- One Hundred and Fifty Seven Witnesses Speak Out - We
Want To Know!
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- What can cause so many residents in various communities
from Kamloops through to the Okanagan and the Kootenays in British Columbia
left scratching their heads, wondering what it was they all witnessed.
Also many people became very frightened and ran into their homes. The answers
to the questions I have been asked have been hard to come by, but we certainly
know something extraordinary did take place on July 28, 2003 in the early
morning hours.
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 The story begins with a family who was
camping at St. Marys Lake, which is located approximately 12 miles east
of Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada. Around 12:45 a.m. the husband and
wife decided to do some star gazing as the children were asleep and the
night was warm and the sky clear and full of stars. As the couple stood
looking into the night sky they observed a very bright, white light heading
in a southeasterly direction. The moon sized light was witnessed flying
low over top Bootleg Mountain and across the lake and at times it's speed
did vary. As it slowed, then picking up speed once again the witnesses
watched the light zig zag slightly and at times it seemed to wobble until
it was out of sight.
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- When they arrived back home from their camping trip they
contacted the Kimberley RCMP detachment and spoke to a Cpl. Rod Carbonneau
to enquire if others had reported seeing the object. Cpl. Rod Carbonneau
said the detachment received no calls over this matter. The Cranbrook Airport
was also contacted and asked if there were any aircraft in the area of
the sighting .... but none were reported in the vicinity the object was
observed. For the couple who watched this amazing sight on July 28, 2003
not many answers were fourth coming. A couple of area residents did telephone
the folks who watched the event telling them what they also saw that night,
and another did make a report to the local newspaper.
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- From A Few Witnesses To a Flood Of Calls
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- A report was made to Peter Davenport at the NUFORC in
Seattle, Washington and then the sighting report was forwarded on to me
here at HBCC UFO Research (Houston, British Columbia) for a follow-up investigation.
What I did not realize at this time was just how large this one case was
going to be. From a handful of witnesses the case exploded into a major
event where I currently have 157 eye witnesses to something very mysterious.
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- Two things happened in the early morning hours that Sunday,
a large moon sized object was seen by many area residents, and what followed
left many folks in communities such as Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, Kimberley,
Cranbrook and as far as Jaffray, British Columbia scratching their heads
wondering what it was they saw. A beam, or ray of white light was observed
from Kamloops as far southeast as Jaffray, British Columbia. People who
watched the strange and puzzling event said the white light looked as bright
as a florescent tube and was arced from horizon to horizon as if one was
viewing a rainbow. The beam of light sat almost stationary in this position
for approximately an hour before dissipating. Almost everyone who witnessed
the beam of white light said they had never seen anything like this before.
All said they have watched the northern lights many times, but they commented
this was certainly not the northern lights.
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- A Few Of The Eye Witness Accounts - The Light/Object
(July 28, 2003)
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- A gentleman from Cranbrook, B.C. telephoned me and reported
that he and his family were sitting outside and were discussing how bad
the forest fires are throughout the southern interior when one of the family
members spotted what they thought was a airplane with it's landing lights
on and heading in their direction. As the bright white light drew closer
to them, the size was growing rapidly and so was the brightness of the
light. Before they knew it, the light/object was upon them. The family
was so frightened due to the immense size of the light/object being almost
at the edge of their property that the children ran into the house screaming.
The mother followed closely behind. The father followed his wife and kids
into the home, but stopped to take one last glance at whatever it was,
and watched it make a 90 degree turn to the south. When I spoke to the
dad he told me that they heard not a sound coming from it.
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- Another report came from a lady who was with a group
of people on their holiday at their cabin on one of the local Kimberley,
B.C. lakes. She told me they were sitting outside on the deck when one
of the guests pointed towards the northwest. Low over one of the mountains
came a huge, extremely bright white light traveling slowly in a zig zag
pattern heading to the southeast. As it got closer to the resort area,
many people became uncomfortable due to how strange the object/light was
acting. As it passed straight overhead not a sound was heard. Some of the
folks who were there said it was like looking at a full moon on a clear
night. It was that big.
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- Two men in a pick-up truck traveling north along the
highway just south of Wycliffe spotted the large bright object flying south.
As they watched the large light/object close in on their location they
pulled the truck over to the side of the highway, and jumped out of the
vehicle to get a better look. Due to it being so low, so bright, and passing
directly over top of them the light from the object lit up the highway
and surrounding area. Both men stood frozen in their tracks and speechless.
Both fellows said it moved quickly in a straight line and made no unusual
maneuvers. Again no sound was heard which is remarkable due to how close
it was to these men, and all the other witnesses.
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- The above is a small example of what folks saw that night.
There are many more reports here of area residents reporting seeing the
same thing.
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- A Few Of The Eye Witness Accounts - Beam Of Light (July
28, 2003)
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- One lady said what she saw was very strange, it didn't
behave like the northern lights as she noted that the lights danced across
the sky, or looked like a curtain of shimmering light. She wondered if
the long dry hot weather may have something to do with what she was seeing.
But her thoughts changed quickly as she watched the beam of light come
from the northwest horizon and impaled itself on one of the local hills
and that is where it ended, according to this witness.
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- A party of four witnesses were out for a few days on
one of the areas lakes just outside of Kimberley, B.C. Everyone was having
a good time talking and having a few spirits. One of the men who was sitting
on a camping chair had just poured himself a drink, when he looked up and
said to the rest of the people he was with, "do you see what I am
seeing"? Everyone replied, "yes"! The man who asked the
question was so surprised at what he was looking at, he poured his drink
onto the ground and thought he'd had one to many that evening! They all
watched a beam of narrow bright white light run in an arc from horizon
to horizon.
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- First they wondered if it might have been a search light
as it was so brigh but they soon ruled this out due to the miles and miles
the light covered. Again all these witnesses said this event lasted for
approximately one hour before it dissipated.
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- Some three weeks after people saw the beam of light on
July 28, 2003, I had calls from Kelowna and Kimberley British Columbia
reporting that the beam of light was back in the night sky. Two Kelowna
residents stood on the patio with phone in hand reporting what it was they
were seeing. The exact white beam of light sat stationary running from
horizon to horizon and was extremely bright.
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- Four Kimberley residents stood outside watching the beam
of light, they reported standing under a street lamp and even with brightness
from the street light they could clearly see the beam of light sitting
in the dark sky.
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- Conclusions
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- There is no doubt that something very unusual took place
on Sunday, July 28, 2003 in the wee hours that morning. What folks saw
in all these communities seems to be a mystery. But I have tried to come
up with some reasonable answers for all the questions everyone had for
me.
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- Here Is What I Know -
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- 157 witnesses watched an amazing event unfold on July
28, 2003 (early morning). Some observed the object and others observed
the beam of light. (Exact numbers are broken down for how many saw the
object or beam of light below. What I didn't say is how many saw both).
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- 31 witnesses observed a huge, bright white low flying
light/object.
- 126 witnesses observed the reported beam of bright white
light.
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- The International Space Station passed over Kimberley,
B.C., at 00:24 hrs. on July 27, 2003.
- A Fire Ball was observed flying in a southeasterly direction
over the West Coast of Canada and the U.S.
- Most of the witnesses reported the light/object and beam
of light running from the northwest to the southeast
- There would have been a lot of air traffic in some of
these areas due to the fire fighting efforts to control the devastating
forest fires which raged through some of these areas in the summer of 2003.
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- Our hearts go out to the people who were effected.
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- So, the questions that need an be answered are.... What
was the strange, large, glowing bright object? Did the object cause the
beam of light which sat stationary in the night sky for approximately an
hour as the object traveled through the areas?
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- As for the object, this is certainly a mystery. After
a lot of time speaking with witnesses, looking at data on astronomical
events, checking on the flight paths, seeing if there were aircraft in
these areas flying at the time of the sighting...... I have come up against
a brick wall. I have not found any rational explanation for what people
saw that night. Fireballs for example as far as I know do not make 90 degree
turns to another direction. Also seeing that the object was so low, traveling
rather slow in many of the reports and not making a sound. This again is
certainly strange. Something else I found rather interesting, was the fact
that reported sightings had dropped from my area here in the pacific northwest
of British Columbia and reports of unusual crafts of every kind were now
being seen and reported by many people residing in the areas from Kamloops,
the Okanagan straight through into the Kootenays. Almost every different
shape, color and size have been reported to HBCC UFO Research. Did the
over 800 forest fires attract visitors from above? I am sure we will never
really know the answer to that question..... ?
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- The beam of white light ended up still being as baffling
as the object. When reports started coming in I was sure what everyone
was seeing was nothing more than the northern lights. But as the list of
witnesses grew, and hearing their comments, I started wondering if there
was a connection to these unknowns and the beam of white light. Out of
the 126+ witnesses who observed the ray of light running across the night
sky from horizon to horizon, only one report was filed saying they believed
it to be nothing more than the northern lights. (which I report on below).
Everyone else said they have never witnessed anything like in their lives.
All said they have watched the northern lights on many occasions, and in
their words "this was not the northern lights".
- A radio station host put a question on air to the people
in the area, asking "has anyone seen strange lights in the night sky?"
I was told reports flooded in over this beam of light, and how everyone
was left not knowing what it was they saw.
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- To be fair to all sides, I placed below an email I received
from a person who did have some knowledge in astronomy, weather phenomena
and the northern lights. One thing I would like to point out, is that what
the gentleman viewed was not on the day of this major event.
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- The email came from a gentleman who, on the evening of
July 26, 2003 and morning of July 27, 2003, stated that a sailing regatta
was held by the Kelowna Yacht Club. Although the event discussed in the
report above took place in the early morning hours of July 28, 2003, I
thought the report below was important due to how close all of the events
were to one another. Plus I want to give both sides on this case.
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- Mr. Brian Vike
- Director HBCC UFO Research
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- Dear Mr. Vike,
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- Re: July 27, 2003
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- On the evening of July 26, 2003 and morning of July 27,
a sailing regatta was held by the Kelowna Yacht Club. It was an overnight
race north up Okanagan Lake centered on 50 degrees N. Latitude and 121.5
degrees west. The race commenced near the yacht club and the course was
to be north up Okanagan Lake to Whisky Island and then returning to the
Kelowna Yacht Club.
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- The race was attended by perhaps 100 members of the KYC
both as participants and safety patrol boats.
- I was one of the participants in this race in the 25
ft sailboat (name deleted by HBCC UFO Research) along with 2 other crew.
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- The race continued for the entire night of the 26th and
almost all of the boats were back into the Kelowna Yacht Club by 10 am
of the morning of the 27 of July.
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- The sky conditions for the night was perfectly clear
and very calm without interference from the light of the moon or city lights.
After dusk a typical number of earth-orbiting satellites were observed.
Around 11:30 pm the first appearances of typical shifty northern lights
were visible to the north and north-west and continued to be visible on
and off until early morning light.
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- At the peak of the night's darkness, a stable and continuous
band of light was present overhead from horizon to horizon in the East/West
direction. I estimate the apparent width of the band of light to be about
10 degrees at the azimuth. No indication of colour was observed in this
band, nor did I observe any detail or shadowing effects. This band of light
was, however, unusual in it's stability of form and linearity of line.
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- After this long and slow sailing event, some of the participants
commented to me on the display of northern lights.
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- Nothing that I observed that evening could be attributed
to paranormal activity. The display of light was interesting but certainly
not out of the ordinary compared to many other displays that I have observed
in my interest of amateur astronomy.
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- On a side note, one of my duties was a weather observer/recorder
in the Canadian arctic while on station on the Distant Early Warning Line
in 1967 and 1968 and was privileged to observe many spectacular light shows
at that time. I am convinced that we observed nothing more or less than
the Aurora Borealis and a few earth-bound satellites that night and I hope
that my observations might shed some light on the matter.
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- Kind regards,
- (Senders name and boat name deleted by HBCC UFO Research).
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- What folks saw in the early morning hours on July 28,
2003 has left myself and a lot of other people in the UFO field without
any solid answers to all of the questions. The one thing I know is that
there was an event which took place that left so many residents and myself
baffled. It would be nice to be able to supply answers for these mysteries,
but all I am left with at this point is another unexplained case!
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- Also keep in mind that three days later two woman had
a missing time experience in Kelowna, British Columbia and the green lights
seen on this night were witnessed by others at different locations which
backed up their incredible story. Their story can be read at: http://www3.telus.net/public/wilbur8/kelowna_missing_time.htm
- And please .. if you have any similar story to report....
regarding any missing time experience you may have encountered... I'd love
to hear from you. Relevant contact numbers and information can be found
at the end of this page.
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- I would like to thank everyone who took the time to write
or pick up the telephone to make a call reporting what it was they saw.
All of this data is very helpful. I also would like to express my many
thanks to the newspapers who ran an article on this event. The information
provided readers with the relevant phone number, email address, fax number
etc.. and toll free number so that more of you hopefully will also make
a report on anything strange you may have witnessed happening in the skies
above.
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- At the end of the day, there are more questions and answers.
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- As time allows, I will be posting all of the reports
I received over this case to my website.
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- Take good care.
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- Brian Vike, Director
- HBCC UFO Research
- Canadian Toll Free UFO Hotline 1 866 262 1989 - Free
call.
- Phone/Fax 1 250 845 2189
- Editor: Canadian Communicator - Paranormal Magazine
- hbccufo@telus.net
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- http://www3.telus.net/public/wilbur8/hbcc_ufo_research.htm
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