One Hundred and Fifty Seven Witnesses Speak Out
- We Want To Know!
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.
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.
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.
From A Few Witnesses To a
Flood Of Calls:
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.
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.
A Few Of The Eye Witness
Accounts - The Light/Object (July 28,
2003)
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Few Of The Eye Witness
Accounts - Beam Of Light (July 28, 2003)
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.
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. First they wondered if it might have
been a search light as it was so bright 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.
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.
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.
Conclusions:
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.
Here is what I know:
-
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).
-
31
witnesses observed a huge, bright white low
flying light/object.
-
126
witnesses observed the reported beam of
bright white light.
-
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. Our hearts go
out to the people who were effected.
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?
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, the object was low, traveling slowly
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..... ?
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 this 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.
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.
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.
Mr. Brian Vike
Director HBCC UFO Research
http://www3.telus.net/public/wilbur8/hbcc_ufo_research.htm
Dear Mr.
Vike,
Re: July 27, 2003
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
After this long and slow sailing event, some
of the participants commented to me on the
display of northern lights.
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.
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.
Kind regards,
(Senders name and boat name deleted by HBCC
UFO Research).
One Hundred and Fifty Seven Witnesses Speak
Out - We Want To Know!
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.
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.
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.
From A Few Witnesses To a Flood Of Calls:
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.
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.
A Few Of The Eye Witness Accounts - The
Light/Object (July 28, 2003)
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Few Of The Eye Witness Accounts - Beam Of
Light (July 28, 2003)
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.
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. First they wondered if
it might have been a search light as it was so
bright 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.
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.
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.
Conclusions:
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.
Here is what I know:
-
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).
-
31
witnesses observed a huge, bright white low
flying light/object.
-
126
witnesses observed the reported beam of
bright white light.
-
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. Our hearts go
out to the people who were effected.
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?
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, the object was low, traveling slowly
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..... ?
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 this 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.
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.
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.
Mr. Brian Vike
Director HBCC UFO Research
http://www3.telus.net/public/wilbur8/hbcc_ufo_research.htm
Dear Mr.
Vike,
Re: July 27, 2003
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
After this long and slow sailing event, some
of the participants commented to me on the
display of northern lights.
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.
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.
Kind regards,
(Senders name and boat name deleted by HBCC
UFO Research).
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