There it is, Up in the Sky . . . It’s a Bird, a Plane, it’s . . .

Could it be that our program for attracting tourists to the glorious Kootenays is just out of this world?

Several Castlegar residents noted a strange flying object hovering over our community on Wednesday of last week and nobody has come up yet with an ordinary explanation for this extraordinary phenomenon.

Paul Hadikin, Margaret Laktin and Christine Poznecov, all of Castlegar, were driving south of Castlegar Airport at about 11 p.m. that evening when they saw a strange object hovering above the telephone poles along the roadway.

“It was about six feet in diameter, oval-shaped, with beams of light pointing upward and downward,” said one of the trio.

Said Miss Poznecov: “It gave off a bluish glow and stayed parallel with us as we drove along the highway at about 45 mph.”

Added Miss Laktin: “At one time it was at least 20 feet away but then came so close we thought we could touch it.”

Paul Hadikin’s description was similar although he thought “there were two wings on each end and the object glided along about 10 feet above the power poles.”

“It made no noise as it followed us for approximately three to four miles,” he stated.

The young couple left Margaret Laktin at her car and proceeded to drive toward Brilliant Bridge. The object, which had disappeared when they reached miss Laktin’s vehicle, resumed following Hadikin’s car until a second automobile appeared near the bridge.

All three people agree upon the length of the light beams, which was 25 feet and the light blue glow emitted from the object.

At the same time, Mr. Hadikin disagreed with Margaret Laktin stating, “at no time did the thing ever come any closer than 30 feet,” while the two girls did not notice wings jutting from the structure.

L.V. Campbell of Castlegar later reported that at about midnight that night he watched a strange object hovering over the Lion’s Head. It appeared to have a bright light at one end and a duller light at the other. It eventually disappeared over the mountain.