1999 YUKON SIGHTINGS
16-Jan-99, Logan Subdivision, Whitehorse, Yukon: (9:00 pm)
For approximately 30 to 45 seconds an object (orange and rather large) flew in a zig zagging motion in the sky from the east to the northwest and then went out of sight. It was quiet outside and we could hear no noise at all - just this weird object flying around. Very very weird!!
We were mesmerised.....could not believe what we were seeing - the way it zigged and zagged was pretty wild...then it would go straight for a while...just plain weird.
If I compare
it to the size of the full moon we had earlier this week then I would say it was 1/10th
the size of that full moon (remembering that the full moon we saw this week was quite
large!).
I would say the shape of it was roundish - it was obviously far away - but had a round
look to it - definitely not oblong or angular in shape in any way. I have no sense of the
height of the thing....it was dark. (There were two witnesses to this UFO sighting)
Feb 8th or Mar 15th-99,
Whitehorse, Yukon: (~11:30pm)
This sighting was reported along with a 24-Oct-99 UFS
report by the same witness. The following is an excerpt from an e-mail we received:
"Last
February or March sometime before midnight while on my deck I observed 3 lights in a
triangular formation coming from the south at light plane - slow - speed. The lights were
always on and didn't seem to deviate as one would expect if 3 separate planes were flying
in formation from one's right to left over Mary Lake. No engine noises were heard which
was unusual, as the distance seemed to be close enough that one would hear them. The
approach seemed to be a normal approach to the airport. The lights disappeared behind
trees. No engine noises were heard as would be expected in the down run to the airport to
the north of the house. Thus my curiosity as to what they were."
A visit was made to the man's residence in the Wolf Creek rural subdivision
in early November of 1999. The man pointed to where he first saw the lights, the
trajectory that they tracked, and to where they disappeared. The lights first appeared to
the south and traveled northeast from their position and disappeared in the east. The man
remarked again that it was strange that they were consistent in brightness throughout the
sighting. Unlike aircraft landing lights that vary in brightness when the angle to the
observer changes. The three lights together represented an angular size in the sky of a
Loonie (1$ Canadian Coin) at arms length. This is a very large angular size, about 5 times
the diameter of a full moon, much too large to be attributed to a single aircraft. Thus
the witnesses first presumption that it was several aircraft in formation. Each light was
bigger than a star, similar in size to "nose lights on an aircraft". There were
no colored navigation lights or strobe lights. They were approximately one quarter to one
third up off the horizon during the entire sighting. The man has lived at this location
for 9 years and is familiar with normal air traffic in the area.
The witness recalls talking about his sighting at a monthly meeting two days after the
event. Records for the meeting dates for were checked and this placed the date for the
sighting on February 8th or March 15th at about 11:30pm.
The witness was asked more details regarding the speed of the lights across the sky and
duration of the sighting. He provided the following:
"I thought on first impression there were 3 small planes flying in formation with
a "leading" plane. Speed I thought was the same as a small plane if not slower.
From what I remember the speed didn't vary much as it came across my line of sight over
Mary Lake Subdivision from when first seen to the south. Nor did the lights become any
bigger nor smaller. Nor did any lights disappear nor diminish before the object went
behind the trees as would normally be the case for nose lights or wing lights. At the time
I thought it unusual there would be 3 small planes flying in formation and at that time of
night. I think as I mentioned I didn't hear any engine sounds nor see navigation lights.
Normally one would here engine noises as planes would make the left turn to begin their
approach to the airport. I would think the 3 lights would have been visible for at least 3
minutes."
16-Feb-99, Hamilton Boulevard, Whitehorse, Yukon:
(7:30 pm)
A woman was
driving east on Hamilton Boulevard. When she was almost at the Alaska Highway she saw
a group of lights to the east. There were two white lights, a red flashing light, and a
sky blue light. She initially thought that the lights belonged to an aircraft making an
approach to the Whitehorse Airport to the south. However, the group of lights made "a
strange turn" to the north and disappeared behind the trees in Takhini
Subdivision. There was something about the turn that didn't look right for that of an
aircraft.
16-Feb-99, Riverdale Subdivision, Whitehorse, Yukon: (10:00-10:30 pm)
A man was
parked at a lookout just off the Grey Mountain Road overlooking the Riverdale Subdivision
when a bright light appeared in the distance. It was a slight orange color and appeared to
vary in brightness. It was present for about one minute and then blinked out. It was
difficult to tell in the night where on the horizon it was. The man lined up two
sticks that pointed in the direction where the light had been. He was able to return to
the site two days later in the daylight. The two sticks lined up exactly with Mt.
Sima Ski Hill. He then figured that the light could have been snow grooming equipment
on the Ski Hill or perhaps a snowmobile on the old coal haul road near the same vicinity.
16-Feb-99, Porter Creek Subdivision, Whitehorse, Yukon: (10:30-11:00 pm)
A man was out for his usual late evening walk in the green belt region east of the Porter Creek Subdivision. He was on a cutline that runs north-south and was skywatching on the side of the cutline on a small hill. He was looking west when he spotted what looked like to him may be a bright planet just within the treetops. He moved to one side so he could get an unobstructed view of it. Although it was small, it was more round and larger than a star.
After watching it for a few minutes and using the trees for reference, he could tell it was moving, "painfully slow" to the north. So slow that he figured nobody would spot its movement if they weren't looking directly at it. Then he saw a flash of light in the same vicinity of the sky. Following the flash, another light came up from below the horizon and joined the first. Then there was another flash and the two lights reversed direction and headed south. They reversed direction one more time and headed north and disappeared over the horizon.
He ran as
fast as he could to get home where he had the chance of seeing the objects again from his
elevated porch. He did see one object, which was followed shortly by another flash. He
then ran inside to get his wife so she could too have a look. He went back outside and
intended to look at the object with his binoculars but they had fogged up from being taken
inside from the cold. The light disappeared over the horizon before his wife made it
outside.
The lights were white in color with a slight tinge of orange. The entire sighting lasted
about 20 minutes.
The Brewery Creek gold mine is located approximately 55 km east of Dawson City, Yukon. On a clear night, two women staying at the mining camp observed 3 UFOs just over the trees on the Northwestern horizon from their "bunkhouse" quarters. The UFOs consisted of red, yellow, blue and white rotating or blinking lights. The UFOs were spaced about 4 to 5 diameters away from each other and were moving up and down and left to right slightly. The movement was relative to each other so it appeared that the three UFOs were not part of one object. The women observed them for about 30 minutes before retiring for the night. The next day they asked staff at the mine site whether there was any sort of "perimeter lighting" on the outskirts of the mine boundary. The response was that there wasn’t. The women looked in the same direction for the next several nights (which were also clear) and the lights did not reappear.
5- Mar-99 (approx), Brewery Creek Mine Site (Dawson Area), Yukon: 9:00 pm
Note: These two witnesses (two men) were the ones that were asked about the perimeter lights the week before by the two women that saw the UFOs on February 25. Both sets of witnesses estimate that this sighting by the two men occurred about a week after the sighting by the two women.
Telephone interview with the first man
It was a real clear night and about 9:00pm when the man initially spotted what he thought was a star low on the horizon to the west. He noticed however, that the star was moving up and down. It seemed to get very bright at one point. Then it went to the right and stood still for a while. The light then started coming closer to the mine and was directly over "the lookout" (a small hill to the west that provides a view of the mine from the road leading to the mine site). Now the man could see that light was a multifaceted red and green light that was rotating left to right. There was no sound. All this occurred over the course of about 30 minutes as the man was doing maintenance around the mine site. When he got to "the plant", he called his co-worker to come outside to have a look. However, the light had moved away considerably. The second witness then spotted another and similar light out towards "the shop" (to the north-west).
The man was particularly impressed how the light would drop down suddenly. It did this in a peculiar manner. Near the end of the sighting the light or lights had faded and the two men stopped watching them since they had work to do.
Telephone interview with second man
The second witness was alerted by the first to come outside and have a look at the strange light. The second man described a light in the distance a bit bigger than a star, just over the horizon. The light would move up and down "kinda fast". At one point it dropped behind a hill and then came back up. He observed it with the other witness for about two minutes after which the light faded or turned off. "It was definitely something weird" not a plane or helicopter. No sound was heard. The man figured the incident occurred sometime in the middle of their shift between 7:00pm and 7:00am.
Interviews with second-hand witnesses
The second man notified the women (that he had the sighting on February 25) of what had occurred the previous evening. Although this witness was interviewed directly (above), this second-hand account is included here since it includes some details that were not obtained from the direct interviews conducted with the two men more than a year after the sighting. The women stated that the young man said that the UFO looked like it was going to land by "the shop"! , and that his boss was in state of near panic when he came to get him.
The first witness approached another co-worker about the sighting shortly after it occurred. This person added that "both men were quite shook up about the incident".13 or 14-Mar-99, Upper Liard, Yukon: (Evening)
A man and his wife saw what was initially a white light moving in the sky. It changed direction and turned a sky-blue color, "a strange looking blue".
First Week of
April-99, Dawson City, Yukon: (Evening)
Six witnesses observed two sets of multicolored lights perform strange manoeuvres from
Callison Subdivision. Initially there was one light towards the West and it was flashing
various colors. The witnesses brought out some binoculars. Through the binoculars they
could see separate individual lights. There were blue, red, yellow and white (no green)
lights. The object was either spinning or the lights were flashing rapidly in a sequential
fashion to create an illusion of rotation. It was difficult to say which.
Approximately 4 km to the Northwest of the witnesses was a hill "Midnight Dome",
also known as "The Dome". Suddenly, a similar UFO to the first came up from
behind this hill. It stopped rising just above the Dome and hovered. It then started
heading south towards the other UFO and in seconds it had covered about half the distance.
It then reversed direction and went back to the north and hovered over the Dome again. The
UFO proceeded to descend and ascend behind the Dome several times. Witness reaction
varied. Some started yelling and screaming and got really excited, some were scared, some
had UFO sightings before and just observed casually. Eventually, the second UFO
disappeared behind the Dome. They continued to watch the remaining UFO and it appeared to
be slowly moving up the Klondike River Valley towards them. They had to stand in an open
doorway to observe the UFO so they only watched it for about another 20 to 30 minutes. It
was a cool evening. They observed it off and on towards the end of the sighting, as they
would close the door periodically to warm up. They eventually just stopped watching it.
There was accompanying sound heard.
9-May-99, Whitehorse, Yukon: (1:00-1:30 pm)
A man was out at the remote control flying
field near the southern edge of the city when he spotted a slowly moving black irregular
shaped object toward the east. It was fairly high up, perhaps at 10,000 feet and on a slow
slightly downward trajectory towards the northeast. It looked like it was headed for
Cantlie Lake behind Grey Mountain. At first he thought it may be an eagle but it was
heading on a path which was too straight for too long. It was also moving way too slow for
an airplane or even a bird since it maintained a heading for about 15 minutes before it
approached the edge of Grey Mountain, just below the microwave tower. At that point it
just vanished from the air. "It was kinda weird," the man said.
15-July-99, Tagish Lake, Yukon: (12:38am)
A man was out on a deck of a Tagish Lake Resort cabin.
Out of the corner of his eye to the south he spotted a bright light which he initially
took to be a bright star or planet. However, as he fixed his eyes upon it, it immediately
started to move towards the east. The white light pulsed and faded somewhat just as it
started its movement. The initial elevation of the light was about 25 degrees above the
horizon. He called his wife to have a look and to bring out the video camera. It was not
dark out but the low lighting made it difficult for the camera to focus on the light. The
light continued to travel in a straight line and disappeared over or in between the
mountains on the east side of the lake. The couple checked the time and it was 12:40 thus
establishing that the sighting lasted about 2 minutes. There was no sound coming from the
light, the air was completely still and the water surface was like glass. It could not be
an aircraft since they had seen aircraft earlier that day and stated that "you can
hear aircraft before you see them, the sound just bounces off these valley walls".
24-July-99, Dawson City, Yukon: (12:30am)
(This sighting occurred during the Dawson City Music
Festival and therefore there was potential for many others to witness this UFO sighting at
such a wee hour) It was getting to be dusk, when a man and his wife were walking
near Diamond Tooth Girdies gambling hall. The man spotted a "powder blue"
colored orb of light travelling rapidly through the sky over the Dome (A hilltop adjacent
to Dawson City). The orb descended into the Yukon River valley, performed a smooth curve
up and out of the valley back up over the top of the Dome and disappeared behind it. The
sighting only lasted about 3 to 4 seconds and by the time he alerted his wife the UFO was
gone. He did notice a group of about 4 people just across the street so he quickly
approached them to inquire if they had seen it too. One young lady from the group
confirmed that she had seen it as well but didn't want to give her identity to the first
witness. The first witness estimated that the size of the object was that of a volleyball,
or slightly smaller. The sky was mostly clear.
25-July-99, Watson Lake, Yukon: (11:20pm)
A man was in his backyard off Liard Avenue when he
spotted a round white light about 4 times the size of a star moving east to west high in
the sky. It sped up and then slowed down to a stop. It stayed still for about 1 minute and
then accelerated rapidly and was gone over the horizon in a split second. As it did so it
changed from a white to an "electric blue" in color (the color of an arc
welder). The entire sighting lasted 6 to 8 minutes. It was "awfully weird" the
man added.
Sept-99, Whitehorse, Yukon: (2:00-3:00am)
An elderly woman had trouble sleeping so she decided to
gaze at the night sky through her south facing window on Alexandre Street in downtown
Whitehorse (Across the street from the Alpine Bakery). There was a white light in the
distance that just stayed there for 5 to 10 minutes, then suddenly it "zoomed"
away, "took-off towards the Gold Rush (Hotel) over Main Street!".
28-Sept-99, Robert Campbell Highway near Faro, Yukon:
8:00pm
It was approaching full darkness when a man was driving
from Ross River to Whitehorse about 10 miles (16 km) east from the Faro turnoff. He
noticed a bright white flashing light straight ahead of him and over the mountains (he was
looking at it through his windshield and therefore approximately to the west-northwest).
The light was reflecting off the clouds and it looked like it should have been over the
mountain next to the Faro Townsite. "Oh man was it bright" he remarked. The
light was fairly low and he lost it behind a hillside as he was driving. When he came
around the hill to where he would have expected the light to be visible again, it was
gone. He drove the 10 miles (16 km) to the Faro turnoff, where off to his right he noticed
a group of 2 or 3 red lights in the bush. The lights were illuminating something that had
the same shape as the side view of a person's nose, looking straight up. "Strange
darnest thing," he thought.
He continued to drive on until he reached a stretch of highway just before Drury Creek
(about 50-60 km (30-35 miles) past the Faro turnoff). He noticed the same white light
again. This time over a mountain on the right side of the road, rather than straight-ahead
(the highway travels approximately due west at this point so he was looking north or
north-northwest at the light). He lost it again behind a mountain or hillside.
Note: In both instances, the directions which the man was viewing the white light was not
consistent with any bright astronomical object that would have been in that part of the
sky at the time. In fact, Jupiter (which was very bright in 1999) did rise at about 8:00pm
but to the east-northeast. The fact that the light was flashing was also inconsistent with
an astronomical object.
On January 27, 2000 the investigator had an opportunity to drive by the Faro turn-off in
the dark. There were no groups of red lights in the bush visible in the area.
24-Oct-99, Whitehorse, Yukon: (1:15am)
See report: UFS = Unidentified Flying Sound
First Week-Nov-99, Montigue House, Yukon: (Evening)
A couple was driving from Whitehorse to Carmacks along
the Klondike Highway when to the north they spotted a bright light. The color of the light
was similar to that of a light bulb. They pulled over at Montigue House (an unattended
rest stop and a historical point of interest) and got out of their vehicle to better
observe the light. The light was performing all sorts of acrobatics, up and down and side
to side motions covering significant portions of the sky in fractions of a second. They
observed the light performing these motions for about 5 minutes until it disappeared. It
was difficult to tell the distance to the light but it was in the direction of the Village
of Carmacks to the north-northwest.
20-Nov-99, Whitehorse, Yukon: (2:12 pm)
A man and his wife that live in Riverdale Subdivision
were out for an afternoon walk on the Grey Mountain Road. There was a clear blue sky when
they spotted a light just to the left of Mt. Golden Horn (south) and low on the horizon.
The white light came on slow and lasted 2 to 3 minutes. At one point it was quiet large
"almost like somebody was holding a mirror in the sky and was turning it to reflect
the suns light". When the light was at its brightest, they could discern a round
shape and the "light was really vibrating!" There was no apparent movement.
After about 1 or 2 minutes of observation, the light got fainter and disappeared. A short
time later it reappeared lower on the horizon and then faded again by about 2.16 pm.
It didn't have the appearance of a
plane or helicopter. About a minute after the sighting, an in bound Canadian Airlines 737
passed them going northbound, east of the couple. The couple remarked that it could not
had been this plane as the elapsed time was too short and the distance was too great. A
check with Whitehorse Control Tower later in the afternoon showed that there were two
small aircraft flying south of the city at around the time of the sighting.
7-Dec-99, Whitehorse, Yukon: (6:40 pm)
A woman driving south along the Alaska Highway just
south of the Kopper King observed a configuration of lights moving low over the horizon to
her left. She thought it was probably a plane. The lights overtook her vehicle and
suddenly took a sharp right turn over the highway and crossed in front of her and
disappeared behind a hill. "If that was a plane she thought, what the hell is he
doing?" The women reported it as a UFO sighting any way. A check with air traffic
control officer that was on duty the night in question indicated that he did log an
inbound flight and witnessed a rather "unusual" approach by an aircraft to the
Whitehorse Airport at 6:40pm from a direction consistent with the women's observation. He
further remarked that the pilot looked like he was "having a great ol time".
18-Dec-99, Marsh Lake, Yukon: 8:30-9:00 pm
A man, a woman and their 8 year old boy were out
visiting in a small subdivision in the Yukon River valley just below the Marsh Lake water
flow gate control structure (about 25 km southeast on the Alaska Highway from Whitehorse).
They started on their way back to Whitehorse when from the direction of Marsh Lake (east),
the witnesses noticed a light low on the horizon. They initially thought that it might be
a satellite. However, it was fairly low on the horizon where satellites were difficult to
see. "That's a really bright satellite. Is that a plane?" the woman thought. The
light started to get bigger and appeared to be headed in their direction. They stopped the
car and the woman got out to better observe the light. As the light approached more
details could be seen. "There were major big lights" on this UFO, one yellow in
the middle and two red on either side. See drawings by woman and her son below:
 |
 |
| Drawing by mother of approaching lights. | Drawing by 9 year old son of approaching lights. |
As the lights flew almost directly overhead, the woman listened for sound but heard none.
When looking straight up at the object she could see a black, irregular outline but it was
difficult to make out the exact shape. See the woman's drawing below:
|
Drawing by mother when UFO flew overhead |
The woman got back in the car and the three decided to chase the object that was now
headed for the direction of Whitehorse. At this point they noticed a large white car that
also appeared to have pulled over to watch the UFO. They followed the UFO up the Alaska
Highway and soon lost it behind a hill. The woman estimates that the total observation
time was about 15 to 20 minutes. The son estimated about 10 minutes. In addition to the
solid lights, the son also noticed some blinking lights.
The man's impression of the UFO was that it was "low and big", he could hear no
sound. He recalls a "square assortment of lights", "several lights"
red and white in color.
Whitehorse Control Tower was contacted and their log was reviewed for aircraft in the area
for Jan 18th between 8:30 and 9:00pm. They did have a Beach 200 midi-vac come in from
Watson Lake that touched down at 8:49pm. The air tower operator added that the Beach 200
is one of the most lit up aircraft in the area, had lots of flashing lights and would have
come in over the Marsh Lake dam when inbound from Watson Lake.
All three witnesses didn't feel that this was a plane however. They were fairly taken a
back by the sighting. They reported their sighting to the RCMP the same day and were on
the phone with them for about two hours. All three witnesses spoke with the RCMP officer.
The RCMP officer told them that "some researchers would be visiting them since there
has been a lot of sightings in the Yukon". As of January 29, 2000 no RCMP designated
investigator has paid them a visit.
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