- Despite years of double-checking UFO stories, like last
year's sighting in the New-Wes-Valley area, Brian Vike said he still doesn't
know if intelligent extraterrestrials are hotrodding over our heads.
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- He just knows there is something happening, and that
something has always been out of arm's reach. Luckily, its still in range
of people's eyes and ears.
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- "As far as I am concerned I don't know if (aliens)
even exist yet. However, there is some awfully strange things happening."
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- The B.C. native, and director of HBCC UFO Research, has
not only kept his eye on the sky but his ear to the ground as well, compiling
and tracking UFO sightings and other related phenomena for about five years.
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- In March, one New-Wes-Valley area resident reported to
Mr. Vike that she and two others spotted an oval-shaped disk that crossed
the night sky faster than a plane.
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- "The object had up to six blinking lights that flashed
in a circular motion," read the submission, dated March 25.
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- "It was around 10:15 p.m. when this disc-shaped
blinking light object was spotted in the sky. It flew so fast and the lights
kept going in a circular motion with red blinking lights."
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- And that's not all. Three other provincial sightings
posted on his site tell of a circular dome that flew over a graveyard near
St. John's, also in March, a big orange globe that flew near Bonavista
on April 1999, and a bright white light that hovered over, and imitated
the sounds and lights of an RCMP police car in 1969 near Middle Cove. The
witness to the last one, a retired police officer, only came forward with
the information in December of last year.
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- UFOs wanted
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- And while this may seem phenomenal, Mr. Vike indicated
this is only the tip of the iceberg. He said he's surprised he isn't getting
more reports from a province as big as Newfoundland and Labrador, with
over half-a-million people in it.
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- "They got to be seeing some really oddball things
in the sky and we are just not hearing from them."
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- While his project is not the only entity that receives
and posts UFO sightings, he still wonders about this province's low numbers.
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- "They are very low, extremely low. I mean, gosh,
there was four reported (to his site) in 2003. That's incredible. That's
a low amount compared to other provinces."
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- But no matter where it comes from, if the witness report
proves to be a hoax, that report won't stay on his site for long. Every
report that comes in, including the ones he received from Newfoundland,
gets checked out by him as much as it is possible.
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- He will call airports to see what aircraft were flying
that day, as well as the military, and also Environment Canada to see if
the sighting could have been caused by weather-related phenomena.
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- He also corresponds with the witnesses, to learn more
from them, such as the time of day they witnessed the event, and where
the witnesses are from.
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- He said most of the time there is a real-life reason
- air currents, comets, etc.- for the unexplained flying objects.
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- Mr. Vike said another reason why people are not coming
forward is the fear of negative publicity.
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- "I am sure more people would come forward, but they
are afraid that their face or name will show up in the media or on a Web
site."
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- Mr. Vike said the only way a person's name will show
up on his Web site, is if the person requests to have their name published.
Otherwise Mr. Vike will omit the name or change the name to protect the
identity of possible UFO witnesses.
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- "And that's the way we work."
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- Terrestrial tourism
- Because of an injury that took him away from his job
at a sawmill, Mr. Vike started compiling UFO sightings in the '80s as a
way to keep busy. It was only in 2000 that the 52-year-old grandfather
started his online project.
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- "Like so many thousands out there, I put up a couple
of pictures and started this little UFO site," said the former planetarium
volunteer.
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- "And a couple of people started sending me the odd
report and I thought, 'Hey, this is pretty awesome.' And if people are
good enough to send in reports, I should do stuff about it."
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- Over the years, inside his home, in Houston, B.C., a
community of only 2,600 souls, Mr. Vikes kept track of UFO sightings by
sticking pins into a large map.
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- And despite thousands of reports, and hundreds of pins,
he himself has been witness to only two or three events, where the objects
he saw could not be explained away.
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- One pattern that proved obvious is that there are more
reports of strange objects where there are more people to see it, he said.
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- Additionally, by recording where something was spotted,
as well as when, people can more readily see other patterns in UFO activity.
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- Soon, his project to study Canadian UFO sightings began
taking off, even faster than he expected, blossoming into not only a comprehensive
Web site, but also regular guest appearances on radio and a starring role
in a Canadian documentary. His site now receives about two to three million
hits a month and he expects to post about 300 Canadian sightings for 2004,
including the four he received from this province.
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- And while his online clearing house of UFO stories started
out as a hobby, and still is, it now has a strange life of its own, so
much so that guests to his town credit Mr. Vike's work as to why they visited.
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- Apparently, the more UFO and UFO-related stories he posts,
the more stories, more attention and more visitors he gets.
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- He said the other reason that people visit is because
of the increasing number of sightings there, putting his region in competition
with UFO-friendly Roswell, N.M. and Vulcan, Alta.
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- Although after seeing the wild lands of northern B.C.,
tourists, many of them Americans, now come to see the landscape, he said.
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- When asked if UFO sightings can be good for tourism,
Mr. Vike said that he was already asked by Houston's mayor to submit materials
for a tourism package.
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- http://beacon.optipresspublishing.com/articles/beafeat.htm
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