For two of the witnesses at Gold River, Darwin Bjornson and Rusty Shelly, that UFO sighting was their second. Their first - or, more accurately, its series - was even more spectacular and of an unprecedented kind, as far as we know.

The remarkable history of this case started before dawn one morning in June, 1967. Bjornson, preparing to leave on his early logging shift, opened the curtains of his living-room at Parksville and was amazed to see a multi-colored glow hovering above Georgia Strait which his house overlooks.

"It was an incredible sight" he told us. "For a few minutes the ball of light just hung there and then it started to move slowly to the left, and as it moved it seemed to start rotating. The colors changed like a colored beach-ball going round. They were mostly green, blue and reddish. Then it would stop and just one color would be showing."

Bjornson called his wife and for about half an hour they stared at the object until it shot up and disappeared in the dark sky. Meanwhile Bjornson phoned his friend and fellow logger, Shelly, who with his wife also watched the spectacle.

Judging by the fact that the UFO was or the near side of Lasqueti Island opposite Parksville, the observers figured it was about six miles away and perhaps 1000 feet up. Taking a bearing on it, they found that after any movement it would return to the same spot.

"We might have thought we were seeing things at first," Bjornson said. "but other fellows on the early shift saw it, too. They were all talking about it and no one could figure out what it was.

Next morning at the same time Bjornson, idly curious, peered through the window and could hardly believe what he saw. The UFO was there again - and this routine was repeated other mornings that summer! Each time the object stayed in view for about half an hour before shooting skyward.