UFS = Unidentified
Flying Sound
Unusual sound heard in Wolf Creek
Subdivision, Whitehorse, Yukon, October 24, 1999
On October 24th, 1999 we received an e-mail from a gentleman who heard something strange fly through the sky above him. The event took place just hours prior, in the Wolf Creek Subdivision just inside the southern city limit of Whitehorse, Yukon. The subdivision is situated in a mixed poplar/conifer forest with dwellings that are separated far enough apart from each other so that they are more or less out of site from one another. The following report consists of the witness's e-mail (names and personal information deleted) plus a follow-up investigation.
Subject: UFS where S = Sound
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 15:41:27 -0700
From: ******************************************************
To: "'mjjasek@yknet.yk.ca'" <mjjasek@yknet.yk.ca>
I am ************ *************of ## Dawson Rd in Wolf
Creek, a YTG (Yukon Territorial Government) employee. My wife and I have lived here for
9+years. Phone ************ or work at ***********. ## Dawson is on the creek side of the
road.
I am a smoker who only smokes outside; we have a dog, **********, who before I go to bed
is always taken on a leashed walk around our circular driveway, while I have a last smoke
or two. This morning (the 24th) at 1:15AM while on the walk and on the south side of the
driveway I heard a sound coming from the north which continued in intensity as it
approached us.
The sound was a cross between a "bruup" and a squeak in composition and was
regular in oscillation of noise and silence. The sound went directly over us and between
looking at the dog's reaction and at the sky I observed nothing of a physical or material
nature. As trees blocked the view the sound continued in a southerly direction. Probably 5
seconds duration. The dog's reaction was one of puzzlement and so was mine.
Investigator's Note: The witness was asked if the sound was loud enough to obscure
conversation (had there been one). The response was "yes". The frequency of the
sound was an estimated 3 to 5 beats per second.
I continued to the house (150') and up on the deck to finish my cigarette and to hear if
the sound would return. The deck has views to the south and east. After a minute or so one
could here it faintly in the distance traversing a south to north trajectory over Mary
Lake or Cowley Creek. The dog did not react.
While on my second cigarette and perhaps a few minutes after the last "hearing"
the noise returned from a southerly to northerly direction but over where we had initially
heard it. This time the dog went to the edge of the deck as if following the sound. The
sound was not as pronounced in volume as I had originally heard it so may have been
traversing a path farther away from us but in the opposite direction to when initially
heard. Again nothing of a physical or material nature was observed. The duration seemed to
be less than the initial incident.
As the Grey Mountain navigation tower is in the direction of Alaska Highway end of Dawson
Road, I see and hear a variety of planes coming from the south following the beacon. This
sound was certainly not one I would identify with a plane, jet or otherwise.
The noise most closely resembled the laser powered experimental (conical) spacecraft* as shown on PBS last night (and which I have seen a number of
times). In all of this - I have no idea what an owl flying at night sounds like - one
assumes they fly silently. But the noise seemed more mechanical than feathers pocketing
the air.
While on the topic of Unidentifieds. 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. (See further investigation on the Sightings
99 page)
In all the 9 years of observing the sky from this location these 2 incidents are the only
strange ones I have come across.
This info is for your records only. No publication of name, address whatsoever, please.
* The sound that this vehicle makes is a series of electrical popping sounds. It is caused by the rapid ionization of air causing a series of small and rapid explosions that propels the vehicle forward.
Follow-up Investigation
The control tower at the Whitehorse Airport was contacted on October 24th to assess if
there was any reported air traffic in the area for the time in question. The tower closes
every evening by 9:00pm so a direct tower observation/data could not be correlated.
However, a log of flight plans was reviewed and the only one listed near that time frame
was for a medi-vac at 9:00pm on October 23rd. This in itself does not rule out an aircraft
as it is not a legal requirement to file a flight plan. However, would be likely in this
remote part of Canada, especially at night?
On October 25th about fifteen other residences in the Wolf Creek subdivision were
contacted by phone and asked if they had heard anything unusual in the wee hours of the
previous Sunday morning. No one recalled hearing anything except for the immediate
neighbors of the witness. One of these witnesses recalls being woken by a noise but does
not recall what the noise sounded like. The other witness recalls hearing a buzzing noise
that he attributed to an aircraft.
There was also some suspicion that the sound could have been made by some kind of bird. A
local ornithologist (bird expert) David Mossop was contacted. He ruled out an owl and a
grouse and said that the only thing that came to mind was a Golden Eye duck which makes a
rather loud whistling sound, does travel at night, and is migrating southbound at this
time of year. However, he did say that the sound would not be loud enough to obscure
conversation. Furthermore, the witness never used the adjective "whistling" to
describe the sound that he heard.
Update!
At about 10:30pm on November 3rd the witness heard the sound again, faintly to the south,
flying in an easterly direction, for about 4-5 seconds. "I have been going out for a
smoke in the evenings fairly regularly for the last 9 years, usually once every hour and
have never heard this sound until recently" the man added.
Related Sightings:
For another Yukon UFS please see Invisible UFO Heard South of Pelly Crossing
For a possible connection to pulse
detonation propulsion technology please refer to Is Exotic Propulsion Technology Being Tested in
Canada's North ?
For a chilling UFS encounter in
September of 1999 on the outskirts of North Vancouver by five individuals please see: The
PartyPooper !
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