URECAT -> Home

Cette page en français

URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

SUMMER 1915, SULITJEMA, NORDLAND, NORWAY, BJARNE WESTVAND:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

Norwegian ufologist Ole Jonny Braenne provides a report from 1981 saying that in the summer of 1915, in Sulitjelma, Norway, an bell-shaped object came down from the sky in the west and landed behind a hill.

Two humanoids appeared from behind this hill, went towards a road, turned around and approached the witness who was then 6 years old, Bjarne Westvand.

The humanoids stopped, and one of them smiled at the witness. This humanoid had the same height than the child, approximately one meter. It had long undulating hair. Its skin was gray, and its head was large compared to its body. Both humanoids had brown or dark clothes.

The humanoids went behind the hill, and a little later the bell-shaped object rose and was quickly lost of sight in the sky.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. ob1:] OLE JONNY BRAENNE:

Norwegian ufologist Ole Jonny Braenne indicates in a catalogue that in the summer of 1915, in Sulitjelma, Norway, a dark, bell-like object descended from the western sky and landed. Two humanoids appeared from behind the hill where the object landed. They walked toward a road, then turned around and approached the witness, Bjarne Westvand. The humanoids stopped, and one smiled at the witness. The humanoid was as big as the witness, who was six years old at the time (i.e. about 3 feet high). It had long, wavy hair. The skin was grey, and its head was big in comparison to its body. They were dressed in brown/dark coveralls. The humanoids went behind the hill, and shortly afterwards, the bell-like object rose up and disappeared quickly in the sky.

Ole Jonny Braenne indicates that the source is Rapportnytt, 4/1981, pages 3,4.

[Ref. go1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

Godelieve van Overmeire indicates that in the summer of 1915, in Norway, in Sulitjelma, a dark object in the shape of a bell goes down from the sky to the west and lands. Two humanoids appear, coming from the back of the object, during the landing. They go in direction of a road, then return around, and move towards the witness. One of the humanoids stops and smiles to the witness, Bjarne Westvand. The boy, 6 years old at the time, says that the humanoid had the same size that him, i.e. approximately 1 m in height. He had long dark hair, floating in the wind. Its skin was gray and it had a large head compared to its body. The two creatures wore tight-fitting brown dark clothing. They then went away behind the hill and little after the object in the shape of a bell rose and disappeared quickly in the sky.

Godelieve van Overmeire indicates that the source is Rapportnytt, 4/1981, 3, according to the listing by Ole Jonny Braenne.

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Sulitjelma, Norway, in the summer of 1915, at an unknown time, the witness saw a dark bell shaped craft descend and land, apparently behind a nearby hill. Two short humanoids emerged from behind the hill and walked towards the witness, one stopped and smiled at the witness. The humanoids had long wavy dark hair; gray skin and the heads were big in comparison to their body. Both wore dark brown overalls. The humanoids then walked behind the hill and shortly thereafter the bell-shaped craft rose and disappeared.

Albert Rosales indicates that the source is Ole Jonny Braene, Pre-1947 UFO Type incidents in Norway.

[Ref. jb1:] JEROME BEAU:

Jerome Beau indicates that in summer 1915, in Sulitjelma, Norway, a dark object in the shape of a bell came down from the sky of the West and landed. Two humanoids appeared from behind the hill where the object had landed. They went towards a road, then turned around it, and arrived towards the witness. One of the humanoids stopped and smiled at the witness, Bjarne Westvand. The humanoid high as the witness, who is 6 years old, i.e. measuring 1 meter tall. It had long undulated dark hair, gray skin, and a head large compared to its body. They were dressed in brown/dark suits. The humanoids went behind the hill, and little after the object in the shape of a bell rose and disappeared quickly in the sky.

Jérôme Beau indicates that the source is "Rapportnytt, 4/1981, 3."

[Ref. or1:] ODD-GUNNAR ROED:

The Norwegian ufologist writes: "Av saker som tas opp i bladet finner vi en fra Sulitjelma året 1915, der Bjarne Westvand (6) på vei hjem blir vitne til en landing av et klokkeformet fartøy med vesener på høyde med ham selv. Etter å ha ført en buldrende samtale seg i mellom drar vesenene sin kos."

I am not qualified to translate Norwegian. What I was able to understand from the above is given here with no claim of being correct: "A case in the newspaper occurred at Sulitjelma in the year 1915, where Bjarne Westvand (aged 6) was the witness of the landing of a bell-shaped ship along a road with a crew that came towards him. After an inintelligible conversation among themselves, the men went."

[Ref. ud1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that in Mid-1915, in Sulitjelma, Norway, "Dark bell-shaped object descended, landed behind hill. 1m tall beings came from behind hill, smiled at witness. Long dark wavy hair, gray skin, large heads, wore dark brown coveralls. UFO rose as left."

And: "Close encounter with a an unidentified craft and its occupants. One domed disc was observed by one male witness (Westvand). A dwarf, wearing a brown suit, was seen."

The source is indicated as "Hall, Richard H., From Airships to Arnold: A Preliminary Catalogue of UFO Reports in the Early 20th Century (1900-1946), UFO Research Coalition, Fairfax, 2000, ISBN:1-928957-01-3".

[Ref. js1:] JEAN SIDER:

The author indicates that in the summer of 1915 in Sulitjelma, Norway, the witness sees a device like shaped black bell coming down from the sky and apparently landing behind a nearby hill.

Two small humanoids emerge from this hill and walk to the witness. They have long curly black hair, gray skin, big head compared to their body, and they are both wearing a brown combination.

One stopped and smiled at the witness, who did the same. Then the two creatures returned where they came from and disappeared behind the hill. Shortly afterwards the bell-shaped craft goes back up into the sky and disappears.

Jean Sider indicates that the source is "Rosales, selon Ole Jonny Braene, Pre-1947 UFO Type incidents in Norway, self-published, 1992."

He comments that the Norwegian researcher Ole Jonny Braene is known for his reliability, and that the case could actually hide a "missing time, a CE4" because "otherwise it would have served no purpose."

Points to consider:

The single witness was only six years old when the alleged event took place, and it seems that the report surfaced quite late, in 1981. It is not possible to think of a confusion with a helicopter, insofar as there were no helicopter in 1915. It is neither possible, given the available information, to exclude a hoax. On another side, no particular element or investigation data is available to formally justify or refute that it is a hoax, which leaves a case of high apparent strangeness, but of little reliability and little credibility.

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Extraterrestrial visitors or hoax. Insufficient data.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? Bulletin Rapportnytt, Norway, 4, pp 3-4, 1981.
• [ob1] * "Pre-1947 UFO Type incidents in Norway", by Ole Jonny Braene, self-published, 1992.
• [ob1] * "Some Pre-1947 UFO-type incidents in Norway", compiled by Ole Jonny Braenne, available at the UFO Norge ufology website, Norway, circa 2006, at www.ufo.no/?q=metaparser.php&aar=english
• [ob1] * "UFO-Observasjoner i Norge 1563-1946", compiled by Ole Jonny Braenne, available at the UFO Norge ufology website, Norway, circa 2006, at www.ufo.no/index.php?q=metaparser.php&aar=1993spesial
• [go1] * "Chronologie OVNI", web page compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 1999, at users.skynet.be/sky84985/chron6.html
• [---] ? "From Airships to Arnold: A Preliminary Catalogue of UFO Reports in the Early 20th Century (1900-1946)", by Richard Hall, UFO Research Coalition, USA, 2000.
• [ar1] * "1910-1919 Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2001, at www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1910.shtml
• [jb1] * "1915", web page compiled by Jérôme Beau, France, circa 2007, at www.rr0.org/data/1915 et www.rr0.org/1915.html
• [or1] * "UFO-Spesialhefte 1994: Norske Naerkontakter av 3. Grad" ("UFO special bulletin 1994: close encounters of the third kind in Norway"), article by Odd-Gunnar Røed, at www.ufo.no/index.php?q=oldarticle.php&year=98&name=kontakter98-1.html
• [ud1] * "In Mid-1915 - Sulitjelma, Norway", web page by the UFOdna website, circa 2006, at www.thecid.com/ufo/uf13/uf7/137668.htm
• [js1] * "Les 'Extraterrestres' Avant les Soucoupes Volantes", book by Jean Sider, JMG publisher, France, pp 212-213, 2007.

Document history:

Authoring

Changes history

Feedback  |  Top  |  Back  |  Forward  |  Map  |  List |  Home

This page was last updated on March 2, 2013