SUMMARY:
An extraordinary event occurred in the waters near Shag Harbor, a tiny and tranquil fishing village located on the southwestern tip of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It was so inconspicuous that it did not appear in some maps. That all changed on October 4, 1967, when several local residents and police officers witnessed an incredible yet unexplainable sight. They reported what they believed to be a plane crashing into the waters off the harbor, but what they actually witnessed was not conventional aircraft, as the Canadian military labeled the object in question as being a UFO. The incident began a series of events that would make headlines around the world.THE SIGHTING:
On the night of October 4, 1967, at about 11:20 pm (23.20 hours), a local resident, Laurie Wickens, and four of his friends were driving through Shag Harbor on Highway 3, when they saw a large 60-foot (18 meters) long object moving in an easterly direction. They described it as having a row of four big flashing orange lights, and emitting a loud whistling, hissing noise as it flew over them across the night sky.
When they attained a better vantage point from the shore, Wickens and his friends watched attentively, as the row of lights gradually glided low over the waters off Shag Harbor and suddenly plunged in a 45-degree angle, splashing on impact onto the water's surface. Afterwards the five youths could see the object floating in the water about two hundred yards (183 meters) from the shore. Wickens made the initial report to the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) detachment in Barrington Passage, giving them notice that he and his friends had just seen a large airplane or small airliner crashed into the Gulf of Maine.
Meanwhile, the hullabaloo that night drew the curious out from their beds and onto the cold and slimy surfaces of the harbor. These local residents also called the police reporting that an airplane had crashed into the waters off Shag Harbor.
Coincidently, RCMP Constable Ron Pound had already witnessed the strange lights himself as he drove down Highway 3 en-route to Shag Harbor. Pound described them as four bright lights attached to one flying craft.
RCMP OFFICERS ARRIVE AT THE SCENE:
Within 15 minutes of the initial phone call, ten RCMP officers, including Constable Pound, Police Corporal Victor Werbieki and Constable Ron O'Brien, made their way to the shore to get a closer look at the phenomenal sight in the water. But what they and other local residents witnessed from about half a mile (805 meters) away, was not a conventional aircraft. The curious onlookers just stood there with dropped jaws, as they all bear witness to an eerie display of bright light emitting from the dark waters, which could be seen under a couple of feet of water. The RCMP described it as a pale light under eight feet (2 meters) of water. All eyes were glued on the light, as it slowly moved to a distance making its way out towards the open waters of the Gulf of Maine, leaving in its wake a yellowish foam.
Still assuming to be a tragic plane crash and being concerned for survivors, at about 11:38 pm (23.38 hours), one of the RCMP officers called the RCC (Rescue Coordination Center) at Halifax, a branch of the Canadian military that organizes search and rescue operations. The officer advised them that an airplane had crashed into the waters off Shag Harbor. The Coast Guard cutter #101 at the nearby Clark's Harbor was immediately dispatched to the scene.
THE LOCAL RESIDENTS ORGANIZE TO HELP:
The small and tranquil village of Shag Harbor suddenly became active with people willing to help in the search and rescue effort. As words got out, local residents sprang into action; they began to organize emergency shelters to help "the plane crash victims". The lighthouse keepers in the surrounding area were put on alert. Meanwhile, noting that there was no time to waste, RCMP officers improvised their own rescue operation. They began contacting local fishermen so they could respond with their boats before the Coast Guard arrives.
At 11:55 pm (23.55 hours), two fishing boats with several volunteers began to move out to the impact site at full throttle to render assistance to the injured occupants. A while later six other fishing boats joined the first two in the search. They were bracing themselves for floating body parts and the plane's debris, but what these seasoned fishermen actually found was even more bizarre and unlike anything they have ever seen before.
THE YELLOW FOAM:
They encountered a mysterious thick yellow foam floating on the surface in the vicinity of the crash site. The foam was estimated to be three inches thick and covered an area of about eighty feet (24 meters) wide and half-mile (805 meters) in length. Bubbles could be seen coming to the surface and a horrible smell of sulfur in the air. When the fishermen traveled through the foam, naturally made them nervous, not knowing its composition or density.
But even more puzzling is the lack of any twisted wreckage or bodies or any other sign of an airplane crash. If something had just crashed at Shag Harbor, it had completely vanished.
THE COAST GUARDS ARRIVE:
At 12:30 am (00.30 hours), the Coast Guard cutter #101 had arrived from nearby Clark's Harbor to join the police officers and the local fishermen who were still at the impact site searching. Again, no bodies or debris was found. The only thing that was seen was the yellow foam floating on the surface of the water.
CHECKING FOR ANY MISSING AIRCRAFT:
The RCC checked with the Air Traffic Control Center at New Brunswick and with the NORAD Control Center at North Bay, Ontario to determine whether any aircraft is missing. While still tasked with the search, the captain of the Canadian Coast Guard cutter received a radio message from RCC Halifax that all civilian, commercial and military aircraft were accounted for along the eastern seaboard, in both Atlantic Canada and New England (USA). Since nothing else could be found that night, the search was called off at 4:00 am (04.00 hours).
LOCAL RESIDENTS SUSPECT A COVER-UP:
As the sun rose the next day, the community gripped with apprehension and uncertainty. They had a feeling that the government was keeping something from them. When words quickly circulated that no debris has been found, and with no information coming from the authorities, speculation spread like wild fire. It was the talk of the community that it was a UFO.
THE CANADIAN MILITARY LABELS THE OBJECT A "UFO":
The report of any aircraft crashing in Shag Harbor was beginning to be perceived by the Canadian military as something not of this world. They began to realize that it was not a downed airplane and in essence, they were looking for something unconventional.
That same morning, on October 5, 1967, the RCC and RCMP needed to make sure this was no airplane crash; RCC Halifax also sent a telex marked "PRIORITY" to the "Air Desk" at Royal Canadian Air Force headquarters in Ottawa, which handled all civilian and military UFO sightings. They notified them that something of "unknown" origin had crashed by the coastal waters of Shag Harbor and explained that all logical explanations such as aircraft, flares, etc. had been dismissed. With no other explanation for the lights, the words "UFO Report" were written on the telex. This is a recognition by the Canadian authorities of what crashed at Shag Harbor was a UFO.
The head of the RCAF's "Air Desk" in Ottawa, Squadron Leader William Bain then sent another priority telex to the Royal Canadian Navy headquarters concerning the "UFO Report" and recommended a subaquaticsearch be mounted. The Canadian Maritime Command at Ottawa in turn sent another priority telex assigning Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic with carrying out the underwater search.
THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY DIVERS ARRIVE:
On October 6, 1967, a detachment of four Royal Canadian Navy divers was assembled to conduct the underwater search from the vessel HMCS Granby. On October 7, 1967, Maritime Command ordered three additional divers from Halifax to assist the navy divers from HMCS Granby in the search effort. The seven divers conducted an extensive search from dawn to dusk on the seafloor for three days, but found nothing to indicate that something had crashed there. Maritime Command terminated the underwater search on October 8, 1967. They announced that 3 days of searching have yielded no results.
THE LOCAL RESIDENTS WANT ANSWERS:
As the Canadian Navy abruptly canceled the search with no explanation, the people of Shag Harbor were left to wonder, to worry and wanted answers, but none was forthcoming. Five days after the sighting, they are no closer to understanding what crashed into waters on the night of October 4, 1967. With no one providing any answers, the rumors spread. This action by the navy, left many people to believe that the divers actually found something and that it was being covered up as they quickly moved out of the scene quietly and suspiciously.
But ending the underwater search at Shag Harbor is just the beginning of a UFO case that is about to become even more perplexing.
REPORT BY A CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT:
The story of the Shag Harbor crash just sat for years and seemed to have disappeared until a confidential informant, a former member of the Barrington NORAD Station, came forward (revealed himself only to investigators) with classified information on the UFO. The whistleblower told several MUFON ufologists that NORAD had tracked the object from where it first entered Earth's atmosphere over Siberia (Russia), then entered Canadian airspace from the northwest and made its way across towards to the east. He further stated that the military had been tracking the UFO and that there were two objects that night. The secondary glowing object seemed to be trailing the first one, as if providing some mid-air assistance, until one of them crashed into the waters of Shag Harbor.
This object soon left the Shag Harbor area and headed northwest, apparently moving under its own power underwater for about 25 miles (40 kilometers) to Shelburne Harbor, which was near a submarine detection base. The object was spotted on sonar there, and naval vessels were positioned over it. After a couple of days, the military was planning a salvage operation, when a second UFO joined the first. Common belief at the time was that the second craft had arrived to render aid to the first.
At this time, the Navy decided to wait and watch. After about a week of monitoring the two UFOs, some of the vessels were called to investigate a Russian submarine, which had entered Canadian waters. At this moment, the two underwater objects made their move. The two UFOs made their way to the Gulf of Maine, and putting distance between themselves and the chasing Navy boats, they broke the surface, and shot away into the skies.
Many witnesses, both civilian and military, corroborated these extraordinary events. Unfortunately, the reports were given "off the record." Ex-military personnel feared the loss of their pensions, and civilian witnesses feared ridicule and their privacy being invaded. The unusual events of Shag Harbor command an important place in the study of UFOs. There is little doubt that something "unknown" crashed into the waters of Shag Harbor on October 4, 1967.
CONCLUSION:
The witnesses in this case have a high credibility rating; this is because they have been observed by several people, including RCMP officers and for quite long periods of time.
1) Five youngsters observed the object flying overhead and then watched as it crashed into the water only 200 yards (183 meters), from them.
2) The local residents and RCMP officers watched in awe as it floated on the surface of the water displaying an eerie light at the impact site from half mile (805 meters) away.
3) And there is the strangeness of the event, as a sort of physical evidence (the yellow foam) left behind floating on the water, which was observed by the fishermen, RCMP officers, and the Coast Guard. It was a great pity no one had taken a sample of the foam in the water.
It is obvious that the Russians too had monitored their movement since the UFOs entered Siberia (Russia) and then tracked them heading southeast toward Shag Harbor. I don't think that the Russian submarine inadvertently strayed into Canadian territorial waters. It was perhaps to investigate what flew over their territory and to be the first at the scene of the crash to recover any alien technology.
The preceding information was gathered from various sources by Nelson C. Rivera (PRUFON).
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