|
One
of the most extraordinary, UFO encounters of the twentieth century
occurred in the tiny fishing community of Shag Harbor on the southern tip
of Nova Scotia.
This event, while relatively obscure in the sense of
public awareness, is one of the most thoroughly and officially documented
UFO encounters of the last 30 years, and is easily as sensational and as
mystifying as the famous Roswell incident. In
the evening skies of October 4, 1967 several residents of the village
first noticed a rather strange grouping of orange lights. Several
eyewitness accounts indicate that there were four orange lights that
evening. Five of these witnesses included a group of teenagers who watched
these lights flash in sequence for several minutes, and then suddenly and
rapidly dive in a sharp 45 degree angle toward the water's surface.
To
the amazement of the teens, and other eyewitnesses, on hitting the water’s
surface the lights did not immediately disappear beneath the gentle
swells, but seemed to float on the surface, approximately one-half mile
from the shore. The initial panicked reaction of the observers was that
they were witnessing the emergency ditching or crash of an airplane. The
first report phoned into the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in
Barrington, came from a young fisherman who told them that an airliner had
gone into the bay. The first reaction by the police dispatcher was that
the young man had been drinking, however after an immediate rash of 10
additional calls reporting the incident, the police quickly re-contacted
the young fisherman for location details.
Within
the same time period however, Constable Ron Pound of the RCMP was on
patrol on Highway 3, heading toward Shag Harbor, and had been observing
the strange lights as he increased his speed toward the incident.
Constable Pound’s report was that he believed that the four lights were
coming from a single aircraft, that he estimated to be about 60 feet long.
As Constable Pound reached the shoreline he was joined by two other
officers, Police Corporal Victor Werbieki, and Constable Ron O'Brien.
Additionally, several of the fishing village’s residents stood on the
shore watching and questioning what to do next. According to Constable
Pound and the other officers, the orange lights slowly changed to yellow,
and the object appeared to move slowly across the surface of the water,
leaving a yellowish foam in it's wake. By this time no fewer than 30
witnesses from various vantage points, watched as the object slowly
drifted further from shore, all would later describe the object as about
60 feet long, 10 or so feet high and dome shaped.
After
about five minutes, the object started to sink beneath the icy North
Atlantic waves. A few of the eyewitnesses reported hearing a
"whooshing" noise. While the RCMP had already been in
communication with the Canadian Cost Guard and Cutter 101 was on the way,
two of the RCMP officers and a few local fisherman hurriedly launched
their boats to speed to the rescue of any survivors. As the small boats,
and Cutter 101 reached the location, the lights were no longer visible but
they found themselves sailing through a thick yellow foam, that indicated
that something had submerged. (The fisherman report that the foam was not
sea foam, and looked like nothing they had ever seen. In fact most were
unnerved by the fact that they had to sail through it to look for
survivors.)
After
several hours of searching nothing was found and the search was called off
at approximately 3:00 am. Both the NORAD and the Rescue Coordination
Center in Halifax had been contacted by the RCMP and found that there had
been no reports that evening of missing aircraft, either civilian or
military.
On
October 5th (the following day), the Rescue Coordination Center
filed a report with the Canadian Forces Headquarters in Ottawa. This
report stated that something had crashed into the water in Shag Harbor,
but the object was of "unknown origin." The Canadian Forces
Headquarters dispatched the HMCS Granby to Shag Harbor crash site, and
using advanced detection equipment and specially trained divers from the
Navy and the RCMP, the
Canadian military systematically searched the sea floor for several days,
and found nothing.
Here in 1967, the mystery ended with no physical
evidence ever recovered, and no additional leads.
For
a few years the story kicked around in the local papers. From time-to-time
various theories and intriguing rumors emerged about Russian spacecraft,
or Russian submarines, and an American follow-up investigation. Then the
story simply faded into obscurity.
That is, until 1993 when the Shag Harbor incident once again was brought
to the attention of the public.
This was due to the dedicated investigative efforts of two men who are *MUFON
investigators. Chris Styles, assisted by Doug Ledger, using public records
such as newspaper clippings, and police reports were able to track down
and interview many of the eyewitnesses and individuals involved in the
Shag Harbor sighting, the rescue attempt, and in the subsequent
investigation. Through their work, some extremely compelling clues and
amazing new insights were uncovered.
In
interviews with divers, and crew members from the HMCS Granby they
discovered some startling information. The object that dove into the
waters off of Shag Harbor had been tracked, and it had actually traveled
underwater for a distance of about 25 miles to a place called Government
Point. In the 1960’s the U.S. had maintained a small but technically
advanced military base at Government Point, managing a Magnetic Anomaly
Detection system (MAD grid) for the purpose of detecting
and tracking submarines in the North Atlantic using .
The
U.S. military had most definitely detected the object on its sensitive
tracking equipment. Naval vessels were dispatched and positioned over the
unidentified object, where it had stopped. After 3 days of no movement,
and not knowing exactly what it was, the military was planning to initiate
an investigative salvage operation. As the Navy waited and planned, the
detection equipment picked up another object moving in, and to the
amazement of all those involved, joined the first object on the ocean
floor. The speculation at the time, was that the second UFO (I guess
officially now an Underwater Flying Object) was there to render aid to the
first object.
Not
fully comprehending what they were dealing with the Navy decided it was
best to standby and observe. For nearly a week the Navy vessels held their
position over the UFOs. The detection base however, located a Russian
submarine that had entered Canadian waters to the north, so several of the
vessels had to be pulled off target to sail north to investigate. Under
the cover of this new activity on the surface, both UFOs made their move,
accelerating underwater toward the Gulf of Maine. The remaining Navy
vessels pursued them toward the United States, but the objects continued
to distance themselves from their trackers. To the astonishment of the
pursuers, both of the objects broke to the surface and shot skyward to
vanish within seconds.
According
to the researchers, while these observations were well corroborated by
many credible eye witnesses, these accounts were given "Off the
Record" by military, ex-military, and civilian personnel who fear
harassment, ridicule, or loss of pension. So as the saying goes,
"only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."
Clearly,
a series of very extraordinary, and still unexplained UFO encounters,
involving the navies of two countries and NORAD, occurred at Shag Harbor on October 4th 1967, and in the
following week in the deep waters off of the cost of Maine.
*MUFON
is an International Non-profit Civilian Research Organization.
http://www.mufon.com
by:
Dr. Von Zuko 2000©
|
Unidentified Submerged Objects Index:
|
|
Dr. Von
Zuko's Recommended Books on UFO and USO Sightings:
Find other great books on
this or any topic:
The U.S.
Coast Guard: Great Lakes
Lake Erie Near Eastlake OH March 4,
1988
At approximately 8:35 P.M. March 4, 1988 the U.S. Coast Guard responded
to reports of an unidentified object over Lake Erie, near Eastlake,
Ohio.
Eyewitnesses reported a large gunmetal gray object hovering low over the
lake. It was a bright clear night with a full moon and ice covering
the lake. As the initial observers moved closer to the lake shore to
get a better look at what the object might be, they were immediately
aware that the object made no noise what so ever. The large object
appeared to be an oval shape, somewhat similar to a foot ball. It was
reported to be slowly gyrating back and forth, emitting a blinding white
light from each end.
The
witnesses report that the ice on the lake was cracking loudly under the
object, as it began to descend closer to the surface of the ice. The
underside of the object was now flashing with a red and blue glow that
seemed to be in a sequence.
The
Eastlake police were alerted to sighting, however, they deferred the
U.S. Coast Guard due to the incident occurring over (or on) Lake Erie.
Awaiting
the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard, witnesses report that the object
suddenly released five or six smaller bright yellow triangular objects.
These satellite objects began darting around independently, then
stopped, hovered around the larger object momentarily and then darted to
the north. Turning sharply inland, the objects then accelerated in the
direction of the Perry nuclear power facility.
It was
at this point that Petty Officer John Knaub and Seaman James Power of
the Coast Guard arrived to investigate. The arrived towing a rescue
boat just in case. They reported that they also had observed lights
over the lake from Fairport Harbor and thought they could possibly be
flares if fishermen trapped out on the ice. However, the main craft
with a few of the triangular objects zipping around it were immediately
pointed out to them.
The men
drove their Coast Guard Suburban closer to the lake to get a better
look, accompanied by the initial witnesses. At the shoreline they could
hear the ice rumbling and creaking loudly almost like thunder.
In the
official incident report on file at Coast Guard headquarters in Detroit,
MI, the men were quoted as saying that "the ice was cracking and moving
abnormal amounts as the object came closer to it."
The
Coast Guardsmen provided a running commentary on what they were seeing
back to their base via the two-way radio. According to witnesses
present the Coast Guardsmen also reported: "Be advised the object
appears to be landing on the lake . . . there are other objects moving
around it. Be advised these smaller objects are going at high rates of
speed. There are no engine noises and they are very, very low."
Abruptly
one of the triangles zoomed straight toward the Coast Guard vehicle, a
blur of light, then veered east, straight up, and came down beside the
parent object.
Additional witnesses in separate locations further inland reported
sightings of the triangle shaped objects. A woman walking her dog
reported a triangular object suddenly hovering overhead, causing her dog
to cower and whimper. She quickly moved the animal indoors and returned
in time to see the hovering triangle flash a series of multicolored
lights, then silently accelerate away.
A young
man out using a small telescope to observe the moon, spotted one of the
triangles. He was able to quickly grab a small disposable camera and
snap a photo of one of the objects.
The photograph was later analyzed by an optical physicist, who
considered it to be a legitimate image of an unexplained object.
The
Coast Guard team observed the activities of the objects for over an
hour. Witnesses quote one of the Coast Guardsmen’s radio transmissions;
"You should be advised that the object is now shining lights all over
the lake and it's turning different colors."
As the
large object appeared to finally land on the surface of the lake, the
thunderous rumbling of the ice ceased. The smaller triangular objects
began to enter the larger object one by one. After a series of what was
described as red, blue and yellow flashes the lights faded and the large
object simply vanished.
According to shaken witnesses, the Coast Guardsmen drove away also
shaken and "white-faced."
In the
ensuing investigation starting at daybreak the next morning, the only
tangible evidence that could be tied to the incident were scattered
chunks of broken ice.
On the evening of March 5th the mysterious triangles were
again observed by several witnesses living along the lake shore. The
Coast Guard was alerted once more and had dispatched a larger team.
This time the Coast Guard arrived too late to observe the phenomenon.
|
