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he tripped on a bush and fell; and when he got to his feet and the nearest Tunguska. They reported that they had hada looked back, he saw rising from what had been the lake acolumn —_— powerful earth tremor such that window panes were broken in the of bright light, at the top of which appeared a ball. All this was houses...the mark on the barograph roll bears this out. accompanied by a terrible roaring and humming. His clothing In the archives of the former Irkutsk Magnetic and began to smoulder, the radiation burnt his face and ears... Meteorological Observatory, investigators managed to find notes This episode concurs astonishingly well with the texts of the written by A. K. Kokorin, who was an observer at a weather sta- Olonkho epic and the tales old men tell of the place called Tong tion on the River Kezhma, about 600 km from the Tunguska Duurai, across which the Ottoamokh ("holes in the ground") explosion site. In his observation journal for June 1908, the sec- stream flows, where there are shafts of incredible depth known as tion headed "Notes" contains an exceptionally important entry. It "the laughing chasms". From these, the legends say, fiery whirl- shows that there was certainly more than one body in the air at winds fly. After a long period of silence, roughly a century before that time. each major explosion or series of explosions there would be a At 7 am, two fiery circles [spheres] of gigantic size appeared to smaller-scale event. The legends say that a thin column of fire the north; 4 minutes after appearing, the circles disappeared; emerged from the "iron orifice". At the top of this, a very large soon after the disappearance of the fiery circles a loud noise was fireball appeared. It was escorted in flight by its retinue, "a heard, similar to the sound of the wind, that went from north to swarm of fatally bloody whirlwinds" that wrought havoc in the south; the noise lasted about 5 minutes; then followed sounds and vicinity. Accompanied by four claps of thunder in succession, it thundering, like shots from enormous guns, that made the win - soared to an even greater height and flew off, leaving behind a dows rattle. Those shots continued for 2 minutes, and after them long "trail of smoke and fire". Then a cannonade of its explosions came a crack like a rifle-shot. These last sounds lasted 2 minutes. sounded in the distance... Everything took place in broad daylight. It is remarkable that Yakut legends At that time, T. Naumenko was observing contain so many references to explosions, the flight of a sphere from the village of fiery whirlwinds and the launch of flaming Kezhma which stands on the River Angara. spheres disgorged by "an orifice belching He asserted that the body was larger than the sok and ie wth anamestel IM | Eyewitness accounts of | Mam ancl in nt of Sun, wich subterranean country. It is inhabited by a the Tunguska event horizon. At that same moment, the Tunguska fiery villain "who sows contagion and hurls indi meteorite flew over the village of Mironovo a fiery ball"—the giant Uot Usumu Tong indicate that there were (58° 14' N, 109° 29' BE). Duurai (which can be translated as "the several objects In the The first to see the flight of one of the "ter- criminal stranger who pierced the earth and ; i minators" carrying a powerful electromagnet- hid in the depths, destroying all around with sky, following different ic charge were the inhabitants of the village a fiery whirlwind"). trajectories, moving of Alexandrovka (southern Altai territory), slowly, sometimes uy "tS Mees ay stopping, changing The account left by Ivan course and speed— Nikanorovich Kudriavtsev, who . witnessed the flight of the fiery sphere, in other words, manoeuvring. Eyewitness Testimony That is what the legends say, and this is the account of G. K. Kulesh, who was an observer at a weather station in Kirensk, about 460 kilometres from the site of the Tunguska explosion: On 30 June an unusual phenomenon was observed to the northwest of Kirensk that lasted roughly from 7.15 to 8am. I did not see it myself, as I sat down to work after recording the contains details pointing to the electromagnetic nature of the "terminator": ..30 June 1908 was a clear day... I was sitting opposite a window looking NW. Our village, Alexandrovka, extended along a gorge... Across from the village on the Semi ridge rose the reading of the meteorological instru - peak of Mount Gliaden. At 7 in the ments. This is what occurred (I give morning, the Sun had already risen but the gist of what those who witnessed it said). not yet appeared from behind Gliaden. And then suddenly a At 7.15 am, a fiery pillar appeared to the northwest, about four _ bright sphere appeared in the sky; it rapidly grew in size and sagens [over 8 metres] in diameter in the shape of a spear. When brightness. It was flying towards the NW. The flying sphere was the pillar disappeared, five strong brief bangs were heard, like _ the size of the Moon, only brighter; not dazzlingly bright, though: cannon shots following quickly and distinctly one after another. you could watch its flight without looking away. It flew very Then a dense cloud appeared at that place. About 15 minutes quickly. The sphere left behind it on its course a white smoky later, the same sort of bangs were heard again; another 15 trail wider than the sphere itself. As soon as this sphere minutes later they were repeated. The ferryman, a former soldier appeared, the whole locality was lit up by some unnatural light and generally an intelligent, worldly-wise man, counted 14 bangs _and that light did not increase evenly, but with some sort of in three groups. His duties meant he was on the riverbank and _ fluctuations, wave-like flashes. There was no noise, no roar saw and heard the whole phenomenon from start to finish. accompanying the sphere's flight, but the unnatural fluctuating [author's emphasis in bold italics] light inspired some sort of fear, anxiety... [author's emphasis] Many people saw the pillar of fire, but the bangs were heard by Ye. Sarychev, questioned by D. F. Landsberg in Kansk on 11 an even greater number. There were peasants in town from the October 1921, said: village of Korelinaya that lies 20 versts [21 km] from Kirensk on With the start of the noise a sort of glow appeared in the air, several objects in the sky, following different trajectories, moving slowly, sometimes stopping, changing course and speed— -- -ab.. 54 = NEXUS in other words, manoeuvring. www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2004 — JANUARY 2005