Strange, Strangers, Strangest

by Graham Conway

We are occasionally asked what is the strangest story you have ever heard? The following recent account has to be easily within the top five. In the field of so called "objective" research there is a strong tendency to disregard phenomena that does not fit current guidelines and parameters of acceptable "evidence" within the UFO’s community standards. Many examples from the past can be provided of "unacceptable" reports to N.I.C.A.P. and A.P.R.0. where reports were relegated to the garbage because they were too outrageous and therefore publishing them placed that organization’s reputation and credibility on the line. One man who pursued such examples of the unbelievable is John Keel, an American researcher of long standing. He relates stories not only of the experiences of members of the public who contacted him, but also events that he too witnessed that defy belief.

I leave it to the reader to maintain an open mind when perusing this report. If nothing else, it supports that old adage that "truth is stranger than fiction". In anticipation of the many questions that will probably be asked I must state that this witness has been known to UFO*BC for several years and has a lengthy history of unusual paranormal events. The witness is as puzzled as we are and would be happy to not only find answers, but have the whole "mess" come to a halt.

2nd November 2000 (11:20 pm) - Roy W. went outside to put the garbage in the bin. He suddenly heard a very loud "locomotive" type sound overhead and felt compelled to look up. To his astonishment he perceived a thimble-shaped object with a flat bottom. This craft appeared to have a bright top to it as well as orange, red, and yellow lights around its perimeter. The underneath of the craft had a huge bright white light with a bluey-green neon type light in the centre. This light felt warm to Roy, despite the cold night air. During this period the neighbour’s dogs were howling. He could also feel the vibration within his body from this "whirry", jet-like noise. The object proceeded to demonstrate its aerobatic abilities as it moved up and down, back and forth, all within a relatively small area. All this was accomplished at high speed. Visually the craft was the size of a dinner plate and at the approximate height of incoming aircraft (2000’)?

18th November 2000 (4:40 pm) - Roy was outside and at the back of the house when he suddenly heard a roar, "like a rumbling locomotive". He looked up and was amazed to see a HUGE aircraft just "floating" along. Its wingspan was 300 feet (?) and its length one city block! It had a V-shaped tail, the front of the aircraft had two rows of windows, the rear had three sets. The front set were round, those at the rear oblong. The aircraft had no visible markings, was black, gray, silver in colour, with a red "Z" on the tail section. The lights from the window were quartz-like, "brilliantly bright". This aircraft (?) had eight engines, four on either side. The extreme right engine had what seemed like smoke pouring out of it. The engines’ appeared to be jet type. It was flying extremely low, "I could have touched it" and travelling from northeast to southwest. Higher in the sky was another aircraft approaching Vancouver. The first aircraft suddenly made a sharp bank to the right and disappeared!

The witness commented that something like a "block" was hanging down from the front, where the undercarriage would be. The only other unusual thing was a smell of sulphur in the air. During the 10 - 15 minute observation there were at least 6 - 8 other witnesses in the immediate neighborhood engaged in a variety of activities. It would be interesting to know if they saw anything at all? Roy phoned the airport but merely got the run around, the bottom line being, "We know nothing"

The following day the airport phoned back to say that they could find nothing on radar to match his description. (Surprise!) They then proceeded to ask more questions.

Since this event Roy has suffered from body itching, with a rash on his hands and back. Also headaches and teary eyes. He claims to see "sparks" out of the corner of his eyes. His two cats frequently seem to chase something that he can’t see. He has difficulty sleeping and is very restless.

23rd November 2000 (1:30 pm) - A General McDonald (?) phoned from Canadian Air Defence in Goose Bay, Labrador, and was on the phone 20 - 30 minutes asking questions about this report that had been "passed on to him"(!?) He asked Roy if it was O.K. to "put it on record". (tape it?) He provided longitude and latitude co-ordinates and stated that Roy lived under a flight path. He confirmed that another aircraft was in the sky at the same time. Roy agreed, but pointed out at a different location. He then proceeded to ask about electrical interference with the TV or computers? Had he (Roy) had any previous sightings? Did he take any photos? Did he drink, use drugs, or had he been institutionalised? Roy felt that was a personal affront to his integrity, made a rude remark at that point to the General and hung up. Within two minutes he phoned back, saying, "You don’t get rid of me as easily as that". He made no apologies but just proceeded to ask more questions, concluding with, "you have a poor vocabulary". Once more Roy brought him to a halt with a further offensive remark and again hung up. This time he didn’t call back. Intrigued by the nature of the call, Roy dialed *69, only to be informed that his system did not provide access to this number!

1st December 2000 (10:00 am) - Two men appeared at the door of his residence. They produced wallets, one black, one brown, containing photo I.D. that stated they were from the department of Canadian Air Defence. One was a Mr. Samuel, the other Mr. Graeme (spelling?) They asked to come inside. Roy extended his hand, neither of the men offered to shake hands, they simply ignored it. Moving into the house took them through the kitchen area, but they halted on seeing the microwave, as its position required they pass it. After some questioning Roy lowered a portion of a counter and they carefully sidled through the extra space. Sitting down they produced a small silver coloured tape recorder and inserted a small disc that was between a nickel and a quarter in size, replying to Roy's question that it would tape for eight hours or more. On entering the house one of the men had noticed an unusual walking stick in the hallway, to which he remarked that the head of the sticks carving, painted red, reminded him of the primates back home! The two men were olive-skinned and appeared to have "Korean eyes". Each wore Buddy Holly type glasses with thick rims. They were wearing gray suits with black shirts, one had a white tie, and the other was buttoned up to the neck. The one with the tie had a clip that contained a red "stone" that flickered. Mr. Samuel had a ruby ring surrounded with diamonds. His watch was square but without apparent hands, instead being encircled with buttons that periodically illuminated from white to green to mauve. The strap appeared to be molded into skin and was a solid steel band. The belt on his pants was of metallic strips with a square buckle. They both had very large feet, Roy estimated size 14! Each carried a brief case that was heavy and cold, apparently not made of leather. When sitting down they never relaxed into their chairs but retained a stiff back the whole time. Not once during the whole time they were in the house did they speak to each other. At one point Roy offered them tea or coffee, but one of them said, "We don’t drink that stuff". Instead one accepted a glass of water, to which the other stated, "your water contains a lot of strange substances". At no point were "please" or "thank you" offered. Roy’s two cats were extremely agitated the whole time during the visitors’ stay. Although lunch was put out for each of them, neither would venture out of the living room into the kitchen. The owners of the house who live on the floor above own a dog that is customarily silent. During the time these men were present the dog barked the whole time.

They noticed that Roy was wearing a very unusual watch. Touching his arm, Roy said the visitor’s hand was cold and clammy. They asked where he had found it and when, plus additional questions as to the state of the field. On being told a metal detector had been used in locating it six inches below the ground and discovering the watch was still going, they questioned what a metal detector was! Amongst the questions asked was, "Who else have you told about this sighting?" "UFO*BC" was the reply. "What’s that?" "It’s on the Web", Roy responded. "What that?" "It’s the Internet". Which evoked from one of the men, "That’s communications". They also asked if Roy was psychic and astonishingly broached the topic of another daylight sighting that he had experienced in the 1960’s. That particular incident he had also reported which resulted in some surprising repercussions. But at no time had he mentioned this event to them. During the period that Roy was describing the multi-engined "aircraft" that he had seen flying so low and so slowly, Mr. Samuel was busy drawing a very accurate sketch. Roy noted that the tail section was "not right" so he leant forward to take the rather unusual silver pencil from the artist’s hands. The owner resisted this effort and reached into his briefcase, which apart from some papers was empty, and gave Roy a regular pencil. He opened the briefcase by placing his four fingers of each hand on top of the case and his two thumbs on the front, then pressing down, at which point it sprang open. Roy was unable to detect any key hole or tumbler locks; in fact no seams were even visible. During the time that Mr. Samuel was drawing the plane, Mr. Graeme was taking notes in what appeared to be shorthand script, although why he would do that if the interview was being taped is difficult to determine.

When they questioned him they looked into his eyes and seemed to "pierce his brain" (Roy's description). They asked him what type of cats he owned, he replied "Persian", to which one visitor responded, "Oh, they breed those for their skins". Their interrogation went on from 10 am until 2:30 pm after which they left for about one hour, presumably for lunch, returning later. When it came time to leave Mr. Samuel looked at Mr. Graeme who said, "We have to go now, we have another rendezvous". Having taken notes and then tearing them up (?) Mr. Graeme was careful to retrieve all the pieces and took them with him! As they left they were again careful to avoid the microwave oven as far as was possible.

Outside in the yard they spent about half an hour scouring the ground with a Geiger counter. At one point the searcher called out to his companion, "Come over here and look at this". Roy was told to stay where he was. When he asked what they had found he was told, "Oh, it’s nothing." Prior to their departure he asked the two men what it was he had seen. They replied that it was an experimental balloon and the noise he had heard was the air escaping from it!

As they rounded the corner of the house Roy went from the kitchen to the bedroom which gave him a clear view of the driveway and the road. Despite the very short period of time that it took him to achieve this, the two men were not in sight, nor was a car leaving, no car door could be heard closing and no cars were visible either parked on the roadside or driving away. So where did they go?

Ruminating on all these strange events he discovered that on the windowsill, only six inches behind where one visitor had been sitting, was a Windex bottle, partially melted as if heat had been applied to it. Alongside was a cassette tape warped in a similar manner. Whilst four feet from the two men was a cell phone that was already plugged in on charge, (prior to the visitors arrival) this was now beeping, indicating a low battery.

It should be noted that two years ago we had another unusual (dream?) visitation account provided to us where the "experiencer" discovered the following day five cassette tapes grossly distorted as if heat or microwave energy had been applied to them. In this particular case these cassettes were located only six feet from the two entities.

3^rd December 2000 (12:00 noon) - Going outside the house Roy was surprised to discover the same two men in the laneway dressed in white coveralls. One was carrying a Geiger counter, the other a 12 - 16 inch parabolic dish in his hand, pointing to the sky, plus ear phones and a mike that was attached. He was searching (?) the sky where Roy had seen the aircraft. The wires all led into a black box at his waist. At one point he had what looked like a camera, although not video, aimed at a tree over which the aircraft had been originally seen. During the time they were together neither was seen speaking to the other. Nor was any car seen in which they may have arrived.

Due to the fact that Roy was suffering from a severe migraine type headache ever since his two visitors had departed he called his doctor, who in turn paged the local "on call" doctor. A short time later this gentleman arrived and checked Roy out, pronouncing him OK despite the pain over his heart he also complained of. On examining his eyes he asked if he had been exposed to a welder’s torch. Roy said no. He also pointed out that Roy's face was sunburnt. Roy told him that his eyes felt gritty and teary. He gave Roy two 50-milligram Demerol tablets and told him that if taken together they would "knock a cow out". He was also provided with a prescription for 20 similar tablets. Even though taken as prescribed Roy was still not able to sleep properly, having weird dreams on two separate occasions that included 7 – 8 foot creatures with four fingers with suction cups on their ends. Roy described lying prone on a table in a round room with a bright light above him and then sensing being touched. Even now he states that he has a constant feeling of being watched.

21st December 2000 (4:30 am) - Roy and Sylvia both wake up at the same time to go to the bathroom. A rather unusual event. Roy sees a ball of light about the size of a tennis ball about six inches from his face. It is brilliantly bright and a pale yellow. When it saw it had been noticed (?) it zipped away at high speed into the far corner of the bedroom to a pinhead size, leaving a light trace behind it that was purple, blue and yellow. Twelve hours later Roy casually mentioned to Sylvia that he saw something strange early that morning. Noting a smile on her face, she told him that when she awoke, she too saw it about a foot away from her. No sound could be detected. Roy stated that he was burning up and very thirsty. That same afternoon a deep roar was heard by both of them, rattling the windows. Nothing was to be seen in the sky.

27th December 2000 (4:00 pm) - A man appeared at Roy's door, stating that he had come to see the watch. During the past month Roy had a call from a person who claimed his colleagues, (the two men in gray?) had told him about having seen Roy's unusual watch.

This person stated his name was Mr. Smith (how original!). Roy asked him for I.D. and he produced a driver’s license with his photo on it (wearing dark glasses?) giving an address in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was wearing a dark charcoal suit, white shirt and black tie. He had a black fedora, "like gangsters wear" said Roy, and very large feet, "size 13 or 14", like Roy's previous visitors. His shoes were black and shiny, with no signs of dirt on them at all. He was between 4 foot 8 inches and 5 feet tall. "Just a little guy, very skinny, very pale-skinned with very long fingers, he was wearing black wrap-around glasses with silver frames". Roy extended his hand, but Mr. Smith ignored it. Entering the house he commented upon the Chinese carved walking stick in the hall saying how interesting it was. On reaching the microwave oven he stopped and asked Roy to turn it off. Roy unplugged it. Sitting down at the kitchen table he produced a small silver tape recorder, identical or similar to his past visitors’ machine, stating that it would record for 80 HOURS or more! Asking to see Roy's unusual watch he took a small pick-like tool from the breast pocket of his suit and quickly and expertly opened it up. He then attached a jeweler’s type magnifying glass to the glasses he wore and proceeded to scrutinize its interior. He also again asked where Roy had found the watch, requested that he draw a diagram of the field and the exact location. Roy obliged. He opened a black briefcase similar in appearance to the previous visitors, only this one had two gold closing clasps on the front. He removed some paper, a silver pencil with a red top (like the earlier visitor Mr. Samuel had) and a pen-like flash light that emitted a mauve, pencil thin beam, which he scanned the interior of the watch with. He took a small 2 x 3 inch camera (digital?), which through the backside displayed a purple screen, and with this he shot several pictures of the watch which he relocated on his black briefcase. During the whole of his visit he said very little and replied to questions asked of him very briefly. Roy said his speech was slurred. On being asked if he would like tea or coffee he said he would like water instead, drinking three glasses, right after each other, without any accompanying pleases or thank yous. Nor, during the whole time he was in the house, did he remove either his glasses or his hat. Roy's two cats were agitated even BEFORE Mr. Smith’s arrival and were even more so when he was in the kitchen. "Why do you have the cats?" he asked, "because I like them", was the reply. "Oh." Like his two predecessors, at no time did he smile or crack a joke the whole time he was there. As Roy was providing the requested water he saw his visitor slip the disc that was inside the watch into his briefcase. This disc contained a number and some unreadable script. Roy asked in a very pointed fashion for it back. "Oh, sorry", and it was handed over to him. "Do you want to part with it?" he asked on returning his attention to the watch. "If the Price is Right". "What do you mean?" "You know, like the TV show." "I don’t understand." "Like the TV show in California." "Oh." "Have you had the watch valued?" "Yes, at the Cloverdale swap meet, I was offered $45.OO." "How much do you want for it?" "Well it has sentimental value to me, and I don’t really want to part with it, but I’ll sell it for $500.00." "I’ll have to check with my colleagues." (No surprise or haggling over Roy's statement).

Turning to look at Sylvia's computer, which was unplugged, he expressed an interest in its capabilities. Roy enumerated them to which Mr. Smith replied, "It has very minimal power". Seeing some other wires unplugged he expressed concern, stating that they created a dangerous magnetic field.

Roy can’t recall how the visit ended except that he again extended his hand on departure and again it was ignored along with no thanks for his hospitality or co-operation. Roy went to the bedroom window right away but could see no sign of his visitor or any car in the vicinity! At that point he phoned me. It was 5:15 pm. Telling me all the above details, plus the fact that his strange watch showed a two hour (slow) time difference. His cell phone was again dead and on replugging his microwave in found to his astonishment that whereas previously the clock on it wouldn’t work, now it was working and already set at the correct time! Sylvia's hair blower nozzle, (a hard plastic) was found to be melted, as was a ruler in a drawer close to where the visitor had been sitting, this was bent into a slight S curve. Again Roy had another severe headache and an eruptive nosebleed.

Graham Conway, Steve Adair and Dwight Atkinson have all been involved in this ongoing investigation.

Found on the windowsill behind the visitors.	Found on the windowsill behind the visitors.
"That reminds me of the Primates back home"	Found 6 feet under, but it was still ticking!