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A spokesman for a special and little known Royal Canadian Air Force department in Ottawa for the investigation of Unidentified Flying Objects said last night a series of bright lights which glided into the ocean off Shag Harbor, Shelburne County, Wednesday night may be one of the extremely rare cases where "something concrete" may be found.
The spokesman, who identified himself as Squadron Leader Bain, said his department was "very interested" in the matter.
"We get hundreds of reports every week," he said, "but the Shag Harbor incident is one of the few where we may get something concrete on it."
The search will continue today. The four-man diving team from RMCS Granby will be augmented by three new divers from Halifax, and all seven will search from dawn to dusk. If nothing is found, special metal detection equipment may be brought in, a spokesman said.
Row of Lights
At least a dozen persons reported seeing the row of lights descend into the water, but as yet no trace of any debris has been found either on the surface or the bottom.
The only clue may be a wide patch of strange yellow foam sighted by vessels searching the area immediately after the object went down.
Navy divers searched the area yesterday and found nothing, but will be back at it with reinforcements today. No ships or planes were reported in the area at the time of the sightings Wednesday.
It was the third, but by far most dramatic sighting of UFOs in Nova Scotian skies in the past 10 days. Others were over the Armdale Rotary a week [ago] Thursday and in Dartmouth the same night as the Shag Harbor sighting.
No Explanation
All armed forces efforts are being centered on the Shag Harbor incident, but as yet spokesman said they had no explanation for the sightings. They began Wednesday about 11 p.m.
"I was with Norm Smith and we were driving in Shag Harbor from Cape Island,” said David Kendricks, 18. “When we got to Bear Point we saw a bright light in the sky, sort of reddish orange."
Kendricks said two more lights appeared all in a row on a right decline of about 45 degrees. They came on in order, the lowest one first. They were pin-points of light, not like flares, and Kendricks said he had "never seen anything like them before."
He judged them to be two or three miles away in the south west. They passed out of sight when he drove into a grove of trees.
Within minutes of his sighting, Lauren Wiggins, 19, and four other young people also made a sighting from a car but a few miles away at Shag Harbor.
Four Lights
Wiggins said he saw four lights in a row over Wood’s Harbor and thought they were yellow and white in color. As he and his friends watched the row of light, had been level, tilted at a 45 degree angle and started to descend into the ocean on a gradual glide. Like Kendricks, he noticed the lights going on and off in order and said this happened several times before it reached water level.
He said he heard nothing when they made contact an estimated one-half mile from them offshore and due south. One friend, however, reported a whistling, hissing noise.
They stopped the car to look and saw a single white light bobbing offshore. Wiggins called the RCMP.
"After it hit the water we were called to the scene," said Const. Ron O’Brien of the Barrington RCMP. "I saw a light floating on the water about a half mile offshore. It was being carried out to sea by the tide and disappeared before we could get a boat to it."
Const. O’Brien said he and two other RCMP officers were on the scene with 20 minutes.
Many other reports of the row of lights gliding into the water that night came in through the day RCMP said. All were at the same time in the same area.
All known possibilities have been checked out. A Navy spokesman said there was no security involved on their part because the Department of National Defense reported nothing missing from aircraft or ships.
No planes were reported operating in the area at the time and a spokesman said it was unlikely anything fell from an aircraft because of the gliding pattern described by most witnesses.
The Barrington Passage radar station reported no sightings at the time, the navy said.
The RCMP immediately called out Canadian Coast Guard lifeboat 101 from Clarke’s Harbor and eight local fishing vessels joined the search almost immediately. Within an hour they were in the area, pinpointed by several sightings.
Nothing was found except an extremely large patch of bubbling water and foam.
Captain Bradford Shand, Shag Harbor, said he though the strange foam, at least 80 feet wide, was yellowish in color and said that while he passed through the area everyday while fishing he had never seen anything like it before.
Navy divers from HMCS Granby began investigations Friday at noon. A search to dusk in water ranging from 30 to 65 feet revealed nothing. Three more men will join the four-man team and search today.
One source in the area reported fishermen very anxious to have the matter cleared up. They must pass through the spot each day on their way to the fishing grounds and are very wary of making the trip.
An armed forces spokesman in Halifax said it was not known when a solution for the mystery could be found.
Of the two other UFO sightings, one came Wednesday about an hour earlier than the Shag Harbor incident.
Orange Hue
A woman on her way home from work saw a bright round object in the sky moving from the Halifax-Dartmouth ferry landing to Imperoyal [?], north to south. She described it as bright, more vivid than a star, with an orange hue like a halo around the circumference.
She looked at it, when she got home, through binoculars and she saw it was not a star. Also the orange hue was plainly visible. She didn’t think it was flying saucer; she assumed it was a satellite.
The CFB Shearwater control tower said their radar was not being watched at the time estimated to have been between 9 and 10 p.m.