Hugh Ferguson was watching a
Canso flying boat touch down in the harbour when he happened to look up and see the flying
saucers.
It was a week before Christmas, 1952, and all over the city people were doing exactly what Ferguson was doing. Heads tilted back, mouths open, they watched the saucers race across the sky.
"They were heading northeast and rolling" said Vern Ciccone, manager of the Eaton's store. "There were four or five of them."
"I saw them" said Fred Slade, who was unloading parcels at the post office. "They were flying in formation. Two of them at first, then three, followed by five more."
It was the second time in 15 days that flying saucers were sighted over the city. On December 3, at least nine people watched a shiny spherical object streak across the harbour. But this time, the saucers were seen by hundreds.
Ciccone said they were very small , "slightly dark on top and shiny at the bottom. They were round, and seemed to veer several times as they moved towards the northeast." He watched them for nearly five minutes, in the midst of a large crowd.
At least one man didn't believe the things were flying saucers. He wouldn't give his name to reporters. "Do you think I want half the town down my neck?" but he said there was a simple and natural answer to the mystery. "In the cold atmosphere", he said, "rapid condensation created little "cloudlets" that joined together to make one big cloud."
But he wouldn't change Ferguson's mind. "I didn't believe in flying saucers before," he said. "But I sure do now."
" I saw them."
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