3537 Richmond Rd.
Victoria, B.C. Can.
Mar. 31, 1967.

Mrs. C. Lorenzen,
APRO, Tucson, Ariz.

Dear Mrs. Lorenzen,

Strange lights are being reported at a great rate locally, as per enclosed clippings.

Last night at 7:30 while driving into town, my husband and I saw an orange light rather low approximately 40 degrees in the west, moving south.

There was a thin overcast at 9000 ft. (according to the Weather Office) and a north wind at 8 m.p.h. Venus could be seen dimly, but no other stars were visible.

We kept the light in sight for a mile & a half (going 30 m.p.h.) and when we got out of the car at the store parking lot, it was overhead still moving steadily south.

The light was a steady clear orange color, a little larger than Venus at her brightest, but not as brilliant. There was no sound, and no shape was visible around or behind the light. We saw it dim, and blink out, and then come on again, two or three times. And twice we both saw what looked like a spark drop (or shoot) down from it a short distance and go out. The light dimmed and went out after we had watched it about two minutes at the parking lot.

On reaching home, we found our son and daughters (ages 13, 17, 19) had been watching the same light through binoculars and a 10-power telescope. They could not see any detail, just a light; but they had all seen it dim and come on again, and had seen sparks shoot down from it, and agreed it moved steadily south and was a real orange color, not yellowish or pale. Ron thought he saw a flattened shape, edge on at one point.

We then drove to the top of Mt. Tolmie, where a number of people were watching the sky. One man told us he had seen the orange light at 7:30, and that when he first saw it, it made a right-angle turn before heading south.

While up there, at about 9 o'clock, we and the others saw the same or an identical orange light appear in the west, travel south straight and level for a short distance and disappear behind a cloud. (Cloud level at 9 p.m. still 9000ft, and no wind, says the Weather Office). My son says he saw through his telescope the same sort of sparks fall from this light as from the first one.

The next night, Mar 31st, our son Ron saw a large white flash of light that lit up a half circle area of sky behind and over Mt. Douglas, as the flash faded he saw a brilliant point a white light at the centre of it that persisted about a second and then went out.

As you will see from the March 31 clipping, the "explainers" are hard at work here, the same as everywhere else. Air-Sea Rescue must be in a bad way if it can't tell a distress flare from a plastic bag and 8 birthday candles.

Sincerely,

Grace Turner

P.S. April 3.

If we are “seeing things” or being hoaxed we'd like it explained to us! Last night at 8 pm, the sky clear & starry, with no wind, John and I saw from the top of Mt. Tolmie, another orange light appear, this time in the south. Hard to estimate distance, but it was either over the Olympic Mts., or over the straits at a height approximately in line with the top of the mountains.

It was not moving very fast, but rose higher in the sky and was apparently coming toward us, then began to descend. It went out and came back on three or four times, and through the binoculars my husband saw a large “spark" drop from it and fall a considerable distance before going out. The light itself finally went out after we had watched it two or three minutes.

It may be of interest that there is a large reservoir on Mt. Tolmie; and Mt. Douglas has a radio telephone installation. And there is, of course, the naval base at Esquimalt.