Sosnovka entity encounter — 1923-07-01

M. Volosnikov reportedly observed an unusual moon-like object while travelling aboard a steamship on the Vyatka River near Sosnovka in July 1923. The account preserved in Jacques Vallée's Soviet UFO chronology places the observation at dawn. It does not establish an exact day, so the imported July 1 date should be treated as a catalogue placeholder. Volosnikov watched the object for approximately two or three minutes before it turned to the right and disappeared. Other people reportedly discussed what they had seen, some interpreting it through the language of an evil spirit. Later compilations describe a crescent-like appearance and its relationship to the boat, but the recovered chronology does not provide a resolved mechanical hull, measured dimensions or an authenticated photograph. Vallée's 1992 appendix summarizes material associated with Felix Zigel's collections rather than reproducing a contemporary 1923 investigation. The object therefore remains a retrospective aerial report. No beings, landing, boarding or encounter with an occupant appears in the recovered account; its imported close-encounter classification should not create them. The reconstruction shows representative steamship observers and an unresolved moon-like light, with the exact day explicitly unestablished and no invented alien pilot.