has taken hundreds of videos from 1984 to 1993 from Voss,
in the county of Hordaland (#12), and we have four of his cases in our
catalogue, always due to the filming of aircraft. An un-named man from
Strømmen (#09), known for seeing UFOs regularly, was left with a camera to
capture UFOs, and he did it four times in November-December 1981 from his
house. In the first days of April 1973, Jan-Ivar Mellingen had three instances of
honest misinterpretations of aircraft and astronomical bodies in the county of
Vestfold (#07). Knut Aasheim captured on film three times objects he never saw
visually, in 1986, 1998 and 1999, twice of them in Eidsvoll (#02). Finally, a
witness by the initials of G.A. took UFO pictures three times (it was in reality the
planet Mars) at the end of July and early August 2003 in Sørum (#02).
Identified Flying Objects Photographed

In the group of 265 Non-Hessdalen reports, there are 210 classed as IFOs, or
explained. There are multiple conventional causes to solve UFO incidents.
Those found in Norwegian cases follow:
46 - Astronomical: Venus [20], Mars [9], Jupiter [5], the moon [4], Sirius, Pollux,
planets and stars. People are not familiar with the heavenly bodies in the
firmament.
32 - Fakes, hoaxes by people, or journalistic fakes.
26 - Aircraft, aircraft condensation trail, flares.
18 - Balloons, including high-altitude, stratospheric or simple paper balloons
and kites.
14 - Lens flares, including lunar or solar.
13 - Clouds, lenticular, noctilucent, polar stratospheric.
13 - Camera artifacts, camera flash reflected on environmental dust (“orbs”) or
on snowflakes, water droplets on camera lenses.
12 - Birds, insects.
9 - Development flaws, film flaws.
7 - Reflections, flash reflected on flying bug, lamp reflected on window, sun
reflected on airplane window, reflection on ring, etc.
3 - Bolide fireballs.
3 - Re-entries.
3 - Rocket, satellite.
11 - Other: beacon on mountain, crane, fireworks, lightning, Moon dog,
searchlights, smoke ring, sunset/sunrise.
Figure 6 assembles the various types of mundane explanations into seven

major groups:
º Aerospatial events (man-made aeronautics and astronautics): 50 (24%)

º Astronomical events: 50 (24%)
º Photographic camera, process-related events: 43 (20%)
º Fake: 32 (15%)
º Meteorological and atmospheric events: 16 (8%)
º Biological events: 12 (6%)
º Miscellaneous: 7 (3%)
NON HESSDALEN, IFO EVENTS BY CATEGORY
AIR-SPATIAL ASTRONOMICAL CAMERA-RELATED FAKES METEOROLOGICAL BIOLOGICAL MISCELLANEOUS
Other features
Format: the 265 cases are divided between 10 films (cine), 197 pictures (or
series of pictures), and 58 cases of video footage. For the 55 UFO cases, we
have 2 films, 42 pictures (or series of pictures) and 11 videos.
The FOTOCAT standard spreadsheet contains a column to gather information

on special features associated to the events. 57 reports contribute such
features. It does not come as a surprise to realize that in 44 of the 210
explained photographs (21%) the cameraperson did not see anything strange at
the time of taking the photograph, as the weird image just appeared later.
Additionally, in 4 instances nothing appeared in the film after a witness
observed a phenomenon in the sky and shot a picture. In another example, the
anomaly was recorded by a Webcam.
As far as UFO reports are concerned, in 6 cases the camera was unable to fix
the image of the alleged unidentified flying object. There is also one instance
when the anomalous object was recorded by an all-sky camera. Finally, there is
an example where the picture negatives were not returned by the Defense
authorities.
FOTOCAT is an international project, and the United States of America is the

major case contributor, which explains why a specific column registers if the
event was filed by the USAF Project Blue Book (an agency closed in 1969).
Only two Norwegian photographic cases were in the BB archives: September
19, 1952 (the picture taken by a journalist during a NATO military exercise, that
looks like a balloon), and July 24, 1957 (a spectacular lens-shaped, fading
luminosity that was finally solved as the reflection produced by a ring).
Geographical Distribution
An introduction about the Country
Norway is situated in the far north of Europe and it occupies the western portion
of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Norway is bordered by Sweden, Finland, and
Russia, and its extensive coastline is home to the famous fjords. The rugged
coastline, broken by massive fjords and thousands of islands, stretches over
25,000 km. Norway shares a 2,542 km land border with Sweden, Finland, and
Russia to the east. To the west and south, Norway is bordered by the
Norwegian Sea, the North Sea, and Skagerak. At 385,155 km² (including Jan
Mayen and Svalbard), Norway is approximately the size of Germany, but much
of the country is dominated by mountainous terrain, with a great variety of
natural features caused by prehistoric glaciers and varied topography. The most
noticeable of these are the fjords, deep grooves cut into the land flooded by the
sea following the end of the last ice age.
The land is mostly made of hard granite and gneiss rock, but slate, sandstone
and limestone are also common, and the lowest elevations have marine
deposits. Due to the Gulf Stream and prevailing westerlies, Norway experiences
warmer temperatures and more precipitation than expected at such northern
latitudes, especially along the coast. The mainland experiences four distinct
seasons, with colder winters and less precipitation inland. The northernmost
part has a mostly maritime sub-Arctic climate, while Svalbard has an Arctic
tundra climate.
There are large seasonal variations in daylight. In areas north of the Arctic
Circle (66° 33’ N), the summer sun may never completely descend beneath the
horizon, hence Norway's description as the "Land of the Midnight Sun." During
the summer, inhabitants south of the Arctic Circle still experience sunlight
during nearly 20 of the day's 24 hours.
As of 2005, Norway's population of 4.6 million is growing by 0.73% per year.

Most Norwegians are ethnic Norwegians, a Nordic/North Germanic people,
while small minorities in the north are the Sami, Romani and Kven.
Norway is divided into 19 first-level administrative regions (counties) and 431

second-level municipalities (you will notice that county #13 is missing. This is
Bergen, which was assimilated into the county of Hordaland in 1972). In
addition, there is Svalbard, county #21 in our paper. This is not a separate
county, but an area administered by Troms county. We have chosen to
designate Svalbard with its own number in this paper because of its geography.
The distribution of film cases in Norway, for 265 non-Hessdalen reports, is the
following:
COUNTY
# COUNTY NAME REPORTS
01 Øsfold 10
02 Arkershus 61
03 Oslo 5
04 Hedmark 15
05 Oppland 22
06 Buskerud 20
07 Vestfold 9
08 Tele-Mark 8
09 Aust-Agder 11
10 Vest-Agder 4
11 Rogaland 4
12 Hordaland 20
14 Sogn og Fjordane 4
15 Møre og Romsdal 15
16 Sør-Trøndelag 11
17 Nord-Trøndelag 11
18 Nordland 10
19 Troms 4
20 Finnmark 8
21 Svalbard 2
UNKNOWN 11
UFOs and Demography

We have tested some correlation attempts between total number of reports
(excluding Hessdalen) and demographic variables (surface, population, and
population density) at the county level. We have chosen to take demographic
values for the year 1992, as it is the central year in the period 1980 to 2005,
which covers 90% of all collected cases.
Figure 7 plots the number of inhabitants per km2 and the number of reports by
county (in decreasing order as to population density).
In principle, we would expect a positive correlation: the more population, the

more reports. However, the calculated correlation coefficient is negative, yet
quite low, -0.08. The anomaly is county #02, where 37 out of 61 reports come
from a single photographer, Kjell Christensen! If we would eliminate his cases
from the tally, the resulting correlation becomes positive, yet not high: 0.26.
However, if we compute the number of IFO reports versus population density
(having eliminated the KC effect), then a higher correlation coefficient of 0.36
appears. It confirms a basic relationship between size and population for raw,
explained reports.
On the other hand, a computation of UFO reports and population indices gives
a negative correlation of -0.23. It seems to indicate that unexplained UFO
observations are unrelated to population metrics.
NON-HESSDALEN REPORTS vs POPULATION DENSITY
150,0 60
50
POP. DENSITY VALUES
100,0 40
REPORTS
30
50,0 20
10
0,0 0
03 07 02 01 11 12 10 15 06 16 08 09 05 04 18 17 14 19 20 21
COUNTY
POPULATION DENSITY REPORTS

Exponencial (REPORTS) Exponencial (POPULATION DENSITY)
TH E LIGH TS OF H ESSD ALEN
The beginnings
Within Norway`s county #6 (Sør-Trøndelag) lies the valley of Hessdalen. It is
there where, quite publicly since 1981, there have manifested or developed
massively strange phenomena that have been able to be recorded by many
automatic instruments other than the human eye, like photographic and video
cameras, radar, etc.
The start of the Hessdalen phenomenon can be traced to 19th century. We

have knowledge of observations dating from 1811 (13), 1870 (14, 18), 1895 (14,
19), 1943 (14, 16-18), 1945 (21), and 1946 (14, 20). UFO-Norge report archives
also have sporadic reports from the area during every decade thereafter, but
not in any great number compared to other areas of Norway. It was not until the
autumn of 1981 when the news media started receiving reports of “lights” in the
Hessdalen valley. Especially during November-December 1981 the reports
were numerous (16-17, 22). It became clear that a flap was in the making, and
the media frenzy was high. The observations continued on into 1982, and it
didn’t seem to subside in the least. During 1983, representatives from UFO-
Norge and UFO-Sverige decided to start a separate investigation program. On
June 3, 1983 Project Hessdalen was announced, and field work was initiated on
January 21, 1984 (15). This continued until February 26, 1984, with a similar
stint during February 1985 (23). The rest, as they say, is history.
By their nature, reports on light phenomena within the Hessdalen valley form a
special subset of cases, and for this reason they are analyzed separately from
the rest of Norway cases (including other events from Sør-Trøndelag that are
far from Hessdalen).
This is a basic set of figures for Hessdalen photographic cases compiled in the
present monograph:
Memo: Memo:
IFO HP* Total AMS** Non-Hessdalen TOTAL
109 370 479 355 265 744
(*) Hessdalen Phenom ena- see term inology below (includes M.Teodoran i’s “UFO” dated August
13, 20 0 0 )
(**) Autom atic Measurem ent Station- see term inology below
This paper also includes brief case abstracts for reports from the Hessdalen
area, except for AMS records, which are listed (as an exception, explained AMS
cases include the reason why). It is beyond the goals of this paper to provide
any exhaustive bibliography on Hessdalen. We leave it to specialists in
Hessdalen reports. All the pertinent literature we are aware of, concerning or
directly related to actual sightings of the Hessdalen Phenomena, has been
included in the reference section of the catalogue (see Appendix).
We believe we have made some advancement in the organization of the

Hessdalen sighting file, but it must be improved. We trust this paper becomes
an added stimulus for other researchers to complete this task.
The Hessdalen cases have very distinct features, compared to the general UFO
phenomenon, either in Norway or elsewhere. Basically, it is their frequency and
their geographically-restricted environment that makes it a singular class of
phenomenology.
Hessdalen in figures
The following table summarizes the Hessdalen data:
Memo:
YEAR IFO HESSDALEN PHENOMENA TOTAL AMS
1982 3 27 30 0
1983 1 4 5 0
1984 0 25 25 0
1985 3 5 8 0
1986 0 0 0 0
1987 0 0 0 0
1988 0 0 0 0
1989 0 0 0 0
1990 0 0 0 0
1991 0 0 0 0
1992 0 0 0 0
1993 0 0 0 0
1994 1 1 2 0
1995 0 1 1 0
1996 0 1 1 0
1997 0 4 4 0
1998 6 51 57 56
1999 18 69 87 87
2000 32 63 95 92
2001 38 83 121 92
2002 7 26 33 26
2003 0 10 10 2
2004 0 0 0 0
2005 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 109 370 479 355
Initiated in 1982 with the article by Leif Havik (7) and peaking in 1984 with the
effect of the first Hessdalen project, there is no case incidence from 1986 to
1993, to then increase at a fantastic rate from 1998 to 2002 because of the
effect of the data displayed by the on-site automatic station and the Italian
EMBLA missions. Cases drop to zero in 2004 (there are no records from the
live monitoring system installed).
If we review the general trend of reports from 1982 to 2005 in Norway, we see
that 73% of reports proceed from the Hessdalen area: from 656 cases in total
within the period, 479 are Hessdalen and only 177 are non-Hessdalen. Figure 8
shows the distribution of all cases compared to the predominant input from
Hessdalen.
NORWAY, 1982 TO 2005
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
CASES
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
YEAR
TOTAL 1982-2005 HESSDALEN 1982-2005

Hessdalen coverage for the catalogue we have compiled has been fed from
input collected from several sources. As expected, the official site of the Østfold
University College’s Hessdalen Project and project leader Erling Strand, have
been a major source for photographic records of sightings in the area:
http://www.hessdalen.org/indx_e.shtml
Also, the site of the Italian Committee for Project Hessdalen (CIPH in its Italian
acronym), and its director, Renzo Cabassi: http://www.itacomm.net/PH/
And the various EMBLA mission reports (and some of their scientific leaders,
e.g. Dr. Massimo Teodorani):
http://www.hessdalen.org/reports/EMBLA_2002_2.pdf
As the source section of the final catalogue shows, we have made a quite
complete literature review, if not exhaustive. Nevertheless, on occasion, data on
actual Hessdalen Phenomena reports is limited, confusing and unchecked, and
errors may certainly have arisen in the process. We hope future research will
correct these and will make the sample as complete as possible.
The Hessdalen valley seems to stand within a phenomenological soup. The

area naturally produces light displays in a quite recurrent manner, like the
bubbles in a pot of boiling water, apparently generated at random in the
environment. Light phenomena manifest on a continuing basis in the valley, it
seems. For Professor Teodorani, one of the scientists who have studied the
phenomena more in depth, most of the lights (on the ground and in the air) are
geophysical in nature (24-25). Only once did the Italian astrophysicist dare to
give the term “UFO” to the light he photographed (it was on August 13, 2000).
We wonder, however, if this particular sighting is but a part of the same kind of
light anomaly, in other words, part of the same continuum, not a new,
differentiated phenomenon. To the authors, this seems to be a reasonable
qualitative conclusion, and this event is added to the HP category of cases.
Anyway, it is not within the scope of this paper to review the various models or
theories presented to explain the Hessdalen Phenomena.
Given the existing huge database of recorded sightings in Hessdalen, we guess

that local researchers may be in a position (through triangulation or other
measurements) to know where the light phenomenon emerges more frequently.
We believe that future on-site mission camps should be installed precisely on
the estimated generation areas, in order to allow “close encounters” with the
lights.
The phenomena at Hessdalen have attracted the attention of numerous

scientists worldwide and real scientific work (field study, data analysis, theory
and modeling) has been accomplished, probably more intensely than in any
other aspect of the UFO problem. As a consequence, a vast number of
inestimable papers and articles have been produced. The first scientific-
oriented, sensible paper produced on the Hessdalen lights still remains as one
of the best reports on this local anomaly: Project Hessdalen 1984. Final
Technical Report, authored by Erling Strand (15). Two major collections of
references are to be found in two noteworthy compilations, by Strand (26) and
Cabassi (6).
The nature of the Hessdalen empirical episodes is open. “Earth lights” of

geotectonic origin (27-28), a form of ball lightning (29), plain UFOs (30), or
simply assorted natural phenomena and misinterpretations (18).
The future looks promising. For example, new hardware-oriented developments

to achieve better images of the Hessdalen lights is under way by the Italian
Committee for the Hessdalen Phenomenon (ICHP), under the capable
leadership of Renzo Cabassi and the scientific coordination of Massimo
Silvestri, to be used on site in future missions (31).
On Terminology
According to criteria suggested by Erling Strand (32), all unknown observations
of lights in the Hessdalen area reported on their official site, including the alarm
pictures and video clips generated by the automatic measurement station
(AMS), will be termed “Hessdalen Phenomena.” This term (HP in acronym) has
been already used in scientific papers and it is a legitimate and well-established
choice. By extension, other so-called UFO sightings in the area will also be
generally termed HP, as a category within the unexplained events. However,
the term UFO will not be applied here, because of its outer space connotations.
As an exception, all the unknown Hessdalen sightings developed by the

summer EMBLA teams, where Dr. Massimo Teodorani was involved, have
been termed as “Plasma Geophysical Phenomenon,” as this is what the Italian
astrophysicist understands they really are. These cases will be considered to be
a category within the IFO or explained events. These pulsating lights w ere
lasting at least one m inute by alternating on and off phases, som etim es of
several m inutes’ duration. These are not “UFO,” but a geophy sical
phenom enon triggered probably by piezoelectricity . They are very sim ilar to
light phenom ena (ty pically pulsating lights very close to the ground) reported
m any tim es in Marfa, Texas, or in the Brow n Mountains and other places in
the w orld. Of no interest for ufology , but only for geophy sics and atm ospheric
phy sics (33). [Note: Dr. Teodorani has an exception to his own rule, one that we
respect: his own visual and photographic sighting of August 13, 2000, which he
classes as a true UFO.]
Review of AMS Events

On August 7, 1988, Project Hessdalen set up an Automatic Measurement
Station (AMS) with the purpose to record in photograph or video any alarm
sighting discovered by the system. Colloquially called the “Blue Box,” it is
located in the northeastern part of the Hessdalen Valley, in a place called
Vårhus. For technical description, detailed location and station plans, see:
http://www.hessdalen.org/station/, http://www.hessdalen.org/station/local.shtml
and http://www.hessdalen.org/station/plans.shtml The Station was taken down
on November 7, 2003, due to high telephone bills. Since December 10, 2006, a
new camera system has been in place. It submits a new picture every second to
an on-line internet system: http://www.hessdalen.org/station/now.shtml
Unfortunately, the system does only streaming, it does not record the images.
We have done our best to scrutinize all existing records on the PH website in
order to catalogue all alarm incidents recorded during the years the AMS was
operative. We have found a number of difficulties in order to determine, for
instance, when an event starts and stops and when it continues over the
following alarm shots. We have had to make our decisions and inferences, and
we hope we do not prove wrong.
In some cases, for example, two contiguous pictures from the Automatic
Measurement Station records have been considered as one single event, or for
similar images apparently following a consistent path found in two or three
continuing sequences, the calculated time differential has been considered as
its duration. We are not certain this procedure is accurate but it seems to be a
fair approximation to extract event duration in a number of cases.
On a number of occasions in this large group of cases, a solution is found,

according to the project’s analysts. However, several of these explained cases
lack details as to the actual source of identification. The authors of the present
paper have decided to consider as “aircraft” all airborne lights within this group
of solved cases.
In some cases, camera images produced from the automatic station which are
labeled unknown cannot be distinguishable – in terms of optical appearance
and linear course – from other alarm pictures of airplanes. Probably this is due
to distance or to equipment limitations, and we do not discuss the judgment of
local analysts to leave as unexplained a number of instances of these lights
(Hessdalen Phenomena).
The Østfold University College’s Hessdalen Project has generated an immense

amount of material results, evidence and quantitative results. It is such a huge
volume that its analysis requires a work force that is not available. The principal
investigator, Erling Strand, has reported to us that he has not found tim e for
doing the analy sis of many pictures produced by the AMS. Therefore, a certain
proportion of the cases under “Hessdalen Phenomena” might have a
conventional explanation. In this precise context, unknown does not necessarily
mean unexplainable. It may perhaps explains the fuzzy border between UFO
(HP) and IFO reports in Hessdalen, at least visually-speaking.
Photographic or video recordings from the Automatic Measurement Station add

up to 355 cases in total, having occurred from August 1998 to January 2003,
with an irregular yearly input, as follows:
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Number of cases 56 87 92 92 26 2
69 such cases (19.4%) were explained. 61 as aircraft and the remaining 8 as

water, snow or a worm on or in front of the lens, sunlight, a lamp, a snow bike,
the Moon, and a tractor working the fields.
286 cases (80.6%) were either not explained or not analyzed in full detail.
The duration of the events is known for 45 cases (12.6% of total), and these
data are broken down as follows:
REVISED
AVERAGE AVERAGE MINIMUM TO MAXIMUM
CASES TYPE 0-60 sec 61-300 sec > 300 sec (sec) (sec) VALUES
15 IFO (EXPLAINED CASES) 6 7 2 521 85 FROM 19 TO 4,633 sec
30 HESSDALEN PHENOMENA 22 6 2 71 35 FROM 2 TO 607 sec
Volatility of IFO (explained) cases is much more ample than the unexplained
cases (Hessdalen Phenomena), both in the span of their lifetime, in the actual
average, and in the revised average (the revised average excludes the two
longest-lasting events in every set). HP cases are much shorter in existence
than the (usual) aircraft occasionally recorded by the AMS cameras.
Fortunately, the hour-of-the-day is known in all cases. Figure 9 plots the time
distribution of IFO and Hessdalen Phenomena AMS cases, showing that events
peak from 19 to 23 hours in IFO cases and from 18 to 24 hours in HP cases. In
fact, there is a calculated correlation coefficient of 0.57 between the two series!
There are, however, acute specific differences as well. In IFO reports, maximum
peaks are at 20 and 22 hours (occurrence rate drops dramatically at 21 hours),
while HP cases peak at 18 and 24 hours (while IFO cases drop to zero at 24
hours)
AMS CASES BY HOUR
35
30
25
Number of Even
20
15
10
0
12,00-13,00
14,00-15,00
16,00-17,00
18,00-19,00
20,00-21,00
22,00-23,00
24,00-01,00
02,00-03,00
04,00-05,00
06,00-07,00
08,00-09,00
10,00-11,00
12,00-13,00
Tim e of Day
HESSDALEN PHENOMENA IFO

There is a large volume of material recorded in the form of alarm pictures
between 1998 and 2003 that should be analyzed in close detail. As Erling
Strand has unambiguously put it: There is enough w ork to be done in Project
Hessdalen to occupy tw o people full-tim e (34). We hope that some day there
will be an adequate budget for this research, which has promising opportunities
to advance knowledge in scientific areas of atmospheric sciences.
Review of non-AMS Hessdalen Events

We have studied the AMS Hessdalen cases. Now we center on Hessdalen,
non-AMS cases, this is, the pure Hessdalen Phenomena. The Hessdalen
events split as follows:
Total AMS** Non-AMS IFOs HP*

479 355 124 40 84
(*) Hessdalen Phenom ena (includes M.Teodoran i’s “UFO” dated August 13, 20 0 0 )
(**) Autom atic Measurem ent Station
84 UFO events reported in Hessdalen classified as unknown, sighted by human

observers, and photographed or filmed.
Yearly distribution: there were 27 cases in 1982, 4 in 1983, 25 in 1984, 5 in

1985, zero from 1986 to 1993, 1 from 1994 to 1996, 4 in 1997, 1 in 1998, zero
in 1999, 2 in 2000, 5 in 2001, zero in 2002, 8 in 2003, and zero in 2004-2005.
Only 8 photographers were responsible for the images in 57 out of 84 events,
almost 70%: Leif Havik [15], Arne P. Thomassen [12], Massimiliano di Giuseppe
et al. [7], Arne W. Wisth [6], Erling Strand [6], Roar Wister [6], and Jader Monari
[5]. Basically, events were recorded because there were people on site. One
can extrapolate that nil years only correspond with lack of human research
activity, not a lack of activity of the phenomena, which might be perfectly be
constant in time.
Duration: the following table compares how much the HP events last in the
automated (AMS) and human observer examples:
Cases: 30 AMS 0-60 sec 61-300 sec > 300 sec Average
Percent 73% 20% 7%
Average Time (sec) 21 85 582 71
Cases: 28 Non-AMS
Percent 39% 36% 25%
Average Time (sec) 22 192 2,327 660
Most of the automated HP cases are short-lived, with an average duration of 21

seconds. Over one-third of the non-automated HP cases lasted 22 seconds on
average as well. Beyond this, similarities cease.
Time distribution: the 60 cases (71%) where the exact hour is known draw a
near-Gaussian curve centered on 19 hours. These are examples of Hessdalen
Phenomena visually observed and captured by cameras. But if we compare this
hourly distribution with the one of explained reports in the largest Hessdalen set
of cases, e.g., the AMS cases, then we find extremely similar curves (correlated
at 0.81), as we can see in the Figure 10.
AMS IFO CASES vs Non-AMS HP CASES- TIME CURVES
15
15
12
12
9
9
H.P.
IFO
6
6
3 3
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
TIME
IFO H.P.
At least from the viewpoint of hour of occurrence, real “UFOs” in Hessdalen

(agreed to be called Hessdalen Phenomena) behave in the same manner than
the IFO reports from the Automated Station.
CON CLU SION S
The total number of cases collected for the present study is 744, up to
FOTOCAT’s closing date of December 31, 2005. Hessdalen reports amount to
479 (64%) and Non-Hessdalen reports amount to 265 (36%). Within the
Hessdalen reports, 355 events were recorded live by picture or video from the
AMS facilities (74%) and 124 were witnessed or filmed manually by people
(26%).
True UFO reports were late to appear in Norway, only since 1968. There are 16
unexplained UFO events from 1947 to 1981. However, only one seems to be
amenable to scientific exploitation (the movie film taken on March 17, 1972). In
the interval between 1947 and 1981, UFO reporting is linked to the influence of
mundane-origin cases disclosed by the press.
The situation changes from 1982. Reports from 1982 to 2005 triple that of the
preceding period. Hessdalen Phenomena start in 1982, curiously following the
Arendal “flap” of late 1981. For 30 unexplained events in this period, 28 have a
low weight, 10 have a medium weight and only one has a high weight (a
subjective measure to anticipate potential scientific value).
210 out of 265 non-Hessdalen cases in the period 1947-2005 were solved. A
79% ratio clearly indicates a proper level of case evaluation. Studying the
solution rate over time, there is an even higher rate of explained-to-unexplained
reports from 2000-2005: 93%. Tools have been sharpened now!
When do events preferably occur? Only in 56.5% of cases is the exact time of
the day known. It is not a surprise, because most sightings are nocturnal (both
UFO and IFO in unison), but UFO reports peak at 19-21 hours while IFOs peak
at 22-01 hours.
As far as duration is concerned, differences are more visible. Typical lifetime of

a UFO report is 1 to 5 minutes, while IFOs usually last over 5 minutes.
20% of all non-Hessdalen photographic cases belong to subjects characterized

as “repeaters.”
The portrait of identified cases reveals that 50% is due to aero-spatial and
astronomical stimuli (things seen in the sky), 20% has to do with camera issues
(we are dealing only with photographic cases), and 15% are fakes (people
misinterpret more than lie).
Generally, IFO reports are correlated to population. But UFO reports are not.
In the niche of Hessdalen experiences, it appears this is not a novel

phenomenon, as occurrences are traced back in time. The recent increase in
cases in the area relates exclusively to a higher, on-site attention by
researchers.
Most of Hessdalen phenomena come from an automated station installed in the

valley. Typical duration of an AMS HP event is 35 sec., compared to 85 sec. of
AMS IFO events. As for time of the day, although AMS HP cases peak between
18-24 hours AMS IFO reports peak between 20-22 hours, the two series do
correlate significantly.
Regarding the “pure” HP reports, i.e. those observed by eyewitnesses, case

input simply depends on human exposure: when people go to Hessdalen, they
come out with pictures of anomalous phenomena. Lifetime does not seem a
specific variable: 39% of cases last 22 sec. on average, which agrees perfectly
with most of the automated records. However, the time curve of sightings is the
same that the automated IFO cases display.
This study has reviewed in detail the panorama of UFO photographs from
Norway. In the total collection of 744 reports, there are 55 UFO cases (7.4%)
and 370 HP cases (49.7%). These are episodes that seem to elude a scientific
explanation or that cannot be adequately investigated by lack of proper
information. It reinforces a need for a further research effort centered on the
anomalous events and the objective of this paper is to stimulate it.
Hessdalen is a major highlight in Europe. For the first time, a complete
database of events is available. Our idea was to place the HP within the
phenomenological spectrum of UFOs (anomalous lights and objects) also
reported in Norway.
This essay has also confirmed the statement by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, when he
wrote of the Blue Book files: The m ajority of the photographs are indeed
obvious hoaxes or m isidentifications (35).
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February 28, 2007.
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Olmos, January 19, 2007.
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March 1, 2007.
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ACKN OW LED GEMEN TS
We express our gratitude to the following researchers and academic

consultants for providing us with needed documentation or technical expertise:
Manuel Borraz Aymerich, Renzo Cabassi, Andrés Duarte, Ole Henningsen, Dr.
Donald A. Johnson, Anders Liljegren, Dr. Jonathan McDowell, Alan Pickup,
Martin Shough, Erling Strand, Clas Svahn, Dr. Massimo Teodorani, and Juan
Carlos Victorio Uranga.
Also thanks are due to Laura Ballester Miquel for assistance in graphs and
mathematical correlations. To Heriberto Janosch González for help with the
pictures. To Richard W. Heiden for proof-reading and suggestions.
AU TH ORS’ STATEMEN T ON IMAGE COPYRIGH T
Copyright of UFO pictures, many of them quite old and coming from different
origins, is not easy to track. The authors of the present compilation have
invested special interest in noting the ownership whenever possible. We want to
inform the owners of any of these photographs that the intention of this paper is
educational, not commercial. If anyone disagrees with the publication of what
could be his or her property, please let us know and we will immediately remove
the picture from any next edition.
© Vice n te -Ju an Balle s te r Olm o s an d Ole Jo n n y Bræ n n e , 2 0 0 8 .

APPEN D IX: N ORW AY FOTOCAT SPREAD SH EET
We hereby present the full catalogue spreadsheet for Norway. The FOTOCAT
database consists of a basic Excel file with a total of 23 standard data columns,
whose structure is described in the following lines. By default configuration, the
listing prints in 3 pages.
Pa ge # 1
The 7 initial columns are the control and housekeeping codes of the catalogue,
or they contain information only relevant to the Spanish section of the
compilation, therefore these are blanked in this version. On its place, three
columns have been added to note values for Documentation (from 0 to 2),
Strangeness (from 0 to 2) and Weight (from 0 to 4), only for the ultimate 55
non-Hessdalen, UFO cases.
Date
8th column. The date is expressed as Day/Month/Year.
Approximate Date
9th column. A triple column denotes Y for approxímate year, M for approxímate
month, and D for approxímate day.
Time
10th column. The hour is indicated. When time is not known, Day, Night, etc. is
entered.
Description
11th column. Generally, the entry “UFO” here describes the situation where no
reasonable explanation for the event is known, in the compilers’ judgement. In
all other cases, the type of explanation is described. In Norway, unexplained
events reported in the Hessdalen valley are described as Hessdalen
Phenomena.
Explanation
12th column. When the registered event is explained the entry OK appears.
Location (Country).
13th column. Municipality (sometimes preceded by any local village) and
country.
Pa ge # 2
Nation Code
14th column. It shows the nation’s code according to an international alpha ISO
code of 3 digits. In this case, NOR denotes Norway.
Local Geographical Codes
15th column. Official codes to note further geographical units. In the case of
Norway, it is the County (from 01 to 21).
Photo, Film and Video
16th column. It shows the original format of the image, whether a photograph,
film (movie) or video recording.
Photographer/Cameraperson
17th column. It gives the full name of the photographer or cameraperson.
Media (for professionals)
18th column. When the author of the image is associated with a newspaper, TV
channel or other media, it notes the name of the media involved.
Duration
19th column. The extent or lifetime of the event is expressed in seconds.
Special Photo Features
20th column. It includes any singular data of the photography or about the
conditions where the pictures were made, like infrared or special sensibility film,
stereo or 3D photo, automated web camera or station, gun camera, object
unseen by photographer, blank photos, spectra or magnetic recording,
underwater, radar echo, night-vision system, etc.
Blue Book Files
21st column. The sign X here indicates that the event was recognized by the
USAF Project Blue Book (closed 1969).
Pa ge # 3
References and Sources
22nd column. It collects all references, sources and bibliography known by the
authors to document the events.
(A 23rd column, not printed here, describes in words the full date and provides
specific information for cases where the date is approximate.)
Ple as e go n o w to th e fu ll N o rw ay catalo gu e s p re ad s h e e t:0

http:/ / www.ufo.no/ files/ norway.xls

Norway in Ufo Photographs The First Cata

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Norway in Ufo Photographs The First Cata

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FOTOCAT Report # 4

NORWAY IN UFO PHOTOGRAPHS: THE FIRST CATALOGUE

By Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos (*) and Ole Jonny Brænne (**)

(*) Apartado de Correos 12140, 46020 Valencia, Spain.

FOTOCAT is a worldwide databank comprising photographic UFO records

The authors are members of the EuroUFO network (http://www.euroufo.net), a

Photograph, in the popular philosophy, is the best evidence to prove the

Hessdalen in Norway has produced innumerable eye-witness reports of

In spite of a recurrent phenomenon photographed at least since the early

We do not intend to produce such a long-awaited, exhaustive register of

This is a fine example of the potential cooperation that internet communication

Norwegian UFO researchers are strongly encouraged to follow-up on the

When a photograph is available it is inserted just beneath its corresponding

1947, day – Norway, unknown location

Easter 1953, April 4, approximately, day – Holteskaret, Hemsedal

30 June 1954, 13:35 – Gardermoen, Ullensaker

30 June 1954, 14:17 – Lifjell, Seljord

11 August 1956, evening – Mo i Rana, Rana

24 July 1957, day – Coast of Norway

May 1966, day – Trondheim

1968, night – Båtsfjord

21 January 1968, 19:13 – Østlie, Dal (UFO)

May 1969, day – Meråker

28 July 1970, 14:00 – Hemsedal

29 July 1970, 16:05 – Strandavann, Hallingskarvet

1 January 1972, 04:15 – Moss

1 January 1972, 04:15 – Lillehammer

6 January 1972, night – Kjøpsvik, Tysfjord

8 February 1972, estimated 00,33 – Holter, Nannestad

12 February 1972, 23:00 – Holter, Nannestad

8 March 1972, 22:40 – Askøy

17 March 1972, 18:35 – Bergen (UFO)

October 1972, 04:00 – Trondheim

1973 – Holter, Nannestad

11 January 1973, 23:00 – Tønsberg

1 April 1973, 20:10 – Holmestrand

8 April 1973, 20:10 – Horten

9 April 1973, 20:04 – Horten

10 December 1973, night – Hamar

1974, night – Holter, Nannestad

7 January 1974, 17:30 – Ulvensletten, Bergen

13 March 1974, 18:25 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

13 March 1974, 18:30 – Nesbyen, Nes

13 March 1974, 18:45/19:10 – Gjøvik

2 December 1974, 22:30 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

2 December 1974, 22:45 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

18 December 1974, 22:05 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo

19 December 1974, 12:00 – Kvalsund

21 September 1975, 00:00 – Lierdalen, Lier

1976, day – Valdres

April 1976, daytime? – Raufjellet, Osen (UFO)

20 August 1976, 19:45 – Lillehammer

September 1976, night – Ullensaker

1977, day – Holter, Nannestad

10 March 1977, 22:15 – Ålesund

August 1977, day – Gossen, Aukra

September 1977, day – Hallingskarvet

26 December 1977, 22:00 – Åsbygda, Ringerike

1 January 1978, 00:20 – Lillestrøm, Skedsmo