World UFO Day: 7 unexplained encounters in Canadian skies

The Shag Harbour Incident Interpretive Centre is seen in Shag Harbour, N.S. on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan)

Reports of unidentified flying objects in Canadian skies fell to their lowest level in nearly a decade in 2018.

The 2018 edition of the Canadian UFO Survey tallied 937 reported UFO sightings last year – the lowest number since 2009. The volume of reports peaked in 2012 at 1,982, or nearly 5.5 per day.

More than 40 per cent of all reports came from Quebec, with nearly 25 per cent of sightings happening in Ontario. UFOlogy Research, which conducts the survey, defines a UFO as “an object seen in the sky which its observer cannot identify.”

The survey tracks all reports of mysterious objects in the sky and attempts to determine their true nature. Approximately 95 per cent of all UFOs reported in Canada in 2018 were later identified, often as aircraft, drones or Chinese lanterns.

Some of the unexplained sightings highlighted in the survey included “a dark, crescent-shaped object [that] moved in a peculiar rocking motion as it went across the sky” over Paradise, N.L., an “unidentified aircraft” that was spotted on radar by air traffic controllers in Edmonton but made no contact with the airport’s tower, and a “silent transparent triangle” carring a cylindrical-shaped object that crossed the sky over Morden, Man.

There have been a number of high-profile UFO sightings in Canada that remain unsolved, including:

Feb. 10, 1951: A U.S. Navy aircraft flying to Iceland from Gander, N.L., reported a near-collision with a large, circular, orange UFO that “almost literally flew circles around the American aircraft,” according to a previous version of the Canadian UFO Survey.

Aug. 23, 1956: A bright, oval-shaped object was seen at an altitude of 36,000 feet by two Royal Canadian Air Force members attempting to set a cross-Canada speed record.

May 20, 1967: In one of Canada’s best-known UFO sightings, rock collector Stefan Michalak noticed a series of strange, silvery objects flying above Manitoba’s Whiteshell Provincial Park. The encounter has been dubbed The Falcon Lake Incident and was commemorated on a collectible coin in 2017.

Oct. 4, 1967: Several people called the RCMP to report a plane crash in the water near Shag Harbour, N.S. Witnesses reported seeing a row of lights descending at a rapid speed. An RCMP investigation and a military search failed to turn up any wreckage or any other clues about what had happened.

May 13, 1975: Perhaps no Canadian UFO has been spotted by as many people as “Charlie Redstar,” a bright, reddish-orange light that was seen by hundreds of residents of Carman, Man., over a period of several months.

Nov. 20, 1989: A bright light and a loud noise startled people at a farm outside Montreal. Heading into the fields to investigate, they found a large circle of green grass that had been flattened. It remained green even after the grass around it turned brown.

Sept. 23, 2017: Ten campers in Quebec said they saw a glowing, pyramid-shaped object float above their trailer and come to a halt mid-air.

The survey’s authors called for “further examination” of the UFO phenomenon in an effort to solve the cases that remain unexplained.

“Many witnesses are pilots, police and other individuals with reasonably good observing capabilities and good judgement,” their report reads.

Tuesday was World UFO Day, an annual event created to bring awareness to open UFO cases around the globe.

With files from The Canadian Press