Ukraine ufologist Anton Anfalov reportedly communicated that in the Northern Demerdzhi Mountain, Crimea, Ukraine, in June 1978, at 00:30 a.m., a local teenager, Andrey, from the nearby town of Alushta, had climbed to the top of Mount Demerdzhi and had camped there to spend the night.
During that night, a bright light pointed directly at his face suddenly awakened him.
He opened his eyes and the outlines of several human-shaped figures, who had domed-shaped heads connected directly to their shoulders. Their faces were not visible or were absent. Clearly visible was their large collars that came down to their breasts.
The humanoids were apparently staring at Andrey, who was paralyzed. Everything was brightly lit around him.
Andrey felt no fear or any other emotions during the encounter. He soon fell asleep and could not remember anything else.
Basic information table:
Case number:
URECAT-001038
Date of event:
June 1978
Earliest report of event:
2007?
Delay of report:
Day, 3 decades?
Witness reported via:
Not known.
First alleged record by:
Local ufologist Anton Anfalov.
First certain record by:
Ufology catalogue Rosales.
First alleged record type:
Local ufologist.
First certain record type:
Ufology catalogue.
This file created on:
December 9, 2011
This file last updated on:
December 9, 2011
Country of event:
Ukraine
State/Department:
Crimea
Type of location:
Mountain top, camping.
Lighting conditions:
Night
UFO observed:
No
UFO arrival observed:
N/A
UFO departure observed:
N/A
UFO/Entity Relation:
None
Witnesses numbers:
1
Witnesses ages:
Not reported. Teenager.
Witnesses types:
Not reported. Local teenager.
Photograph(s):
No.
Witnesses drawing:
No.
Witnesses-approved drawing:
No.
Number of entities:
Several
Type of entities:
Humanoid
Entities height:
Not reported
Entities outfit type:
Not reported. Large collars down to the breasts.
Entities outfit color:
Not reported.
Entities skin color:
Not reported.
Entities body:
Not reported.
Entities head:
Domed-shaped heads connected directly to the shoulders, face not visible or missing.
Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Northern Demerdzhi Mountain, Crimea, Ukraine, on June 1978, at 0030 a.m., a local teenager, Andrey from the nearby town of Alushta had climbed to the top of Mount Demerdzhi and had camped there to spend the night. During the night a bright light pointed directly at his face suddenly awakened him. He opened his eyes and the outlines of several human-shaped figures. They had domed-shaped heads connected directly to their shoulders. Their faces were not visible or were absent (maybe robotic creatures?). The humanoids were apparently staring at Andrey, what was clearly visible was their large collars that came down to their breasts. Apparently the witness was paralyzed and everything was brightly lit around him. Andrey felt no fear or any other emotions during the encounter (apparently he was under some kind of psychological influence exerted by the aliens); he soon fell asleep and could not remember anything else. A local legend states that Demerdzhi is hollow and had been excavated thousands of years before by a race of dwarfs in an effort to extract supposed treasures buried within. A local clairvoyant, Lenura Azizova claims that there still exists an ancient underground alien base under the mountain.
Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Anton Anfalov personal investigation."
The website indicates that in June 1978 at 00:30 in Demerdzhi, Crimea, Ukraine, "A local teenager, Andrey from the nearby town of Alushta had climbed to the top of Mount Demerdzhi and had camped there to spend the night. During the night a bright light pointed directly at his face suddenly awakened him. He opened his eyes and the outlines of several human-shaped figures. They had domed-shaped heads connected directly to their shoulders. Their faces were not visible or were absent (maybe robotic creatures?). The humanoids were apparently staring at Andrey, what was clearly visible was their large collars that came down to their breasts. Apparently the witness was paralyzed and everything was brightly lit around him. Andrey felt no fear or any other emotions during the encounter (apparently he was under some kind of psychological influence exerted by the aliens); he soon fell asleep and could not remember anything else. A local legend states that Demerdzhi is hollow and had been excavated thousands of years before by a race of dwarfs in an effort to extract supposed treasures buried within. A local clairvoyant, Lenura Azizova claims that there still exists an ancient underground alien base under the mountain."
The source is a broken link.
Points to consider:
With this report, everything screams the explanation to me: an hypnagogic hallucination episode with sleep paralysis.
There is no UFO. Everything happens to someone laying, probably in a tent, taking no action.
It starts with a sleeping witness.
The "awakening" is caused by some external stimulus, a light. This is very usual. There is a possibility that the light was for example moonlight hitting the witness' face.
The witness is "paralyzed" during the "sighting". This is a telling sign associated with hypnagogic episodes. The mind is half-awake but the body still asleep.
The "aliens" are not "complete": they do nothing, the faces are not "seen", such "dreamlike" loopholes are also usual in hypnagogic hallucinations. Faces are missing not because they would be "robots", but because dreams imagery often does not require "completeness".
The witness feels no emotion, has no fear. Had he be conscious, he would certainly have fled, or screamed, or at least have been frightened. But in hypnagogic episodes, feelings do not have to comply to reality. I can tell, as I had an entirely similar experience. "Seeing" aliens in an hypnagogic episodes, and remaining perfectly cool about it, whereas I would certainly have been utterly terrified if this had happened to me in reality. There really is no need for "alien psychological influence" to explain that.
The experience ends as the witness enters a normal sleep state again.
Maybe the local stories about aliens in that mountain were what oriented the boy's mind to that dream topic.
Although hypnagogic experiences are now quite understood in the medical literature on non-pathological sleep disorders and sleep phenomena, although there are knowledgeable ufologists who understand this phenomenon, many other ufologists are still unable to identify such causes when they apply and still believe such experiences are alien encounters or alien abductions.
I provide a few references among dozens about the topic of hypnagogic hallucination and sleep paralysis:
"The Old Hag phenomenon as sleep paralysis: a biocultural interpretation", paper by R.C. Ness, in Cultural and Medical Psychiatry, vol. 2 #1, pp 15-39, March 1978.
"Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep", book by Celia Green and Charles McCreery, Routledge publisher, U-K., 1994.
"Wrestling With Ghosts: A Personal And Scientific Account Of Sleep Paralysis", book by Jorge Conesa Sevilla, Xlibris Corporation publishers, U-K., 2004.
"Hallucinations and pathological visual perceptions in Maupassant's fantastical short stories - a neurological approach", by L.C. Alvaro, in Journal of the History of Neuroscience, vol 14, #2, pp 100-115, June 2005.
"Effects of hypnagogic imagery on the event-related potential to external tone stimuli", paper by N. Michida, M. Hayashi, T. Hori, in Sleep, Vol. 28 #7, pp 813-818, July 2005.
"Sleep and Society: Ventures into the (Un)Known", book by Simon A. Williams, Routledge publisher, 2005.
"Mental representation of space: Insights from an oblique distribution of hallucinations", paper by T.A Girard, D.L. Martius, J.A. Cheyne in Neuropsychologia, vol. 45 #6, pp 1257-1269, 2007.
"Parasomnias", paper by D.T. Plante, J.W. Winkelman, in The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 29 #4, pp 969-987, December 2006.
"Paranoid delusions and threatening hallucinations: A prospective study of sleep paralysis experiences", paper preview by J.A. Cheyne, T.A. Girard, scheduled in Consciousness and Cognition for April 2007.
List of issues:
Id:
Topic:
Severity:
Date noted:
Raised by:
Noted by:
Description:
Proposal:
Status:
1
Data
Severe
December 9, 2011
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Primary source not available.
Help needed.
Opened.
2
Ufology
Severe
December 9, 2011
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Report only, apparently no investigation for causes.
Help needed.
Opened.
Evaluation:
Probable hypnagogic hallucination.
Sources references:
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
