Shag Harbour UFO “Crash,” 1967
| Download audio m4a (right-click to save) |
Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/l9mSG8gY2Rs
On the 4th of October, 1967, dozens of people on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, saw unusual lights in the sky, and several saw a UFO appear to plunge into the ocean. The apparent “crash” prompted a response from the Canadian and U.S. governments, and triggered a decades-long search for evidence. Sometimes referred to as “the Canadian Roswell,” the Shag Harbour incident is notable for the abundance of evidence exposing a secret military response, and a subsequent effort to cover it up.
Before the “Crash”
There were at least 11 UFO sightings across eastern Canada preceding the famous “crash” at Shag Harbour. The first occurred on October 3rd, 1967, when the pilots of a cargo plane over the southwestern coast of the province of Nova Scotia saw a UFO from their cockpit.(1) The rest occurred on the evening of the 4th. Just before 8 p.m. that evening, William Thibeault and his brother were stargazing on Will’s front lawn in a small community just east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, when they saw three slow-moving white lights above the cloud-line. The first two lights were dim, with a brighter white light in the rear. The sighting lasted for five minutes, after which the pair promptly reported it.(2)
At 10 p.m., 12-year-old Chris Styles of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, had a sighting from his bedroom window, which overlooked Halifax harbour. Through binoculars, Styles saw a round object lit with a dull, orange light flying along the shoreline, so he ran outside to get a closer look. He estimated the light to be 60 ft., or 18 m in diameter, and could see that it was moving in his direction. Styles ran home in fear, but the UFO apparently continued along its path and was soon after observed by Dr. Maurice Coffey from his nearby home.(3)
Around the same time, a photographer named Wilfred C. Eisnor was burning an old sailboat with two of his friends on the beach in Lunenburg, southwest of Halifax. While collecting firewood around 10:30 p.m., Wilfred looked up and noticed three motionless lights in the shape of a triangle: two amber ones on the bottom and a blue light on top. Will set his camera on a rock to take a long-exposure photo, and later determined that the lights remained in the same position for over 15 minutes.(4)
Further west, outside the village of Hassett, Ian Andrew, a Constable with the national Canadian police force, the RCMP, was on a stakeout in the woods with three game wardens. Sometime after 11 p.m., the group observed a glowing light slowly drifting across the sky around 200 - 300 feet, or 60 - 90 m, above the treeline. Constable Andrew described its shape as an upside-down candle flame with a surrounding corona, and said that there were sparks shooting out. It made no sound.(5)
There were additional UFO sightings southwest of Halifax at roughly 8:30 p.m.;(6) south of Sambro around 9 p.m.;(7) in Halifax around 10 p.m.;(8) and off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia after 11 p.m.(9) There were also two more sightings near Shag Harbour at unknown times, one of which involved a craft shining “yellowish flames or lights” and an occupant seen through a window.(10) Most of these accounts went unrecorded until researchers contacted witnesses beginning in the mid-90’s.
The “Crash”
The night of October 4th, 1967 was cool, clear, and moonless.(11) Around 11:20 p.m., 18-year-old fisherman, Laurie Wickens, was driving himself and four other teenagers home on Highway 3, which follows the coast of Nova Scotia. They had just entered Shag Harbour from the east when Wickens noticed a horizontal row of four flashing yellowish lights, roughly 60 feet, or 18 m across, flying just 200 ft, or 60 m over the ocean. The teens all watched the lights go out, then each one turned on in sequence until they were all lit up, at which point they switched off again and repeated the pattern.(12)
Around the same time as Wickens’s sighting, 18-year-old Dave Kendricks was driving his friend, Norm Smith, west on Highway 3, just east of Shag Harbour. Smith noticed a row of four evenly-spaced flashing, reddish-orange lights in the sky ahead, apparently attached to a larger dark object. At moments the lights appeared to be stationary, while at other times they seemed to be moving in a southeasterly direction, descending towards the water. The lights tilted to a 45 degree angle and descended, quickly disappearing behind the treeline. Dave then dropped Norm off at his house and drove home.(13)
While Norm was walking to his front door, he saw the bright object approaching the harbour, and called for his father, Wilfred. Norm and Wilfred were both concerned that it was an airliner in distress and decided to drive to the shore.(14)
Meanwhile, the other teens in the car watched the object slowly approach the ocean, pausing occasionally along the way. Wickens believed he was witnessing a plane crash in progress, so he drove faster and attempted to keep the lights in view. At this point, the row of lights was seen tilting to a 45 degree angle and descending towards the water. Trees blocked the teens’ view of the anticipated impact, but Wickens heard a whistling noise followed by a whoosh and a loud bang. He soon arrived at a spot with a clear view of the water and the teenagers stepped out of the car to see a pale yellow dome of light bobbing above the surface. It was an estimated 600 to 700 ft, or around 200 m offshore.(15) By this time, all of the witnesses began to doubt it was an airplane crash.(16)
Wickens drove to the nearest payphone to notify the RCMP. Around 11:25 p.m., Corporal Victor Werbicki at the Barrington Passage Detachment answered the call, and quickly received three more calls from locals corroborating Wickens’ claims.(17) Werbicki and Constables Ron O’Brien and Ron Pond then went to the scene. Werbicki called the Halifax subdivision of the RCMP to report the events before going to the scene himself, and was later informed that there were no aircraft reported missing at the time.(18)
At least a dozen people had gathered on the shore at this time, including Wickens and friends, and more arrived shortly after. All were looking out at the pale yellow light on the water estimated to be under 1000 ft, or about 300 m away, drifting slowly out to sea. It appeared that there was something underneath it, because it was floating at least 8 ft, or nearly 2.5 m above the surface. Werbicki thought that the light was attached to an object 60 ft, or 18 m across. Constable Pond was watching the object through binoculars and felt that it was moving under its own power, leaving a yellow foam behind it. There were at least 16 identified witnesses to the light before it disappeared.(19) Officers learned that some of these witnesses heard a whistling sound and saw a flash of light when the object first approached the water.
Officers worked to find boats to mount a rescue, still assuming that they were looking at a plane crash.(20) Norm Smith’s uncle, Lawrence, skippered the first of two boats sent out to look for wreckage and survivors, and Norm went on the second. Both boats arrived at their destination only to find a large patch of three-inch-thick, “glittery,” yellow foam shining on the waters’ surface. Those with experience at sea knew that it wasn’t regular sea foam. The patch of foam was estimated to be 80 ft, or 25 m wide and half a mile, or 800 m long. Beneath the patch, many air bubbles were rising to the surface, and there was a distinct smell of sulfur in the air. Constable O’Brien watched as a younger man moved his arms through the foam, leaving his skin and clothes covered in an oily substance that could not be identified by anyone onboard. The foam also didn’t stick to nets or clothing, and dispersed in a short time.
By 12:30 a.m., five more boats had joined the search but found no sign of a downed aircraft. At around 3 to 4 a.m. the rescue efforts were paused, and resumed a few hours later.(21) The following day, on the 6th, four divers from the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Diving Unit arrived from Halifax and searched the crash location, finding nothing. However, a local fisherman named Donald Nickerson claimed that he witnessed divers bring up some aluminum-coloured debris. Three additional divers joined the search before it was called off on Sunday, October 8th.(22) The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, or APRO, a civilian organization for UFO research, also investigated the case and published a report on it.(23)
By November 1967, the case had come to the attention of Dr. Edward Condon, who had been tasked with directing the definitive study on UFOs with the University of Colorado Boulder. However, because the case was then dismissed by RCMP and Maritime Command, Condon refused to investigate it any further. The Condon Report, published in 1969, included the Shag Harbour incident, but offered no insights, and simply labeled the case as “unexplained.”(24) After this, the events were largely forgotten.(25)
Chris Styles’ Investigation
In 1992, the same Chris Styles who saw the UFO from his bedroom in 1967 watched an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that discussed the alleged crash at Roswell. Recalling his own sighting and the “crash” at Shag Harbour, Styles decided to learn more about the case.(26)
With help from his friend, Bob MacDonald, Styles obtained copies of news articles, and began requesting military communications through different government agencies.(27) He found that documents from the Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre, or RCC, dated the morning of the 5th, describe the object as a UFO. Other documents also referred to the UFO as the “DARK OBJECT,” possibly because its structure could not be discerned behind the lights. Official reports did not even attempt to explain what had occurred.(28)
In 1993, Styles tracked down one of the Navy divers and interviewed him. “Harry,” as he is known, recalled diving off Shelburne Harbour. He recovered debris and large “chunks” of a foam-like substance that began to decompose as he brought it to the surface. Harry also stated that there were two UFOs on the seabed and that the divers witnessed “beings” under water. Gradually, Harry became angry and reluctant to share details, claiming that he wanted to avoid any trouble.(29)
Later that same year, Jim, a friend of Styles’ who worked in the Canadian Air Force shared that he was stationed on a naval vessel off of Shelburne for a week after the Shag Harbour crash. Jim and the others on his team were instructed to help identify recovered aircraft parts, but no pieces were ever produced. Jim revealed that he was kept below deck and told that they were over a Russian submarine. However, he overheard some of the divers discussing two objects that were “not any kind of sub” nor “anything from this planet.”(30)
In the Spring of 1994, Styles came into contact with an anonymous witness known as “Earl,” a former weapons technician with top secret clearance in the military. In 1970, Earl had his own UFO sighting, and while discussing the event with his commander, Colonel Rushton, he learned that NORAD had tracked the Shag Harbour UFO as it entered the atmosphere over Siberia, crossed Canada, submerged in Nova Scotia, then moved northeast to Shelburne. The submarine detection grid had picked it up, alerting those at Shelburne’s then-secret Submarine Detection Base. For seven days, six or seven naval ships - Canadian and American - investigated the location, and sent divers down to observe and photograph the two objects.(31)
These claims are corroborated by anonymous testimony from a radio officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force, or RCAF, who was on-duty during the incident. “Leo” was limited in what he could disclose, but assured Styles that “there were two objects that went into the water that night, not just one. The divers took all kinds of pictures.”(32) In total, Styles found four witnesses who corroborated the presence of navy vessels.(33) One, known as “Terry,” was an electronic intelligence officer for the RCAF. On the night of the incident, Terry was ordered to abandon a training exercise to spend seven days flying along the coast from Maine to Shelburne dropping sonar buoys. Further, Terry’s wife had been living in Shelburne at the time and claimed the road to Government Point was blocked by military personnel.(34) One couple who lived in the area had a close encounter that was so traumatic that they flatly refused to speak about it, but a friend of the couple told Styles that they had encountered four or five entities.(35)
In 1997, Styles and Ledger managed to track down Barry Crowell who worked at the Cape Roseway lighthouse overlooking the waters off Government Point in 1967. Crowell and his wife recalled a night in early October when supposed “commandos” came ashore, clearly ill-prepared, and took over the lighthouse for roughly three days in a mock raid exercise.(36)
Styles spoke to a source within the air force who claimed that fighter planes were sent out on the night of the incident to intercept what was suspected to be an inbound missile traveling at an impossible 7,500 miles per hour, or 12,070 km/hr. At one point, the object stopped in place before resuming its path at 4,400 miles per hour, or 7080 km/hr, then slowed down before reaching Shag Harbour.(37)
Looking For Answers
In autumn of 1994, Styles reviewed documents contained in the National Archives, Department of National Defence, and Canadian Forces Headquarters in Ottawa. The files he was able to obtain appeared culled, and some of the collections even lacked documents Styles had previously obtained from other sources. In one group of files, a yellow slip of paper indicated that significant deletions had occurred just three months before his visit.(38) Styles also found that Environment Canada’s archives were strangely missing all files for October 1967.(39)
This wasn’t the only evidence of a coverup. The photocopies of the coast guard log that Styles received had many unusual errors, and it was all written in the same handwriting, meaning one person would have had to have been on duty for 48 hours straight to fill it out. Also, the documents were from a spiral binder and not part of a bound, numbered volume, like every other log. Other logs that were sought out were also missing.(40)
Styles also found evidence that soon after the crash, government officials had disseminated a cover-story for the presence of the ships off of Shelburne.(41) On October 12th, the Shelburne Coast Guard ran an article that claimed that a U.S. barge was there for repairs after it “somehow” took on water, requiring divers to fix the hull.(42)
A memo from Halifax’s Rescue Coordination Centre, dated roughly 36 hours after the incident, revealed that the preliminary investigation conducted by the Centre ruled out the possibility of “an aircraft, flares, floats or any other known objects.”(43) Reports didn’t mention any debris recovered.(44) However, a communication document, marked “PRIORITY,” noted another UFO sighting the week after the incident, just a few kilometers northwest of Shag Harbour.(45)
In 1995, Styles met writer and MUFON investigator, Don Ledger, who decided to help with the investigation.(46) At that time, Styles was working out how to send divers back into the waters off Shag Harbour. A survey chart of the location conducted by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax in 1988 included handwritten comments by sonar interpreters. At spots where the Dark Object was suspected of being, the interpreters wrote, “may not be boulders” and “what the hell are these things?” A standout feature in a photograph of the sonar returns shows four circular depressions or mounds roughly 16 feet, or 5 m, in diameter, arranged in a diamond pattern.(47)
With guidance from experts, Styles proposed a three-day dive expedition through the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), but his proposal was declined. In July of ‘95, the crew for the TV show Sightings filmed a segment in Shag Harbour and the show’s executive producer funded the dive shortly after.(48)
On September 17th, 1995, Styles & Ledger, the Sightings crew, and two technicians from Canadian Seabed Research began a sonar survey of the waters between Shag Harbour and Outer Island. Poor weather conditions prevented them from searching a point of interest identified in the prior survey, further south of Outer Island.(49) The sonar detected a few targets to dive to, but uncovered nothing of note.(50)
In 2009, Shag Harbour researcher David Cvet organized a dive to investigate the 1988 sonar targets. Despite poor visibility, the divers seemed to find two of the four depressions which were strangely absent of flora and fauna and contained pebbles that were distinctly smaller than those from the surrounding area.(51) Another diving expedition conducted in 2018 with Cvet and the descendants of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau didn’t uncover anything new.(52)
Significance
The crash at Shag Harbour made a quick splash in the media. The first paper to report on the incident was the local Shelburne Coast Guard on October 5th, followed by The Halifax Chronicle Herald on the 7th.(53) Chronicle Herald reporter, Ray MacLeod, later claimed that the RCMP was initially “totally cooperative” with providing information, but then became much more secretive, forcing him to rely on local witnesses.(54) After a week, the local papers dropped mention of the incident, but it was later popularized in publications like Fate magazine, the National Enquirer, and a 1970 comic book.(55) In 2018, the case inspired a story in a Wolverine comic about an alien crash at Shag Harbour.(56)
A documentary on the case was released in the year 2000 featuring Styles and Ledger, as well as witnesses Wickens, Smith, and Eisnor. The documentary also included Ray MacLeod, and “Earl,” the anonymous former staff member of the Barrington radar station.(57)
In the following years, the case was featured in several more documentaries and books.(58) The incident became popular enough to warrant a dedicated museum, a research group, and recurring expos.(59)
Styles and Ledger published a book in 2001 entitled Dark Object. Styles has since teamed up with journalist and researcher, Graham Simms, to follow-up and expand on the first book, publishing Impact to Contact in 2013.(60) Styles continues to explore the Shag Harbour case and other sightings in conference presentations and his recent podcast, Forbidden Science.(61) Styles never settled for any one explanation for the Shag Harbour UFO sightings, but largely rules out the possibility that they were caused by military craft.(62)
The fact that the UFO at Shag Harbour apparently moved below the surface of the water makes it one of hundreds of unidentified submerged objects, or USOs, observed around the world.(63) The presence of a foam-like substance also makes it one of several UFO sightings to involve deposited materials that soon vanish. For example, The Condon Report noted several UFO sightings that coincided with the appearance of a stringy, cotton-like substance known as “angel hair” that tended to disappear in a few hours.(64) The smell of sulfur, which those in the boats reported at the “crash” site, is also traditionally associated with appearances of demons and the devil.(65)
Conclusion
The crash at Shag Harbour was one of many UFO encounters around the world to involve an object that apparently traveled under water, raising the possibility that other UFOs are capable of doing the same. However, the incident is especially notable for the involved, if secretive, responses from the U.S. and Canadian governments, and for the abundance of evidence attesting to an international coverup. Perhaps because of this coverup, we may never know what entered the water that night, or what authorities learned about it in the aftermath.
On the 4th of October, 1967, dozens of people on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, saw unusual lights in the sky, and several saw a UFO appear to plunge into the ocean. The apparent “crash” prompted a response from the Canadian and U.S. governments, and triggered a decades-long search for evidence. Sometimes referred to as “the Canadian Roswell,” the Shag Harbour incident is notable for the abundance of evidence exposing a secret military response, and a subsequent effort to cover it up.
Before the “Crash”
There were at least 11 UFO sightings across eastern Canada preceding the famous “crash” at Shag Harbour. The first occurred on October 3rd, 1967, when the pilots of a cargo plane over the southwestern coast of the province of Nova Scotia saw a UFO from their cockpit.(1) The rest occurred on the evening of the 4th. Just before 8 p.m. that evening, William Thibeault and his brother were stargazing on Will’s front lawn in a small community just east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, when they saw three slow-moving white lights above the cloud-line. The first two lights were dim, with a brighter white light in the rear. The sighting lasted for five minutes, after which the pair promptly reported it.(2)
At 10 p.m., 12-year-old Chris Styles of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, had a sighting from his bedroom window, which overlooked Halifax harbour. Through binoculars, Styles saw a round object lit with a dull, orange light flying along the shoreline, so he ran outside to get a closer look. He estimated the light to be 60 ft., or 18 m in diameter, and could see that it was moving in his direction. Styles ran home in fear, but the UFO apparently continued along its path and was soon after observed by Dr. Maurice Coffey from his nearby home.(3)
Around the same time, a photographer named Wilfred C. Eisnor was burning an old sailboat with two of his friends on the beach in Lunenburg, southwest of Halifax. While collecting firewood around 10:30 p.m., Wilfred looked up and noticed three motionless lights in the shape of a triangle: two amber ones on the bottom and a blue light on top. Will set his camera on a rock to take a long-exposure photo, and later determined that the lights remained in the same position for over 15 minutes.(4)
Further west, outside the village of Hassett, Ian Andrew, a Constable with the national Canadian police force, the RCMP, was on a stakeout in the woods with three game wardens. Sometime after 11 p.m., the group observed a glowing light slowly drifting across the sky around 200 - 300 feet, or 60 - 90 m, above the treeline. Constable Andrew described its shape as an upside-down candle flame with a surrounding corona, and said that there were sparks shooting out. It made no sound.(5)
There were additional UFO sightings southwest of Halifax at roughly 8:30 p.m.;(6) south of Sambro around 9 p.m.;(7) in Halifax around 10 p.m.;(8) and off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia after 11 p.m.(9) There were also two more sightings near Shag Harbour at unknown times, one of which involved a craft shining “yellowish flames or lights” and an occupant seen through a window.(10) Most of these accounts went unrecorded until researchers contacted witnesses beginning in the mid-90’s.
The “Crash”
The night of October 4th, 1967 was cool, clear, and moonless.(11) Around 11:20 p.m., 18-year-old fisherman, Laurie Wickens, was driving himself and four other teenagers home on Highway 3, which follows the coast of Nova Scotia. They had just entered Shag Harbour from the east when Wickens noticed a horizontal row of four flashing yellowish lights, roughly 60 feet, or 18 m across, flying just 200 ft, or 60 m over the ocean. The teens all watched the lights go out, then each one turned on in sequence until they were all lit up, at which point they switched off again and repeated the pattern.(12)
Around the same time as Wickens’s sighting, 18-year-old Dave Kendricks was driving his friend, Norm Smith, west on Highway 3, just east of Shag Harbour. Smith noticed a row of four evenly-spaced flashing, reddish-orange lights in the sky ahead, apparently attached to a larger dark object. At moments the lights appeared to be stationary, while at other times they seemed to be moving in a southeasterly direction, descending towards the water. The lights tilted to a 45 degree angle and descended, quickly disappearing behind the treeline. Dave then dropped Norm off at his house and drove home.(13)
While Norm was walking to his front door, he saw the bright object approaching the harbour, and called for his father, Wilfred. Norm and Wilfred were both concerned that it was an airliner in distress and decided to drive to the shore.(14)
Meanwhile, the other teens in the car watched the object slowly approach the ocean, pausing occasionally along the way. Wickens believed he was witnessing a plane crash in progress, so he drove faster and attempted to keep the lights in view. At this point, the row of lights was seen tilting to a 45 degree angle and descending towards the water. Trees blocked the teens’ view of the anticipated impact, but Wickens heard a whistling noise followed by a whoosh and a loud bang. He soon arrived at a spot with a clear view of the water and the teenagers stepped out of the car to see a pale yellow dome of light bobbing above the surface. It was an estimated 600 to 700 ft, or around 200 m offshore.(15) By this time, all of the witnesses began to doubt it was an airplane crash.(16)
Wickens drove to the nearest payphone to notify the RCMP. Around 11:25 p.m., Corporal Victor Werbicki at the Barrington Passage Detachment answered the call, and quickly received three more calls from locals corroborating Wickens’ claims.(17) Werbicki and Constables Ron O’Brien and Ron Pond then went to the scene. Werbicki called the Halifax subdivision of the RCMP to report the events before going to the scene himself, and was later informed that there were no aircraft reported missing at the time.(18)
At least a dozen people had gathered on the shore at this time, including Wickens and friends, and more arrived shortly after. All were looking out at the pale yellow light on the water estimated to be under 1000 ft, or about 300 m away, drifting slowly out to sea. It appeared that there was something underneath it, because it was floating at least 8 ft, or nearly 2.5 m above the surface. Werbicki thought that the light was attached to an object 60 ft, or 18 m across. Constable Pond was watching the object through binoculars and felt that it was moving under its own power, leaving a yellow foam behind it. There were at least 16 identified witnesses to the light before it disappeared.(19) Officers learned that some of these witnesses heard a whistling sound and saw a flash of light when the object first approached the water.
Officers worked to find boats to mount a rescue, still assuming that they were looking at a plane crash.(20) Norm Smith’s uncle, Lawrence, skippered the first of two boats sent out to look for wreckage and survivors, and Norm went on the second. Both boats arrived at their destination only to find a large patch of three-inch-thick, “glittery,” yellow foam shining on the waters’ surface. Those with experience at sea knew that it wasn’t regular sea foam. The patch of foam was estimated to be 80 ft, or 25 m wide and half a mile, or 800 m long. Beneath the patch, many air bubbles were rising to the surface, and there was a distinct smell of sulfur in the air. Constable O’Brien watched as a younger man moved his arms through the foam, leaving his skin and clothes covered in an oily substance that could not be identified by anyone onboard. The foam also didn’t stick to nets or clothing, and dispersed in a short time.
By 12:30 a.m., five more boats had joined the search but found no sign of a downed aircraft. At around 3 to 4 a.m. the rescue efforts were paused, and resumed a few hours later.(21) The following day, on the 6th, four divers from the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Diving Unit arrived from Halifax and searched the crash location, finding nothing. However, a local fisherman named Donald Nickerson claimed that he witnessed divers bring up some aluminum-coloured debris. Three additional divers joined the search before it was called off on Sunday, October 8th.(22) The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, or APRO, a civilian organization for UFO research, also investigated the case and published a report on it.(23)
By November 1967, the case had come to the attention of Dr. Edward Condon, who had been tasked with directing the definitive study on UFOs with the University of Colorado Boulder. However, because the case was then dismissed by RCMP and Maritime Command, Condon refused to investigate it any further. The Condon Report, published in 1969, included the Shag Harbour incident, but offered no insights, and simply labeled the case as “unexplained.”(24) After this, the events were largely forgotten.(25)
Chris Styles’ Investigation
In 1992, the same Chris Styles who saw the UFO from his bedroom in 1967 watched an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that discussed the alleged crash at Roswell. Recalling his own sighting and the “crash” at Shag Harbour, Styles decided to learn more about the case.(26)
With help from his friend, Bob MacDonald, Styles obtained copies of news articles, and began requesting military communications through different government agencies.(27) He found that documents from the Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre, or RCC, dated the morning of the 5th, describe the object as a UFO. Other documents also referred to the UFO as the “DARK OBJECT,” possibly because its structure could not be discerned behind the lights. Official reports did not even attempt to explain what had occurred.(28)
In 1993, Styles tracked down one of the Navy divers and interviewed him. “Harry,” as he is known, recalled diving off Shelburne Harbour. He recovered debris and large “chunks” of a foam-like substance that began to decompose as he brought it to the surface. Harry also stated that there were two UFOs on the seabed and that the divers witnessed “beings” under water. Gradually, Harry became angry and reluctant to share details, claiming that he wanted to avoid any trouble.(29)
Later that same year, Jim, a friend of Styles’ who worked in the Canadian Air Force shared that he was stationed on a naval vessel off of Shelburne for a week after the Shag Harbour crash. Jim and the others on his team were instructed to help identify recovered aircraft parts, but no pieces were ever produced. Jim revealed that he was kept below deck and told that they were over a Russian submarine. However, he overheard some of the divers discussing two objects that were “not any kind of sub” nor “anything from this planet.”(30)
In the Spring of 1994, Styles came into contact with an anonymous witness known as “Earl,” a former weapons technician with top secret clearance in the military. In 1970, Earl had his own UFO sighting, and while discussing the event with his commander, Colonel Rushton, he learned that NORAD had tracked the Shag Harbour UFO as it entered the atmosphere over Siberia, crossed Canada, submerged in Nova Scotia, then moved northeast to Shelburne. The submarine detection grid had picked it up, alerting those at Shelburne’s then-secret Submarine Detection Base. For seven days, six or seven naval ships - Canadian and American - investigated the location, and sent divers down to observe and photograph the two objects.(31)
These claims are corroborated by anonymous testimony from a radio officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force, or RCAF, who was on-duty during the incident. “Leo” was limited in what he could disclose, but assured Styles that “there were two objects that went into the water that night, not just one. The divers took all kinds of pictures.”(32) In total, Styles found four witnesses who corroborated the presence of navy vessels.(33) One, known as “Terry,” was an electronic intelligence officer for the RCAF. On the night of the incident, Terry was ordered to abandon a training exercise to spend seven days flying along the coast from Maine to Shelburne dropping sonar buoys. Further, Terry’s wife had been living in Shelburne at the time and claimed the road to Government Point was blocked by military personnel.(34) One couple who lived in the area had a close encounter that was so traumatic that they flatly refused to speak about it, but a friend of the couple told Styles that they had encountered four or five entities.(35)
In 1997, Styles and Ledger managed to track down Barry Crowell who worked at the Cape Roseway lighthouse overlooking the waters off Government Point in 1967. Crowell and his wife recalled a night in early October when supposed “commandos” came ashore, clearly ill-prepared, and took over the lighthouse for roughly three days in a mock raid exercise.(36)
Styles spoke to a source within the air force who claimed that fighter planes were sent out on the night of the incident to intercept what was suspected to be an inbound missile traveling at an impossible 7,500 miles per hour, or 12,070 km/hr. At one point, the object stopped in place before resuming its path at 4,400 miles per hour, or 7080 km/hr, then slowed down before reaching Shag Harbour.(37)
Looking For Answers
In autumn of 1994, Styles reviewed documents contained in the National Archives, Department of National Defence, and Canadian Forces Headquarters in Ottawa. The files he was able to obtain appeared culled, and some of the collections even lacked documents Styles had previously obtained from other sources. In one group of files, a yellow slip of paper indicated that significant deletions had occurred just three months before his visit.(38) Styles also found that Environment Canada’s archives were strangely missing all files for October 1967.(39)
This wasn’t the only evidence of a coverup. The photocopies of the coast guard log that Styles received had many unusual errors, and it was all written in the same handwriting, meaning one person would have had to have been on duty for 48 hours straight to fill it out. Also, the documents were from a spiral binder and not part of a bound, numbered volume, like every other log. Other logs that were sought out were also missing.(40)
Styles also found evidence that soon after the crash, government officials had disseminated a cover-story for the presence of the ships off of Shelburne.(41) On October 12th, the Shelburne Coast Guard ran an article that claimed that a U.S. barge was there for repairs after it “somehow” took on water, requiring divers to fix the hull.(42)
A memo from Halifax’s Rescue Coordination Centre, dated roughly 36 hours after the incident, revealed that the preliminary investigation conducted by the Centre ruled out the possibility of “an aircraft, flares, floats or any other known objects.”(43) Reports didn’t mention any debris recovered.(44) However, a communication document, marked “PRIORITY,” noted another UFO sighting the week after the incident, just a few kilometers northwest of Shag Harbour.(45)
In 1995, Styles met writer and MUFON investigator, Don Ledger, who decided to help with the investigation.(46) At that time, Styles was working out how to send divers back into the waters off Shag Harbour. A survey chart of the location conducted by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax in 1988 included handwritten comments by sonar interpreters. At spots where the Dark Object was suspected of being, the interpreters wrote, “may not be boulders” and “what the hell are these things?” A standout feature in a photograph of the sonar returns shows four circular depressions or mounds roughly 16 feet, or 5 m, in diameter, arranged in a diamond pattern.(47)
With guidance from experts, Styles proposed a three-day dive expedition through the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), but his proposal was declined. In July of ‘95, the crew for the TV show Sightings filmed a segment in Shag Harbour and the show’s executive producer funded the dive shortly after.(48)
On September 17th, 1995, Styles & Ledger, the Sightings crew, and two technicians from Canadian Seabed Research began a sonar survey of the waters between Shag Harbour and Outer Island. Poor weather conditions prevented them from searching a point of interest identified in the prior survey, further south of Outer Island.(49) The sonar detected a few targets to dive to, but uncovered nothing of note.(50)
In 2009, Shag Harbour researcher David Cvet organized a dive to investigate the 1988 sonar targets. Despite poor visibility, the divers seemed to find two of the four depressions which were strangely absent of flora and fauna and contained pebbles that were distinctly smaller than those from the surrounding area.(51) Another diving expedition conducted in 2018 with Cvet and the descendants of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau didn’t uncover anything new.(52)
Significance
The crash at Shag Harbour made a quick splash in the media. The first paper to report on the incident was the local Shelburne Coast Guard on October 5th, followed by The Halifax Chronicle Herald on the 7th.(53) Chronicle Herald reporter, Ray MacLeod, later claimed that the RCMP was initially “totally cooperative” with providing information, but then became much more secretive, forcing him to rely on local witnesses.(54) After a week, the local papers dropped mention of the incident, but it was later popularized in publications like Fate magazine, the National Enquirer, and a 1970 comic book.(55) In 2018, the case inspired a story in a Wolverine comic about an alien crash at Shag Harbour.(56)
A documentary on the case was released in the year 2000 featuring Styles and Ledger, as well as witnesses Wickens, Smith, and Eisnor. The documentary also included Ray MacLeod, and “Earl,” the anonymous former staff member of the Barrington radar station.(57)
In the following years, the case was featured in several more documentaries and books.(58) The incident became popular enough to warrant a dedicated museum, a research group, and recurring expos.(59)
Styles and Ledger published a book in 2001 entitled Dark Object. Styles has since teamed up with journalist and researcher, Graham Simms, to follow-up and expand on the first book, publishing Impact to Contact in 2013.(60) Styles continues to explore the Shag Harbour case and other sightings in conference presentations and his recent podcast, Forbidden Science.(61) Styles never settled for any one explanation for the Shag Harbour UFO sightings, but largely rules out the possibility that they were caused by military craft.(62)
The fact that the UFO at Shag Harbour apparently moved below the surface of the water makes it one of hundreds of unidentified submerged objects, or USOs, observed around the world.(63) The presence of a foam-like substance also makes it one of several UFO sightings to involve deposited materials that soon vanish. For example, The Condon Report noted several UFO sightings that coincided with the appearance of a stringy, cotton-like substance known as “angel hair” that tended to disappear in a few hours.(64) The smell of sulfur, which those in the boats reported at the “crash” site, is also traditionally associated with appearances of demons and the devil.(65)
Conclusion
The crash at Shag Harbour was one of many UFO encounters around the world to involve an object that apparently traveled under water, raising the possibility that other UFOs are capable of doing the same. However, the incident is especially notable for the involved, if secretive, responses from the U.S. and Canadian governments, and for the abundance of evidence attesting to an international coverup. Perhaps because of this coverup, we may never know what entered the water that night, or what authorities learned about it in the aftermath.
Notes:
1) Captain Ralph Loewinger interview in “FSUFO EP 022 | Ralph Loewinger - "Too Close For Comfort" - Forbidden Science: UFO,” Forbidden Science: UFOCAST, May 6, 2022, YouTube video, 50 min., 18 sec., confirms the event was on October 3, contrary to other sources stating 2nd or 4th, sighting was near Yarmouth around midnight to 1 a.m. local time; Hillary Gillis, “In Search of the Truth Behind Canada's Most Infamous UFO Sighting,” Vice.com, October 4, 2017; Alexandra Holzer, “UFO Dances With Airplane,” HuffPost.com, January 20, 2012, updated December 6, 2017, plane was “approaching Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.”
2) Don Ledger and Chris Styles, Dark Object: The World’s Only Government-Documented UFO Crash (Dell Publishing, New York, NY, USA: 2001), 13-14, in the community of Eastern Passage.
3) Styles in Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 4-8; MacDonald, The Shag, at 2:40; Simms in Chris Styles and Graham Simms, Impact to Contact: The Shag Harbour Incident (Arcadia House Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada: 2013), 23-24.
4) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 18-21; Wilfred C. Eisnor appears in MacDonald, The Shag, at 15:50, with his photo at 17:15; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 243, suggests Eisnor could have been looking at and photographed the same UFO as the IFOs sighted by Pilot Charbonneau and his First Officer, however the locations are not close to each other.
5) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 24-27; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 25-26, Note the latter source suggests the candle-flame UFO is a second UFO, but assuming this wording was unintentional.
6) Three members of the Dorey family observed three UFOs from outside their home; Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 100-01; Simms, 20-22.
7) Ship led by Captain Leo Howard Mersey, 32 nautical miles south of the community of Sambro, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 14-17, RCMP report containing statement, 165; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 22-23, 56; MacDonald, The Shag, at 42:25.
8) Unnamed woman driving by the wharf, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 17-18; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 23.
9) Witness Walter Titus and others, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 21-24, location given is northwest of Brier Island and Digby Neck, NS; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 25, gives location as being along the north coast of Digby Neck, off Brier Island.
10) Wayne Nickerson sighting, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 159-60; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 187-88, Wayne Outhouse sighting.
11) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 102; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 10, claims Shag Harbour population of around 400 people in 1967.
12) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 29-31, 33, Time estimate is approximation based on a later record of 11:25 p.m. call to RCMP on 31. On 29, “flashing four lights, one after the other, in a straight line.”; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 11-12, “The display flashed sequentially in a coordinated way. The pattern was a simple one, two, three, four, and then all together, only to repeat over and over.”; MacDonald, The Shag, 5:30, Wickens described first noticing “lights flashing in the sky, one would be on, then another one, then another one, then the four would be on, then they’d all go off, and that sequence would start over.”
13) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 35-37, 86-90; Simms in Styles & Simms, Impact, 11, 13.
14) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 38, 92; Simms in Styles & Simms, Impact, 13.
15) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 29-31, 33; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 11-12; MacDonald, The Shag, 5:30.
16) Primary witnesses Wickens and Smith both express doubt it’s an aircraft not long after first seeing the lights, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 33-34, 42-43.
17) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 31-34.
18) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 34-35; MacDonald, The Shag, 10:00.
19) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 39, 93-94, 116, 121, says Constable Pond watched with binoculars as the light “slip[ped] under the water”; However, Wickens in MacDonald, The Shag, 7:45, states “it didn’t look like it sank, it didn’t look like it went out, I don’t know it just disappeared.” Styles in MacDonald, The Shag, 7:05, is only source for the claim it was a “pale yellow light that appeared to be as much as 8 feet above the surface of the water… moving under its own power.”; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 12-16, 241.
20) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 40-41, gives time at “12:30 P.M. the next day” but it appears to be an error and meant 12:30 a.m. meaning 30 min past midnight and not past noon the next day, which would contradict the information on pages 45 & 46; Lawrence Smith in MacDonald, The Shag, at 8:15.
21) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 42-45, 90-92; Lawrence Smith in MacDonald, The Shag, at 8:15 and Styles in MacDonald, The Shag, 10:50; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 14-15.
22) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 46-49; Styles in MacDonald, The Shag, 15:05; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 65-71.
23) Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 108.
24) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 51-52, 108-09. For more on the Condon Report see our coverage at https://thinkanomalous.com/condon-ufo-report.html. Shag Harbour is case no. 34, in Edward Condon, Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (New York: Colorado University Press, 1969), 351-53.
25) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 49-50, 54; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 74-75.
26) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 54-58; MacDonald, The Shag, 4:50; Styles, in Styles and Simms, Impact, 37-39.
27) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 58-64; Styles, in Styles and Simms, Impact, 39-40,43.
28) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 45-46, refers to “A message stamped PRIORITY from RCC Halifax to Canadian Forces Headquarters on October 5… describes the craft as a UFO and refers to it as the ‘DARK OBJECT’, 49-50, PRIORITY MESSAGE FORM document, 168; Michael MacDonald, “Canada's best-documented UFO sighting still intrigues, 50 years on,” CTV News, September 21, 2017, states, “the official records provide no explanation for what happened.”; d rudiak, “The 1967 Shag Harbour UFO crash. Documents related to crash,” roswellproof.com.
29) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 66-72; MacDonald, The Shag, at 39:50; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 42.
30) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 72-76; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 53-54.
31) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 77-80, 117-18; MacDonald, The Shag, at 25:55, 36:00, 39:15, the anonymous witness isn’t identified as “Earl” but his information closely matches.
32) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 161.
33) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 120, 124, the four are Jim, Harry, Terry, and Earl.
34) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 80-81.
35) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 119-20; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 55-56.
36) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 151-57.
37) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 113, 117. The UFO coming to a stop and resuming flight may have been what signaled it wasn’t an ICBM.
38) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 95-98; Styles, Styles and Simms, Impact, 229-39, for mention of another missing document and errors.
39) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 101-03.
40) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 103-04; Styles, Styles and Simms, Impact, 234-39.
41) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 105-08.
42) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 120-24, “U.S. Barge at Shelburne with Atomic Furnaces,” Shelburne Coast Guard, October 12, 1967. The suggestion that the hull was repaired in under 24 hours, and largely overnight, seems improbable; related article about the barge with “atomic furnaces” in d rudiak, “The 1967 Shag Harbour UFO crash. Documents related to crash,” roswellproof.com.
43) Styles, in Styles and Simms, Impact, 43, 49, 67, “DND memo dated September (sic.) 6, 1967, released to the author September 27, 1993, by DND’s Directorate of History”; Michael MacDonald, “Canada's best-documented,” mentions this memo; Brian Dunning, ”The Shag Harbour UFO,” Skeptoid Media, April 4, 2017, mentions the memo from October 6 written by Col. W. W. Turner; article quotes the memo https://openminds.tv/three-alleged-international-ufo-crashes.
44) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 49.
45) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 157-58, “PRIORITY” document, 166, location of UFO was “over Solomons Island one mile west of Lower Wood [sic.] Harbour,” actual spelling is Woods; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 52, 61-62.
46) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 1-4.
47) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 125-29; Cvet in Styles and Simms, Impact, 265; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 79-83.
48) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 130-33; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 83-85, Note the proposal was for 3 days of dives with a fourth day allotted in case bad weather prevented a dive one day.
49) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 133-43, on 147 have to assume an authors’ error stating September 29 was the “third and final day” of the search on the water because it conflicts with earlier given dates, and probably meant 19 as the 20th was allotted only if bad weather prevented them going out entirely; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 86-89; Alec Griffith, director, Sightings, “Comets,” Season 4, Episode 10, 1995, at 1:25; Alec Griffith, director, Sightings, “Return to Black Forest/Coming from the Light/Shag Harbour Investigation/Update: Gaia,” Season 4, Episode 11, 1995, at 24:50.
50) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 143-50; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 87-89.
51) David Cvet in Styles and Simms, Impact, 265-67; David Cvet in Hillary Gillis, “In Search of”; Cvet is described as a Shag Harbour Researcher in this news clip, “UFOs: The man who chases Canadian conspiracies,” Global News, August 30, 2019, YouTube video, 2:27, https://youtube.com/watch?v=yG9lOAvPIWA, but his full biography can be read at https://uoft.aemma.org/misc/bios/dcvet.htm.
52) [Updates soon]
Sources: [Updates soon]
“Canada's Roswell Mystery at Shag Harbour.” UFO Files. Season 3, Episode 5. 44 minutes. https://imdb.com/title/tt0761646, https://youtube.com/watch?v=-YcAfHN6zdQ.
Condon, Edward. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. New York: Colorado University Press, 1969. https://archive.org/details/scientificstudyo0000cond.
“Search For The Sunken UFO.” Legends of the Deep. June 16, 2019. INE Entertainment, Cineflix Productions, Science Channel. 42m. https://imdb.com/title/tt10538948. cineflixrights.com. https://cineflixrights.com/our-catalogue/program/legends-of-the-deep.
Dunning, Brian. ”The Shag Harbour UFO.” Skeptoid Media. April 4, 2017. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4565.
Gillis, Hillary. “In Search of the Truth Behind Canada's Most Infamous UFO Sighting.” Vice.com. October 4, 2017. https://vice.com/en/article/evp88e/in-search-of-the-truth-behind-canadas-most-infamous-ufo-sighting.
Griffith, Alec, director. Sightings. “Comets.” Season 4, Episode 10. 1995. https://imdb.com/title/tt1194011, https://youtube.com/watch?v=doOqyZ7RcZ4, at 1:25.
Griffith, Alec, director. Sightings. “Return to Black Forest/Coming from the Light/Shag Harbour Investigation/Update: Gaia.” Season 4, Episode 11. 1995. https://imdb.com/title/tt6275402, https://youtube.com/watch?v=UpXK7sSVgMg, at 24:50.
Holzer, Alexandra. “UFO Dances With Airplane.” HuffPost.com. January 20, 2012, Updated December 6, 2017. https://huffpost.com/entry/ufo-dances-with-airplane_b_1213784.
Johnson, Kathy. “Shag Harbour UFO Festival coinciding with documentary filming.” TheCoastGuard.ca. August 1, 2018.
https://pressreader.com/canada/tri-county-vanguard/20180801/28173697525996.
Ledger, Don and Chris Styles. Dark Object: The World’s Only Government-Documented UFO Crash. Dell Publishing, New York, NY, USA: 2001.
MacDonald, Michael, director. The Shag Harbour UFO Incident. 2000. Ocean Entertainment Limited. 48 min. https://imdb.com/title/tt0386022.
https://archive.org/details/izolento70. https://youtu.be/mPbDa5D7IUE. https://youtu.be/Eu6A6SS3PFY.
MacDonald, Michael. “Canada's best-documented UFO sighting still intrigues, 50 years on.” CTV News. September 21, 2017. https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/canada-s-best-documented-ufo-sighting-still-intrigues-50-years-on-1.3600020.
Mesirow, Tod, Director. “Psychic Cop/Ica Mystery Stones/The Shag Harbour Incident/Haunted Queen Mary/Sightings Online.” Sightings. Season 4, Episode 2. 1995. https://imdb.com/title/tt6273400. https://youtube.com/watch?v=96D_wfGrzUk, at 24:05.
Quon, Alexander. “Cousteau family members to investigate Nova Scotia’s Shag Harbour UFO incident.” Global News. July 8, 2018.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4319302/cousteau-family-members-shag-harbour.
Rutkowski, Chris. “Reality Check: ‘Old Man Logan’ #46 and the Shag Harbor UFO crash.” AIPT Comics, August 22, 2018. https://aiptcomics.com/2018/08/22/reality-check-old-man-logan-46-and-the-shag-harbor-ufo-crash.
Shag Harbour Incident Society Museum. August 28, 2007. http://cuun.i2ce.com/misc/shagHarbourMuseum.
“Shag Harbour UFO EXPO 2025” Conference website. https://shagharbourufoexpo.com.
Styles, Chris and Graham Simms. Impact to Contact: The Shag Harbour Incident. Arcadia House Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada: 2013.
Styles, Chris. Forbidden Science, podcast: https://youtube.com/@forbiddenscienceufocast4796.
Styles, Chris. “FSUFO EP 022 | Ralph Loewinger - ‘Too Close For Comfort’ - Forbidden Science: UFO”. Forbidden Science: UFOCAST. May 6, 2022. YouTube video, 50 min., 18 sec. https://youtube.com/watch?v=zJ7LvIphyEw.
UFO Flying Saucers No. 2. Golden Books Publishing Company Inc. November, 1970.
This video uses sound effects downloaded from StockMusic.com.
UFO Case Review contains sound design with elements downloaded from Freesound.org. Typewriter_2rows.wav, Uploaded by Fatson under the Attribution License.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Research and draft writing by Clark Murphy. Illustrations by V. R. Laurence. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain and Josh Chamberland.
1) Captain Ralph Loewinger interview in “FSUFO EP 022 | Ralph Loewinger - "Too Close For Comfort" - Forbidden Science: UFO,” Forbidden Science: UFOCAST, May 6, 2022, YouTube video, 50 min., 18 sec., confirms the event was on October 3, contrary to other sources stating 2nd or 4th, sighting was near Yarmouth around midnight to 1 a.m. local time; Hillary Gillis, “In Search of the Truth Behind Canada's Most Infamous UFO Sighting,” Vice.com, October 4, 2017; Alexandra Holzer, “UFO Dances With Airplane,” HuffPost.com, January 20, 2012, updated December 6, 2017, plane was “approaching Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.”
2) Don Ledger and Chris Styles, Dark Object: The World’s Only Government-Documented UFO Crash (Dell Publishing, New York, NY, USA: 2001), 13-14, in the community of Eastern Passage.
3) Styles in Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 4-8; MacDonald, The Shag, at 2:40; Simms in Chris Styles and Graham Simms, Impact to Contact: The Shag Harbour Incident (Arcadia House Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada: 2013), 23-24.
4) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 18-21; Wilfred C. Eisnor appears in MacDonald, The Shag, at 15:50, with his photo at 17:15; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 243, suggests Eisnor could have been looking at and photographed the same UFO as the IFOs sighted by Pilot Charbonneau and his First Officer, however the locations are not close to each other.
5) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 24-27; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 25-26, Note the latter source suggests the candle-flame UFO is a second UFO, but assuming this wording was unintentional.
6) Three members of the Dorey family observed three UFOs from outside their home; Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 100-01; Simms, 20-22.
7) Ship led by Captain Leo Howard Mersey, 32 nautical miles south of the community of Sambro, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 14-17, RCMP report containing statement, 165; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 22-23, 56; MacDonald, The Shag, at 42:25.
8) Unnamed woman driving by the wharf, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 17-18; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 23.
9) Witness Walter Titus and others, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 21-24, location given is northwest of Brier Island and Digby Neck, NS; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 25, gives location as being along the north coast of Digby Neck, off Brier Island.
10) Wayne Nickerson sighting, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 159-60; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 187-88, Wayne Outhouse sighting.
11) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 102; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 10, claims Shag Harbour population of around 400 people in 1967.
12) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 29-31, 33, Time estimate is approximation based on a later record of 11:25 p.m. call to RCMP on 31. On 29, “flashing four lights, one after the other, in a straight line.”; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 11-12, “The display flashed sequentially in a coordinated way. The pattern was a simple one, two, three, four, and then all together, only to repeat over and over.”; MacDonald, The Shag, 5:30, Wickens described first noticing “lights flashing in the sky, one would be on, then another one, then another one, then the four would be on, then they’d all go off, and that sequence would start over.”
13) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 35-37, 86-90; Simms in Styles & Simms, Impact, 11, 13.
14) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 38, 92; Simms in Styles & Simms, Impact, 13.
15) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 29-31, 33; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 11-12; MacDonald, The Shag, 5:30.
16) Primary witnesses Wickens and Smith both express doubt it’s an aircraft not long after first seeing the lights, Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 33-34, 42-43.
17) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 31-34.
18) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 34-35; MacDonald, The Shag, 10:00.
19) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 39, 93-94, 116, 121, says Constable Pond watched with binoculars as the light “slip[ped] under the water”; However, Wickens in MacDonald, The Shag, 7:45, states “it didn’t look like it sank, it didn’t look like it went out, I don’t know it just disappeared.” Styles in MacDonald, The Shag, 7:05, is only source for the claim it was a “pale yellow light that appeared to be as much as 8 feet above the surface of the water… moving under its own power.”; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 12-16, 241.
20) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 40-41, gives time at “12:30 P.M. the next day” but it appears to be an error and meant 12:30 a.m. meaning 30 min past midnight and not past noon the next day, which would contradict the information on pages 45 & 46; Lawrence Smith in MacDonald, The Shag, at 8:15.
21) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 42-45, 90-92; Lawrence Smith in MacDonald, The Shag, at 8:15 and Styles in MacDonald, The Shag, 10:50; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 14-15.
22) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 46-49; Styles in MacDonald, The Shag, 15:05; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 65-71.
23) Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 108.
24) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 51-52, 108-09. For more on the Condon Report see our coverage at https://thinkanomalous.com/condon-ufo-report.html. Shag Harbour is case no. 34, in Edward Condon, Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (New York: Colorado University Press, 1969), 351-53.
25) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 49-50, 54; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 74-75.
26) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 54-58; MacDonald, The Shag, 4:50; Styles, in Styles and Simms, Impact, 37-39.
27) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 58-64; Styles, in Styles and Simms, Impact, 39-40,43.
28) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 45-46, refers to “A message stamped PRIORITY from RCC Halifax to Canadian Forces Headquarters on October 5… describes the craft as a UFO and refers to it as the ‘DARK OBJECT’, 49-50, PRIORITY MESSAGE FORM document, 168; Michael MacDonald, “Canada's best-documented UFO sighting still intrigues, 50 years on,” CTV News, September 21, 2017, states, “the official records provide no explanation for what happened.”; d rudiak, “The 1967 Shag Harbour UFO crash. Documents related to crash,” roswellproof.com.
29) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 66-72; MacDonald, The Shag, at 39:50; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 42.
30) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 72-76; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 53-54.
31) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 77-80, 117-18; MacDonald, The Shag, at 25:55, 36:00, 39:15, the anonymous witness isn’t identified as “Earl” but his information closely matches.
32) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 161.
33) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 120, 124, the four are Jim, Harry, Terry, and Earl.
34) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 80-81.
35) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 119-20; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 55-56.
36) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 151-57.
37) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 113, 117. The UFO coming to a stop and resuming flight may have been what signaled it wasn’t an ICBM.
38) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 95-98; Styles, Styles and Simms, Impact, 229-39, for mention of another missing document and errors.
39) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 101-03.
40) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 103-04; Styles, Styles and Simms, Impact, 234-39.
41) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 105-08.
42) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 120-24, “U.S. Barge at Shelburne with Atomic Furnaces,” Shelburne Coast Guard, October 12, 1967. The suggestion that the hull was repaired in under 24 hours, and largely overnight, seems improbable; related article about the barge with “atomic furnaces” in d rudiak, “The 1967 Shag Harbour UFO crash. Documents related to crash,” roswellproof.com.
43) Styles, in Styles and Simms, Impact, 43, 49, 67, “DND memo dated September (sic.) 6, 1967, released to the author September 27, 1993, by DND’s Directorate of History”; Michael MacDonald, “Canada's best-documented,” mentions this memo; Brian Dunning, ”The Shag Harbour UFO,” Skeptoid Media, April 4, 2017, mentions the memo from October 6 written by Col. W. W. Turner; article quotes the memo https://openminds.tv/three-alleged-international-ufo-crashes.
44) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 49.
45) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 157-58, “PRIORITY” document, 166, location of UFO was “over Solomons Island one mile west of Lower Wood [sic.] Harbour,” actual spelling is Woods; Simms in Styles and Simms, Impact, 52, 61-62.
46) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 1-4.
47) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 125-29; Cvet in Styles and Simms, Impact, 265; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 79-83.
48) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 130-33; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 83-85, Note the proposal was for 3 days of dives with a fourth day allotted in case bad weather prevented a dive one day.
49) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 133-43, on 147 have to assume an authors’ error stating September 29 was the “third and final day” of the search on the water because it conflicts with earlier given dates, and probably meant 19 as the 20th was allotted only if bad weather prevented them going out entirely; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 86-89; Alec Griffith, director, Sightings, “Comets,” Season 4, Episode 10, 1995, at 1:25; Alec Griffith, director, Sightings, “Return to Black Forest/Coming from the Light/Shag Harbour Investigation/Update: Gaia,” Season 4, Episode 11, 1995, at 24:50.
50) Ledger and Styles, Dark Object, 143-50; Styles in Styles and Simms, Impact, 87-89.
51) David Cvet in Styles and Simms, Impact, 265-67; David Cvet in Hillary Gillis, “In Search of”; Cvet is described as a Shag Harbour Researcher in this news clip, “UFOs: The man who chases Canadian conspiracies,” Global News, August 30, 2019, YouTube video, 2:27, https://youtube.com/watch?v=yG9lOAvPIWA, but his full biography can be read at https://uoft.aemma.org/misc/bios/dcvet.htm.
52) [Updates soon]
Sources: [Updates soon]
“Canada's Roswell Mystery at Shag Harbour.” UFO Files. Season 3, Episode 5. 44 minutes. https://imdb.com/title/tt0761646, https://youtube.com/watch?v=-YcAfHN6zdQ.
Condon, Edward. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. New York: Colorado University Press, 1969. https://archive.org/details/scientificstudyo0000cond.
“Search For The Sunken UFO.” Legends of the Deep. June 16, 2019. INE Entertainment, Cineflix Productions, Science Channel. 42m. https://imdb.com/title/tt10538948. cineflixrights.com. https://cineflixrights.com/our-catalogue/program/legends-of-the-deep.
Dunning, Brian. ”The Shag Harbour UFO.” Skeptoid Media. April 4, 2017. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4565.
Gillis, Hillary. “In Search of the Truth Behind Canada's Most Infamous UFO Sighting.” Vice.com. October 4, 2017. https://vice.com/en/article/evp88e/in-search-of-the-truth-behind-canadas-most-infamous-ufo-sighting.
Griffith, Alec, director. Sightings. “Comets.” Season 4, Episode 10. 1995. https://imdb.com/title/tt1194011, https://youtube.com/watch?v=doOqyZ7RcZ4, at 1:25.
Griffith, Alec, director. Sightings. “Return to Black Forest/Coming from the Light/Shag Harbour Investigation/Update: Gaia.” Season 4, Episode 11. 1995. https://imdb.com/title/tt6275402, https://youtube.com/watch?v=UpXK7sSVgMg, at 24:50.
Holzer, Alexandra. “UFO Dances With Airplane.” HuffPost.com. January 20, 2012, Updated December 6, 2017. https://huffpost.com/entry/ufo-dances-with-airplane_b_1213784.
Johnson, Kathy. “Shag Harbour UFO Festival coinciding with documentary filming.” TheCoastGuard.ca. August 1, 2018.
https://pressreader.com/canada/tri-county-vanguard/20180801/28173697525996.
Ledger, Don and Chris Styles. Dark Object: The World’s Only Government-Documented UFO Crash. Dell Publishing, New York, NY, USA: 2001.
MacDonald, Michael, director. The Shag Harbour UFO Incident. 2000. Ocean Entertainment Limited. 48 min. https://imdb.com/title/tt0386022.
https://archive.org/details/izolento70. https://youtu.be/mPbDa5D7IUE. https://youtu.be/Eu6A6SS3PFY.
MacDonald, Michael. “Canada's best-documented UFO sighting still intrigues, 50 years on.” CTV News. September 21, 2017. https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/canada-s-best-documented-ufo-sighting-still-intrigues-50-years-on-1.3600020.
Mesirow, Tod, Director. “Psychic Cop/Ica Mystery Stones/The Shag Harbour Incident/Haunted Queen Mary/Sightings Online.” Sightings. Season 4, Episode 2. 1995. https://imdb.com/title/tt6273400. https://youtube.com/watch?v=96D_wfGrzUk, at 24:05.
Quon, Alexander. “Cousteau family members to investigate Nova Scotia’s Shag Harbour UFO incident.” Global News. July 8, 2018.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4319302/cousteau-family-members-shag-harbour.
Rutkowski, Chris. “Reality Check: ‘Old Man Logan’ #46 and the Shag Harbor UFO crash.” AIPT Comics, August 22, 2018. https://aiptcomics.com/2018/08/22/reality-check-old-man-logan-46-and-the-shag-harbor-ufo-crash.
Shag Harbour Incident Society Museum. August 28, 2007. http://cuun.i2ce.com/misc/shagHarbourMuseum.
“Shag Harbour UFO EXPO 2025” Conference website. https://shagharbourufoexpo.com.
Styles, Chris and Graham Simms. Impact to Contact: The Shag Harbour Incident. Arcadia House Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada: 2013.
Styles, Chris. Forbidden Science, podcast: https://youtube.com/@forbiddenscienceufocast4796.
Styles, Chris. “FSUFO EP 022 | Ralph Loewinger - ‘Too Close For Comfort’ - Forbidden Science: UFO”. Forbidden Science: UFOCAST. May 6, 2022. YouTube video, 50 min., 18 sec. https://youtube.com/watch?v=zJ7LvIphyEw.
UFO Flying Saucers No. 2. Golden Books Publishing Company Inc. November, 1970.
This video uses sound effects downloaded from StockMusic.com.
UFO Case Review contains sound design with elements downloaded from Freesound.org. Typewriter_2rows.wav, Uploaded by Fatson under the Attribution License.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Research and draft writing by Clark Murphy. Illustrations by V. R. Laurence. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain and Josh Chamberland.
|
Copyright Think Anomalous, 2016 - 2025
|
|