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1983 · Egedesminde (Aasiaat), West Greenland

The Danish Air Force UFO archive and the Egedesminde lights

Sourced, unconfirmed
Strength B · 7/10 · 2 independent
Evidence 3/4 · Witnesses 2/3 · Backing 2/3

A Danish police report and Greenland Command telex record four witnesses watching two structured lights for 50 minutes, with a ship's crew reporting a light the same evening and no aircraft in the area.

Plausibility High
Score 11 · 7 factors for, 0 against

A Danish police report and Greenland Command telex record four witnesses watching structured lights for 50 minutes, with a ship's crew reporting a light the same evening.

See the factors ↓

Natural cause proposed, not demonstrated
Mirror copy, Part 3 (pp. 200-280) (read in part) · page 1 of 90 · war.gov file, via the ufotransparency.com mirror
When2 November 1983, 18:45-19:35 local
WhereEgedesminde (Aasiaat), West Greenland
Backing2 independent
Witnesses2 named

In their own words

“et hvidt lys højt oppe i luften over Manitsoq-øens fjeld. Objektet lyste med et hvidt projektørlignende lys ned i vandet mellem Manitsoq og Angissoq… Objektet lignede nærmest en kahyt og efterhånden blev der tændt flere hvide lys, måske 4-5 på stribe" ("a white light high in the air over the mountain of Manitsoq island. The object shone a white projector-like light down into the water between Manitsoq and Angissoq… The object looked most like a cabin, and gradually several white lights came on, perhaps 4-5 in a row”
From the Egedesminde police report of 2 Nov 1983 (witness's account as recorded by the officer; my translati

The archive. On 29 January 2009 the Royal Danish Air Force (Flyvevåbnet) released its UFO archive. The release came after years of requests from journalists. It is 329 pages, published as four PDFs, and covers reports registered by the Danish armed forces from about 1978 to 2002. After 2002 the civilian group SUFOI (Skandinavisk UFO Information) took over collecting reports. - Contents. The file is mostly the standard questionnaire "Spørgeskema til brug for militære og civile myndigheder ved afhøring angaaende observerede 'raketter' o.l." (RCS: CHODDEN INT-20209). Alongside are letters from Flyvertaktisk Kommando (FTK, Tactical Air Command, Karup) to witnesses and to SUFOI, police reports, telexes from Grønlands Kommando (GLK), newspaper cuttings and a few laboratory reports. Witness names are blacked out. - Danish press on the release: - Ingeniøren reported over 300 reports since 1978, and that "according to the Air Force, most of the observations have never been explained". - UPI reported more than 200 unsolved cases. - Capt. Thomas Pedersen said "there is nothing really secret in them." - The archive explains some cases itself: - An FTK letter of 26 Feb 1979 (OP-2 307/UFO-111) attributes the Viborg photo of 17 Nov 1974 to steam from the Viborg district-heating plant. - A 1980 Jydsk Teknologisk Institut test identifies an "ice lump" that fell in Brabrand as frozen toilet waste. - FTK letters attribute several 1979-80 sightings to Draken jets. - Reading caveat. The PDFs are scanned images with no text layer. I viewed contact sheets of parts 2-4 and read selected pages in full; I did not read all 329 pages. The case. The strongest case I found is a set of Greenland reports in autumn 1983, which went through police and Grønlands Kommando. At Egedesminde (Aasiaat) on 2 November 1983, a local man and three others watched two lights for about 50 minutes and reported to a police officer. - The first looked like an "airship" or cabin with 4-5 white lights in a row and a projector-like beam sweeping the water and the Manitsoq hills. - The second was round and ball-like, with two red lights and then a bright white one. - The police officer checked at once. Grønlands Kommando reported no aircraft in the area. Egedesminde Radio said no ships had sailed and that ships arriving in port did not match. - The coastal ship Orsiaat reported a very bright white light in the clouds over Qutdligssat the same evening. - The Søndre Strømfjord flight information centre (FIC BGSF) reported nothing on radar in the period. - Grønlands Kommando's telex calls the four witnesses "fire paalidelige personer" (four reliable persons). The file contains no explanation for this case. Other autumn-1983 Greenland reports in the same bundle (Godhavn, Angmagssalik/Kulusuk, Nuuk) include one entity description and one light the police officer himself thought was the Pole Star.

Evidence, in date order (2)

  1. 2 Nov 1983Three co-witnesses at Egedesmindewitness
    watched the two lights with the reporting resident for about 50 minutes Mirror copy, Part 3 (pp. 200-280) (read in part)
  2. 2 Nov 1983Crew of KGH ship Orsiaatwitness
    saw a very bright white light in the clouds the same evening, recorded in the GLK telex Mirror copy, Part 3 (pp. 200-280) (read in part)

How plausible · High

A Danish police report and Greenland Command telex record four witnesses watching structured lights for 50 minutes, with a ship's crew reporting a light the same evening.

  • ●●
    Access Seen directly.
  • ●●
    No gain sought Police report.
  • ●●
    Independent convergence Four witnesses and a ship.
  • ●●
    Checkable details check out Danish Air Force archive.
  • ●○
    Restraint Plain description.
  • ●○
    Character record Police; witnesses unnamed.

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.

On the record

  • GLK telex r 031352z NOV 83 (official; my translation): "politiet i egedesminde har oplyst at fire paalidelige personer i egedesminde har obs en flyvende genstand to gange. foerste gang 022145z til 022215z…". Further: "et skib i farvandet [har] obs en lyskegle i skyerne"; the first object was "aflang (luftskibsform)" (elongated, airship-shaped) and the second "kuppelformet" (dome-shaped). "fic bgsf oplyste at der ikke havde vaeret noget at obs paa radar i det paagaeldende tidsrum."
  • The Egedesminde police report (official): The witness reported at 19:45 to the officer, who happened to be nearby on other duty. The sighting ran 18:45-19:35. The officer himself searched from high points in town from 20:00 to 20:50 and saw nothing of interest. At 21:30 the GLK duty officer had no other reports. At 22:15 GLK said there had been no aircraft in the area, and that other UFO reports around Egedesminde were coming in but were for now put down to rumour ("rygtedannelser"). Egedesminde Radio listed the ships that arrived that evening (*Bistrup* 19:15, *Tugdlik* 19:40, *Elith Knudsen* 19:45) and said none had sailed. The crew of KGH ship *Orsiaat* had seen "et meget skarpt hvidt lys oppe i skyerne over Qutdlissat" before 22:00. The officer notes that the crew mentioned this only after the radio operator told them of the town's reports.
  • The witnesses denied they could have mistaken ships' lights, though two red lights "kunne være lanterner ved havneindsejlingen" (could have been lanterns at the harbour entrance), which blink. They heard no engine noise at an estimated distance of about 1 km (police report).

Claims

Two objects over Manitsoq island: first an "airship"-like cabin with 4-5 white lights and a searchlight beam, moving north and vanishing after about half an hour; then a round ball-like object that glided south, dipped toward the water, lit two red lights and then a brighter white one, and vanished south at about 19:35firsthandSourced, unconfirmedunnamed Egedesminde resident and three co-witnesses; chain: witness → Egedesminde police report → GLK → Flyvevåbnet archive
A very bright white light was seen in the clouds over Qutdlissat before 22:00firsthandSourced, unconfirmedcrew of KGH ship *Orsiaat* (unnamed); chain: crew → Egedesminde Radio → police report
At Godhavn on 21 Oct 1983 (04:25), an object stood still for about an hour and then rushed toward the witnesses, and three human-like figures were seen in its "domefirsthandSourced, unconfirmedtwo night-shift workers at the old people's home (names redacted); chain: witness → Politiet Godhavn report, 25 Oct 1983 → GLK
At Kulusuk on 21 Oct 1983 (02:00-03:00), a big bright light held position for an hourfirsthandSourced, unconfirmeda man on call ("hjemmevagt") who radioed the police, and the police officer himself; chain: Politiet Ammassalik notits, 5 May 1984; the officer himself thought

Where

Egedesminde (Aasiaat), West Greenland
68.7°N 52.9°W
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Sources

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