by Charles Lear
Reports of UFO sightings and alien encounters come from all over the world, from Australia to Zimbabwe. Place a finger at random on a globe and chances are some sort of UFO history from that area has been recorded. This week, the finger has landed on Finland, and Finland not only has a UFO history but also has active UFO researchers as well.
The history of UFO reports in Finland is much like that of other countries except that it starts earlier than most, dating back to the early 20th century. As was the case for much of Scandinavia, Finland had reports in the 1930s and 1940s of mystery lights, aircraft and rockets.
During the winter between 1933 and 1934, many people in Sweden reported seeing mysterious aircraft, some with bright lights (unusual for the period) that were able to fly in harsh weather conditions, day or night. The Swedish Air Force sent out planes to look for the aircraft, and ski patrols were sent to man mountaintop searchlights. The Finnish Army sent up their own planes, and the first report of “a shining bright light, just like a blowtorch” came from Kemi, a town just east of the Swedish border. The report received a good deal of press coverage and Finnish authorities declared without proof that the light was from something of Russian origin. At a 1937 press conference, spokesmen for the Finnish military declared that all the sightings could be explained by weather formations and inaccurate observations. Read more