Moscow, Russia — 1 September 1808
Radiant “plate” flying over the Kremlin
Alexander Afanasyev, of the manuscript department of the Russian State History Museum, found a document in the personal archive of a Moscow senator Peter Poludensky. “On September 1, 1808 at 8 o’clock and 7 minutes after noon, in the sky, clear and sown with stars, a phenomenon appeared, incomparable in its beauty and rigor, as well as in radiance and enormous size, to anything seen before. As we noticed it, attracted by the loud cracking sound, it was rising in an arch over the horizon, from 55’ to almost 90’. Having passed this distance in an instant, it stopped among the clouds as if over the Kremlin and looked like a long straight plate some nine arshin (6.35 meter) long and half arshin (0.35 meter) thick. “Then on its front edge, turned to the South-West, an oval flame flared, some two arshin (1.4 meter) long and one and a half arshin (about one meter) thick, with a flame that can only be compared to the radiance of burning phosphor. “Floating in a circle without open fire or sparkle, it nonetheless lighted everything around as broad daylight; then the flame went out, the light disappeared, but the bright plate remained and quite smoothly went perpendicularly upwards, reached the stars and still could be seen for some two minutes and then, without disappearing, it became invisible due to the extraordinary height.” A sketch was attached, depicting the flying object. Afanasyev ruled out the possibility of a hoax based on the age of the paper and the writing style. Fig. 34: Moscow phenomenon 384.
Source: Case: W336