Molyobka Anomalous Zone

The Molyobka Anomalous Zone (Molyobskaya anomalnaya zona), also known as the Molyobka Triangle or the M-Zone, is a stretch of forest on the left bank of the Sylva River in Kishertsky Municipal District, Perm Krai, right by the border with Sverdlovsk Oblast. It lies between the village of Molyobka and the hamlet of Kamenka, about 37 km from Shumkovo railway station. Since the late 1980s it has been called one of the best-known anomalous zones in Russia: ufologists link it to UFOs, glowing spheres and other mysterious phenomena.

History

The zone's discoverer is considered to be the Ural geologist Emil Bachurin. By his account, in October 1984 he saw a purple sphere rising from the forest, and at the supposed landing site he found a circle of flattened grass 62 metres across where the snow was melting. Bachurin claimed that his watch fell more than two hours behind there, and later spoke of telepathic contact with an "invisible alien".

Wide fame came in 1989, when the Riga journalist Pavel Mukhortov published a series of articles, "The M Triangle, or Strangers Don't Walk Here", in the newspaper Sovetskaya Molodyozh. Ufologists and the curious began to flock to Molyobka; at the height of the interest up to 500 people gathered here at once. In spring 1990 the villagers sent newspapers an open letter denying any anomalies, and in 1996 Molyobka hosted an interregional symposium on natural and cosmic anomalies. In 2011 a monument to an alien by the sculptor Viktor Sazanov was put up at the entrance to the village.

Legends and Eyewitness Accounts

According to eyewitnesses and ufologists, UFOs, glowing spheres and geometric figures made of lights have been seen in the zone. People talk of strange sounds, distortions of time, batteries draining fast and "contacts" with an extraterrestrial mind. The Perm hunter and caver Alexei Egovtsev said that in August 1988 about 200 holidaymakers saw three orange-red objects with comet-like tails over Kishert, which a quarter of an hour later descended into the forest near Molyobka.

The zone has its own "places of power", each with its legends:

• the Central Glade, the meeting point for groups, with a well whose water is believed to heal and "warm" birch trees;
• Mukhortov's Windfall on the bank of the Sylva, where, according to Mukhortov, phosphorescent silhouettes appeared and his film turned out to be exposed;
• Vyselki, a former farmstead with a bent birch where people make wishes;
• the Witches' Rings, Skopino, Snake Hill, Juris's Glade, the Astral Glade and stone "pyramids".

Explanations

Sceptics and scientists offer earthly explanations. Magnetic anomalies are attributed to iron ore deposits, and in the 18th century the Molyobka ironworks did operate here. Glowing spheres are explained by fog over the Sylva, the glow of rotting plants and mirages, "UFOs" by military aircraft, satellites and rocket launches from Plesetsk. The "pyramids", according to one version, are heaps of slag from old metalworking. Getling, an astrophysicist at the Moscow State University Institute of Nuclear Physics who studied thousands of reports of unusual phenomena, allowed that some cases could be linked to ball lightning and the gas-bearing geology of the area.

Getting There

Travel to the village of Molyobka by car or chartered bus. From the village to the Central Glade it is about five kilometres along a forest dirt track passable perhaps only by an off-road vehicle, so many people walk it. Another option is rafting down the Sylva: there are campsites with fire pits on the bank, and paths lead from them to the glades.

Good to Know

It is easy to get lost in the zone, and maps from the internet match the terrain poorly, so a GPS navigator is a must. Bring a first-aid kit, water, matches and clothes suitable for the forest.