From: aa154@ccn.cs.dal.ca (jacques boudreau)

CANADA'S X-FILES

SAT. DEC. 30/1995

UFO Sightings make glowing reports

By JIM BRONSKILL
The Canadian Press


Dean was driving west late one Alberta night when he spotted strange lights in the sky.

The bright lights - forming a green, red and yellow triangle - dimmed as they passed over the stretch of road just east of High Prairie.

They regained their luminous glow before darting off at a rapid clip - too fast for a normal air- craft.

Dean is among dozens of Canadi- ans who reported seeing an un- identified flying object last year. His description of the eerie en- counter is one of 186 official UFO reports filed with the police, mili- tary and federal scientists. Call them Canada's X-Files - something like the popular TV tales of two FBI agents who investigate paranormal phenomena.

The sighting reports, tucked away in cardboard boxes at the Na- tional archives in Ottawa, would make fine fodder for the spooky series.

The reports, kept in folders labelled Non-Meteoric Sightings, include neatly typed police files, handwritten letters, drawings and interview transcripts about celestial oddities across the country. The files were released with most names deleted.

A veteran North Vancouver stargazer reported seeing a dark arrowhead-shaped object - three times the size of a jumbo jet - with orange-yellow lights at the tips.

"There was absolutely no sound and the speed was incredible. This was certainly no aircraft or weather balloon," the witness said in a letter to the federal Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics.

"I found the experience a little disturbing, to say the least." A Langley, B.C., woman told pol- ice two star-like objects came down from the sky and followed her car one spring evening. She became scared, pulled over and turned her lights off in time to see the "stars" take off with three airplanes in pursuit

RCMP in Gimli Man., received a report from two people who saw "a large donut-shaped object" flying towards Winnipeg. The white object, about 100 metres in diameter, had as many as 12 pulsating lights running evenly around its rim.

A father and son were walking around Taharti Lake near Quesnel, B.C., one summer day when they saw a clear, oval-shaped object about the size of a car. It hovered above the water for three minutes, then sped off.

They returned to their cabin and told three companions of the sight- ing. Oddly, all five later realized they had "lost" a day. Two who left the site on July 22 discovered it was really the 23rd. The others left on the 23rd, only to hear on the car radio that it was the 24th. -

''We were somewhat surprised," the son told an RCMP constable. "when we stopped for gas we con- firmmed that it was actually a day later."

A Nova Scotia woman was driv- ing to Halifax one autumn night when she and her passenger saw a dark diamond-sbaped craft fea- turing a detailed pattern of white lights.

It hovered noiselessly overhead for a couple of minutes before speedng off to the west. Some sightings took place high above the Earth.

The pilot of a Boeing 767 trav- elling from Vancouver to London reported seeing an object fly paral- lel to his plane. It was so bright at one point that it lit up the cockpit.

Some UFOs seem more easily explained than others. Two observers told an RCMP of- ficer in Lynn Lake, Man., of a green fireball falling slowly from the sky. In his report, the constable noted meteorites and the northern lights had been seen in the area recently.

That's not all. While taking the witness state- ments, he detected the un- mistakable odor of marijuana.

EXTREME POSSIBILITIES

Some 1994 UFO sighting reports: Pictou, February: A round object, brighter than the stars, grew bigger, separated into three smaller objects, then recombined into one piece. Moose Jaw, Sask., April 10: Four copper-colored, cigar-shaped objects appeared for 10 seconds, changed positions, then disappeared. Stittsville, Ont., July 11: A triangle with several lights hovered noise- lessly for about three minutes before taking off. Ottawa, July 12: Two separate re- ports of a star-like object that appeared at 11:30 p.m., then suddenly vanished. One report says it zigzagged sharply. Red Deer, Alta., July 15; A man and woman saw an object with a reddish glow speed along in a straight line for up to three minutes. Though it had flapping wings, they were convinced it was not a bird or plane.

Casselman, Ont., Nov. 20: A young man, driving just before dawn, saw a fuzzy object with white lights flying at treetop level. The lights did not il- luminate the ground. There was no noise, exhaust or heat. Scarborough, Ont., December: A man saw a flash in the sky, then the power went out about for two seconds. He called Ontario Hydro, which reported no problems with equipment.

Metagami, Que., Dec. 5: A pilot saw a bright light and explosion, then falling debris. Two other aircraft also saw the light.

Whistler, B.C., Dec. 12: A man and two friends saw a round object with flashing lights hover above Black- comb Mountain. The investigating RCMP officer apparently also saw it. Ferryland, Nfld., Dec. 15: A white object with green edges, about the size of a pickup truck, was spotted falling from the sky. Source: National Archives