"On a summer
evening early in the '60s I heard the news
that the Soviet sputnik might be seen in orbit
crossing our hemisphere. So I walked my Scotty
dog, Cam, over to a field, where horses and
colts were grazing, which he and I often
visited.
"As I stood there I saw a bright dot of light
just over Little Saanich Mountain by the
astrophysical observatory. I thought, here
comes sputnik. I expected to see a flash like
a meteorite cross the mountain, but to my
amazement it came slowly and grew larger and
larger.'
Telling us of her experience was Miss M. J.
Footner of Victoria, sister-in-law of our
artist, Lesley Footner, who sketched the scene
as shown opposite. She continued:
“I did not take my eyes off it and began to
think it might be the reflection of an
airplane. Suddenly it was above me and became
stationary – all silver shining in the late
sun with a number of twinkling lights along
the side.
"I thought again, is this a wingless plane, or
dirigible? But there were no gondolas and not
a sound. I expected it to continue on to the
southwest but suddenly it veered at right
angle and swiftly disappeared over the trees
towards Finlayson Arm (Pat Bay is at entrance,
see map) and the Sooke mountains.
"As I walked home I wondered if anyone else
had seen this strange object, though I
realized many people were probably indoors at
this time. I had felt no fear at all. I had
looked carefully at the bright shining lights
like windows along the sides but could see no
faces or forms of any kind. The object had a
soft glow about it, not like the metal
appearance of our airplanes. Neither the
horses nor my Scotty showed any fear, and no
neighborhood dogs barked.”
Miss Footner guessed the cigar-shaped object,
hovering just above the tallest trees, was
about 100 feet in length and 25-30 feet in
circumference. Later she earned that a friend
who lived nearby, Miss Audrey Winderburn, had
seen a craft of similar appearance while
outside attending to her horse.
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