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| The '''Shag Harbour UFO incident''' was the reported impact of an unknown large object into waters near ], a tiny fishing village in the ] province of ] on October 4, 1967. The reports were investigated by various civilian (] and ]) and military (] and ]) agencies of the ] and the U.S. ]. | The '''Shag Harbour UFO incident''' was the reported impact of an unknown large object into waters near ], a tiny fishing village in the ] province of ] on October 4, 1967. The reports were investigated by various civilian (] and ]) and military (] and ]) agencies of the ] and the U.S. ]. | ||
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| ==Initial events== | ==Initial events== | ||
| {{Unreferenced section|date=December 2010}} | {{Unreferenced section|date=December 2010}} | ||
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| On the night of October 4, 1967, at about 11:20 p.m. Atlantic Daylight Time, it was reported that something had crashed into the waters of Shag Harbour. At least eleven people saw a low-flying lit object head towards the harbour. Multiple witnesses reported hearing a whistling sound "like a ]," then a "whoosh," and finally a loud bang. The object was never officially identified, and was therefore referred to as an ] (UFO) in ] documents. The Canadian military became involved in a subsequent rescue/recovery effort. The initial report was made by local resident Laurie Wickens and four of his friends. Driving through Shag Harbour, on Highway 3, they spotted a large object descending into the waters off the harbour. Attaining a better vantage point, Wickens and his friends saw an object floating {{convert|250|to|300|m|ft|abbr=on}} offshore in the waters of Shag Harbour. Wickens contacted the RCMP detachment in Barrington Passage and reported he had seen a large airplane or small airliner crash into the waters off Shag Harbour. | On the night of October 4, 1967, at about 11:20 p.m. Atlantic Daylight Time, it was reported that something had crashed into the waters of Shag Harbour. At least eleven people saw a low-flying lit object head towards the harbour. Multiple witnesses reported hearing a whistling sound "like a ]," then a "whoosh," and finally a loud bang. The object was never officially identified, and was therefore referred to as an ] (UFO) in ] documents. The Canadian military became involved in a subsequent rescue/recovery effort. The initial report was made by local resident Laurie Wickens and four of his friends. Driving through Shag Harbour, on Highway 3, they spotted a large object descending into the waters off the harbour. Attaining a better vantage point, Wickens and his friends saw an object floating {{convert|250|to|300|m|ft|abbr=on}} offshore in the waters of Shag Harbour. Wickens contacted the RCMP detachment in Barrington Passage and reported he had seen a large airplane or small airliner crash into the waters off Shag Harbour. | ||
Revision as of 09:03, 4 October 2017
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 Map of Nova Scotia showing Shag Harbour, Woods Harbour, Shelburne, and Halifax, mentioned in article | |
| Date | October 4, 1967 |
|---|---|
| Location | Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, Canada |
The Shag Harbour UFO incident was the reported impact of an unknown large object into waters near Shag Harbour, a tiny fishing village in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on October 4, 1967. The reports were investigated by various civilian (Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Coast Guard) and military (Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force) agencies of the Government of Canada and the U.S. Condon Committee.
Pre Crash Aerial Phenomenon
Air Canada flight 305
On route to the Toronto while flying over Sherbrooke and Saint-Jean, Quebec at 3658m, from the Halifax International airport . Air Canada Capt. Pierre Charbounneau on Flight 305 immediately pointed out to co-pilot Bob Ralph that there was something strange out the left side of the aircraft at 7:15PM. In his report the captain report an object tracking along on a parallel course a few miles away. He describes it as a brilliantly lit, rectangular object with a string of smaller lights trailing the object. At 7:19, the pilots noticed as sizeable silent explosion near the large object, then two minutes later a second explosion occurred which faded to a blue colour cloud around the object.
Yellow Object
Darrel Dorey, his sister Annette, and his mother where sitting on their front porch in Mahone Bay, when they noticed a large object manoeuvring above the southern-western horizon. The next day Darrell wrote a letter to RCAF Greenwood Base Commander asking what was flying over the water that evening, he had never seen anything like it.
MV Nickerson of Sambro, NS
While standing at the wheel-house of his vessel Capt. Leo Howard Mersey was looking at four blips on his Decca radar that where stationary. When he looked up about 28km from the vessel’s windows he could see the four bright objects situated in a roughly rectangular formation. The entire crew of nearly twenty fishermen stood on deck and watch the object in the north-eastern sky. Capt. Mersey radioed the Rescue coordination centre and the Harbour master in Halifax asking for an explanation. Their only reply was that there seems to be a lot of strange things in the sky tonight. Leo filed a report with the Lunenburg RCMP outlining his sighting.
Halifax Harbour sightings
The Chronicle-Herald and local radio stations reported a glowing object that had been seen by many people who had called their news room. They reported witnessing a strange glowing objects flying around Halifax at around 10:00PM. The next day an anonymous woman’s report made the paper.
Initial events
| This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
On the night of October 4, 1967, at about 11:20 p.m. Atlantic Daylight Time, it was reported that something had crashed into the waters of Shag Harbour. At least eleven people saw a low-flying lit object head towards the harbour. Multiple witnesses reported hearing a whistling sound "like a bomb," then a "whoosh," and finally a loud bang. The object was never officially identified, and was therefore referred to as an unidentified flying object (UFO) in Government of Canada documents. The Canadian military became involved in a subsequent rescue/recovery effort. The initial report was made by local resident Laurie Wickens and four of his friends. Driving through Shag Harbour, on Highway 3, they spotted a large object descending into the waters off the harbour. Attaining a better vantage point, Wickens and his friends saw an object floating 250 to 300 m (820 to 980 ft) offshore in the waters of Shag Harbour. Wickens contacted the RCMP detachment in Barrington Passage and reported he had seen a large airplane or small airliner crash into the waters off Shag Harbour.
Search and rescue efforts
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Assuming an aircraft had crashed, within about 15 minutes, 10 RCMP officers arrived at the scene. Concerned for survivors, the RCMP detachment contacted the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) in Halifax to advise them of the situation, and ask if any aircraft were missing. Before any attempt at rescue could be made, the object started to sink and disappeared from view.
A rescue mission was quickly assembled. Within half an hour of the crash, local fishing boats went out to the crash site in the waters of the Gulf of Maine off Shag Harbour to look for survivors. No survivors, bodies or debris were taken, either by the fishermen or by a Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue cutter, which arrived about an hour later from nearby Clark's Harbour.
By the next morning, RCC Halifax had determined that no aircraft were missing. While still tasked with the search, the captain of the Canadian Coast Guard cutter received a radio message from RCC Halifax that all commercial, private and military aircraft were accounted for along the eastern seaboard, in both Atlantic Canada and New England.
The same morning, RCC Halifax also sent a priority telex to the "Air Desk" at Royal Canadian Air Force headquarters in Ottawa, which handled all civilian and military UFO sightings, informing them of the crash and that all conventional explanations such as aircraft, flares, etc. had been dismissed. Therefore, this was labeled a "UFO Report." The head of the Air Desk then sent another priority telex to the Royal Canadian Navy headquarters concerning the "UFO Report" and recommended an underwater search be mounted. The RCN in turn sent another priority telex tasking Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic with carrying out the search.
Two days after the incident had been observed, a detachment of RCN divers from Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic was assembled and for the next three days they combed the seafloor of the Gulf of Maine off Shag Harbor looking for an object. The final report said no trace of an object was found.
Documents
There is a summary of the event from the Department of National Defence files located at Library and Archives Canada.
Condon Committee
The Shag Harbour reports were investigated by the Condon Committee.
Press coverage
The Shag Harbour reports received extensive front page coverage in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. The paper ran a headline story on October 7 titled, "Could Be Something Concrete in Shag Harbor UFO — RCAF." The article, by Ray MacLeod, included witness descriptions of an alleged object and crash, the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) search and rescue effort, and the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) underwater search that was underway, including three additional divers from Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic.
The head of the RCAF's "Air Desk" in Ottawa, Squadron Leader Bain, who recommended the RCN undertake an underwater search, was also quoted, saying the RCAF was “very interested” in the matter. “We get hundreds of reports every week, but the Shag Harbor incident is one of the few where we may get something concrete on it.”
The article also mentioned UFO reports that immediately preceded the incident, including one from a woman in Halifax around 10:00 p.m.
The Chronicle-Herald ran another story on October 9 titled "UFO Search Called Off," stating that the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) had ended "an intensive undersea search for the mysterious unidentified flying object that disappeared into the ocean here Wednesday night." As to what was found, the RCN stated, "Not a trace... not a clue... not a bit of anything." The story of the search being called off for an alleged "mysterious" "dark object" was also carried by the Canadian Press in some other Canadian newspapers.
References
- Dell Publishing (2001), Dark Object, Random House, p. 11, ISBN 0-44023647-9.
- Nimbus Publishing (1998), Maritime UFO Files, Random House, p. 72, .
- Canadian National Archives RG 77 NRC UFO file, N67-403, RG 77
- Dell Publishing (2001), Dark Object, Random House, p. 13, ISBN 0-44023647-9.
- Nimbus Publishing (1998), Maritime UFO Files, Random House, p. 75, .
- Dell Publishing (2001), Dark Object, Random House, p. 14, ISBN 0-44023647-9.
- Nimbus Publishing (1998), Maritime UFO Files, Random House, p. 73, .
- Chronicle-Herald, Oct. 6, 1967, "Strange lights in Halifax Harbour"
- Dell Publishing (2001), Dark Object, Random House, p. 74, ISBN 0-44023647-9.
- Library and Archives Canada - website copy
- Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Oct. 7, 1967, "Could Be Something Concrete in Shag Harbor UFO — RCAF."
- Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Oct. 9, 1967, "UFO Search Called Off"
- Winnipeg Free Press, Oct. 9, 1967, "Search for 'Object' Called Off"
Further reading
- Don Ledger, Chris Styles, Whitley Strieber, Dark Object: The World's Only Government-Documented UFO Crash, 2001, Dell Publishing, ISBN 0-440-23647-9
- Canada's Unidentified Flying Objects: The Search for the Unknown at Library and Archives Canada
External links
- Further details of this incident by Don Ledger and other reports of UFOs in eastern Canada
- Detailed Canadian government topological maps of Shag Harbour region
- Good map of Shag Harbour/Shelburne area with another UFO sighting from 1968 detailed
- Discussion by original Halifax reporter Ray Macleod how newspaper was pressured by the government to debunk the story
- "That damn UFO and me": Reporter Ray MacLeod's Sept. 2008 blog on how story unfolded; text of his original story
- The Shag Harbour Incident, UFO Evidence
43°30′0″N 65°42′0″W / 43.50000°N 65.70000°W / 43.50000; -65.70000
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