The Rockets of 1946
In the summer of 1946, people across Sweden reported fast, rocket-like objects streaking through the sky. One appeared to crash into a lake.
What was reported
Between May and December 1946, nearly 2,000 reports came in from Sweden, and more from Norway and Finland, of objects like rockets or missiles crossing the sky, often silently, sometimes with a fiery tail. The press called them 'ghost rockets'.
On 19 July 1946, witnesses at Lake Kölmjärv in northern Sweden said an object dived into the lake. The Swedish military searched the lake bed but found nothing. Fears grew that the Soviet Union was testing captured German rockets.
Explanations offered
A Swedish military investigation concluded that most reports were meteors, aircraft or imagination, but a small number could not be explained. No evidence of Soviet tests was ever found. The wave helped set the stage for the 'flying saucer' reports in America the following year.
- When
- Summer 1946
- Where
- Lake Kölmjärv, Norrbotten, and across Sweden
- Witnesses
- Thousands of people across Scandinavia
- Status
- Unexplained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.