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Many newspapers followed up this incident the following days, and many explanations were offered, but alas, most of the questions remained unanswered! An Air Force spokesman stated that it was impossible that the prints were made by any known airplane or helicopter - "but if you believe in UFO's, the explanation is quite easy, ha-ha"...

The place where the print was found is not easy to get to. It is surrounded by hills and rocks, no roads is leading to the spot, and no people visit the place during winter. The nearest neighbor to the spot is the Tollevik family. Mrs. Tollevik told that in October or November 1975 their dog had acted quite unusual one night. For about one or two hours their dog had barked and been very uneasy, which it has never been neither earlier nor after that night. Most people seem to believe that this has a connection with the print, i.e. that the dog has seen or heard something that night. The Tollevik family checked through the window that evening without seeing anything, but this window is directed in the opposite direction of the print.

Other explanations than the UFO theory were of course offered. Some said that this was a track where people had been running, indeed enthusiastic joggers! A botanist from the Botanic Museum in Bergen then solved the problem -it was what we in Norway call a "heksering" -a "witch-circle" -made by thousands of innocent mushrooms! The botanists were impressed by its size, but had no doubt that this was The Right Answer to the riddle. After we had tried to deny this through the newspapers, and even named the solution: NONSENSE, the botanist took a trip to Espevaer to confirm their solution, and had to confirm the opposite, that they were mistaken. We had already analyzed soil from the print and knew this.

The Air Force's Observation Group did visit the place and it is from them we got the picture shown on page 5. They concluded that the print was set by some unknown flying object, and that it was a real UFO that had been down there. Remember that the helicopter in which the Air Force people arrived (a Sikorsky Seaking) weighed 16 tons and did not make any mark on the ground, while the unknown object had pressed even stones 4-10 cm down in the ground. It must have been very heavy, and very large one might add...

The print was found on a slightly sloping field circled by rocks and stones, and its circumference is 63.4 meter. The print is 25.6 m long and 14.4 m wide. The track itself is about 7 cm across and its depth is from 7 cm on top of the field and about 10 cm at the bottom where the ground was "softer" (not so many rocks), and where of course most of the object's weight would have rested as the ground was sloping.

A strange thing is, that outside Silkeborg in Denmark, equal prints were found in connection with an UFO observation about the same time. This print was about 119 m long and 28 m broad. The print was about 40 cm deep, and the weight necessary for making that deep prints was estimated to about 160-200 tons. The Danish object was observed for about 30 minutes, sending out glowing balls, 4-5 at a time. For a full report, contact Danish UFO groups.

NEW PRINTS

In the spring of 1979, three years after the first observation, new prints were found on Akerkve-sletta on Espevaer. OUr representatives F. W. Kalvik and E. Nielsen visited the spot on June 2, after having heard rumors that new prints were found on the same place as in 1976.

And indeed, the rumors were facts this time. On the eastern end of the "old" print there was a new one. It was about the same size