One of the few Swedish daytime sightings in 1992 occurred in
Brandstorp, south of Hjo, on the 20th of June. It was reported to
UFO-Sweden the same day. Three days later Clas Svahn and
Håkan Blomqvist visited the village and interviewed the
witnesses.
Brandstorp is a small place between Hjo and Jönköping,
on the shores of Lake Vättern, Sweden's second-largest lake.
We stop near a two-storeyed house on the edge of the village. It is one of those many hot summer days, last summer. It is about one hour before
noon and the sun is high in the clear, blue sky. Conditions are
exactly the same as three days ago. Sighting conditions are
perfect.
We meet Hans and Seija Augustsson in the garden behind their
house. They tell us about their experience in a low voice, without a
lot of fuss. It is not the object itself that puzzles them most, but the
sound. That strange, undefinable sound.
At the marina
This is what happened. It was almost exactly 11 a.m. on June 20.
The sun shone from a clear and blue sky. It was +20 degrees Celsius
and Lake Vättern was as smooth as a mirror. Hans and Seija
Augustsson had some relatives staying with them. There were five
of them in all. They walked towards the marina, from which you can see the island of Visingsö. The marina is protected by a breakwater and behind it is a thick, green forest.
As they reached the water, Hans and two other men (a cousin and
Hans' brother-in-law), walked down to the area where boats are
overhauled. That particular part of the pier is parallel to the edge of
the forest. The three men stood only a few meters from the nearest
tree.
Seija and the cousin's wife continued walking towards the
breakwater, where they stopped and chatted.
- While we were walking and talking, I happened to look up at a
point just over the treetops, Hans tells us. Then I saw something
small and black coming towards us. At first, I thought it was a small
black bird. That thought had just about entered my mind when I
saw that it was an object flying at an incredible speed. I called out
to the others: "Look up there, what is that?"
The instance Hans called out, the object was already above the lake.
It happened very quickly and Hans never got round to using his
binoculars, which he carried in his hand.
- By the time everyone was looking up, the object had become a
small, black dot in the distance. I observed it for 5 or 6 seconds, at
the most. We all heard the sound, SWISH, it said. It wasn't really
the sound of an engine, it was just a suction, as if something had
passed at a great speed.
On the other side of the marina, Seija and the other woman heard
Hans calling out.
- We stood on the pier, 15-20 meters away from them. We didn't
know what the men were talking about, we couldn't hear each
other. Then I heard a sound, and so did my friend, but we didn't
react to it. It was a sound you hear when you dream about space, a
metallic, cosmic sound. That's what made me react. What's this
coming, I thought. I have never heard that sound before.
- It was a singing, whistling, or rather whining sound. It was a
sound that gave you an impression of speed and strength, but it
wasn't loud. There is no name for it, in my opinion.
- Then I saw the men running around and waving their arms. They
told us what they had seen. I said: "We heard the sound,
clearly".
Hans Augustsson:
- What is stuck in my mind is the moment when I saw the object
above the treetops. I could see something that looked like wings
and something like a cockpit. The plane was completely black. It
was so small that I didn't react until it was above the lake. It came
from above, made a turn and continued in a straight, northerly
direction.
- I saw the cockpit very clearly. The plane continued in line with
the horizon. As we saw it diagonally from behind I thought it
resembled a delta-winged aircraft. We got no chance to see much
more of it before it was gone. It flew straight towards Karlsborg.
When I called out "Look up there", and everyone looked up - it was
gone, and that's when the sound came.
CS: Can you compare the sound with anything else you have
heard?
HA: It was a whining sound, combined with a low engine noise of
some kind, but it was so soft and quiet. There was power in it,
however.
CS: Could you see any exhaust trail?
HA: No, nothing. We thought it was an airplane, but it was too small.
Then it was the speed. I had time to think "What is this?", before it
became a dot, kilometres away. At that speed, there should have
been a tremendous roar, had it been a jet. There was just this soft,
swishing sound.
CS: Could it have been a model of some kind?
HA: Not at that speed.
Completely black
CS: Perhaps it was flying at a very low altitude?
HA: No, no, no, not a chance. You could tell that it was a solid flying
object. It wasn't big. It flew incredibly fast and was completely
black. You didn't grasp the rate of speed until afterwards.
CS: As it turned, did it behave like an airplane, did it turn over on
its side?
HA: It was flying straight ahead. That's how I perceived it. It never
turned over on its side. It was halfway between the shores of Lake
Vättern. It flew at a comparatively low altitude. It must have
been a metallic object and so it must have been visible on radar,
even at that speed. In four or five seconds it was just a dot on the
horizon.
CS: If you were to measure it with your fingers on your
outstretched arm, how big would it be?
HA: Two centimeters.
A remote-controlled plane?
CS: Big enough to be clearly visible?
HA: Oh, yes. Both of us got a good look at it. If I had looked through
my binoculars immediately, I would have been able to see it for a
few seconds. On the other hand, perhaps I would have lost sight of
it altogether. The funny thing was that I expected a real roar from a
jet aircraft afterwards. But no, there was just that sound,
"schoouopp". I'll never forget that sound.
UFO-Sweden contacted the duty officer at the F6 air force wing at
Karlsborg the same day as the observation took place, and the
information department of the Air Staff in Stockholm the next day.
Both stated that no military activity had taken place in that area.
The only airborne aircraft on that day was on a mission over the
Baltic.
What did the five people see and hear at the marina? It is difficult to tell. The object itself was real enough and the sound left no doubt that something real had flown by. Although the object was relatively small, the beautiful weather made it easy for Augustsson and his relative to see it. For the moment, we can't get any further. "A remote-controlled airplane" was the suggestion made by the Air Staff. The theory remains to be proven.
Another witness
Another witness came to our attention. She had heard a similar
sound in the afternoon of the same day, between 16.00 and 17.00
hrs. The woman, who wishes to remainincognito, lives in Hjo and
gives the following description of the incident:
- I was at work when I heard a strange sound from above the
house. My immediate reaction was that a flying saucer had passed
over the roof. It sounded exactly as I had imagined such a thing
would sound like - an eerie, cosmic sound.
The woman rushed out to see what it was, but there was nothing to
observe. Of course, it's impossible to say if there is any connection
between these two reports, if the sound could have been made by
the same object 4-5 hours later. In any case, the Brandstorp
incident must be labeled a UFO.
Source: UFO-Aktuellt, issue 3 and 4/1992
Translation: Christina Gustafsson