The Tunguska Event of 1908 – A Mysterious Blast 1000 Times Stronger Than The Atomic Bomb

In June of 1908, a large blast in a region of Russia gave off approximately 1000 times more energy than the atomic bomb dropped in Japan. What caused it remains a complete mystery.

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I first read “The Ringmakers of Saturn” thirteen years ago. It’s a book written by the late and great Dr. Norman Bergrun. Bergrun was a mechanical engineer who worked at Ames Research Laboratory, NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor to NASA), and Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, now known as Lockheed Martin. There, he was the manager of test planning and analysis for the Polaris Underwater Launch Missile System and evaluated satellite system applications. He is most well known for pioneering the methodology of thermal ice prevention design and being credited with roll-stability laws for airplanes and missiles.

Obviously a brilliant mind.

In his book, he goes into great detail as to why he believes that there are very large extraterrestrial space-crafts near Saturn, more specifically within its rings. He used data from NASA's Voyager I and II space-probes to come to his conclusion.

It’s also from his book that I learned about the Mysterious Tunguska Event of 1908.

In June of 1908, a loud thunderous explosion shook a large area near Tunguska, Central Siberia, USSR. Twelve hundred square miles became devastated as a result of the blast, a large forest was completely flattened and small villages along with wildlife disappeared without a trace. Bergrun was able to find 89 witness accounts of "a flamming cylindrical object" that "was sighted in the vicinity prior to the explosion." As far as the actual event goes, thousands of people witnessed it.

Related article: Documented UFO Encounters From Antiquity: Before "Project Bluebeam" (Part 1)

"After years of intensive study and scientific research, a firm conclusion has been drawn that the devastation had been caused by an aerial nuclear explosion. Supporting this conclusion is the Hiroshima nuclear-bomb destruction which produced a surface devastation pattern similar to that recorded at Tunguska." (Bergrun, Ringmakers of Saturn)

This is true, the Tunguska event in 1908 was akin to an atomic bomb detonation, as it put out 1000 times more energy. Bergrun expressed in his book that "some scientists go farther with an assertion that the devastation had been caused by an extraterrestrial spaceship which exploded." One thing many researchers can agree on is that the explosion happened just above the surface of the Earth.

He went on to write,

“After all, nuclear bombs had not been invented at the time of the 1908 explosion; and furthermore, they submit, there were eye witnesses. The Tunguska story affirms the existence of cylindrical vehicles and their nuclear character. This affirmation is quite important in that science now harbours bona fide repeat observations of these ultra-high energy units in the solar system. A concentrated presence of them appears at Saturn, thereby introducing the interesting speculation that the planet serves as an operation base.”

Below is a picture of the flattened stacks of trees as a result of the event. Incredible.

Obviously, this is a well-known event in human history that’s open to interpretation, but more than 100 years after the event occurred, nobody in any field has any idea what happened here.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the event was an extraterrestrial one. But it’s interesting to note that so many experts don’t really believe that theory is so far fetched. Given what we know today about the (UFO) phenomenon and all that has been exposed, it does make the theory slightly more plausible.

According to an article published by Forbes, there were thousands of people in a radius of 900 miles that observed the event, and more than 700 accounts were collected.

“The reports describe a fireball in the sky, larger or similar to the size of the sun, a series of explosions "with a frightful sound" followed by shaking of the ground…Terrible strokes were heard from somewhere, which shook the air. The indigenous Evenks and Yakuts believed a god or shaman had sent the fireball to destroy the world. Various meteorological stations in Europe recorded both seismic and atmospheric waves. Days later strange phenomena were observed in the sky of Russia and Europe, such as glowing clouds, colourful sunsets and a strange luminescence in the night.”

Since 1928, more than forty expeditions explored the site, taking samples from the soils, rocks, and even trees, with ambiguous results. Some seismic and air-pressure wave registrations survived which were recorded immediately after the blast, and surveys of the devastated forest mapped some thirty years later. Most of what we know of the Tunguska Event is therefore based on eyewitnesses testimonies.

Newspaper articles shortly emerged, although media was quite young. The information was spread across the world, and they were implying that it was a possible volcanic explosion, or that a large meteorite fell from the sky. There was absolutely no evidence for either. There was no debris, no impact crater, nothing. Even with modern day technology, nothing can be detected. It was clearly not a meteor, but understand that we would jump to these conclusions given our lack of ability to digest or even contemplate information that's completely not on our radar.

It's also remarkable that nobody died, although many animals did lose their lives and many of the indigenous in the area simply disappeared, at least according to Bergrun.

Again, we are talking about an explosion that produced a blast that was almost 1000 times greater than the explosion at Hiroshima. Think about that for a minute.

The theories don't stop there. In 1973, American physicists proposed to the journal Nature that a small black hole had collided with our planet, causing some sort of matter-antimatter reaction in our atmosphere that resulted in the huge explosion.

Below is a picture of the center where the explosion originated. More than 100 years later this area has seen no growth except for the forest surrounding it which has begun to grow again. Again, the explosion happened just above the surface, and not on the surface.

Once gain, no evidence or measurements can confirm a meteor or nuclear blast, but something unknown and much more powerful.

“Not only in the distant past can indications be found that perhaps contact with extraterrestrial civilizations took place or that visitors from other worlds have come to Earth, even today, there are things and phenomena, the deciphering of which can provide science with the key to these mysteries. One of the keys lies in the clarification of the catastrophe that occurred in 1908 in the Taiga region near the Tunguska River.” - Marina Popovich, Soviet Air Forces colonel.

Popovich also emphasized that multiple expeditions uncovered that those who visited the site showed “increased biomagnetic sensitivity (before they entered the zone of the epicenter.

She also explains in her works that a “special kind of bioluminescence in humans and plants was detected.” Researchers took a ship’s chronometer, quartz watches and other instruments to the epicenter of the blast. According to Popovich, the clocks differed by a few seconds from the correct time. Sometimes they were ahead and sometimes behind. “No regularity could be determined.”

This reminds me of strange phenomena that are usually correlated with some crop circles.

Related article: Crop Circles: What Is Behind These Complex & Intricate Works of Art?

A mysterious object found near the site?

One finding that does add mystery to the site deals with a strange object that was found.

In 1976, workers from the settlement of Jertom made a curious find. On the bank of the Wakscha, a river in the Autonomous Soviet Republic of Komi, they stumbled upon a fist-sized, shiny silver chunk. When employees of the Geological Institute, which was a branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR located in that region, visited the settlement, locals told them about the find. Even during the first examination, the geologists determined that it was something unusual.

The chunk was broken down. The various pieces were sent to several scientific institutes equipped with precise instruments and apparatus for exact examination. These included the Institute for Nuclear Geophysical and Geochemical Research, the Sergey Vavilov Institute for Physical Problems, and to the Vernadsky Institute for Physical Problems and the Vernadsky Institute for Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

What did the scientists determine? Dr. W. Miller from the Institute for Nuclear Geophysical and Geochemical Research expressed in an interview that they analyzed the material with the help of methods of gamma spectroscopy, neutron activation analysis, neutron tomography, and X-ray structural analysis.

These methods are so advanced that they can detect 30 to 40 elements, even if only a few atoms are present in a sample, without destroying it.

Their investigations showed that the found piece was made from an alloy of rare earth elements. It contained Cerium at 67.2 percent, Lanthanum at 10.9 percent, and Neodymium at 8.78 percent. It was found to have only minor impurities of Iron and Magnesium. The sample also contained traces of Uranium and Molybdenum; their share does not exceed 0.04 percent. The results lead to only one conclusion: The alloy was artificially created. Cerium, Lanthanum, and Neodymium, as the name 'rare earth metals' suggests, are otherwise only found very dispersed in rocks and are present here in an unusually high concentration. Besides, they almost never occur in nature in such a combination.

Who could make such a metal in 1908?

Dr. Vladimir Fomenko, a member of the commission formed to investigate extraordinary phenomena, articulated the following:

"In every alloy of rare earth metals, calcium or sodium is present as an impurity. Using laser spectral analysis, even more finely purified samples can be detected. The Wakscha piece contains no calcium or sodium. According to experts, an alloy that is free from such impurities cannot be made with the usual methods. The purity of the alloy's components is also astonishing. For example, lanthanum is always found in combination with its related elements, the so-called lanthanides, due to their similar chemical or crystallographic behavior. The elements of the lanthanide series are very difficult to separate from each other. In our found piece, however, lanthanum is in its pure form...”

Regarding the question of how such an alloy could be created, Fomenko stated:

"In principle, it is possible to produce it using cold compaction at a pressure of several 10,000 atmospheres. This is indicated by the unusual density of the alloy, although the density is about ten percent less than what our calculations would suggest it should be. However, we must consider that the possibilities of Indian technology are limited... “

When the scientists investigated what form the original piece could have had, they concluded that it could have been a part of a single piece that had the shape of a ring, a cylinder, or a sphere with a diameter of about 1.2 meters. Experts believe that an installation capable of compressing a single piece of this size at a pressure of several 10,000 atmospheres did not yet exist, and did not exist in 1908…

In response to the question of what such a single piece could be used for, he replied: "The alloy, which already sparks at the slightest mechanical stress, is not considered as a construction material. It is rather to be assumed that it serves as an additive to a kind of fuel.”

Another object found at the site in 2004.

According to Phys.org, a reputable site for all things science,

“The object appeared to be a large block made with metal. The researchers chipped a piece off the object... preliminary analyses show that it is a compound of iron silicate with unknown material...”

During a press conference in Krasnoyarsk, Dr. Yuri Lavbin, the head of the above mentioned last expedition by phys.org and various other outlets at the time, confirmed that (according to him) parts of an extraterrestrial device had been discovered. All in all, this theory matches closely with Bergrun's assertion, but Bergrun is coming from a background where he is privy to more information than mainstream scientists. He was a black budget, special access program scientist.

If this indeed was some sort of otherworldly find, given what we know about the world of secrecy, this would not be made public nor confirmed in any way. All we have to rely on is the information shared by those who have studied this object and had it in their possession.

It’s so hard to dig for more information on this. It’s nearly impossible to find more details.

Lavbin suggests that the event was a collision of a meteorite with an alien spaceship, “they exploded this enormous meteorite that headed towards us with enormous speed,” says Lavbin, in order to save the Earth. "Now that this great object that caused the meteorite to explode is found at last, we will continue our research."

I know, it sounds far fetched.

Scientists in Russia have had conferences about this event, and the general gist from there seems to be that, "the facts collected over 100 years disprove the hypothesis of a meteorite or comet. "The sooner we understand that the better,” said Boris Rodionov, Russian Physicist.

Another study from the 70s by Hitoshi Yonenobu from the College of Education, Naruto University of Education, collected a living spruce tree from near the explosion center of the event. They measured annual ring width and studied anatomical features to reconstruct the vegetational changes caused by the biological aftereffects of the explosion.

He found that the annual ring width decreased rapidly in 1908-1912, with a drastic increase in 1913.

“We thus reconstruct these vegetational changes in the Tunguska forest: the Tunguska explosion damaged forest trees severely for ca. 3 yr, releasing rich nutrients from burned plants into the soil, and subsequently the vegetation was stimulated to recover by decreased socio-biological competition and better lighting conditions. 014C values range from -28.2 to -1.5%o for Tunguska spruce, and from -29.7 to 12.6%o for Hinoki cypress. These fluctuations are within the ranges presented in Stuiver and Becker (1993), suggesting no evidence of anomalies of cometary origin in.”

The Tunguska event has gone down and will go down in human history as one of Earth’s greatest mysteries. It is one of many that have been recorded in literature for thousands of years.