Aleshenka

Aleshenka (Russian: Алёшенька, Alyoshenka, diminutive of the Russian male first name Alexey) or the Kyshtym Dwarf was a prematurely born female baby with many deformities found in the village of Kaolinovy, near Kyshtym, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia in May 1996. Subsequently, the remains were lost. Only photos and videos of the corpse survive. DNA testing of blood on the fabric the child was wrapped in have identified with certainty that it was a human female. Various supernatural and mystical speculation arose; skeptics regard the information about its existence as nothing more than urban legends.

Discovery

A small human fetus, Aleshenka was found by an elderly woman, Tamara Vasilievna Prosvirina, who was mentally ill. The fetus had an unusual appearance, giving rise to rumours of its extraterrestrial origin. The local population readily supported this rumour, collecting fees from reporters for interviews – at least two Japanese companies (Asahi TV and MTV Japan) made documentaries about the remains.

Physical appearance

Aleshenka was a greyish fetus about 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in length. Its hairless head had a number of dark spots. The eyes were large, occupying most of the face. It breathed through a small nose below the eyes.

Later incidents

A few days after the discovery, Tamara Prosvirina was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, and the remains were passed to the local militsiya (police) by a neighbour. In 1999, Prosvirina was killed in an automobile accident in an attempt to escape the hospital.^[1]

Speculation

Little is known about what happened to the remains, and accounts of Aleshenka'a death and appearance vary greatly. A local ufologist claimed that the corpse was taken away by a UFO inhabited by members of Aleshenka's species. Some sceptics hold that it was bought by a wealthy collector of curiosities. A doctor from the local hospital who had allegedly seen the corpse reported that it corresponded to a normal 20- to 25-week human fetus, born prematurely. It could have lived for several hours, but not several weeks, contrary to Prosvirina's claims.^[2]

Testing

According to genetic experts at the Moscow Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, DNA analysis of the clothes Aleshenka was wrapped in revealed no evidence that "he" was extraterrestrial. On 15 April 2004, the scientists made an official statement that the "Kyshtym creature" was a premature female human infant, with severe deformities.

The Kyshtym disaster of 1957 (Level 6 on the International Nuclear Event Scale) seriously contaminated the area with radiation and greatly affected the health of the local population. Deformities of a human fetus could have been due to long-term effects of radiation.^[3]

See also

• Atacama skeleton
• Kosmopoisk

References