Since ancient times, the Lake Baikal has been known as deeply mysterious, but recently, it has been the location of a number of alleged sightings of aliens and UFOs. Initially these were covered-up by the authorities, but later they were revealed by the Russian media.
The versions of extra-terrestrial activity at Baikal - edged by mountains and containing one-fifth of the world's unfrozen freshwater - relate to aliens seen by military divers in its depth, and large 'spaceships' hovering over its grey, moody expanses.
A number of sightings also indicate bright 'cigar-shaped' objects in the sky flying over Baikal, as in the top picture, but the accounts also include 'aliens' in the deep waters of Baikal.
In Lake Baikal, seven military divers were reported to have come across aliens under the waters of Baikal. Alexey Tivanenko, a doctor of history, said: 'At a depth of 50 metres, they met swimmers, around three metres tall, dressed in tight-fitting silvery suits. They did not have any scuba or other devices, just helmets on their heads.
They received an order to catch the Ihtiander (half-boy, half-shark, from modern Russian folklore) - but they were immediately washed ashore with signs of decompression. They had two decompression devices, but one was broken. All seven people could not be put inside, so they put only four of them. And those three people, who were not put in the device, died on the beach.'
Tivanenko has likened the descriptions to ancient petroglyphs seen by some as being aliens visiting Earth. 'I have hundreds of drawings with these 'Sons of the Sky',' he told NTV. 'They are united by the fact that all of them are tall, dressed in suits, all with the helmets on their heads. And there are mechanisms used by astronauts today.'
Vyacheslav Lavretevich, a rescuer, recalled an incident 'We were on a yacht on Lake Baikal, and from under us flew out a huge glowing disk. It blinded us, and for a second flew into the sky. We did not even have time to grab any cameras, nor take video, although many of us saw it. It was a huge - and lit up all of our yacht. In diameter it was probably 500-700 metres, a huge disk. For three minutes it shone from below (the surface), and then abruptly departed in a second. The spectacle was huge, awesome. Beautiful, and shocking.'
Vyacheslav Lavretevich, a rescuer, recalled an incident on Baikal. Oleg Chichulin saw strange objects near Cape Svyatoi Nos. Pictures: NTV
The lake Baikal is perhaps the biggest focus of UFOs in Russia today.
