Key facts
- When
- Mainly May–December 1946, peak in summer
- Where
- Sweden, also Finland, Norway and Denmark
- Scale
- Close to a thousand reports to the Swedish military
- Famous incident
- Lake Kölmjärv, Norrbotten, 19 July 1946
What was reported
Witnesses described cigar- or rocket-shaped objects, sometimes with a fiery tail, often silent. The Swedish Defence Staff asked the public to report sightings and set up a committee to investigate them.
The Lake Kölmjärv incident
On 19 July 1946 witnesses saw an object dive into Lake Kölmjärv in northern Sweden. The military searched the lake, but nothing was found.
Explanations
At the time many suspected Soviet tests of captured German V-weapons from Peenemünde. The Swedish investigation concluded that most reports could be explained as meteors and other natural phenomena – the summer coincided with active meteor showers – but that a smaller number remained unexplained.
Questions
Were the ghost rockets Soviet missiles?
No evidence of that was ever found. Most reports were explained as meteors or misidentifications, and a small share remained unexplained.
Why are the ghost rockets important?
They are one of the first modern UFO waves, and one of the first to be systematically investigated by a European military.