Kosmopoisk Camp

The Kosmopoisk camp, also known as "the Eight" or Camp No. 8, is a ufologists' site on the Medveditskaya Ridge (Medveditskaya gryada), the best-known anomalous zone in Volgograd Oblast. It lies in Zhirnovsky District, by Blue Mountain (Sinyaya Gora), about 6 km along a field track from the village of Novinka. Next to the camp stands the ridge's main curiosity, the "Time Machine" built by members of the Kosmopoisk association.

History

Kosmopoisk expeditions have come to the Medveditskaya Ridge since 1982 to check eyewitness accounts, collect new ones and watch for UFOs. The summer camp by Blue Mountain became the group's permanent base. For many years the expeditions were led by Vadim Chernobrov, a ufologist, writer and Kosmopoisk coordinator. A museum devoted to Chernobrov is open in Zhirnovsk.

The Time Machine

In August 2001 the seventh and largest Kosmopoisk "time machine" was assembled for the ridge expedition: a sphere 2 metres across, big enough to hold a person. Visitors describe it as a concrete and iron structure with an entrance and a second, smaller shell welded inside. Shout into it and you get a strong echo.

Kosmopoisk claims to have recorded time slowing down by one and a half seconds and speeding up by half a second inside the machine. Chernobrov himself believed the ridge hides a "time portal": our descendants supposedly travel through it into the past in craft we call UFOs and avoid contact so as not to change their own future.

Legends and accounts

• According to local residents, a watch left inside the machine starts running slow or fast. One traveller tested it: his smartphone ran 4.5 minutes ahead of a simple push-button phone.
• Not far from the camp people point out a spot where, by their accounts, a triangular UFO landed. It is overgrown with bushes; tractor engines reportedly stalled there, and tractor drivers began to avoid the clearing.
• Nearby is the grave of the shepherd Bisen Mamaev. According to a local story, he died by fire in the early 1990s, although his clothes and the hay around him were left untouched.

Explanations

There is no evidence of anomalies beyond eyewitness stories and reports from non-academic groups. Bloggers who spent nights by Blue Mountain with camera traps saw nothing supernatural: the lights and flashes they recorded are explained by lightning and other natural causes. Supporters of the anomalous version link the phenomena to a tectonic fault under the ridge.

What is at the camp

A large table with benches and a fire pit lined with logs. By the road stands a wooden idol that locals call the two-faced Janus. A little below the camp there is a spring with cool water. A forest path leads from the camp to the Time Machine.

Getting there

Take the road from Zhirnovsk to the village of Novinka, then about 6 km along a field track. On the edge of the village, by a culvert, the road splits into four: take the second from the left. At the next fork keep left, uphill, and drive on to a stone with a "0.6/8" sign: the camp is 0.6 km further. It is easy to get lost, so download an offline map in advance. In Novinka you can ask the way to "the Eight" (vosmyorka). Mobile coverage is reportedly best with Beeline.