?

1989 September (late), Voronezh, CE2 444


    “Another witness, M. N. Polyakov, a factory worker, reported one of the most remarkable episodes in the whole series. His statement runs this way:

    “At the end of September we were driving to the south- ern suburb of Voronezh. All of a sudden our head- lights went out. The radio died out in the middle of a song. The engine died, too. The car coasted, giving us a chance to get on the shoulder of the road. We tried to turn the ignition key back and forth in vain. The driver wanted to have a smoke, but the car lighter did not work. He took out some matches, but they would not ignite. The driver threw away his cigarette in frustration and he went out to take a look under the hood. And then I heard his voice, with a tone of intense surprise: “Look, look, quick!”
    He stood there with his arm outstretched, pointing toward the sky behind the car. I turned around and saw a pinkish-yellow sphere shining dimly above the road about three hundred feet away. It was hard to tell its size because of the distance, but I am certain that its diameter was over thirty feet. At the bottom of the sphere there was a protuberance that reminded me of a ball-shaped growth on a tree. Suddenly a light appeared from it, not very bright, trembling and flickering. The beam came down and slowly moved along the ground toward us. It seemed strange that the surface touched by the ray was full of bluish spar- kles, and everything was quivering as if we were in a haze on a hot day. Once in a while there was a blind- ing flash that was reflected by the surface. When the beam approached the car I experienced an unpleasant fear. I felt constrained. I did not want to move or to do anything. My good mood disappeared without a trace.
    The ray moved over to the car hood. The engine started to smoke the way it does when the radiator is overheated. There was a feeling of something slipping in. The car moved and something appeared on the driver’s seat. I sensed an alien presence; I felt that I could stretch my arm and touch the invisible being. And although my brain and my willpower ordered my hand to touch the unpleasant thing, I could not move my arm. What was it? Fear? Was I like a rabbit hypnotized by a cobra?
    Then the ray moved away. Then I could breathe easier. For several seconds it was dark and quiet, and then, great! The dashboard lit up! The radio came back on as if nothing had happened. The driver turned on the engine.
    Now everything was back to normal. My fingers were tingling as they do during a cramp. The driver was silent, but I was dying of curiosity. “What could all this mean?” I asked him.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “About the ball.”
    “What ball?”
    “The one above us, when we stopped.”
    “Did we stop?” He seemed surprised.
    Now it was my turn to be surprised. Maybe I should go to a doctor, I thought. Maybe I am a little tired? Or maybe I just fell asleep? We approached the street- car stop. I got on, and when I reached for the handle there was a powerful spark between my fingers and the metal. I felt a strong and unpleasant electric shock.
    I came home and when I put the key into the key- hole I got another powerful shock. All night long I had unusual dreams. I woke up with a headache. And then exactly at noon I suddenly felt fine.
    I am fifty-six years old and nothing unusual has ever happened to me. I am almost perfectly healthy, and I had no intention of telling that story to the press: people might think that I am a lunatic. But my friends convinced me.”

    The author of the article, Valery Milyutin, con- cluded with the opinion of O. V. Stolyarov, depart- ment head at the newspaper Kommuna, who has studied such anomalous phenomena for several years:

    “The celebrated Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkov- sky admitted the possibility that space and time were multidimensional. Moreover, he thought that ethereal beings could live in a parallel dimension to ours. Why don’t we see them? Perhaps one of the most convinc- ing answers has been offered by one of the leading authorities on this issue, an Academician of the Sibe- rian Branch of the USSR Academy of Medical Sci- ences, Vlail P. Kaznacheyev. He is convinced that ancient people were capable of sensing one another at huge distances. Then this ability was lost by most peo- ple. Maybe that is why some people see humanoid beings and others do not.”

    We spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the reality of the observations at Voronezh. We probed, we argued, we debated. As the next chapter shows, our conversations with the Voronezh collective only deepened the sense of mystery attached to the sightings.”

- UFO Chronicles in the Soviet Union p. 50-52