Report of 'Ghost Rocket' Sighting — Nogsta, Sweden, August 1946

On August 12, 1946, Gustaf Kernehed of the firm Elektro-Radio wrote to the Swedish Defence Staff (Försvarsstaben) in Uppsala to report a sighting of a 'ghost rocket' (spökraket). Kernehed, accompanied by a companion, observed the object at 20:50 hours while at a location called Nogsta in Odensvi parish, just over a mile outside of Köping. The object was traveling from south to north at an estimated altitude of 50 to 100 meters. Kernehed described the object as a fireball with a tail of fire and sparks, noting that it made no sound. As the object passed in front of them, the tail of fire and sparks suddenly ceased, and the trajectory of the object dropped rapidly, leading the witnesses to believe it had crashed nearby, though their view was obscured by a wooded hill. Kernehed further reported that acquaintances in Köping had observed a similar projectile with the same trajectory five minutes earlier. Based on the distance and time, he estimated the object's speed at 120 km/h, noting that the speed decreased rapidly after the 'tail' extinguished. Kernehed provided this information in the hope that it would contribute to the clarification of these phenomena.