Beyond Area 51

by Mack Maloney

  THE CALL BOX

  There is virtually no cell phone service inside the M-Triangle—except at one place researchers have dubbed the “Call Box.” They say that if a person stands inside this five-foot-by-five-foot-square piece of ground, for some unknown reason they can make a cell phone call to anywhere in the world.

  FROZEN TIME

  Possibly the first to report the frozen time phenomenon was a group of researchers who went into the M-Triangle in 1990. Several times during their foray all the members’ electronic watches stopped at precisely the same moment and began flashing “00:00.”

  DIFFERENT TIME

  Researchers say they are also baffled why in some places within the zone watches show a time that is hours ahead of the actual time, whereas in other places watches run hours behind.

  THE TREES HAVE EYES

  Many researchers who have gone into the M-Triangle report it’s impossible to shake the feeling that someone or something was watching them at all times.

  Tearing Down the Wall

  The strange events inside the M-Triangle weren’t very well known until the late 1980s.

  Up to then, the old hard-line Soviet government had forbidden journalists from reporting or writing on the subject of UFOs anywhere in the USSR, and that included rumors that something strange was happening in the Molebka section of the Urals.

  As one Russian researcher told us in an interview, back then, “Any talks on the matter might get you in trouble.”

  This also meant physical access to the M-Triangle was nearly impossible. Even though the old Soviet government sent several expeditions into the region over the years (what they found was never disclosed), the area was strictly off-limits to civilians, and most especially to UFO researchers.

  When the crumbling Soviet government finally relented and removed their ban on UFO reporting in the late 1980s, many researchers jumped at the chance to study what was occurring inside the M-Triangle. A few civilian expeditions finally went in, and their results caused a sensation. This information reached the world media in 1989 and research groups have been studying the Perm Anomalous Zone ever since.

  But Russia being Russia, even these days researchers claim the entire area is under constant surveillance by the Kremlin’s intelligence agencies.

  The Stars Go Dancing

  Valery Yakimov, director of the Ural-UFO Group, reports extensive experiences inside the M-Triangle.

  He recalls that, while spending time there as a child, there were parts of the M-Triangle that adults warned children to avoid. As Yakimov grew older he began seeing UFOs, of varying shapes and sizes, over the zone.

  Yakimov returned to the M-Triangle in 1989, as an adult. His excursions produced fantastic observations.

  One night, Yakimov and his group saw what they described as an unusually shaped sky. The stars above became so concentrated they formed a dome. Other parts of the sky appeared normal.

  On another occasion, Yakimov’s group saw around two dozen stars moving in inconceivable trajectories. They floated over the researchers’ heads and formed a gigantic circle. This vision was seen for four nights, between midnight and one a.m.

  During one expedition, the group observed a number of strange geometrical shapes—squares and triangles mostly—floating through the forest. They showed up at the same time, at the same location, and they could be seen clearly with binoculars.

  Varying from silver to white to blue, they appeared one at a time and remained visible until someone tried to get closer to them, at which point they disappeared. Though dozens of people saw them, the shapes couldn’t be captured on video.

  During another expedition, Yakimov’s team saw many unexplained spheres gliding over the area. White or orange in color, they had diameters of three to ten feet. Sometimes singly, sometimes in groups, the spheres approached the team and floated over their heads.

  The members got the impression the spheres contained intelligence, because as they sailed over they sometimes reduced their brightness, or even stopped occasionally to hover over the group. It was as if they were observing Yakimov’s crew, just as the researchers were observing them.

  A similar occurrence was related to us in an interview with M-Triangle expert Nikolay Subbotin, director of the Russian UFO Research Station (RUFORS). Camped out for the night deep inside the zone, Subbotin and another group of explorers spotted a brilliant ray of light coming from behind a grove of trees and rising up to the sky. The group froze, stunned by the unexplained illumination. An instant later, a second ray appeared, parallel to the first. Both slowly began to move in opposite directions, lighting up the area all around them.

  “It was a fantastic display and totally incomprehensible,” Subbotin told us.

  Subbotin and his friends watched this extravaganza for about fifteen minutes before being distracted by another incredible display. The group realized that the clouds over their heads had begun to line up in an “absolutely pristine lattice formation.” Formerly cumulus and puffy, the clouds suddenly consisted of five vertical and five horizontal stripes positioned in perfect rows.

  Subbotin reports the clouds stayed like this for a half hour before finally “melting” and disappearing for good.

  “The Zone Is Activated”

  Other people entering the Perm Anomalous Zone report events more down-to-earth, though no less amazing.

  Another story related to us by Nikolay Subbotin tells of a husband and wife team visiting the zone for the first time. Early one morning, while preparing to float down one of the area’s rivers in an inflatable boat, they became aware of a strange buzzing noise all around them. They described it as sounding like a water pump, working away.

  They began their journey downstream, but the noise never left them. They heard it for hours, no matter where they went, no matter what direction they were heading. This was the case for their entire visit. They joked that the noise meant “the zone is activated.”

  The couple returned to the zone for a second time later that year and the same noise was still audible. Yet on a third trip it was absent.

  To them, this meant the zone was “turned off.”

  The same couple noticed odd things about the zone’s animal life as well. While wading in shallow waters of a river, they discovered fish had no qualms about swimming right up to them and eating food out of their hands. Butterflies and dragonflies would also frequently land on them, and stay in place, totally unafraid of human contact.

  MEET THE ALIENS

  But apparently there are other creatures roaming around the Perm Anomalous Zone, ones this world is not so familiar with.

  Glowing ETs and other nonhumans have been frequently reported in the M-Triangle. Some of the latter, known locally as “Snow People,” fit the description of Bigfoot to a T. Others have even more bizarre appearances.

  Researcher Valery Yakimov says his most chilling M-Triangle encounter involved meeting one of these alien beings face-to-face.

  It happened during an expedition in which Yakimov had brought some people into the zone who had never been there before.

  Yakimov took the rookies to a spot where researchers say they usually feel a presence of “the unknown.” At that point, it was suggested that the group split up and walk about the zone one at a time. This way the newcomers would be able to experience the full intensity of the M-Triangle.

  This was why Yakimov was walking alone when he says he was confronted by a creature almost nine feet tall.

  “I came down a small ravine,” Yakimov wrote soon afterward, “and suddenly something made me look up. I saw a being of nine feet tall. He was black in color, nontransparent, proportional. I was horror-stricken.”

  Frozen to the spot for a few moments, Yakimov was finally able to get his feet moving. He ran… and ran… and ran, eventually finding another member of his group.

  When Yakimov told the fellow researcher what had just happened, his colleague was understandably astonished. They quickly returned to the spot whe
re the rest of the group was supposed to reunite.

  Although Yakimov did not mention his encounter to anyone else in the group, a short time later one of the newcomers, a young woman Yakimov did not know, sought him out. She told him that she’d had a meeting with a strange being as well, and at a place near Yakimov’s encounter.

  She had been walking alone through a meadow when she was suddenly face-to-face with an unearthly being. While Yakimov had seen a creature more than nine feet tall, the female observer had encountered what she described as a little green man, about three feet tall. This being walked along with her for a while and then touched her, burning her skin slightly. That’s when the woman turned and fled, eventually returning to the rest of the research group.

  Later on, Yakimov and the woman went back to the area where they had seen the strange creatures. Yakimov reported that they were not frightened anymore. They both felt a sense of overwhelming peace and well-being, something reported by just about everybody who visits the zone.

  * * *

  In another story relayed to us by Nikolay Subbotin, a researcher camping out in the zone went to collect some water. Walking back to camp, he realized someone was following him. He immediately began to run, but not before getting a good look at his stalker, which sounded close in description to the being Yakimov had encountered.

  “There was no bend in the [creature’s] wrists,” Subbotin said, recalling the researcher’s encounter. “The being walked slowly. This creature was black, with white stuff on its body. It wore a kind of skintight skirt and was about nine feet tall. The eyes were large and shiny and it had long arms.”

  Why Is the Zone the Way It Is?

  Nikolay Subbotin told us there are a number of theories why the M-Triangle is such a drugoe mesto, a “different place.”

  First, there are rumors that a secret weapons facility is located somewhere under the Perm Anomalous Zone. This would account for the constant electrical sounds heard in the area, as well as reports of people meeting members of the Russian military while exploring the M-Triangle. It would also account for why the place is of such interest to Russian intelligence agencies.

  There are also stories about past attempts at mining strontium in the area. Strontium is an earth metal that’s used to block X-rays in color TV sets, among other things.

  Other UFO researchers theorize that uranium found in the nearby mountains might be attracting UFOs. Some have even speculated the presence of this uranium might be causing mass hallucinations within the zone.

  Subbotin told us of another piece of information he’d picked up: He’d heard that in the 1950s and 1960s, a highly classified underground test laboratory inside the zone had conducted secret experiments into large electromagnetic fields. Supposedly something went wrong in the course of these experiments, and as a result everyone involved had to be evacuated from the area. The underground laboratory was then flooded as a safety measure.

  But Subbotin is quick to remind us that all these theories are mere speculation. He says that no solid reason has ever been given as to why things are the way they are inside the M-Triangle or why local villagers say strange things have been happening in the zone for centuries.

  A Piece of Heaven

  But what really makes the M-Triangle different is the astonishing personal effect it has on many of the people who spend time there.

  While there have been stories of some people being adversely affected within the Perm Anomalous Zone—burns, confusion, even reports of a suicide—more often the tales are about how a person’s well-being becomes vastly improved after a trip to the M-Triangle.

  For instance, there have been reports of people suffering from serious medical ailments visiting the M-Triangle and coming out completely cured. Moreover, many healthy people who venture into the zone leave feeling what one Russian researcher called a general improvement in all spheres. Not only do people feel better physically and mentally after being inside the M-Triangle, but they also feel different spiritually and morally.

  The researcher continues: “The drawbacks of one’s character seem to disappear here; the good intentions and high feelings come to life. One’s soul becomes cleaner, higher and calmer. Nearly everyone feels a unique comfort of soul.”

  In other words, they come out an all-round better person, which is why many people feel compelled after their first trip to the zone to go back again.

  From the Zone to the Stars

  There’s also a kind of creative effect that reportedly infuses some people who spend time in the Perm Anomalous Zone. Abilities become sharper, previously unknown talents come to the fore.

  There is one story in particular that would seem to underscore to even the most skeptical person that something extremely unusual is happening inside the M-Triangle.

  It is the story of Pavel Mukhortov. Discharged from the Soviet Army in the 1980s for health reasons, and for a time unemployed, Mukhortov eventually found work as a journalist. He’d heard about strange things going on inside the M-Triangle and considered visiting the place to see for himself, but he wasn’t sure. But when he learned the KGB was continuously monitoring the area, Mukhortov found the impetus he needed. He joined a research party and set off to explore the zone.

  Immediately on arrival, Mukhortov sensed something eerie about in the place. While some members of his group soon fell sick, personally Mukhortov found himself enveloped by uncontrollable emotions.

  Photos of strange flying objects were taken during this expedition, and according to a People magazine article from October 1989, Mukhortov claimed to have met and spoken with an alien while inside the M-Triangle.

  But the really strange stuff started happening once Mukhortov left the zone and returned to Moscow. Soon after arriving in the Russian capital, the reporter began to feel radically different. Hardly a genius when he went on his trip to the zone, he suddenly found himself saturated with knowledge about aerospace physics—something he’d been completely unfamiliar with previously.

  Incredibly, he’d become so enlightened in this area that he eventually applied for and was accepted to the Russian space program.

  He became a cosmonaut a short time later.

  15

  Kapustin Yar

  The Opposite of Heaven

  Cosmonaut savant Pavel Mukhortov probably became familiar with another place that, while located eight hundred miles southwest of the M-Triangle, was light- years away on the cosmic enlightenment scale.

  This place is called Kapustin Yar. Found in the desert of northern Astrakhan Oblast near the city of Volgograd, it is, primarily at least, a massive rocket launch and development facility, part of both Russia’s never-ending drive for weapons research as well as its long-enduring space program.

  But if even one of the more fantastic stories coming out of this place can be believed, Kapustin Yar has also been the site of nothing less than a secret war between the Russians and whoever, or whatever, flies UFOs.

  Unlucky Nazis

  The history of Kapustin Yar begins with Nazi scientists.

  In the final days of World War II, many of the German rocket engineers who’d helped Hitler devise his so-called wonder weapons such as the V-1 buzz bomb and the larger V-2 missile found themselves caught between two worlds. With the Third Reich collapsing, many of these scientists fled west and enthusiastically surrendered to the U.S. Army. As mentioned earlier, under a secret program called Operation Paperclip, they were brought to the United States and became the foundation of what we now call NASA.

  Those German scientists who weren’t so lucky, though, were captured by Soviet troops advancing from the east. Forced to work on Russia’s then fledgling space program, many of them wound up at Kapustin Yar.

  The Secret City

  While these days it’s found close to the western border of Kazakhstan, back in 1946, the year it was built, Kapustin Yar was located deep inside Soviet territory.

  An entire city, named Znamensk, was built to house the thousands of peop
le the Soviets assigned to this facility. For a long time, Znamensk was a secret city; it did not appear on any maps and was off-limits to outsiders. In fact, Kapustin Yar was deemed so secret that the nearby small town of Zhitkur was considered too close to it. So the Soviets emptied out its population and razed it to the ground.

  The United States and its allies only became aware of all this when one of the captured German scientists who’d been working at the secret missile base somehow made it back to Germany and was interrogated by Western intelligence. A spy flight went over the area in the summer of 1953 and confirmed it: launchpads, highly sophisticated radar and at least one ultra-long runway.

  Kapustin Yar was for real.

  Everything from orbital spacecraft to nuclear-tipped ICBM test missiles to components of Russia’s ultimately failed version of a Star Wars–type antimissile shield—more than 3,500 major launches in all—have blasted off from Kapustin Yar since it first opened almost seventy years ago.

  Dark Skies Above

  But Kapustin Yar isn’t just the Russian equivalent of Cape Canaveral. It’s actually more of a combination of Cape Canaveral and Area 51.

  Like its American counterpart, Kapustin Yar boasts numerous “unidentified areas,” buildings whose purposes can only be guessed at.

  Also like Area 51, Kapustin Yar has a long history of UFO incidents.

  But unlike the Perm Zone, this UFO connection does not involve human enlightenment or visitors coming away with a higher sense of intelligence or spirituality.

  Just the opposite.

  Russian UFO enthusiasts claim the first extraterrestrial event happened at Kapustin Yar in 1948 and it was anything but benevolent. While guiding a Soviet fighter plane in for landing, the base’s radar station reportedly picked up a UFO flying close by. Quickly alerting the plane by radio, its pilot was said to have spotted the strange object as well. He described it as being silver in color and shaped like a cigar.