logo

Project Hessdalen

Donate | Membership
Discord
Newsletter
YouTube
Hessdalen NOW

A non-profit volunteer Citizen Science organization.

About Project Hessdalen

About Project Hessdalen

By Erling P. Strand (Author)
Published: 08/10/2025Country: NO

The Hessdalen Lights drew global attention in the early 1980s. Project Hessdalen was soon established to investigate the phenomenon.

The Hessdalen lights are well-documented.

A 1984 field report concluded that the phenomenon is measurable. During this initial investigation, 53 observations of anomalous light phenomena were recorded. These observations included visual captures on camera, radar detections, and magnetometer readings. Individual observations have been meticulously documented on the Hessdalen website since 1996.

There are two primary types of anomalous phenomena in Hessdalen: Lights and Crafts

Timeline

1983: The project was established.
1984: First report on the Hessdalen lights.
1993: A Public Discussion and Call for Collaboration
1998: The Blue Box started recording videos.
2023: Registered as a non-profit organization.
2024: First Public Field Trip and Conference

Established in 1983

to study the phenomena.
In 1998 The Blue Box was installed: the world's first automated Anomaly Detection and Recording System.
This website offers free access to all reports, photos, videos & live streams from the valley!

Registered in 2023

Project Hessdalen is registered in the Norwegian Business Registry as a non-profit organization.
Organization number: 931 580 566. Business address: Hessdalsvegen 985, 7380 Ålen
Contact person: Fred Pallesen (CEO) +47 94086203, email: fred@hessdalen.org

The Hessdalen Phenomenon and Project Hessdalen

…Hessdalen is really a UFO-laboratory. It’s a place where things are happening and where things can be studied […] whatever it turns out to be it’s terribly important.

(J. Allen Hynek 1985)

The phenomenon

The Hessdalen valley in Norway has long been known for what is called the "Hessdalen Phenomenon" or "Hessdalen Lights", unexplained aerial phenomena reported since the 1800s.

A significant increase in sightings occurred between 1981 and 1985, with up to 20 sightings per week. The number of reported sightings has since decreased to about 20 per year. But the actual numbers might be much higher.

Phenomenon Characteristics

A 1984 field report concluded that the phenomenon is measurable. During this initial investigation, 53 observations of anomalous light phenomena were recorded. These observations included visual captures on camera, radar detections, and magnetometer readings.

There are four main types of anomalous phenomena in Hessdalen:

Type 1:

Article image
Blue or white flashes lasting up to 2 seconds, occurring under all weather conditions and not attracted to electrical cables like ordinary lightnings would be.

Type 2:

Article image
Mostly yellow lights of various shapes, lasting from minutes to hours, stationary or moving at various speeds. Can have another light attached to it, often red or green. Furthermore, these lights can split, send beams and contain multiple smaller balls of light within a larger orb.

Type 3:

Article image
Multiple lights appearing to be attached to a single object, as when it moves all the lights move together.

Type 4:

Article image
Looks like solid objects of various shapes, including saucer and cigar shapes.

These phenomena have sometimes been detected by radar and seen visually at the same time. Sometimes they can only be picked up by radar but not visually and vice versa.

Under the following links you find some video footage of the phenomenon:


About Project Hessdalen
logo
ko-fi logo

Become a member

Sign up at ko-fi

discord logo

Join Discord

This is where we discuss

Goal

Our goal is to collect high quality data about the phenomenon and make it available for the public.

All pictures captured by our cameras can be found in our Google Disk folder.

Pioneering Scientific Investigation

Founded in 1983, Project Hessdalen has been at the forefront of scientific investigation into the Hessdalen phenomena. The project has collaborated with scientists, organized science camps for students and participated in workshops and conferences. Project Hessdalen has received coverage in mainstream media and became a non-profit organization in 2023.

Notably, the project received support from the Norwegian military between 1983 and 1985.

The Blue box
The Blue box

The Blue Box

In 1998, the project installed the "Blue Box," a shipping container equipped with electricity, internet, and an array of sensors, including a camera transmitting live footage 24/7.

Currently Project Hessdalen is working on upgrading the cameras to 8 Megapixel and to a more powerful computer to run a BOB Universal Object Tracker, a software for detecting, tracking and recording objects in the sky.

The “Interdisciplinary Research Center for Extraterrestrial" (IFEX) also installed a SkyCam 5, connected to an AI alarm system. The alarm pictures and videos from this system are being sent to IFEX.

The Blue Box is also outfitted with a flight detector, weather station, radar and a Random Event Generator (REG). Plans are underway to deploy high-speed automated drones to closely approach the phenomena.

Donate

We need your help to solve this mystery.

Go to ko-fi.com to donate or become a member.