Ufology Research

I was contacted by a reporter yesterday regarding a photo of a UFO that was taken September 5, 2010, at Steep Rock Lake, Manitoba. Some nature photographers were doing some time exposure shots of the lake and landscape when a slow-moving fiery object photobombed the scene.

It's a nice shot, even with the UFO trail that extended through half the photo. The exposure was 273 seconds long and was started at 9:26 pm, facing west. The object was calculated to be visible for a considerable length of time, but less than a minute.

The photo can be seen with the accompanying article here.

The "bright orange object came into view from the east and appeared to descend as it moved westward, underneath the cloud cover. It then appeared to level off and then disappear behind the cloud."

The object appeared to "flicker" like "fire" with a "wobbly" path, and "the 'flame' burned and flickered constantly as it moved." It also made no noise.

Since the object was seen for a long time, a fireball or bolide could be ruled out. It was also under the cloud cover. This effectively ruled out a jet contrail illuminated by the setting sun, as one person suggested on the newspaper website. Nice try, though.

I suggested it could have been a Chinese lantern, as they're starting to be more popular with vacationers this year. Its appearance is also consistent with what was observed, although it would have been nice to get some wind direction data.

Sure enough, a few people commented that they had released such lanterns in the area this summer. I think there's enough evidence that this UFO photo case can be closed.

I received a second case, this one through Transport Canada. It's also old: it happened on the night of April 30, 2010, at 11:30 pm, in Montreal, Quebec, but reported today, September 7, 2010.

The report notes that a white object like a "moon" was seen low in the sky, estimated only 200 feet over trees. This object "followed" the witness three times that night over a half-hour period.

A check of star charts shows the Moon was in fact rising about that time low in the south east and might have indeed been the culprit.

Two for two.

Labels: Canada, Manitoba, Montreal, moon, photo, photobomb, Quebec, UFO

In going through some old directories on a computer hard drive before junking it, I found the following email that had been bad-dated and was still "unread" in the Inbox. It was from 1995, almost 15 years ago!

I have tried contacting the individual, but no luck as of yet.

The story is about a radar operator who witnessed a UFO on his scope back in 1956.

I was in the United States Air Force. I was stationed at the 916th AC&W Site located near Beausejour and at Milner Ridge, Manitoba. It was in the fall of 1956 when this happened.

You are probably wondering how an American was stationed there. During that era, we were in the middle of the cold war with the Warsaw Pact. Missiles were pointed over the pole and threats, real or imagined were on everyone’s mind.

I was on duty in the radar operations building manning the scopes and calling in plots of aircraft in the area. I noticed a return in the Northeast quadrant approx 175 miles from the site. It was a strong return, therefore I was convinced it was an aircraft. The next trace showed it very far from the first plot. Since there was no other traffic in that area and seldom any was there, I suspected I had a false signal. In order to confirm, I checked the HRI (height/range indicator). In plotting the track thru dead reckoning, I saw the return at 75,000 feet. When it came up on the scope again, I set another dead reckon and spotted it again at the same altitude. The speed was in the range of 6,000 to 7,500 knots. That was faster than any known aircraft at the time.

If I had not confirmed its location on the two independent systems, I would have just passed it off as a malfunction. I did track it for about 10 minutes. It flew a fairly straight course with some variation but always at the same altitude. The closest it came to our location was in the vicinity of MacArthur Falls area.

I reported this to the controller who called it a malfunction. I did not think he was convinced until the next day when I was called in to his office and instructed not to disclose what I claimed to have seen.

I have thought many times about what happened but rarely mentioned it for fear of being labeled some sort of nut.

I am a rational, reasonably intelligent person who would gain nothing by fabricating this story.

I have withheld the man's name; if I hear anything more from him I will note his response.

Labels: 1956, Air Force, Canada, Manitoba, radar, UFO, USAF