West Vancouver And Beyond!
By Bill Oliver.
This article first appeared in the Fall 98 issue of UFO*BC Quarterly.
You never know where the next interesting case or story may come from as UFO*BC continues in its quest to unravel mysteries from Canada's West Coast. This report is the culmination from a phone call received one Friday afternoon on a day off from work. Yes, your intrepid researchers of UFO*BC actually hold day jobs and receive no monies, much to the amazement of many folks that believe we are funded and hang out in our office waiting for the next case to arrive. The caller this day wanted to know a bit about our organization and whether we chased lights in the sky or were looking for nuts and bolts. Not really understanding his question he explained that he "knew" these things were real and that he didn't want to debate their reality but wanted to tell of a history of his own sightings. As the call came to me, I asked him how he got my home number assuming he was given it by an acquaintance. He told me he got it from the West Vancouver Library when he inquired whether there were any UFO groups in the area. Indeed we had been registered with the library online service and the report that follows is just the beginning of an ongoing communication between " Ryan" and myself. Upon the urging of his aging father he thought it best to tell someone of his unusual sightings he has had over the last thirty or so years.
In November
of 1966 at around 6:00 pm Ryan and his friend Terry were walking out of the backyard from
his West Vancouver home. Their normal path would see them turn right down the lane if they
were going to Terry's house but this night however they turned left and immediately looked
at each other as if to say "wrong way ". It was at this very instant that they
thought they were in big trouble as what looked like a plane was very close overhead and
appeared to be coming down. It was however evident that no sound was accompanying this
craft and also apparent it indeed was no plane at all as it appeared to both witnesses
that they were looking at a solid seamless triangular shaped craft about the size of a
small airplane, silent, with bright white lights on each tip. Most frightening it looked
like it was about to crash. As if sensing the boy's fear the object tipped on one side
causing the corner light to become very bright. Instinctively Ryan threw his hand up in
front of his face as it was now going through his head that he was going to see a
disaster. Both boys ran at this point, Ryan going in his house and Terry setting a new
Olympic record down the back lane. Ryan told his parents, who didn't seem to be interested
until about two weeks later when the local paper ran an article stating that a bus driver
reported a triangular object that evening near Ryan's street as he waited at the bottom of
the hill before embarking on his bus route. Confirmation was a relief to Ryan who was
quite disturbed by the close encounter. As for Terry, he never said a word about it again
to Ryan regarding the all to close encounter that night. He later left to join an Ashram
in London. Whether the profound experience had anything to do with that I don't know but I
add it for the reader's interest.
Ten years later in Whytecliff Park Ryan was again privy to
an unusual experience. Again in the fall although not certain what month he was sitting at
a lookout area of the park in the dusk hours. While enjoying the view of Bowen Island he
was alerted in his peripheral vision of two bright lights that seemed to be making a
landing in the water. His first thought of why a plane this close could not be heard was
immediately erased by his viewing of the object heading into the water!" Damn it
" he thought " not another one " eluding back to his sighting some ten
years prior just a few miles away. He was shocked to watch the two lights skim the waters
surface before submerging and slowly disappearing into the deep waters off of Whytecliff
Park. He told me at the time of this sighting he was amazed at the sudden silence in the
early evening air and the complete absence of any wildlife sounds (OZ Factor?). Ryan has
spoken to other witness's in this area who have reported strange lights in the area and
UFO*BC has previously received a report of high strangeness involving a "light
being" in the same vicinity some time back. He told me that just recently, while
watching the Jane Hawtin show, a woman from West Vancouver spoke about objects viewed
quite frequently in the area mentioned. We will be looking for more past and present
reports from this area and will keep our readers up to date.
Moving on to the nineties Ryan's experiences have continued
and he told me of a most remarkable daytime encounter. One morning at about 7:10 am he set
out on a drive to Whistler Mt to pick up his teenage daughter. Driving up the winding
Sea-to-Ski Highway he was overcome with an urge to take the Alice Lake turnoff. In
retrospect this alone seemed like an odd thing to do considering his daughter was
expecting him about 9:00 o'clock that morning. Upon travelling a short distance up the
Alice Lake road he was amazed to see a black tube hovering above the rugged cliffs no more
than a quarter mile away and clearly visible through his front window. At this point he
said to himself "No thanks!" and after making brief eye contact with a passing
driver promptly made a U-turn and headed back to the main road to Whistler. At the same
time, the object shot off at a staggering speed and was now well ahead of him and only
barely visible on the horizon. Over the years we have received other reports from the
Whistler area and I assured Ryan this was not the first or last we will probably hear from
this neck of the woods. Over the years one develops an inner feeling that there is more to
come. Ryan has told me that as his trust grows he will tell me more of his experiences and
dreams but at this point is not ready to divulge all. Ryan continues to stress the
importance of our group's research and the need to educate the public of this phenomenon.
He is active in his pursuit to gain us, in his words, "the recognition we
deserve". For this Ryan we thank you!
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