A forgotten archive, an unknown story: The last records of Socrates Aikaterinidis
- Νίκος Αποστολόπουλος
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Nikos Apostolopoulos
In December 2017 I met Rosy Michikian. For many, her name may not be particularly well known. But for those who have studied the history of UFO research in Greece, her contribution constitutes an important, if relatively unknown, chapter.
From our first acquaintance, a close friendship developed. In our countless meetings—usually over coffee and sparked by endless discussions about the history of Greek ufology—Rosy would often return to her memories of the period during which she was a close collaborator and, as she describes it herself, the "right hand" of Socrates Aikaterinidis.
Aikaterinidis was one of the most distinctive figures in the field of UFO research in Greece. For nearly five decades he systematically dedicated himself to collecting, recording and investigating incidents, leaving behind him an extensive personal archive.
The story, however, that was to follow my acquaintance with Rosy Michikian would open an entirely different chapter.
The trunk with the archive
In 2018, after several meetings and hours-long discussions, I received yet another phone call from Rosy. She asked me to visit her again at her home.
This time, though, there was something different.
Opening an old trunk, she revealed to me a large part of the material that had been saved from the personal archive of Socrates Aikaterinidis.
The sight that met my eyes was striking.
Dozens of black files, hundreds of typed and handwritten A4 pages, rare books, journals now hard to find, hundreds of UFO photographs, newspaper clippings and dozens of incident reports that had not, until then, been the subject of systematic study.
This was not simply a collection of old documents. It was a part of the history of Greek UFO research, gathered together within folders, notes, photographs and personal records.
The material came from the personal archive of Socrates Aikaterinidis, one of the most important and most mysterious Greek researchers of the UFO phenomenon.
An archive that was saved
After Aikaterinidis's death in 2005, the greater part of his archive passed into the possession of a well-known researcher in the field. A smaller, but exceptionally significant portion of it, known to very few, had remained in the possession of Rosy Michikian.
This revelation was significant in itself. Even greater, however, was her next announcement.
With the agreement of Makis Podotas, Rosy had decided to hand over this particular material to me, so that I could classify it, study it and manage it in a way that, in our view, would serve serious and well-documented research.
The volume of the archive was enormous. To transport it we had to fill more than ten large bags. From that moment began a months-long process of classification, recording and study.
And then, among hundreds of folders and thousands of pages, something appeared that at first seemed insignificant.
The small file
It was a small file.
Rosy Michikian handed it to me almost hesitantly and asked me to leaf through it.
Inside it were fourteen handwritten pages.
These were not mere notes.
They were the last thoughts, the advice and the personal confessions of Socrates Aikaterinidis, recorded shortly before his death, during his hospitalization at the "Evangelismos" hospital.
For a researcher interested not only in the incidents themselves, but also in the history of the people who recorded them, the find was especially significant.
Aikaterinidis had no family of his own and, according to what Rosy conveyed to me, he felt the need to entrust to her certain thoughts, memories and pieces of advice that he considered important.
Their conversations took place in two separate meetings, on the 7th floor of "Evangelismos."
Rosy, evidently aware of the significance of these discussions, wished to ensure that nothing would be lost.
She bought a small journalist's cassette recorder and recorded their conversations.
From the cassette to paper
The story, however, did not stop there.
As time passed, Rosy began to fear that the cassette might be destroyed, degraded or even lost. So she made the decision to transcribe by hand onto paper the entire content of the conversations.
This act proved decisive.
Thanks to this personal effort, a unique document was saved—one that concerns not only the personality and final thoughts of an important Greek researcher, but at the same time constitutes a piece of the history of UFO research in Greece.
Fourteen handwritten pages, then, hidden for years within a small file, were finally found amid a far larger archive.
And perhaps this is the true value of a historical archive: not only what we already know, but above all what waits to be discovered, cross-referenced and studied.
This archive, together with archival material from other older researchers and groups that engaged, or continue to engage, with the UFO phenomenon in Greece, is available to the public at the offices of ERENZO/GRUFON.
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