UFO Expert Joins Next Hunt For Ogopogo

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

By David Wylie

Sterling News Service.

Kelowna – A group of Ogopogo hunters are planning a third major quest to find the monster they believe lurks in the depths of Okanagan Lake – this time in the company of a well-known Canadian UFO expert.

Brian Vike, who researches alien sightings and encounters from his home in Houston, B.C., appears regularly on radio shows across Canada and the U.S. to discuss aliens with a listening audience of about 3 million. He said he doesn’t necessarily believe in Ogopogo, but there have been enough sightings to take the mythological creature seriously.

“They’ve been doing this (the searches) and it’s not a hokey operation. They spend a lot of money,” said Vike.

Some of the big talk radio shows in the United States wanted to carry (the expedition) live. It’ll be great for tourism”, he said.

Experienced Ogopogo hunter Bill Steciuk said the wide-scale scientific search is planned for mid-August 2004.

The team will use three boats equipped with sonar, remote-controlled underwater video equipment and divers to try to locate the creature.

Why? It was time to do a scientific search. Why do you climb a mountain? Because it’s there. Why do you hunt Ogopogo? Because there’s something in the lake,” he said. “We’ll find it and we’ll get pictures of it.”

There have been thousands of sightings, including some from influential citizens, like doctors and business people, he said. Steciuk said he also believes there’s more than just one Ogopogo.

“This is a species,” he said.

Nearly 50 people helped during the first searches in 2000 and 2001 – both trips resulted in sightings and a 45 minute documentary on the searches was released earlier this year. The expedition and filming cost totaled more than $250,000.

A third major expedition planned for last August was cancelled because of the Okanagan Mountain Park fire.

August is an ideal time for the search because there are fewer watercraft on the lake and the weather is usually clear, Steciuk said.

“The majority of sightings, if you go back 100 years, are in and around the middle of August,” he said.

Sterling News Service - https://vancouversun.com/

Wellington West Palm Beach UFO Sightings Were Probably Floating Lanterns Expert Says

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

By Mitra Malek

Posted Jan 3, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Updated Mar 31, 2012 at 8:46 AM

Glowing orange and red lights floated across parts of Florida’s sky New Year’s weekend, including in the Wellington and West Palm Beach areas, setting off a state of wonderment among witnesses.

But those UFOs weren’t so unidentified after all.

The drifting bulbs and streaks were probably floating lanterns, said Brian Vike, founder of the paranormal blog The Vike Factor, which fielded about 250 e-mails, 30 or so from Florida, noting the strange sightings worldwide.

“They’re all lit up and glowing,” Vike said. “They’ll go up and down and sideways, so it looks pretty weird.”

A woman and her fiancé saw two “red orange” lights float over them while taking a walk in Wellington around 6:55 p.m. Jan. 1, the blog showed.

A West Palm Beach resident saw four red lights “spread equally apart coming in from the south heading north” at about 10:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve,, according to the blog.

Wellington resident Carol Coleman spotted a “reddish-orangish-yellowish” glow at perhaps 9:30 p.m. Jan. 1, but didn’t think much of it other than noting it was “strange.”

“It reminded me of the tails of the fireworks,” said Coleman, who didn’t write to The Vike Factor.

Massachusetts resident Brian Milne and his wife spotted similar floating orbs of red on New Year’s Eve in Fort Myers. The couple had a pretty good idea of what flew slowly above because they have set off paper lanterns in Cape Cod.

“If you don’t know what the thing is, you’re going to think it’s a UFO,” Milne said. “A couple of them up there gives it an eerie feel.”

The lanterns are often made of a flame-retardant paper, similar to a paper bag. In the opening, which faces the ground, a wire frame holds a candle. The flame heats the inside of the paper, making it glow like a lantern. The heat causes the lantern to rise, like a tiny hot air balloon, up to about 500 feet, Milne said.

When the flame dies and the bag cools, it floats back down.

Vike said he’s fairly certain people spotted floating lanterns over the weekend. In fact, many wrote to him later confirming it.

“There’s some good stuff out there that you can’t explain, but this is probably” the lanterns, Vike said.

The Palm Beach Post News - https://www.palmbeachpost.com/

The Newspaper Article - https://www.palmbeachpost.com/article/20110103/NEWS/812017798