Infrasound and a Cigar-Shaped UFO, Russia, 1978

 This is an older case involving a cigar-shaped UFO accompanied by a bright light and an apparent field of infrasound. The craft appears in a forest clearing in Russia before lifting up a few meters and shooting off into space, leaving its witness, N.F. Kusov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, stunned and terrified. I posted this before but I had to restructure some parts, nothing to detract from the case, I ensure--it's nothing, no big mystery.

This case was originally studied by well-known Soviet researcher Felix Ziegel. Ziegel was a Doctor of Science and a docent of Cosmology at the Moscow Aviation Institute. He was the co-founder of the first officially approved Soviet UFO research group, and became an overnight sensation in 1967 when he appeared on television detailing an extensive report of of UFO sightings in the USSR. He invited viewers and colleagues to send their first hand observations and sightings to him, and subsequently received a barrage of letters containing UFO reports. The following, later published in UFOZONE Russia quoting Ziegel, was one of them.

Strokino, Kaza, Russia, May 1978

Doctor of technical sciences, N.F. Kusov was at his dacha finishing a manuscript when he noticed a strange light coming from behind some trees outside. He decided to go out and investigate, where he saw a cigar-shaped object about eight meters long sitting on the ground in a clearing at a 45-degree angle. This object was about 100 feet away from the original light source, and emanated a beautiful orange light of its own, shining with different "tints" of color. Kusov approached this object, but when he got within about 15 feet of it, he felt extreme discomfort in his entire body. He realized was being enveloped by a low frequency (infrasound) field, estimated to be around 7-10 hertz. At high volumes, frequencies in this range can cause extreme discomfort and even illness. According to this study, Infrasound, human health, and adaptation: an integrative overview of recondite hazards in a complex environment, 

"Bruel and Olesen (1973) found that artificial generation of infrasound around 12 Hz within the 85–110 db range elicited ill-feelings within a few seconds in several people. While infrasound pressures between 115 and 120 db generated between 1 and 20 Hz did not produce visual anomalies during routine test-taking behaviors, there was a 30–40 % increase in reaction time as well as the sensation of lethargy (Evans and Tempest 1972). Application of whole-body vibrations from vertically applied sinusoidal variations displays maximum transmissibility around 5–6 Hz with a range between about 3 and 7 Hz (Stephens 1969). The frequency band with specific effects can be quite narrow. For example, sensations reported as body movements occurred in about one-third of volunteers exposed to 5–10 Hz vibrations, whereas visual effects were more prominent at 12, 14, and 19 Hz. Tingling sensations were evident around 32 Hz."

Kusov took several steps back from the object, and the discomfort passed. He attempted to approach the object a second time, but suffered the same ill effects. He noticed that the sunlight seemed to be absorbed into the surface of the object, creating a visual effect Kusov likened to a "black hole". 

Kusov walked back to the dacha, shaken by what he had seen, but he couldn't fight the urge to run back to the object, which was still sitting on the ground in the clearing. He still could not approach this craft due to the low frequency field surrounding it. The object then lifted about 2-3 meters off the ground, then shot upwards into the sky at a high speed. Kusov did not feel any shockwave or wind from this object's liftoff. He stood there in shock for several minutes, then walked back to the dacha. Once inside, he looked at his wristwatch and was stunned to find that five hours had passed--he thought he had only been outside for about a half an hour.

Missing time is a common occurence in high-strangeness reports, but what could have been the cause of this 5 hour loss for Kusov? It is possible that certain qualities present in the field surrounding the object may have produced an altered state in Kusov resulting in perceptive time dilation. It is also possible that an abduction did occur, but Kusov either refused to recall it or did not remember it at all (perhaps a screen memory was imparted over the actual abduction, a technique discussed in another thread I wrote about a MILAB). Although there may have been extraterrestrial technology at play, this event may also have been the result of a Military Abduction.

Infrasound has been studied and found to produce sensations of paranoia and fear in humans. Here is a video detailing the effects, geared towards the paranormal. Infrasound cannot be used as a "one-size-fits-all" explanation debunking all paranormal or high-strangeness claims, as there are many that simply cannot be reproduced with this effect. However, it may be a cause in certain specific cases. Hear the sound (if you dare) at 4:50.


From this article, Infrasound linked to spooky effects - NBC News - NBC News

Sept. 7, 2003, 11:41 AM EDT / Source: The Associated Press Mysteriously snuffed out candles, weird sensations and shivers down the spine may not be due to the presence of ghosts in haunted houses but to very low frequency sound that is inaudible to humans. British scientists have shown in a controlled experiment that the extreme bass sound known as infrasound produces a range of bizarre effects in people including anxiety, extreme sorrow and chills — supporting popular suggestions of a link between infrasound and strange sensations. “NORMALLY YOU can’t hear it,” Richard Lord, an acoustic scientist at the National Physical Laboratory in England who worked on the project, said Monday. Lord and his colleagues, who produced infrasound with a 23-foot (7-meter) pipe and tested its impact on 750 people at a concert, said infrasound is also generated by natural phenomena. “Some scientists have suggested that this level of sound may be present at some allegedly haunted sites and so cause people to have odd sensations that they attribute to a ghost — our findings support these ideas,” said Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in southern England.

Now, imagine these frequencies directed at specific targets at high volumes. Do extraterrestrial or interdimensional technologies produce infrasound? It's possible. Sensations of being enveloped in a low frequency are often reported in high-strangeness and abduction cases. Could militaries around this world have an arsenal of directed infrasound technology, possibly utilized in MKUltra type experiments and MILABs? Maybe so.

Without being able to further interview this witness, and without knowing any more about what happened in those five lost hours, this case will probably remain an unsolved mystery. That said, it's an interesting example of an effect not uncommon in UFO reports, and warrants further study. Perhaps connections can be made to other cases similar to this one. 

Meanwhile, Happy 2023 to everyone, I hope you enjoyed this case and I wish you all the best this year.

a reply to: wavelength

And a happy 2023 New Year to you too wavelength and everyone else here on ATS.

So, a few questions that need to be answered, jump out at me.

1. A dacha is a cottage, so I'm assuming he was heating it with a wood burning fire? Could hallucinogenic gases be at play here?

2. He was writing a manuscript - writers sometimes get lost in their works and don't sleep - sleep deprivation = hallucinations. Also he mentions sunlight, so was it early morning, did he stay up all night writing?

3. Time of day? He mentions sunlight, so could sunlight be somehow a part of the light play outside? Also was he gazing into the fire for long periods of time, this may be explained as 'afterimage' and a more severe case is known as Palinopsia -

Palinopsia

Negative and positive afterimages are a natural part of human vision. But rarely, an underlying condition causes people to see more afterimages or similar visual sensations.

These are part of a group of symptoms called palinopsia. There are two types: Hallucinatory and illusory palinopsia.

People with palinopsia can experience intense positive afterimages in response to light or movement. These images tend to last much longer than normal afterimages.

If you start to notice more intense, longer lasting afterimages, schedule an appointment with an eye doctor.

www.allaboutvision.com...

4. Kusov guessed that the infrasound radiation was low level but we really don't know the levels it may have been. Infrared waves are part of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum and include heat inducing properties, such as in heating the brain which may cause issues. There is so much more to learn about exposure and what constitutes a safe low level. We may be able to debunk the 'black hole' he witnessed as the point where the light was being collected(?) perhaps in a military night vision experiment?

Interesting uses for infrared -

Note the heaters, especially the infrared heaters that you use at home, come under the category of infrared waves as they generate thermal energy. They are extensively used in law enforcement, scientific, industrial, medical applications, and the military. Along with this, these waves are used massively for civilian and military applications such as surveillance, target acquisition, homing, tracking, and night vision.

unacademy.com...

Check out this thread, it has a cigar-shaped military sighting in Tehran in 1976, many years after this Russian sighting. High strangeness similarities, indeed.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I sure would like to know basic stuff like actual location, and viewing azimuth to the apparition. And whenever I see a range estimate to a blob of light at night [?], I cringe.

a reply to: JimOberg

Yeah I know, what did he have, a 100' measuring stick? Could be sun dogs, etc. The blob's relationship to the cigar-shaped object is difficult to establish.
Interestingly, on satellite maps, Strokino, Russia shows up as a tiny patch of land with some type of structure on the southwest end of it. It says Kaza in the OP but this is a typo, it's supposed to say Kazan. I think there is an error in the original report (perhaps lost in translation), as Strokino and Kazan are quite a distance apart. One possibility is that Kusov lived in Kazan but was visiting his dacha in Strokino.
Here's "Strokino" on Google Earth:


If anyone is doubting the existence of Kusov at this point (and I myself questioned it enough to dig this up), here is a paper citing N.F. Kusov in some of his late 1970s/early 1980s works several times (you can find it within the following document using your browser's "find" tool and type in Kusov):
Kusov Referenced Here
He appeared to study sciences pertaining to mining and coal. One of his works referenced in the above link is titled "Kusov, N. F., and Germanovich, L. N., 1981, On the model of inhomogeneous rock with internal stresses
and solution of the blast problem for this model, in Scientific Communication of the Scotchinsky
Research Institute of Mining, No. 197, pp. 106 - 112 (in Russian)."

a reply to: quintessentone

All excellent questions. I will get back to you in a bit on some of these, I'm heading to lunch. You may be right about the possibility of sleep deprivation being a possible factor; even the brightest minds can get a little loopy when working too hard, and sleeping too little.

a reply to: wavelength

Sure and I'll add just one more 'what if'.

Russian cloaking tech today - could the tech have started in the late 60's perhaps as a coating that could be brushed on equipment (black hole on suspected cigar shaped craft)? This tech had to have started somewhere, some time.

A Russian defense company has created a “cloak,” which it says can make electronic objects invisible to enemy radar. The aim of the fiber technology, which is used in the cloak, is to make weapons invisible to prying eyes and detection systems.

The St. Petersburg-based company Roselectronics has come up with the invention and says it can make weapons that use thermal, infrared, and electromagnetic radar in targeting invisible.

“The main idea of the development is to create coverage that reduces radar visibility of the object both on the visible and microwave spectrums,” Georgy Medovnikov from Roselectronics told Ruptly, RT’s video agency.

www.silverdoctors.com...

Infrasound has been on my radar since first learning of its existence. Military troops break cadence when crossing bridges, and a documentary I once watched suggested it was infrasound that caused the Walls of Jericho to come tumbling down, from marching in cadence and blowing horns.

Infrasound is radiated by a variety of geophysical processes including earthquakes, severe weather, volcanic activity, geomagnetic activity, ocean waves, avalanches, turbulence aloft, and meteors.
[psl.noaa.gov...]

The 'Hum" heard around the world garnered a lot of attention, and occasionally the source was reported to be off-balance machinery in nearby factories.

December 12, 2013 - Infrasound sources from the natural environment originate from winds, microbaroms, geomagnetic activity, and microseisms and can propagate for millions of meters. Cultural sources originate from air moving through duct systems within buildings, large machinery, and more recently, wind turbines.
[link.springer.com...]

And here's a good PDF

Recent interest in the potential adverse human health effects of infrasound (generally inaudible sound with a
frequency of

a reply to: nugget1

Here ya go……a free downloadable PDF book on the subject

Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear

👽

originally posted by: quintessentone
1. A dacha is a cottage, so I'm assuming he was heating it with a wood burning fire? Could hallucinogenic gases be at play here?

2. He was writing a manuscript - writers sometimes get lost in their works and don't sleep - sleep deprivation = hallucinations. Also he mentions sunlight, so was it early morning, did he stay up all night writing?

3. Time of day? He mentions sunlight, so could sunlight be somehow a part of the light play outside? Also was he gazing into the fire for long periods of time, this may be explained as 'afterimage' and a more severe case is known as Palinopsia -

4. Kusov guessed that the infrasound radiation was low level but we really don't know the levels it may have been. Infrared waves are part of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum and include heat inducing properties, such as in heating the brain which may cause issues. There is so much more to learn about exposure and what constitutes a safe low level. We may be able to debunk the 'black hole' he witnessed as the point where the light was being collected(?) perhaps in a military night vision experiment?

I've snipped your post down to just the questions for the sake of space.

1. Hard to say. The areas in question in Russia can still get a little chilly in May, but usually not cold. Just chilly enough that a fire would feel nice. I don't know enough about the byproducts of fireplace burning to have a definitive answer as to whether or not this may have been a factor. I do know that with carbon monoxide, the lack of oxygen could theoretically cause hallucinations, but loss of consciousness would most likely occur very quickly at that point with high concentrations of CO. He did go outside, however, thus removing himself from the hypothetical CO.
It's also possible that the 5-hour time loss may be explained by Kusov passing out (or, simply, falling asleep) at some point. In this case, the whole thing may have been a dream, which, for the most part, answers your second question (2).

2. See above.

3. Could be a factor. Palinopsia combined with lack of sleep could produce a slurry of visual effects. This doesn't explain the infrasound and physical sensations Kusov perceived, but it may explain the lights.

4. Yes, infrared can cause a number of interesting effects in humans, perhaps explaining certain elements of some UAP/high-strangeness cases, but it's hard to say if it was involved in this one--his descriptions of the behavior of the lights, both the "blob" and the orange glow from the cigar-shaped object, were a bit vague. If it was a military experiment, the use of infrared cannot be ruled out at this point.
The infrasound Kusov perceived is very likely, however, as the symptoms he described when approaching the object in his original report (extreme internal discomfort) align with sensations reported in infrasound experiments conducted in the past, particularly the ones exposing humans to high pressure waves of about 7 to 10 hz.

a reply to: nugget1
The hum has always interested me. I've lived in many different places and I've heard it only in a few of those places, mostly in flatter areas with lots of farms.

There have been tons of studies done on the effects of infrasound on humans and animals, and it has been found to be surprisingly effective for quite a few psychoacoustic and other applications. Not quite related, but infrasound first got on my "radar" quite some time ago when I was introduced to the Dyatlov Pass Incident.
Dyatlovpass.com Theories

Though the science sounds incredible, Eichar believes it is the only logical explanation for the situation in which the bodies were found. Although Dead Mountain is so remote and inaccessible that the weather phenomenon cannot be directly observed there in the winter, it has been observed in similarly-shaped locations, including the rock of Gibraltar and an array of other peaks. In the right conditions, a flow of wind can be directed in such a way that it creates a vortex. These vortices are created in sequences by the moving air, and travel away in a fan shape. With sufficiently high winds and the correct angles, these vortices of wind could form powerful tornadoes, with the potential to emit large amounts of infra-sound, as well as cause damage by themselves. Eichar's theory supposes that the Dyatlov hikers' tent was directly downwind from the peak of the mountain, and far enough away that the whirling winds themselves did not strike the tent. But they would have been close enough for the effects to be felt – and heard.

There are more theories on that website if you're interested in that particular historic mystery. Recent research has pointed to a special type of avalanche which may have been responsible for the deaths, but it remains ultimately unsolved. The infrasound theory certainly piqued my interest in the beginning.

a reply to: Ophiuchus1
Thanks for the book!

a reply to: wavelength
My favorite theory on the Hum is underground boring.

You don't hear much about Elon Musk's boring company, but last June he received approval to further expand his underground tunnel network in Las Vegas. He wants to begin in Texas, too.
San Bernardino County is moving forward with plans to link the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink station to Ontario Airport via a nearly 4-mile underground tunnel.

I heard the Hum 3/4 years ago and it did sound like large equipment could be grating against something.


Ophiuchus1 Thank you for the link! It's one I hadn't seen before, so I've got some reading to do!