Conference: Summary & Core Takeaways

The conference was structured around a 3-layered approach:

• How do we get the data? — This is the role of Project Hessdalen.
• What do we do with the data? — This is our question to academia.
• How is the phenomenon experienced? — These are the accounts from first-hand experiencers.

We wanted to share our work and seek guidance from academia on how our data can best serve scientific research. That goal was fully achieved. 🙂

We also aimed to broaden the discussion by including the primary source of our data: the people who have experienced the phenomenon first-hand. The phenomenon challenges conventional boundaries, and by involving experiencers, we acknowledge that collecting scientific data always starts with listening.

Science exists to explain the extraordinary—it should never silence it. Open discussions about anomalous, inexplicable, and unprecedented events are essential to building a meaningful roadmap for future scientific inquiry.

Our plan after these three main sections was to wrap up with a panel debate, but the schedule took a wonderfully unexpected turn. We ended up with three additional full presentations!

Our panel moderator asked to give a short talk, our expected online guest from Chile surprised us by showing up in person to present, and our friends from Ukraine received last-minute permission to attend and share their work as well. 🙂

While time for a formal panel ran out, the conference dinner seamlessly became our "panel discussion"—and the field trip to Hessdalen kept those vibrant conversations going far into the night.

Collecting Data · Sharing Knowledge · Connecting Scientists Making research possible

• Erling P. StrandProject Hessdalen, the first two parts; from 1983 to 2023.
• Rainer HaseitlMeasurements and Results since 202
• Francisco Mourão CorrêaEpistemology and scientific legitimacy
• Håkon FyhnAn anthropological perspective on the Hessdalen phenomenon
• Anna ScottMy Journey with the UFO Phenomenon and the Science of Contact
• Kate ThorvaldsenAbout her close encounters that began when she was just 3 years old
• Anneli SarreEncounter with two triangle craft in Chile.
• Rodrigo FuenzalidaUAP research in Chile by the Director of the Group of UFO Research “AION”
• Artem BilykUAP research by Ukrainian scientific research center “Zond”

If there is one clear conclusion from this year’s conference, it’s that for 2028, we definitely need two full days for presentations!

Conference: Keynote Insights & Speaker Summaries

Fred Pallesen

Keynote / Opening speech

Explained that we do not only organize Conferences and Field Trips, we also have:

• An active DIscord community
• An open Monthly Meeting where everyone is welcome to join online
• Our Lab
  • The Blue Box - where we invite you to install your equipment
  • The valley - where we may also help you to install your equipment(like the sensor-boxes from Zond)
• Our system development
  • We have our video recording image stacking system
    • You can get the code
    • We will make tools to improve the system
  • We have projects trying to create a Mesh Sensor network
  • We have Proposals for a Bachelor's Thesis, ready for students to work on

We have our OpenADS initiative (and work with the Human Institute to develop a UAPCoalition)

We have invited other Citizen Scientists to use our system to store their data on our Shared Disk for Open Research Projects.

Erling P. Strand

Rainer Haseitl

Francisco Mourão Corrêa

Håkon Fyhn

Anna Scott

My Journey with the UFO Phenomenon and the Science of Contact

Not public.

Kate Thorvaldsen

Anneli Sarre

Rodrigo Fuenzalida

Artem Bilyk

Organizational Update: New Board

On August 30, 2026, a new board was elected. The new board consists of:

Bjørn Vik (Owner of the Blue Box, Norway)

Fred Pallesen (our CEO, Norway)

Tom Andre Lunde (Field Research Officer, Norway)

Tanja Glittenberg (Independent field observer and data analyst, Germany)

Michael Cifone (Director of the Society for UAP Studies, Portugal)

As our dear founder Erling Strand has now stepped down from the board, he was awarded the title of Lifetime Honorary Member of Project Hessdalen. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Erling for creating something extraordinary that we are privileged to be part of and contribute to.

Field Trip: Setting the Scene & Whole Experience

Travel, Transition & Informal Exchange

The core of our event was the conference day, followed directly by a day in Hessdalen. To give everyone time to connect, we wrapped these two core days with two "walk and talk" tourist days—spending one day in Trondheim before the conference and one day in Røros after our time in Hessdalen. The goal was simple: to let the participants and speakers get to know one another, while walking through these distinct Norwegian settings.

It worked. The informal setting made it easy for everyone to talk openly, share ideas, and enjoy the surroundings. What we didn't expect was how many people would stay on for the rest of the Field Trip Week. Together, we tackled mountain hikes, met with locals, carried on informal discussions, and gathered for late-night observation sessions in Hessdalen.

Midnight Musical Performance

On September 2, the musical duo “AVATAR CURATORS,” consisting of Verena Barié and Rochus Aust, gave a concert under the open sky around midnight. Entitled “UNIDENTIFIED AUDIO PERFORMANCE,” the concert was conceived as an attempt to formulate an appropriate communicative response to whatever might be out there. Both artists played instruments, interweaving their music with sounds they had recorded in the Hessdalen area during the preceding days. Some of these recordings had even been captured beneath the surface of the lakes.

Observation point: at the UFO Cabin

Meetingpoint: at the Red Cross cabin

Stories from locals at the UFO pub

One night, Bjørn Vik opened the pub for the group, providing an informal setting for conversations. Jan Moen came with pictures to the Pub and shared his stories. Several participants were eager to take home a can of Ufoøl home as a souvenir from Hessdalen.

Expeditions to the Blue Box and the White Box

On-the-Ground Findings & Field Work

Eyewitness Stories Collected

Helge

Those of us that went to the UFO Pub, got to meet Helge. He is the one that saw the two creatures crossing the street in 2019 - and he explained in more detail what he saw: over 2 meters high, thin, very long arms, oval head.

And he also explained where he saw the craft (the loaf of bread) earlier this year (May, 2026)

He had been in the valley one week before the Field Trip and said we should have been there last Thursday - when he saw so many lights!

Then he and Snorre told us a strange story about migrating geese: they seemed to hit a wall in mid-air. Managed to get back into the V formation before they once again looked like they hit an invisible wall!

Snorre

Shortly after midnight on September 1, during the field trip, Rainer received a message from Snorre, who was also in the valley at the time and visits the area regularly. Snorre had just seen something and asked Rainer to check the cameras. He provided his position and viewing direction, allowing Rainer to investigate almost in real time. Rainer logged into the Blue Box computer and reviewed the footage from all its cameras. None of the Blue Box cameras had recorded anything. However, another camera we had installed about three months earlier captured something near the middle of the valley, looking north-northwest. The light in the video is very small, but the timestamp and viewing direction match the sighting exactly. After watching the video, Snorre confirmed that it showed what he had seen: a ball of light clearly below the clouds. He described it as moving sideways and growing in size, but said he could not see it while it was actually moving. We therefore called it the “skipping orb”: he saw it at three nearby positions, growing larger, without seeing the movement between them. In the video, however, the object can be seen moving and resembles a small meteor. Although the footage itself is not too spectacular, we are excited because this is the first time since installing the new cameras in 2024 that we have been able to correlate an eyewitness sighting with an actual camera recording.
More details: https://www.hessdalen.org/reports/2026/SkippingOrb

He also told us about some “twin” lights they had seen many times, and showed us pictures.

The biker

One day, an older man came into the Red Cross cabin, thinking it was open for coffee. During the conversation, he told Fred that he often cycles in the area. He then shared a story that, according to him, he had never told anyone before: In 2016, while cycling near the Red Cross cabin, he noticed something unusual roughly 800 m away. It slowly approached until it was about 400 m from his position, then made a 90° turn and disappeared at high speed. He described the object as oval, surrounded by a yellow-green ring. As it came closer, it turned red before disappearing.

Kim and the dog walker

During the 2025 field trip, Kim recorded a video of a pulsating, moving orb that also changed colour. When Fred and two Swedish journalists later visited the location at Grøtådal, they met hikers who said that one member of their group had visited the area many times and had seen the same type of orb in the same place on two different occasions.

The swedish guest at the coffee shop

Another accidental meeting: we talked to a guest at the local coffee shop. He had lived in Ålen near Hessdalen for 15 years and could tell about lights he had seen following the mountain side up to Hessdalen - sometimes one light, sometimes multiple light. When asked if it happened often - he said no! But over the 15 years he had seen it many times.

Jon Arvid, Jan and Bjørn

Jon Arvid showed up at the Red Cross cabin many times, and told his stories.

Bjørn came for pizza but ended up giving an interview to the Swedish journalists.

Field Work During the Field Trip

Blue Box

Rainer and Marvin carried out work on the Blue Box, installing a new all-sky camera, upgrading software, and relocating equipment. Rainer also deployed data loggers to measure Earth’s magnetic field and retrieved others that had been operating at different locations for almost three months. No anomalies in Earth’s magnetic field were recorded during that period.

Zond

The Ukrainian Zond team placed sensors in waterproof boxes at two locations in the valley. They measure temperature, humidity, air pressure, and Earth’s magnetic field. The devices also include accelerometers to detect movement and transmit their readings online every few minutes via a 4G connection. This is particularly useful because Project Hessdalen’s own data loggers operate offline and must be visited in person to retrieve their data. The Ukrainian team is working on a website or similar solution that will give Project Hessdalen near-real-time access to the data. If, for example, something unusual occurs in Earth’s magnetic field, we will receive a notification via Telegram. Project Hessdalen will also be notified when devices are started, stopped, moved, or otherwise changed.

The Human Core of Field Work: Unmatched Dedication

If field work is defined by presence, persistence, and putting real time into the environment, Helge and his friends represent the absolute highest standard of fieldwork in Hessdalen.
Helge: Has maintained an extraordinary 18-year commitment, driving 12 hours each way, 5 to 6 times every year, just to spend nights observing the valley.
His friend: Over his 12 years of visiting the valley, he showed remarkable endurance by returning for 6 consecutive years without seeing a single light. He never stopped coming back, and today he observes the phenomena regularly every year once again.
This is what true field work looks like. These three friends are our most dedicated "boots on the ground"—the living embodiment of field research. If you stay out late into the night in Hessdalen doing field work, these are the people you will find beside you.

From Eyewitness Stories to Data Collection

The firsthand accounts gathered from Helge, his friends, and local residents directly inform experimental setup. Eyewitness patterns dictate where to place cameras, deploy magnetic and optical sensors, and refine target profiles—ranging from luminous orbs and structured crafts to localized battery drain anomalies and anomalous animal behavior.

Moving forward, we will translate these witness patterns into a prioritized list of target areas and sensor requirements for our next deployment phase.

Actionable Next Steps: Ongoing research, follow-up meetings, or future field trips planned.

Other Field-Trip Highlights

Jan Moen, a team member and Hessdalen resident, took the group to the entrance of one of the local sulfur mines near the river.

Media Coverage

Several members of the media visited during the conference and field trip:

Chile

Chilean cinematographer Nicolás Ibieta of the Asociación Chilena de Cinematografía (ACC), attending with Rodrigo Fuenzalida, is making a documentary with the working title “OVNI al fin del mundo,” produced by Trío de la Luz Productions SpA in Chile for GG Movie LLC.

Denmark

Lasse Foghsgaard from the Danish newspaper POLITIKEN attended the conference with photographer Nicolai West, who stayed for the remainder of the field trip.
https://politiken.dk/...

Sweden

Anna-Maria Stawreberg and Ossian Grahn from the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet visited during the final days of the field trip. Article: https://www.aftonbladet.se/...

Germany

At the beginning of the field trip, a camera crew from ArteTV Germany filmed for a documentary that includes Hessdalen and other anomalous locations.

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