The Mystery of the Bloody Fog

The night shift of the air defense missile division, which was located 30 kilometers west of Ulan-Ude, did not promise anything bad on May 17, 1964. Ordinary army routine, periodic monitoring and reports of operators of radar installations. But at 21 o'clock local time, one of the crews of the anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) reported to the command post of the division about the approaching crimson glow over Lake Baikal. The next message, transmitted ten minutes later, informed that a burning taiga is visible on the eastern shore of the lake. By that time, the personal makeup of all the battalion's complexes could observe how the purple, flickering matte glare covers occupy more and more sections of the evening sky, moving quite rapidly eastward.

At 21:20 in the radio there was a strong interference, and soon the connection became possible only with the use of a conventional wired phone.
The first witness of this was Sergeant Nicholas Rakhmatullin, who immediately reported to his commander.

Because of the horizon of the north-western tip of Lake Baikal, a fireball slowly emerged, resembling the midday sun. He was in the center of the ocher shroud. It seemed that the ball was alive - it constantly pulsed, subtly changing its color from bright red to dark purple. At about 22 o'clock the bloody fog, which was most likely caused by this strange ball, turned into a rather intense firefight that engulfed both the sky and the taiga. Then the battalion commander ordered all soldiers and officers to wear personal protective equipment and begin to measure the radiation background and chemical composition of air in the basing areas of the unit.

At 22:30 the flaming glow reached the location. The commander gave orders to all the personnel, take cover in the airtight cockpits of the SAM and launch systems of autonomous life support. Almost immediately after the task was accomplished, the anomaly covered the positions of the military unit.

Eyewitnesses recalled that almost immediately there was a sudden feeling of depression and fear. Many began to have pain in the joints, stomach and head. Some have caught up with diarrhea.

On the windows of the tightly closed windows of the cabins began to dance fiery clots resembling flames. The fog dissipated to half past four in the morning, after the ball had left the horizon to the east. Simultaneously, everyone felt relief.

Frightened residents

In addition to the military, the incident was observed by residents of dozens of settlements that were located along the shores of Lake Baikal. Stepan Pustovalov, one of the residents of the village of Bolshie Koty, said that two hours before the mysterious fog appeared, the domestic animals walking around the yard disappeared into the barn, and the dog broke off the chain, ran into the hut and hid in a corner between the cupboard and the sofa.

Ilya Mokhnachev, a resident of the village of Buguldeika, recalled that after the appearance of a red glow, electrical wiring in their house burned and the radio stopped working.