From: | webcreat@internorth.com |
Title: | UFOS ARE NO STRANGERS TO THE NORTH |
Source: | Northern News Service |
Date: | January 15, 1996 |
News/north (January 15, 1996)
Yellowknife, NT
Northern Lights, atmospheric irregularities, drug use and over-active
imaginations ahve often been used to justify - and dismiss - paranormal
phenomena. But how do you explain mysterious lights seen by as many as 50
people
in one community? One of the onlookers even videotaped the sighting. That's
what happened last week in Forst Resolution. An unidentified flying
object (UFO)
with blue, green and white lights was spotted hovering for almost an hour by
about 50 individuals. The spectacle was so intriguing, the North's top military
commander, Col. Pierre Leblanc, travelled to the South Slave community Wednesday
night with two military investigators. He said the investigation was pretty
straightforward. They simply flew over the area of the sighting and interviewed
eye-witnesses. They didn't return to headquarters empty-handed. They
obtained a
copy of the videotape, which will be forwarded to Defense officials in
North Bay,
Ont. (Ontario - Blaine), for further study. Leblanc said information from other
sources, such as land and sea radar, will be collated and compared to his
findings.
"The next step"? Where does it go from there? Well, Leblanc said National
Defense keeps track of paranormal investigations, although the budget for such
activities is shrkinking all the time. Jim Bronskill, a reporter with the
Canadian Press, recently researched UFO sightings files at the National Archives
in Ottawa. He said UFOs have been active in the North for as long as records
have been kept. "Sightings are fairly evenly spread out across the country,
including Northern sightings," Bronskill said. While doing research, he saw
files from Pond Inlet and a few other NWT communities in which authorities
documented sightings of strange lights and hovering objects. He also recalls a
sighting in Lynn Lake, Man. Two observers there told a RCMP officer of a green
fireball falling slowly from the sky. In his report, the constable said
meteorites and the Northern lights (Aurora Borealis - Blaine) had been seen in
the area recently. He said he also detected the unmistakable odor of marijuana
while taking witness statements. "The North is a little bit different from the
rest of Canada because of the Northern lights and other atmospheric
irregularities," he concluded. "Quite often, Northern sightings are explained
away because of those types of things."
"Casting doubt" Fort Simpson elder Leo Norweigian came forward with information
about a November UFO sihting after hearing of the Fort Resolution report.
He said
he had seen a lot of things in his life, but nothing like these lights. He said
he had seen lots of Northern lights and other atmospheric phenomena, he had even
seen an unexplained glowing fireball shoot across the sky - that was 25 years
ago. But on Nov. 13, when he and an eight-year-old child witnessed lights on a
hovering craft near Fort Simpson similiar to what was reported in Fort
Resolution, he was baffled. "I'm just glad that someone else has seen it too,"
he said, admitting he didn't tell too many people about his sighting because he
feared he wouldn't be believed. Bronskill said Canadians used to file close to
200 official non-meteoric sightings a year with the National Archives. That
figure changed last August when the fedreal government canned the recording
program - a budget cutting measure. (or something more? - Blaine)
"Where do UFOs go?" What happens to UFO reports isn't clear. Northern RCMP
officers say UFO investigations aren't within their jurisdiction any more. RCMP
in Ottawa say they're only concerned with UFOs which threaten the national
capital. Meanwhile, Department of National Defense officials say they're not
sure what happens when people spot UFOs, either. "There used to be a Project
Blue Book that looked into those reports, but that's no longer operational," one
official said. Military police officials said they would house an alien
prisoner
if required, but have nothing to do with investigating UFO sightings. They
thought National Defense public exhibition staff might know something - they
didn't. "Staff Sgt. Eric Lafoy, a spokesman for the RCMP in the NWT, said that
if a UFO ever landed in the North, police, military and territorial officials
would just have to deal with it, policy or not.