Shag Harbor
From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)
Canadian Conspiracies: The UFO at Shag Harbor
On the night of October 4, 1967, at about 11:20 p.m. Atlantic Daylight Time, it was reported that a UFO had crashed into the waters near Shag Harbor, on Nova Scotia's South Shore (on the east coast of Canada). At least eleven people saw a low-flying object head down towards the harbor. Multiple witnesses reported hearing a whistling sound "like a bomb", then a "whoosh", and finally a loud bang. Some reported a flash of light. Thinking that an airliner or airplane had crashed into the Sound next to Shag Harbor, some witnesses reported the event to the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP detachment.
The unknown object was referred to as a "UFO" in official Canadian government documents. A Canadian Naval recovery effort immediately followed, perhaps aided in part by the U.S. military. The event is sometimes compared to the Roswell UFO incident and Kecksburg UFO incident, two other alleged military crash-recoveries of a UFO.
The initial report was made by Laurie Wickens, a local resident, and four of his friends. Driving through Shag Harbor on Highway 3, they spotted a large object descending into the waters of the harbor. Other residents had seen the descent and agreed the object was about 60 feet long, angled downwards at 45 degrees, and initially displayed 4 or 5 flashing and glowing amber lights.
Attaining a better vantage point, Wickens and his friends could see an object floating 250 to 300 meters out to sea. Visibility was good – clear with no moon. At that time, the object only had a yellow light shining from its top side.
Wickens contacted the RCMP and reported he had seen a large airplane or small airliner crash into the Sound. Subsequent calls were received from Mary Banks on Maggie Garron's Point reporting similar information. Other residents also called in to report the incident, adding details about loud whistling noises and bangs. RCMP staff were dispatched to the site.
Within about 15 minutes, three Mounties were at the scene along with multiple other witnesses, and observed a pale yellow or white light bobbing on the surface of the water. Concerned for survivors, the RCMP contacted the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax to advise them of the situation, and ask if any aircraft were missing. Before any local effort 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 into the Sound to look for survivors. At the location at which the object had sunk, an oily, yellow foam was observed on the surface, about 80 feet wide and half a mile long. There was a smell of sulfur in the air and bubbles rose from below the water as if something had recently sunk. No survivors or bodies were located, either by the fishermen or by the Coast Guard vessel, which arrived about an hour later.
By the next morning, it had been determined that no planes were missing. Still searching, the captain of the Coast Guard vessel received a message from the Rescue Coordination Center that all commercial, private and military aircraft were accounted for along the eastern seaboard from Atlantic Canada down into New England.
Two days after the crash, the Rescue Coordination Center had assembled a team of Navy divers, who for the next three days combed the bottom of the harbor looking for the object. One local fisherman said he saw them bringing up aluminum-colored metal debris, although it was unclear if this had been actual crash debris. The final report said not a trace of the crash object had been found.
The Rescue Coordination Center and the Royal Canadian Air Force Air Desk in Ottawa (the agency responsible for the gathering and investigation of UFO reports) tagged the sighting as the crash of a "UFO". The RCMP reports on the incident likewise refer to the craft as a "UFO".
