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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