My new theory:  A Soviet experiment involving growth hormones and fireflies, that went horribly horribly wrong.

Not funny Acci!  That whole summer was weirdly and horribly wrong !!!

hulitoons - 15 October 2010 12:31 AM

I would accept that except that these lights did not behave in any way to any air vehicles that even exist today.  I guess the only way I can describe the movements at all would be to visualize two to three people with white laser pens playing games on the wall of a dark room. 

Obviously there was no tunnel of light ray showing from the ground up, just the lights themselves.  While you could see them move, it was very obvious they were moving very fast in very straight lines even though they dipped up and down occasionally.  Often they remained still and then moved away from a large light to a pin point of light and then suddenly came back again from pin point to large.

I should add that at times, during the 20-30 minutes we watched, these did stop and remain still at times for 3-5 minutes before suddenly diving across the sky or away from us.

From these descriptions, I am more and more leaning towards searchlights reflecting on an inversion layer. The straight line movements and the episodical focussing behaviour are consistent. Would tie in with possible Soviet air defense action related to detection of a reconnaissance plane.

However, I find it intriguing to read in one of the CIA’s history accounts that during the mid-‘60-ies some within the CIA were convinced that the Soviets were experimenting with ‘particle beam’ (= laser) technology as a means of anti-satellite or anti-ICBM weapon, or perhaps as a laser ranging device (LIDAR). One of the suspect sites in Kazachstan, URDF-3, years later however turned out to be an experimental center for the development of a nuclear rocket engine, not a particle beam test site. Anywho, observations like you describe might have fueled that idea.

The particle beam idea does seem consistent to me though LaMa.  It was a baffling experience.

For all we know, it could have been the Soviets having fun messing with the American watchposts that they knew were out there, watching.

“Hey, Boris!  I’m bored!”
“Let’s go mess with the imperialist capitalist swines’ minds, Ivan!”
“Good idea!  You get the remote-controlled minidirigibles, and I’ll get the plasma rays!”
“Great, comrade!  I’ll bring the vodka, too!”

Accipiter - 15 October 2010 07:59 PM

For all we know, it could have been the Soviets having fun messing with the American watchposts that they knew were out there, watching.

“Hey, Boris!  I’m bored!”
“Let’s go mess with the imperialist capitalist swines’ minds, Ivan!”
“Good idea!  You get the remote-controlled minidirigibles, and I’ll get the plasma rays!”
“Great, comrade!  I’ll bring the vodka, too!”

They should have projected the Bat Signal in the sky

I still feel searchlight activity is probably the best explanation fitting much of Huli’s decsriptions. If there is an inversion layer at some altitude, the beams can create a spot-like reflection there. The occasional “focussing” described by Huli could be moments where they thought they detected something, and focussed the search beams.

I noted that the area in question seems not far from the Turkey border, so in addition to Soviet air defenses, US-Turkish airdefenses (note that US planes, including CIA and Air Force reconnaissance planes, were operating from the Turkish Diyarbakir airfield) could also be in play. I am quite certain the Soviets at times would try to test the western border defenses as well and conducted their own ELINT and IMINT flights along the border, and they would certainly have been interested in the CIA ELINT stations present there.

So far after the fact, it is impossible to get at 100% certain an explanation, but given what was going on in that part of the world at that time, air defense action related to Cold War airborne snooping is not a far stretch. After all, Hulli’s father was there for related activities. It was a “hot” area with acknowledged CIA and Soviet intelligence gathering activity.

hulitoons - 15 October 2010 12:41 AM

I am dimly aware of the situation you, LaMa and Acci refer to.  In fact, it was also during that time that my father decided to take me, my younger brother and sister with him and an Iranian military group up into the mountains more northerly.  I remember my father not sleeping and us being herded up in the middle of the night to move further up into the mountains.  Much of this fleeing seemed an adventure but in hindsight, I believe we were probably safer with him than being left alone in Tabriz unguarded so to speak.  Something was happening up there, that’s for sure.

Was this directly in connection with these sky phenomena? I wonder whether he might have thought they were connected to a military raid against the CIA activities there and decided to move you lot to a safer place, out of harms way.