This was taken directly from a book called Mystery, Intrigue and Suspense (Chancellor Press, 1992). I think it's a compilation of previously published titles. I know the unsolved crime chapter has already been published in The World's Greatest Unsolved Crimes. The rest may have been published elsewhere.
Anyway, this is one I haven't been able to find much info about anywhere else. Maybe the whole thing was one big hoax — a lot of the cases in this book have proven to be. It's interesting nevertheless. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.
The following text is copyright Chancellor Press and I don't really have permission to quote it, but what the heck. Fair Dealings/Fair Use is a thing.
The wreck of a spaceship from another planet is in orbit around the Earth — and could contain the bodies of alien beings. That was the astonishing claim of Russian scientists that made front-page news in 1979.
Top Soviet astrophysicist Professor Sergei Boshich revealed that scientists first spotted wreckage floating 1,240 miles above Earth in the 1960s. They identified 10 pieces of debris, two of them measuring 100ft across, in slightly different orbits, and fed their findings into a sophisticated computer, to trace the age of the wreckage.
"We found they all originated in the same spot on the same day — December 18, 1955. Obviously there had been a powerful explosion." Man's first rocket went up in 1957.
Another top Russian astrophysics researcher, Professor Aleksandr Kazantsev, said the two large pieces of debris gave clues about the shape and size of the craft. "We believe it was at least 200 feet long and 100 feet wide. It had small domes housing telescopes, saucer antennae for communications, and portholes.
"Its size would suggest several floors, possibly five. We believe that alien bodies will still be on board."
Moscow physicist Dr Vladimir Azhazha ruled out suggestions that the debris could be fragments of a meteor. "Meteors do not have orbits," he said. "They plummet aimlessly, hurtling erratically through space. And they do not explode spontaneously.
"All the evidence we have gathered over the past decade points to one thing — a crippled alien craft. It must hold secrets we have not even dreamed of."
Russian geologist Professor Aleksei Zolotov, a specialist in explosions, added: "The wreckage cannot be from an Earth spaceship — the explosion happened two years before we launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik I.
"A rescue mission should be launched. The vessel, or what is left of it, should be reassembled here on Earth. The benefits to mankind could be stupendous."
Leading American scientists were at first stunned, then excited by the revelations. Dr Henry Monteith, a physicist working on top secret nuclear research at the Sancia Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said the evidence warranted further investigation.
"It certainly sounds like a solid study by the Russians," he added. "It's very exciting — we could even send up a space shuttle. If it is an alien spacecraft, it would be the find of the century. It would conclusively prove the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe."
Dr Myran Malkin, director of the NASA Space Shuttle office of space technology, said: "We would consider a joint salvage attempt if the Russians approached us."
And nuclear physicist Stanton Friendman said: "If we retrieved the fragments, there's a chance we could put the pieces back together."
The British reaction was more cautious. Dr Desmond King-Hele, a space researcher at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, Hants, said: "There are more than 4,000 pieces of wreckage orbiting the Earth. Each has a catalogue number to identify it. We would like to know the catalogue number of this wreck. It is possible to date wreckage after a considerable number of observations.
"Like the Americans, we would be interested to look at this if the Russians make the information available."
American physicist William Corliss recalled an article written by astronomer John Bagby in the US Magazine Icarus in 1969 — a time when government agencies had just decreed that UFOs don't exist.
He wrote that ten moonlets were orbiting the Earth after breaking off from a larger parent body. And he traced the date of disintegration — December 18, 1955.
"Bagby could not explain the explosion," Corliss said. "He was only interested in proving that the objects were out there, and dismissed them as natural phenomena. It seemed the safest thing to do at that time..."
Other UFOs have successfully negotiated the Earth's atmosphere, only to crash on to the surface of the planet, according to several American researchers. But proving their claims is virtually impossible, they say, because governments have kept all the incidents secret.
So there you have it.
And because it's been a while, here is my UFO, from way back in 2005? I think. It was some years ago.
This was during daylight, by the way. But with the naked eye, it looked like a dark cube. I only got this awesome view with my binoculars.
UPDATE 08/06/13
Seems like it was a load of hooey. I've found something by James Oberg on ATS. It seems like this one is connected to the old Black Knight story:
However impressive these assertions may sound, Western UFO experts have had experiences with earlier wild and unsubstantiated claims from the same people. Zolotov, well-known champion of the "spaceship theory" of 1908 Tunguska explosion (a theory almost universally rejected by practising Russia space scientists, who are not quoted in the National Enquirer), is also a devotee of body auras and of faith healing. Kazantsev is one of the original "ancient astronaut" proponents, well known for his attempts to prove "scientifically" that all the biblical concepts of God were actually based on human misinterpretations of visits from alien cosmonauts. Azhazha has claimed that the American moonship Apollo 13 was deliberately zapped by UFOs to prevent its setting off a nuclear bomb on the moon. All three men are also well known for their eagerness to endorse any wild UFO claims. Their credibility among informed observers is not measurably different from zero.
Comment from old blog:
eruntalon said,
12 Nov 2012 at 15:24
I just read your post on the alien wreckage orbiting earth after doing a google search on the subject. I found an old article in a magazine called People, published in Australia in 1985. Almost word for word the information was the same. Funny how the first link I found related to the topic brought me to a post about the same information as it appeared in the article I read.