Molyobka anomalous zone (M-Triangle)

The zone is usually attributed to Emil Fyodorovich Bachurin (*Эмиль Фёдорович Бачурин*), a geologist from Perm. According to accounts of the case, in October 1983 Bachurin saw a glow over the forest near Molyobka and afterwards found a circular trace about 62 metres in diameter on the ground, which he interpreted as the landing site of a craft.^[3][2] Some Russian-language sources date the discovery of the 62-metre circle to October 1984 rather than 1983, and the discrepancy is unresolved in the literature.^[2]

The area became nationally famous in 1989, when the Riga journalist Pavel Mukhortov (*Павел Мухортов*) published a sensational series of articles titled *М-ский треугольник, или Чужие здесь не ходят* ("The M-Triangle, or Aliens Don't Walk Here") in the newspaper *Sovetskaya Molodyozh*.^[1] The abbreviation "M" is generally taken from Molyobka. On 12 October 1989 *Komsomolskaya Pravda* published a related account, and dozens of further articles appeared in 1989–1990, after which large numbers of visitors began travelling to the site.^[1][2]

Visitors and self-described ufologists have reported a range of phenomena in the zone. These include glowing spheres and similar bodies said to arrange themselves into regular geometric figures, columns of light, multicoloured flashes, "sound mirages," alleged time distortions, and malfunctions of photographic and video equipment and battery charges.^[1][2] Some accounts describe headaches, fevers, or claimed telepathic contact with extraterrestrials.^[1] Skeptics note that the reported "columns of light" are consistent with the beams of other tourists' flashlights swept across the night sky.^[2]

Guides have given popular names to particular spots in the forest, such as the "Witch Rings" and the "Astral clearing."^[3] Skeptical commentators note that many reported "anomalies" are consistent with photographic artefacts, insects, fog, and the strong expectations of visitors who travel to the site specifically to encounter the unusual.^[2]

Members of the Russian research association Kosmopoisk (*Космопоиск*), coordinated by Vadim Chernobrov (*Вадим Чернобров*), are among the groups that have organised expeditions to the zone as part of their wider study of "anomalous" sites in Russia.^[4]

Conventional investigations have not supported claims of genuine anomalies. In the summer of 1992, staff and students of Perm State University surveyed the area and reported that no variations in the magnetic field were detected and that soil samples revealed nothing unusual.^[1] The same survey concluded that the small "pyramids" sometimes presented as artificial were heaps of slag left from copper smelting that had once operated in the area, and noted that geologists had buried magnets near the zone as an experiment or prank in the late 1980s, which may account for some reported "magnetic" effects.^[1] In 1990, a group of nearly one hundred Molyobka residents reportedly issued an open letter denying that any anomalies occurred there.^[2]

Following the 1989 reports, the zone became a destination for tourists and UFO enthusiasts, with up to several hundred people visiting at a time during the 1989–1992 peak.^[2] Perm Krai authorities later promoted the site for tourism; in 2008 the region received around 450,000 tourists, a large share of whom were said to visit the anomalous zone, with figures of roughly 100,000 visitors cited for 2011.^[1] A half-metre wooden roadside statue of an alien (nicknamed "Alyosha"), carved from pine by the local craftsman Viktor Sazanov, was installed at the entrance to Molyobka in 2011 as a tourist landmark; it was restored and repainted in 2019.^[5] Public interest declined after the 1990s, although the zone remains part of Perm Krai's regional tourism identity.^[2]