A Top Secret paper at the time stated that the ghost rockets could possibly have extraterrestrial origins. 

In February of 1946, Finnish observers scanning the skies were the first to report the sight of ghost rockets.  They spotted over 2,000 occurrences between May and December of that year.  August was the month with the most reports.  Of the sightings, over 200 of them were actually picked up by radar, and the events were not without debris falling to earth.

Skeptics jumped to the immediate conclusion that these were nothing but meteors.  The problem with jumping to this conclusion is that the ghost rockets did not occur during peak meteor showers.  They were at odd times and places—and this is the most tantalizing reason not to think they were meteors:  the ghost rockets seemed like they had the ability to be maneuvered.

A separate group of skeptics was convinced that the Russians were experimenting with German missiles that they had confiscated after the war and were actually performing unusual tests with them.

Investigations were put into place by British, U.S. Military, and Swedish experts to learn if they were missile experiments and this theory was rejected by all three investigations.  There would have to have been missile fragments and there weren’t any, anywhere.

Then there was the eerie matter of some of the ghost rockets going too slowly to be a missile—some were able to tilt, go horizontally, some seemed to be traveling in formations, and none had vapor trails.  On most occasions, they were totally silent and missiles would not be.

On other occasions, witnesses described them as being rocket-shaped.  Some had little wings, some didn’t.  They only appeared for seconds.  They were often accompanied by bizarre cigar-shaped objects that gave off rumbling or hissing noises while traveling very slowly.

If the ghost rockets crashed, it was usually into lakes.  Some witnesses had seen the ghost rockets skimming the surface of the lake water before they dipped below.  Dive teams could find nothing, maybe a few new empty craters in the lake bed and some disturbed aquatic vegetation.

There was one ghost rocket crash that stood out from all the rest.  Something crashed into the lake with a sound as loud as a thunderclap.  It must have been an explosion.  What went into the lake was a gray, rocket-shaped mass with wings.

A committee was organized.  It was actually named The Swedish Ghost Rocket Committee.  They organized a Swedish Military investigation that lasted three weeks.  They could find nothing at the site. There were a few underwater disturbances, but no real clues or evidence.  A head Swedish Air Force officer was certain that observers saw real physical objects, but they must have been constructed of lightweight metal alloys that had the ability to disintegrate almost instantly.

By November of 1948, there was still no clear conclusion about what the ghost rockets really were or their origins.

United States Air Force Europe (USAFE) documented a Top Secret (at the time) paper stating that the ghost rockets could have extraterrestrial origins.  They were put in the unexplained category along with the UFOs that were popping up everywhere during this same time period.

The Swedes had a similar opinion.  According to the Swedish Air Intelligence Service, “these phenomena are obviously the result of higher technical skill than cannot be credited to any presently known culture on earth.”  It was presumed that the objects originated from some previously unknown or unidentified technology, possibly outside of the earth.

Similar ghost rocket reports came out of Greece, near Thessaloniki, via British Army units there.  Reports of ghost rockets also came in from Portugal and Belgium.

Ghost rocket events have somewhat faded from notice, but the consensus of opinion was that “we should not discredit entirely the spectacular theory of extraterrestrial origins, keeping an open mind on the subject.

Sara Marie Hogg is the author of The Scavenger’s Song, a mystery. Please click HERE to find the book on Amazon.