UFOs Or Paper Lanterns?

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

By Jennifer Lang.

Cloverdale Reporter.

Dozens of Cloverdale residents have recently reported seeing strange lights in the night sky. An explanation may be blowing in the wind.

Was it a practice run for the Mayan calendar prediction? Was it E.T. phoning home?

Or was it a group of illuminated, floating paper lanterns, released into the skies over Cloverdale by some celebrant who got carried away by the spirit of the season?

We may never know for sure, but at least one Cloverdale resident who saw bright, moving lights in the skies on Dec. 22 (“Strange Lights Over Cloverdale,” Jan. 12) believes the sighting was really paper lanterns, which float on the air using candle power.

“That night my sons and I saw nearly 20 of these,” Jonas Lee Photography posted on the Reporter’s

Facebook Page after reading the story.

“We followed one and found where it crashed. It was a metre-diametre Chinese paper lantern! The wind was causing these to blow quite far.”

He didn’t get a photo, however. “The rice paper dissolves quickly,” he wrote, “leaving a wire frame and foam pad that the candle rests in.”

Another local eyewitness concurs with the lantern theory.

“I do believe what you saw was lanterns,” the witness told UFO expert Brian Vike, submitting a report to the Houston, B.C.,-based researcher’s blog, The Vike Factor.

This eyewitness has seen them floating in the skies here on Canada Day and other holidays.

“If you find out who let them go I would sure love to know the story.”

The lantern theorists are among dozens of Cloverdalians who reported seeing unusual lights in the sky on Dec. 22, and over the Christmas holidays as part of a Yuletide flood of UFO reports submitted to The Vike Factor from B.C., the U.S. and elsewhere.

Vike found it curious that there were so many reports coming out of Surrey.

Among the reports was the story of a local man who posted video footage captured after he and his son pulled over on their drive home to watch the strange sight.

The lights – which were silent – didn’t appear to act like aircraft, according to the man who shot the footage. But he’s not yet convinced that what he and others saw that night were lanterns.

In coming forward with his sighting, the man is hoping someone will be able to identify what he – and the other people who stopped their cars along 60 Avenue to watch – saw that night.

“I hope someone has an explanation,” he said.

Since his story was featured in The Reporter, more Cloverdale residents have now reported seeing strange, bright lights over Cloverdale, snapping photos and shooting video, and posting their findings on Facebook pages.

A couple who were up late wrapping presents went out to their backyard after noticing a cluster of strange lights travelling across the sky on Dec. 22.

“It was eerie to say the least, and I wanted to notify someone but thought I would sound like a lunatic,” she said. “I was relieved to see the sighting in the paper yesterday, but it still leaves me with an uneasy feeling.”

Another witness was equally baffled, describing how, a few nights before Christmas, three orange lights could be seen moving very slowly, one at a time, very high in the sky. One seemed to stop, make a 90-degree turn and start moving east.

“I dragged my 17-year-old son outside onto the deck to watch, and he thought they were definitely not airplanes, especially given the extreme right turn they each made.”

Another person was also relieved after reading the story. “Unless you’ve seen them yourself, it really is a bizarre sighting.”

It’s hard not to conclude it’s all really part of a sneaky advertising scheme dedicated to stirring up that all-important buzz for a product.

“Don’t be surprised if your display makes front page news in your local paper!” A website that sells paper lanterns called FlyingLanterns.co.uk gushes. “Flying lanterns can easily be mistaken for UFOs!”

If so, then a lot of people will feel duped.

It’s worth noting the site carries this warning: Please ensure you contact the local coast guard if you intend releasing your lanterns on the beach or near the coast. This will avoid causing unnecessary alarm.

Vike, who’s investigated hundreds of UFO sightings, concedes the strange lights may turn out to be lanterns but he doesn’t expect it will dampen the debate for now.

The time of year – the festive holiday season – may further underscore this theory.

“It would be the time of year that folks would let things like this go, and they are becoming a popular addition to fireworks. I just wish we [could hear from] the folks who know for a fact, the folks who let them go. This would be awesome.”

See related story: Strange Lights over Cloverdale - https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/news/strange-lights-over-cloverdale/

Cloverdale Reporter - https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/

The Newspaper Article - https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/news/ufos-or-paper-lanterns/

Strange Lights Over Cloverdale

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

By Jennifer Lang.

CloverdaleReporter.

UFO expert says Surreyites saw something unexplained in the skies over Cloverdale this Christmas.

A couple of nights before Christmas Eve a Cloverdale man and his son were driving home along 60 Avenue west from 176 Street in Surrey when they were distracted by some unusual lights in the sky near their house.

The driver pulled over, grabbed his cell phone, and immediately started recording, hoping to capture the strange sight on video.

His Dec. 22 footage – since posted to YouTube – shows several clusters of bright, white lights that appear to change pattern and move against an inky black sky.

“That can’t be planes,” the witness says, his voice tinged with wonder and curiosity.

“Do you see them there?” he continues.

“Some are moving sideways. See that one that was just flashing? What the hell? That’s above our area. This is in Cloverdale,” he remarks incredulously.

It seems there was something unusual over the Surrey skies over the Christmas holidays, but it wasn’t Santa’s sleigh.

As many as nine different eyewitnesses reported seeing strange white and orange lights over Cloverdale between Christmas and New Years Eve, according to B.C.’s premier UFO researcher, Brian Vike.

The Surrey sightings were part of a much larger wave of UFO reports that flooded his email inbox over the Yuletide season.

“All of a sudden, everything started popping up and flying every which way, almost all at once,” he said, adding reports came in from B.C., the U.S., U.K., and even Australia and South Africa.

It’s all fascinating stuff for Vike, an astronomy buff who first began looking into UFO phenomena and other mysteries in 2000.

These days, he runs a blog called The Vike Factor from his home in Houston, B.C., 800 kms northeast of Vancouver, collecting and investigating reports from all over the world.

Normally, most sightings can be explained; stars, planets, aircraft, satellites, and meteors can be all mistaken for UFOs, which he believes was the case with a rash of colourful New Year’s Eve sightings that came in from Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.

Chinese paper lanterns – which can float high into the sky on the heat of a candle – are increasingly popular among celebrants on holidays and weddings, leading him to caution that a number of the nearly 400 reports he’s sorting through from Dec. 22 to Jan. 8 can probably be explained.

But so far, the veteran UFO chaser is stumped by the Cloverdale sightings. “How do you explain these other orange lights going off in other directions? What the heck is it? We just don’t know.”

He sporadically receives reports from Surrey, but never so many in a short time frame.

“In Surrey, Cloverdale, definitely, that was an influx in sightings for whatever reason,” he said. They include a Dec. 22 report from a jogger who was running along 60 Avenue near 171 Street and saw six orange lights.

More reports followed on New Years Eve, when a group of revelers went outside at midnight with the kids to make noise and light sparklers and all saw orange lights in a line zooming at intervals across the sky.

For now, Vike hasn’t determined what the true explanation may be, but he doubts they were paper lanterns or even weather balloons. “They just don’t fit this sighting.” Maybe the answer lies in the simple fact that people take time off over the holidays, and are traveling at night to socialize.

“They have more time to sit back, they’re more relaxed and have more time to look up. It’s the same when summer time gets here.”

The Cloverdale man who took the Dec. 22 YouTube footage told the Reporter Wednesday he doesn’t think the lights he captured using his cellphone were extra terrestrial in origin.

He doubts they were aircraft of some kind – there was no engine or propeller noise, for example. Plus, the lights appeared quite low in the sky, below a layer of low-lying cloud cover that evening.

“They were too close [to the ground] to be stars,” he said. “It didn’t look like planes.”

The episode lasted about 10 minutes, he said.

At around 9:30 p.m. that evening, dozens of lights appeared in the sky to the north of 60 Avenue near 168 Street and moved south towards Highway 10.

“At first they seemed to be in a line and they were moving,” he said. The lights then slowed and some stopped, setting into motion again once he’d turned on his cell phone camera.

In coming forward with his sighting, the man is hoping someone will be able to identify what he – and the other people who stopped their cars along 60 Avenue to watch – saw that night.

“I hope someone has an explanation.”

For more information, visit The Vike Report at: https://canadaufo.blogspot.com/

Cloverdale Reporter - https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/

The Newspaper Article - https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/news/strange-lights-over-cloverdale/

Three More Bigfoot Sightings Reported

 Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

 Newspaper Article.

By Jennifer McIntosh.

Houston Today News.

Brian Vike, Director of HBCC UFO Research is still trying to verify three Sasquatch sightings in Moricetown.

“Since I got the initial call, I’ve had no other information,” Vie said. “As near as I can tell, the sightings all happened after the end of September but I have called and called but no one is calling me back.”

The lady who called on the morning of Halloween, told Vike that there had been a rash of sightings on the native reserve. Unfortunately without talking to someone who could give a first-person account, Vike said the information is hearsay at best.

Vike got the details from the first account from the woman’s mother.

“Allegedly, she was walking out to the mailbox and this thing walked in front of her,” Vike said. “But I called and called and got nowhere so I am thinking this is a little fishy.”

Another woman apparently told friends that she had seen a Sasquatch peeking in someone’s window.

The last report allegedly involved a school bus driver who saw the creature standing in a field.

The sightings follow a summer filled with reports throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Sightings in late July and August brought about speculation from paranormal specialists as to what the creature might be up to.

In addition to sightings in the Bulkley Valley, Larry Sommerfield, a self-proclaimed Sasquatch hunter from terrace had a cast that he claimed was a Sasquatch print.

Vike said the area has always had some connection to the paranormal.

“In 2002-2002, this area was dubbed the UFO capital of the world,” Vike said.

“There was just so much activity between here and Burns Lake. Now it seems to be Sasquatches.”

Vike said he has gotten calls from the Discovery Channel and the Life Network about the amount of paranormal activity.

A sighting in Houston in late July by Delores Harrie garnered the attention of national media outlets.

Harrie saw the creature out at her home on Buck Flats Road on July 28.

At 5:45 a.m. that morning, Harrie heard her dogs barking at the door. When she went down to investigate she saw that someone or something was rattling the door handle.

She eventually opened the door and the dogs were out like a shot, sniffing out something on the east side of her property.

When she looked out at the side of her house, she saw a creature that was walking on two legs.

“It was huge and it had long hair, not fur – kind of like you see on an ox and a reddish brown, the colour of the trees that are killed by the pine beetle,” said the woman. “And it moved so fast, by the time I opened my door it had run from the porch to the other side of the house.”

Once outside, the dogs pursued the creature as it continued along a dried up ravine and disappeared into a forested area. Her oldest dog didn’t return for three hours.

“I was worried but what do you do, tell people your dog is chasing Bigfoot?” she asked. “I drove up and down the road, looking for him and eventually he came back.”

After Harrie’s report, there was a report on the Telkwa High Road and some sightings in Campbell River.

Vike said all the attention around UFO and Sasquatch sightings is good for the area.

“It gets people’s attention because – whether you believe it or not – it is different,” he said. “I think it’s good for all the communities in the area.”

Houston Today News - https://www.houston-today.com/

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/

Saucer Full Of Secrets

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

By Carolyn Grant

Daily Bulletin/Daily Townsman.

Houston, B.C., ‘ufologist’ seeks info on strange sights over Okanagan and East Kootenay.

Kimberley – Was there really something in the East Kootenay skies in the early morning hours of July 28, 2003?

Several weeks ago the Daily Bulletin/Daily Townsman reported that a Cranbrook resident witnessed a low flying, slow-moving white light in the sky over St. Mary Lake. The light appeared to travel in a zig zag pattern and made no noise.

While the Kimberley RCMP said that no one called in any similar reports, Mr. Vike, a self-described “Ufologist” in Houston, British Columbia, has been contacted by 23 people, from Kamloops to Jaffray, who say they saw something between the hours of 12:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on the night in question.

Mr. Vike owns and operates HBCC UFO Research, a website which documents UFO sightings in Canada. Vike also does UFO updates on talk radio all over North America . The Houston, terrace, Smithers area is a hotbed of UFO sightings, he says.

Daily Bulletin/Daily Townsman - https://www.kimberleybulletin.com/

Witnesses Have UFO Close Encounter At Haines Junction Yukon Territory

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Date: October 6, 2008

Time: Between 11:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

Location of Sighting: 30 min east of Haines Junction, YT.

Number of witnesses: 2

Number of objects: 4

Shape of objects: Lights, round, disc flying away quickly.

Full Description of event/sighting: My husband and I were pulling off of the road in the Yukon Territory along the Alcan to catch a few hours of sleep, but I wasn't tired yet. I convinced him to watch a few hours of Planet Earth with me until I was sleepy.

Just about when my battery was dead on the laptop, I decided to step out on a beautiful Canadian night and look for the Northern Lights. No such luck. So my husband and I got settled in when we saw lights "pulling-up" behind us.

Me, being the person who has never traveled on the Alcan, was terrified, knowing we were in an area where we can see the lights coming from both directions and these ones "just appeared" behind us. He looked behind us and I soon followed the lights which seemed to "peer" inside the back truck window, then as quickly as they came, they left. I was terrified, so I turned around.

My husband continued to look, shocked as they flew off into the clear night sky, blinking lights, disc like and all! Lets just say, I wasn't a believer, but after that, 25 minutes later I made him get a hotel room at Haines Junction because I was so scared! Good Luck proving this to rest of the world, because now I am a true believer.

Thank you to the witness for the report.

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at houstonbri7@gmail.com with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

File your UFO sighting to Brian at: houstonbri7@gmail.com

Brian Vike, Director Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research. Email: houstonbri7@gmail.com

The Vike Factor Blog.

Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research.

UFO Comes To A Stop And Moves Off Over McMinnville Oregon

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Date: December 4, 2008

Time: 5:08 p.m.

Location of Sighting: 2nd Street.

Number of witnesses: 2

Number of objects: 1

Shape of objects: Circular.

Full Description of event/sighting: I was driving down 2nd Street towards Adams when up in the sky a Green Circular object descended straight down really quick then stopped and in a split second took off straight forward and was gone before I could even think about what all just happened.

The truck in front of me slammed on his brakes so I am sure I am not the only person who saw the object. Before this afternoon I can honestly say I thought UFO stuff was just something people made up. Now I am positive they are for real.

Thank you to the witness for the report.

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at houstonbri7@gmail.com with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

File your UFO sighting to Brian at: houstonbri7@gmail.com

Brian Vike, Director Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research. Email: houstonbri7@gmail.com

The Vike Factor Blog.

Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research.

Enormous UFO Spotted Over East Kingman Arizona

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Date: November 22, 2008

Time: 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.

Location of Sighting: East of Kingman AZ.

Number of witnesses: 1

Number of objects: 1

Shape of objects: Don't know, read was a big rectangle.

Full Description of event/sighting: While moving to CA for a new job from AZ I saw a UFO on 11/22/08 driving west on the I40 near Kingman around 1:00 a.m. The back end looked like the battle cruiser in star wars, well at least the Plasma Drive. 

You know how it glowed with no flames? Well this thing flew over my car with weird lights with glowing wires or something, couldn't see a shape, but the back end of the craft was giant, it looked like 6 sliding glass patio doors 3 across and 2 down and they were glowing blue white. 

They were vertical to the ground. Like some kind of plasma drive. Understand a big rectangle made of 6 to 8 panels perpendicular to the road moving twice as fast as I was.

This thing was very big, maybe 3 stories tall and 6 wide. it was moving in the same direction as me, west on 40 toward Kingman AZ. I pulled out my video camera and tried to tape it while I was driving. 

After looking at the tape, I saw a light near the ground moving at the same speed as the craft, weird, it was either that thick or had a probe moving along with it.

Oh and here is a more interesting thing. the start of the tape shows a exit sign 1 mile, the end of the tape shows the signs at the exit a mile later. I recorded the video the whole time. 

I was driving about 70 to 75 mph if that much while holding the camera in my right hand. I only recorded 35 sec of tape in that 1 mile, that would put me at over 100 mph. 

That's freaking impossible for my old car. I'm driving a 1989 Pathfinder full of stuff moving to CA from AZ. No way could I have gone over 80 or 85 empty. So I traveled 1 mile in 35 sec. in an old car so full that my front end was pointing up and blinding oncoming cars.

I think I was in a time warp where the tape drive ran faster or slower than normal. Or that my car moved faster than normal. Or the distance got shorter.

Or time slowed down and the distance stayed the same. I don't know. But I recorded the exit sign at the beginning and the exit a mile later and the tape only shows 35 seconds of time. Explain that on to me! 

By the time I got the camera out of the bag it was way out in front of me keeping a steady course. There were no cars within 2 or 3 mile behind me. None in front, don't know about oncoming at that time.

Thank you to the witness for the report.

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at houstonbri7@gmail.com with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

File your UFO sighting to Brian at: houstonbri7@gmail.com

Brian Vike, Director Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research. Email: houstonbri7@gmail.com

The Vike Factor Blog.

Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research.

Sky Opens Up And Large UFO Travels Over The Trees In Lethbridge Alberta

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Date: August 15, 2008

Time: 9:35 p.m.

Location of Sighting: At home in Lethbridge.

Number of witnesses: 2

Number of objects: 1

Shape of objects: Cigar, large tube.

Full Description of event/sighting: I was told to watch the remnants of a meteorite storm that had taken place the night before. My wife and I where sitting and standing in our back yard, as it was just starting to get dark out side so we could see the stars. It was a clear, calm night.

When I was looking up to the shooting stars, I was staring Northwest in the sky and I noticed a red star. Then the red star started to move around in the sky, blending in with the night sky. Then I turned to look at the Northeast side of the sky and I said to my wife here comes something. And the strangest thing was the opening of the sky, it looked like a cartoon how the sky just opened up, it was just bizarre.

This large object came through the hole in the sky really fast and silent. I turned and said to my wife, " this is not a shooting star" and as it came closer, I said, "this is a ship of some kind" and then it came right towards me and all of a sudden it was right above my house, huge and silent.

The material that it was made of was clear as the day sky. The ship had no lights on, it flew slow and silent once it was over my home.

I was telling my wife to look up at this incredible ship. It was tree level, you could throw a rock at it, being so close. I had never seen this kind of construction before. The material was dark grey or brown, it was really weird.

The ship did not have any windows or anything that one could see. I ran out into the street to watch it, the strangest thing was when I tried to get people to look up at it, nobody would respond.

One of my employees saw it fly over his house at around the same time I saw it. He said he followed it for about 5 minutes until it vanished back into the sky. He said the same thing, there were people outside as he followed it and nobody would look up. I was startled for a few days thinking about this.

I have seen several UFOs over the years living up Northern Alberta, but nothing like this, almost touching the tree tops.

Thank you to the witness for the report.

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at houstonbri7@gmail.com with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

File your UFO sighting to Brian at: houstonbri7@gmail.com

Brian Vike, Director Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research. Email: houstonbri7@gmail.com

The Vike Factor Blog.

Kamloops British Columbia Canada UFO Research.

UFO Researcher Contacted By Airdrie And Area Residents

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

Paul Wells

Echo Editor

While far from being Alberta's version of Area 51, a Canadian UFO investigator and researcher says Airdrie and area has been a veritable hotspot for reported sightings of late.

Brian Vike, director of HBCC UFO Research who has appeared on countless radio shows as a UFO expert, says he's received numerous calls on his toll-free UFO hotline reporting sightings of strange flying objects in the immediate area.

We have started receiving a number of telephone calls and e- mails from (Airdrie) area residents reporting many strange lights and objects in the night skies, Vike said.

I do know that (UFO sightings) is sometimes a very strange topic... but I honestly do look for rational explanations for such sightings, he added. Most times, I can offer an explanation of what the folks witnessed, but then I have many cases which also go unsolved.

According to Vike, there have been three reported sightings in the Airdrie area over the summer of 2003.

They are:

"July 30 - 11:50 p.m.: An Airdrie woman preparing to turn in for the night e-mailed the following to Vike: I noticed a bright blue object in the northwest sky. The object was pulsating a bright blue-white light and moved very slowly then stopped for about 10 seconds and then it vanished like the lights went out. I've lived in this area for 10 years and never had seen anything so strange. Thought I should report this to somebody.

"Aug. 23 - 11:23 p.m.: According to Vike, an Airdrie family reported watching a glowing orange coloured object shoot from east to west at a very low level.

From what I was told, this object travelled very low, then came to a sudden stop and stayed stationary for approximately 30 seconds. Then it shot almost straight up and slipped into four different objects which changed from orange to white. They sat stunned as all of the objects vanished into the night.

"Sept. 15 - 1:15 a.m.: The most recent sighting is the one which intrigues Vike the most, as the woman reporting it said she wasn't the only witness to the alleged event. As such, Vike is hopeful that others who may have shared the experience will also come forward.

While the witness was on her way to Calgary (on Highway 2, north of Airdrie), she saw an object at a low level which then shot up into the sky very quickly and then came to a complete stop.

The woman told Vike that she pulled her car over to watch the spectacle, as did other drivers.

There were two cars and two freight liners which also had pulled over, and in her rear view mirror she could see others doing the same, Vike said.

The woman told Vike that she initially thought the object was an aircraft departing from an airport, but then realized that was unlikely because she was not in proximity to such a facility.

She realized that there wasn't an airport in the area, he said. The object, when travelling up into the sky, made a sharp climb and once it arrived at a high altitude, it came to a complete stop and then shot toward the northwest and stopped again.

According to the witness, the craft emitted an extremely lustrous, bright light, moved side to side for a period and then started to flash.

The witness did contact RCMP to see if others had made a report about the sighting, but no one had come forward, Vike said.

As such, Vike is hopeful that by going public with the reported sightings, other potential witnesses will come forward.

Sometimes, we just have to inform the general public that there is someone out there investigating these sightings, Vike said. I know I can have an investigator on the scene really quick if I'm contacted.

Airdrie Echo Newspaper - https://www.airdrieecho.com/

More UFO Sightings Reported - Additional Witnesses Come Forward After Recent Article

 Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

 Newspaper Article.

Paul Wells

Echo Editor

Airdrie Echo — A British Columbia-based UFO researcher says a story which appeared in the Echo in September regarding sightings in the Airdrie area has spurred others to come forward with their experiences with strange lights in the sky.

Brian Vike, director of HBCC UFO Research and a regular contributor to TV and radio shows as a UFO expert, said numerous sightings of unidentified objects in the area over the past months has ensured that Airdrie has entered the lexicon of the UFO community.

"I do a weekly radio show (in B.C.) and I mentioned to the host that I have received a number of reports from the (Airdrie) area and we talked about the latest one, which came in on air," Vike said.

"I have been doing many radio shows (in Canada and the U.S.) and I always include information about the sightings in your area."

The original article contained a rundown of three of the most recent sightings in the area which occurred from July through September. That article can be found at www.airdrieecho.com under the archive section.

Since that time, Vike has received reports of more sightings which have occurred recently. These include:

- Aug. 18, 2003, 2:30 p.m. – According to Vike, a man called HBCC UFO Research’s toll-free UFO hotline to report a strange sight he witnessed while driving on Highway 2 from Calgary to Airdrie.

"He watched a small white light cross the highway in the distance ahead of him and the ball of light turned in his direction. The witness said he observed the light getting closer and all of a sudden the object stopped – still a ways away from him – and changed from a ball of light into a craft of some type. He reported no sound being heard. I asked if he might be able to determine the size of it and he said that when it was in the distance, it could have been approximately the size of his fingernail but when it headed in his direction and got very close, in his words, ‘It was huge.’"

The witness said the object came to a complete stop and sat stationary for a period of time before he lost sight of it.

- Sept. 15, 2003, 8:33 p.m. – (The following is an e-mail report received by Vike.) "I noticed an article in the Airdrie Echo the other day and wondered if you had an explanation for something my daughter and I saw Friday night (Sept. 26). We were looking west of the Big Dipper and saw what looked like an exceptionally bright star (brighter than anything I have seen before).

"We were trying to figure out if it was a planet or something, and it just dimmed out to nothing in a matter of 10 seconds or less. It didn’t move at all, just dimmed to a faint point, then we couldn’t see it anymore.

- Oct. 27, 2003, 11 p.m. – Vike said a man called him Nov. 3 to make a report after reading the Echo article.

"He was talking to his neighbours and they asked him if he had witnessed anything strange on Oct. 27 at around 11 p.m. He said no and asked what it was these folks saw.

"The couple said they were outside of their home looking west toward the mountains and witnessed five very bright flashes in different parts of the sky. All the flashes that were witnessed were very low in the horizon and at least 100 times brighter than a regular flash one would see from a camera.

"Also, the flashes were very large in size. They also mentioned the lights were at a great distance away from their location."

Having been a UFO researcher for many years, Vike said his routine is to first attempt to offer such rational explanations as weather patterns, satellites or meteors for such sightings.

"I do know that (UFO sightings) is sometimes a very strange topic... but I honestly do look for rational explanations for such sightings," he said. "Most times, I can offer an explanation of what the folks witnessed, but then I have many cases which also go unsolved."

 Airdrie Echo Newspaper - https://www.airdrieecho.com/

Another UFO Sighting

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

Paul Wells

Echo Editor

City man reports strange object during daylight hours.

Airdrie Echo — There’s something up there in them there skies.

But whether it’s a bird, plane – or perhaps something not of this earth – remains unknown.

British Columbia-based UFO researcher Brian Vike, who operates HBCC UFO Research, said sighting reports from Airdrie and area keep coming into his UFO hotline and e-mail.

"Since (last week’s article in the Airdrie Echo), things started to happen pretty quickly," Vike said, adding recent articles seemed to have encouraged others to step forward with their experiences, both recent and in the past.

"The latest report was once again very interesting."

According to Vike, the latest report was e-mailed to him. The following is a copy of the witness’s account.

Airdrie (Sept. 6, 2003 – 4 p.m.): "I have been reading the paper about recent UFO??? sightings seen around Airdrie. I would like to tell you about what I saw back on Sept. 6, 2003.

"I had just arrived home after attending the Fall Classic Show and Shine at Nose Creek Park. It was 4 p.m in the afternoon (and) I was looking out my livingroom window, which faces east.

"My home is situated (near the railway tracks). I noticed a white, completely perfect round sphere going in a northerly direction.

"It was definitely not a balloon. There was no string attached and it was perfectly round, as balloons are not.

"It stayed at a constant speed and was completely unaffected by wind currents. It may have been going about 30-50 kilometres/hour and it stayed at the exact same height. I watched it until it disappeared out of sight. I felt like it may have been following along Main Street, however, it may not have been.

"It was also difficult to tell the size at that distance, but it may have been larger than a beach ball. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Has anyone else mentioned this to you? I would be curious to know if I was the only one who saw it."

Vike said that anyone else who might have witnessed the strange object that day is asked to contact him.

"It helps with our research of such sightings," Vike said, adding the aforementioned report brings the recent count in Airdrie and area to at least nine sightings.

 Airdrie Echo Newspaper - https://www.airdrieecho.com/

Researcher Reports More Sightings

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

Paul Wells

Echo Editor

Airdrie residents continue to see strange sights in the sky.

Airdrie Echo — Even the animals seem to be sensing something strange.

Brian Vike, one of Canada's most experienced UFO sighting investigators, said the most recent reports of unusual activity in Airdrie and area have come from both humans and, vicariously, via humans through their canine companions.

"There are many reports of animals responding funny to an unusual object. Their senses are far superior ours," Vike said.

"So it is a possibility that the pets around this one certain area were aware and frightened of something that was truly an unknown to them."

The following are the most recent witness sighting reports emanating from Airdrie to Vike's HBCC UFO Research facility.

Airdrie: Dec. 13, 2003 (approximately 11:10 p.m.)

"I was reading (the) article about sightings in the Airdrie Echo last week and found it very interesting. I was driving home from work last Saturday night (Dec. 13) from Calgary, Alberta. It was about 11:07 p.m. to 11:10 p.m. – not exactly sure of the time. I'm at the first Airdrie exit. I saw this bright tunnel of light come down from somewhere in the sky. It lit up all of Airdrie and then it went back up again. It took seconds. I was stunned at first and still driving, looking around to see more. I was looking for a vapour trail from a plane. No sight of any evidence left behind or a plane. So logic set in, I thought maybe a falling star ... no, it wouldn't go back up again. Maybe a shooting star ... no. The person in front of me slowed right down and so did I. I'm kicking myself in the butt right now for not getting him to pull over and talk about what we saw. Or did I just see it? He wasn't too far ahead of me. I'm sure that he saw what I had. As I'm taking the third exit to go home, I look down Highway 2 to see if I see anything else is happening down the highway. I would like to know of anyone else who had seen this. If you know of anyone, please let me know. Could that possibly be a UFO?"

Airdrie: Sept. 14 (approximately 5:50 p.m.)

According to Vike, he received a call from a male Airdrie resident.

"I had a call from a fellow who resides in Airdrie. From his home he reports using a street lamp for a reference point and using binoculars and his naked eye he was able to clearly observe an object which sat stationary in the sky. The object was reported as having five rows of lights around it. From his location, he figured the object was approximately one-and-a-half miles away and was larger than a basketball. The object sat south/southwest of Airdrie for about 45 minutes. As planes approached, the object would start to move up and then move back down to it's original position. The gentleman reports that whatever this thing was, it has been seen a number of times over the last five months and is returning more frequently. A slight hum was noted coming from the direction where the object was hovering. Something rather important about this sighting is that in the 45 minutes it was visible before the object was covered over by cloud cover, it did not move from it's position other than it moving up and down when a normal aircraft was close by. The witness also said there was light reflecting off it, which would have been from the setting sun. So it sounds like whatever it was had a solid body to it, besides the five rows of lights which ran around the object. The colour of the lights in the ring were from red, blue, white and a yellow to amber. The lights were also reported moving counter clockwise around the object.

Airdrie: Sept. 15 (from 11 p.m. until midnight)

HBCC UFO Research reported on a sighting which took place on Sept. 15. "The witness said, ?I know what I saw,' and it was a big circle of lights twirling around and hovering above the (Highway 2) walkway," Vike recounted.

"(Then) on Dec. 19, I received a call from a really nice lady who wanted to tell me a rather unusual story. This again took place back on Sept. 15, 2003, sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight. Although she admits she and her family did not see anything unusual, the witness reports their dog was acting very weird. On the night of Sept. 15 and two days following, the family dog would not sleep with the owners – it paced back and forth and even jumped up on top of a dresser. The pet would not settle down, so the lady's husband put the dog out just in case it needed to do its business and the dog ran to the fence and just stood there. The family pet is six years old and the family told me the dog has never acted like this in prior years. This was a first! Something else the lady mentioned – which again I found of interest – was on the night their dog was acting up, only in the night did the dog go to the west side of the inside of their home, get up on the dresser and sit looking out the window. The dog was very stressed out.

"The next day the lady's husband went to his work place in Airdrie and happened to mention how strange their dog was acting that night. To his surprise, his co-workers all told him that their pets were acting the very same and took a couple of days before all these animals finally settled down.

"All of the families who reported their pets acting unusual live in the one area or close by. Also what is interesting is the night the Airdrie witness reported seeing the ring of lights hovering over the walkway, she also lives in the area where all the pets started acting strangely."

Sightings normally explainable

A recent flurry of witness reports of strange lights and objects in the skies in and around Airdrie may be thought provoking and food for extraterrestrial thought.

But one of Canada's leading UFO researchers and investigators said that when he receives a report, his first course of duty is to attempt to establish a logical explanation for what has been witnessed.

And according to Brian Vike, if that can't be done the sighting is then – and only then – classified as an unidentified flying object.

"HBCC UFO Research (Vike's operation) is very grateful to the residents in Airdrie for taking the time to sit and write up their sighting reports, or calling my toll-free number to report what it was they witnessed," Vike said. "Alberta residents have reported many unusual sightings over the many years – some can be explained away as simple meteors, planets, stars and the return of space debris."

But that's not always the case.

"There are also the sightings that no explanation can be found for what people are seeing," Vike said. "Actually, in past years, folks have reported some close up encounters where farmers have seen many objects flying overhead, some even landing and leaving behind markings on the ground."

So what are these strange flying crafts? A super secret military project? Normal aircraft which has been misidentified? Or are we being visited from elsewhere?

"These are the questions I would like to have answers for," Vike said. "But as it stands right now, Airdrie seems to be having a good number of sightings taking place and I wonder just how many more are not being reported."

And the more information, the better.

"I would like to request that if any resident living in Airdrie or folks living in surrounding communities have witnessed something odd, that they please contact me," Vike said.

Airdrie Echo Newspaper - https://www.airdrieecho.com/

Hello! Is There Anybody Out There?

Brian Vike's Favorite Cases.

Newspaper Article.

By Neal Talbot.

Herald-Tribune staff

GIROUXVILLE - A loud humming noise breaks the silence of night, causing Ron Cloutier's dogs to bark crazily, and announces the arrival of Unidentified Flying Objects in the Girouxville skyline.

The skin-tingling X-Files-like scene has haunted Cloutier over the last five months, as he is awakened to watch strange lights and shapes cutting through the darkness above his home.

The appearance of the unexplained objects has deeply shaken the 41-year-old oilfield trucker.

"It's really disturbing to witness something like this and not know what it is," he said. "It's bothering enough to see this once, but it happens all the time now... and it gives me the creeps."

In hopes of having the objects identified, Cloutier has been carefully recording their appearance with precise times and dates through film, photos and his notebook since they began appearing in mid-July. Thus far he has received no answers as to what they may be.

The longtime UFO nonbeliever says he has seen up to four objects in the sky at one time, appearing from the north, and moving eastward until they all disappear.

Approximately 150 kilometres southwest of Cloutier's home, Grande Prairie resident Beverly Kettner admits she too has witnessed a UFO-like object move erratically through the night's sky on at least three occasions.

"Over the last couple of months I've watched what first looked to be a star dart across the sky and stop dead in its tracks, start up again, then stop and then finally disappear," said Kettner.

"It wasn't a plane, satellite or shooting star... it didn't appear to be anything from this world."

Especially unsettling for Kettner is that her four-year old daughter has recently discussed late-night conversations with alien-like people. She says the girl describes the stereotypical short, grey large-headed alien without having ever seen them on television or read about them in storybooks.

The sightings reported by Cloutier and Kettner are part of a record number of Albertans who have reported possible UFO activity in 2004.

UFOlogy Research of Manitoba numbers show Alberta has already broken last year's UFO sighting record of 76 with more than a month left in the year.

Canadian UFO researcher Brian Vike says a growing social acceptance to the unexplained has made Albertans more willing to report potential sightings.

"The acceptance of UFOs into popular culture, increased media attention, and the discovery of new planets in the galaxy have all helped convince people it's OK to come forward with unexplainable sightings," said Vike, who from his home in Houston, B.C., maintains a website tracking Canadian UFO sightings.

Vike points out Albertans have reported seeing triangular, round, square and glowing flying objects, an unusual beam of light enveloping an unidentified figure and claims of missing and stopped time so far this year. Those reports come from nearly every section of the province including metropolitan Edmonton and Calgary.

Former High Prairie resident and UFOlogist Rick MacDonald points to a 2001 poll by Leger Marketing suggesting 40.7 per cent of Alberta residents believe in aliens - the highest of any province - as an example that Albertans are starting to believe.

"More people then ever before are looking at the existence of UFOs and aliens as a real possibility," said MacDonald, whose Disclosure Project group claims Canadian and American governments already know of alien existence.

"After watching UFO sightings on TV and reading sighting reports from hundreds of Albertans on the Internet, disbelief is dwindling."

The increased sightings and growing acceptance of UFOs are both positive steps towards finally unveiling proof of extraterrestrial life, says Alberta UFO Study Group member Jim Moroney.

"There is now enough solid evidence from reputable people in Alberta and across the globe to support the idea we are being visited," said Moroney, who spent the last 18 years investigating Alberta UFO sightings.

"It is now just a matter of time now before we'll be able to prove the existence of UFOs."

Herald-Tribune Newspaper - https://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/