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- Around the middle of October 1999, we here at UFO*BC
received a phone call from a lady at Sechelt, a small coastal community
about 30 miles north west of Vancouver. She reported seeing a large disc-shaped
object over nearby Trail Island. Had we had any other reports, she asked?
The answer was no. However, it was suggested she contact the Sechelt Reporter.
They were sufficiently interested that they published a short article on
October 30th, 1999. This resulted in a further ten telephone calls from
the same region. The ensuing report was the result of an investigation
into one of the more intriguing calls we received.
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- A gentleman whom we shall refer to as "Gary Yates",
phoned to say he had a story we wouldn't believe. "Well try us out",
is our standard reply. After hearing what he had to say we felt that the
circumstances warranted a fast response and further close attention.
Consequently, on November 7th, Dwight Atkinson and myself visited this
person in his home at Sechelt. Dwight was in charge of the recording
and barely had time to produce his equipment before Gary was off and
running with his story. The telling was emotional and rambling. Trying
to secure some sort of sequential outline and coherency was not an easy
task. The essence of the account is as follows.
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- Gary, 35 years of age, is a handy man, stone mason and
brick layer. The latter qualification resulted in him being contracted
to construct a barbecue pit for a family friend, who lives about a mile
north of Gary,s home. It was a miserable night, raining hard and windy.
To make working conditions bearable Gary constructed a shelter over the
work area out of a tarpaulin, illuminating the interior with a halogen
lamp. The bricks he was using were recycled and set out on a plywood sheet
in the formation that they would ultimately be cemented in position.
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- Sometime between 7:30 - 8:00 pm he became aware of a
strong feeling that he was being watched. Looking out from under the
tarp, he was surprised to see a bright light, "like a car headlight,
but smaller". The light pulsed and quickly grew in size over the
roof of the friend,s house. "It got closer, and closer, and closer,
then BOOOM, I was thrown up against the bank".
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- "Next I knew, the light was receding, away, away,
away, then it was gone." He added that he saw a gray face in the
light as it moved off. Considerably puzzled by all this and also quite
shaken, Gary decided to drive down to the "Corner Cupboard",
his local convenience store, for some cigarettes. On his arrival he was
again surprised to find it was closed! He assumed for some reason they
had closed early. He continued on to his brother's place, who wasn,t
particularly pleased to see him, as it was now 11:00 p.m.! He arrived
home to learn that it was indeed 11.O5 pm and he had somehow lost three
hours. He couldn,t believe it nor could his wife "Helen".
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- The following morning he discovered a small object in
his beard. This tightly curled organic object was about 4mm across, dark
brown in colour with golden, translucent edges. He found it strange that
this would remain in his beard and felt that it had special clinging
(static or moisture?) and animated qualities, which he attempted with
some success to demonstrate. It appeared to Dwight to be a ferrule as would
encase a tiny blossom at the end of a stem.
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- Some time later, he also discovered a short wound on
his right hand side, outboard of the right shoulder blade (particularly
difficult place on the body to see). This wound healed rapidly. When
we both examined it, the "cut" appeared elevated, scabbed over,
a wound about 20mm in length. The wound appeared to have some pus beneath
the scab. On further questioning Gary stated that there was no cut visible
in either the rain jacket or T-shirt that he wore that night. Nor was any
blood to be found on his T-shirt.
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- Gary was anxious and distracted during our interview.
His wife stated that these experiences haven,t changed his interest,
but greatly confused him.
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- We also learnt that he and his wife have noted unusual
events, such as the radio in the bedroom came on by itself, even though
its not a clock radio. That it also has a habit of changing stations, "by
itself". The telephone displays a high degree of static and the
portable phone acts in an unpredictable manner, (i.e. shutting down completely).
A week after the previously described event the radio in the living room
was very difficult to hear due to static. When Gary left the room it returned
to its usual clarity. On his return the radio resumed its previous distortion.
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- Gary frequently experiences "bad dreams" which
are accompanied by him yelling out, "No! Leave me alone!" He
feels that "something is trying to get hold of him". Frequently
falling asleep on the couch, he screams in fear if his wife tries to
wake him. She feels "like a monster". He has become more paranoid
since the episode and thinks that he is psychic and can predict tragedy.
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- We continued to seek answers in other directions and
discovered that he had not used a wheelbarrow at the job site, which
ruled out the scarring on the surface of the bricks. Four of which were
"rutted"; the centre (fifth) did not readily display the two
"melted" holes that Gary claimed. The saleil shrubbery on the
embankment appeared undamaged, as did the surrounding trees with their
sparse branches overhanging the construction site. Gary made a point of
mentioning, with a degree of pride, that he would only use bricks with
a smooth upper surface for this type of job.
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- Dwight had brought along a dosimeter designed to detect
radiation. Bearing in mind that ten days had elapsed since the occurrence,
he was unable to detect anything out of the ordinary.
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- I asked Gary if had been drinking prior to starting the
job? The answer was no. Had he been drinking on the job? Again no. But
he added he most certainly did when he got home that night!
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- It turns out that Gary has had six previous UFO events
in his life, the first being when he was two years old in Winnipeg. Gary
brought up the topic of hypnotic regression into the conversation. He
was visibly torn between wanting to learn what happened during the missing
three hours, but was equally apprehensive about what he might discover.
We discussed this subject and its potential ramifications. It also came
to light that his family considers hypnosis "devil worship"!
Clearly this looms large on his mental horizon. Another hurdle he most
certainly doesn,t need.
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- Our questioning elicited the fact he suffered a nosebleed,
from the left nostril, the night following the episode. He does not regularly
suffer nosebleeds.
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- Altogether our visit probably encompassed a period of
two hours. After asking questions and taking photographs we returned
home. Three days later he called again, suggesting that I contact the
lady who owns the property on which he was working. Consequently I phoned
"Helen Peters". She too had a rather interesting story to relate.
This incident took place only three days afterwards.
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- On October 3Oth, 1999, Helen woke at 2:00 a.m. to find
a bright white light swirling into her room from the backyard area, (where
the barbecue pit is located). There was no discernible noise. She was
not able to wake her husband, "Michael". Helen continued to
watch the light until 03:15 when she went into the living room for a
hot drink. After 35 minutes she returned to the bedroom to find the light
had gone. It is also worthy of note that the dog that normally sleeps in
the bedroom was hiding in the living room.
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- She also mentioned that something similar happened in
the summer of l999, (possibly June) only on that occasion she had a ringing
in her head for a period of two hours. Again she was unable to awaken
her husband.
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- Helen described the above events in a very rational and
matter of fact manner.
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