64. Reading: Shag Harbour UFO Incident
Reading Strategy
Using Online Sources
As you progress in your courses, you will start to work towards writing longer pieces, such as essays and reports. As you write longer texts, you will want to do some research to support your own arguments and ideas. For many students, the first place to look is often the internet.
There are over a billion websites in the world, and anyone with a computer or a smartphone can access them. The internet can be a great source of information—if you use it carefully. Keep in mind that anyone with basic computer skills can create a website, and anyone can say whatever they want; there is no control over the internet. It is possible that you will find information that is not correct, out of date, or extremely biased.
Online Research: Questions to Ask
The following questions will help you to decide whether or not a website is a good source of information.
What is the domain name?
What does the website address (the URL) end with? In Canada, educational sites end in .ca, and government sites end in .gc.ca; a site ending in .org is likely to be a non-profit site, such as a charity. Most sites you will find, however, end in .com. This signifies that these sites are businesses. The purpose of the website might be to sell you something.
- Example: You are writing about the health benefits of carrot juice. You find a site that lists a vast number of reasons why you should drink large amounts of carrot juice. On closer examination, you find that the site ends in .com, and that it is a business—it sells carrot juice online, and the goal of the website is to encourage you to buy.
Who is responsible for the website?
Try to find out who maintains the website. Is it an individual, a group, a college? If there is an About section, see what you can find out about the author of the material. Ask yourself whether the author is biased, whether the site is giving you facts or opinions, and what the author’s purpose is.
- Example: You are looking for information on the legalization of marijuana in Canada. You find a site telling you that there are no health concerns associated with marijuana, and that it is safer than cigarettes or alcohol. You look further, and you discover that the site is maintained by a group that has been putting pressure on the government to legalize marijuana. You realize that the group’s information is likely to be biased.
How current is the website?
Scroll down to the bottom of the website to find out when it was last updated. You don’t want to include out-of-date information in your writing.
- Example: You are writing about rates of lung cancer in B.C., and you are trying to find out whether these are increasing or decreasing. Your research is going well, until you realize that you are looking at statistics from 2003. The information you need might have changed since that time.
Is the information accurate?
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet! There may well be mistakes in what you find. If you have a feeling that something is not quite right, trust yourself. Try searching for the information somewhere else, perhaps on a more reliable website.
- Example: You are writing about smoking. You find a website that tells you that 3,600 Canadians smoke cigarettes every day. You think this sounds too low, so you go to a more reliable source: Statistics Canada, a government site. Here you learn that the true figure is around 3,600,000. The first website had clearly made a mistake with the number.
A Note on Wikipedia
Everyone loves Wikipedia! For many people, it is the first place they look for information. With over five million articles, Wikipedia is a good starting point. However, keep in mind that Wikipedia articles can be written by anyone. The information you read may not always be accurate. Wikipedia can be useful to get an overview of a subject, but use it with caution.
Shag Harbour UFO Incident
An Extraordinary Event
1 An extraordinary event in 1967 would practically put the small fishing village of Shag Harbor on the map. Located at the southern tip of Nova Scotia, this rural community would be host to one of the best-documented UFO events of the past 40 years.
2 Named after the “shag,” a bird of the cormorant family, the harbour was literally left off most maps of the time, but that would be changed once and for all.
3 The tiny fishing community has always had its stories… stories of giant sea serpents, man-eating squid, and ghost ships. The list of local colours would see one more addition to its list: a story of a visit of a mysterious flying craft of unknown origin. This craft would visit the waters of Shag Harbor, permanently stamping the village’s name in the public eye.
Orange Lights in the Sky
4 The first indication of this mysterious occurrence would come from local residents who noticed strange orange lights in the sky on the night of October 4, 1967. Most witnesses agreed that there were four orange lights that evening. Five teenagers watched these lights flash in sequence, and then suddenly dive at a 45-degree angle toward the water’s surface. The witnesses were surprised that the lights did not dive into the water, but seemed to float on the water, approximately one-half mile from the shore.
5 Witnesses at first thought they were watching a tragic airplane crash, and quickly reported as much to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was located at Barrington Passage. Coincidently, RCMP Constable Ron Pound had already witnessed the strange lights himself as he drove down Highway 3 in route to Shag Harbor. Pound felt that he was seeing 4 lights, all attached to one flying craft. He estimated the craft to be about 60 feet long.
The Response
6 Constable Pound made his way to the shore to get a closer look at the phenomenal sight. He was accompanied by Police Corporal Victor Werbieki, Constable Ron O’Brien, and other local residents. Pound clearly saw a yellow light slowly moving on the water, leaving a yellowish foam in its wake. All eyes were glued on the light, as it slowly either moved too distant to be seen or dipped into the icy waters.
7 Coast Guard Cutter #101 and other local boats rushed to the spot of the sighting, but by the time they arrived, the light itself was gone. However, the crewmen could still see the yellow foam, indicating that something had possibly submerged. Nothing else could be found that night, and the search was called off at 3:00 AM.
8 The RCMP ran a traffic check with the Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, and NORAD radar at Baccaro, Nova Scotia. They were told that there were no missing aircraft reported that evening, either civilian or military.
The Report
9 The following day, the Rescue Coordination Center filed a report with Canadian Forces Headquarters in Ottawa. This report stated that something had hit the water in Shag Harbor, but the object was of “unknown origin.”
10 The HMCS Granby was ordered to the location, where divers searched the bottom of the ocean for several days, but without positive results.
11 Soon, the story of the mysterious crash at Shag Harbor died as quickly as it had begun. That is, until 1993. As the original story faded from papers and newscasts, several theories were put forward. One explanation was that a Russian spacecraft had crashed, which would explain the presence of a Russian submarine in the area. There was also the rumor of American involvement in the follow-up investigation, but there was no official statement from the United States.
Chris Styles
12 The Shag Harbor incident would have new life breathed into it through the efforts of MUFON investigator Chris Styles. The case intrigued him so much that he decided to search for more details. Styles found the names of many of the original witnesses through newspaper clippings and was able to interview many of them.
13 Styles was assisted by MUFON investigator Doug Ledger. These two men would uncover some extremely compelling evidence through their interviews. They discovered that when the divers of the Granby finished their work, the case was not over, after all.
14 The divers, along with other witnesses related these events: The object that dove into the waters of the harbour had soon left the Shag area, traveling underwater for about 25 miles to a place called Government Point, which was near a submarine detection base. The object was spotted on sonar there, and Naval vessels were positioned over it. After a couple of days, the military was planning a salvage operation, when a second UFO joined the first. The common belief at the time was that the second craft had arrived to render aid to the first.
The Navy
15 At this time, the Navy decided to wait and watch. After about a week of monitoring the two UFOs, some of the vessels were called to investigate a Russian submarine that had entered Canadian waters. At this point, the two underwater craft made their move. They made their way to the Gulf of Maine and putting distance between themselves and the chasing Navy boats, they broke the surface and shot away into the skies.
16 These extraordinary events were corroborated by many witnesses, both civilian and military. Unfortunately, the reports were given “off the record.” Ex-military personnel feared the loss of their pensions, and civilian witnesses feared ridicule, and their privacy being invaded. The unusual events of Shag Harbor command an important place in the study of UFOs. There is little doubt that something “unknown” crashed into the waters of Shag Harbor on October 4, 1967.
- Written by: B J Booth
To learn more about the UFO Incident of 1967, visit the Shag Harbour UFO Incident Centre – 5615 Highway 3, Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia Phone: 902-723-0244 - Shag Harbour UFO Incident Society –https://www.facebook.com/shagharbourUFO
- Mysteries of Canada – Shag Harbour UFO – http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/nova-scotia/shag-harbor-ufo/
- Shag Harbour UFO XPO – https://shagharbourufoexpo.com/
Practice
Find a word or expression in the reading that means the following. Paragraph numbers are given to help you.
1. beyond what is usual, ordinary, regular, or established (para. _________________________ (adjective)
2. a bird of the cormorant family (para. 2)
_________________________ (noun)
3. full of, characterized by, or involving mystery (para. _________________________ (adjective)
4. observed an event (para. 5)
_________________________ (verb)
5. went under the surface of water or any other enveloping medium (para. 7)
_________________________ (verb)
6. contemplation or speculation; guesses or conjecture (para. _________________________ (noun)
7. a formal meeting in which one or more persons question, consult, or evaluate another person (para. 12)
_________________________ (noun)
8. something that tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof (para. 13)
_________________________ (noun)
9. a method for detecting and locating objects submerged in water by echolocation (para. 14)
_________________________ (noun)
10. speech or action intended to cause contemptuous laughter at a person or thing; derision (para. 16)
_________________________ (noun)
What Says?
| 1. | 6. |
| 2. | 7. |
| 3. | 8. |
| 4. | 9. |
| 5. | 10. |
Spelling and Sentence Dictation
| 1. | 6. |
| 2. | 7. |
| 3. | 8. |
| 4. | 9. |
| 5. | 10. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
Review
Reading Strategy – Using Online Sources
As you progress in your courses, you will start to work towards writing longer pieces, such as essays and reports. As you write longer texts, you will want to do some research to support your own arguments and ideas. For many students, the first place to look is often the internet.
There are over a billion websites in the world, and anyone with a computer or a smartphone can access them. The internet can be a great source of information—if you use it carefully. Keep in mind that anyone with basic computer skills can create a website, and anyone can say whatever they want; there is no control over the internet. It is possible that you will find information that is not correct, out of date, or extremely biased.
Online Research: Questions to Ask
The following questions will help you to decide whether or not a website is a good source of information.
What is the domain name?
What does the website address (the URL) end with? In Canada, educational sites end in .ca, and government sites end in .gc.ca; a site ending in .org is likely to be a non-profit site, such as a charity. Most sites you will find, however, end in .com. This signifies that these sites are businesses. The purpose of the website might be to sell you something.
- Example: You are writing about the health benefits of carrot juice. You find a site that lists a vast number of reasons why you should drink large amounts of carrot juice. On closer examination, you find that the site ends in .com, and that it is a business—it sells carrot juice online, and the goal of the website is to encourage you to buy.
Who is responsible for the website?
Try to find out who maintains the website. Is it an individual, a group, a college? If there is an About section, see what you can find out about the author of the material. Ask yourself whether the author is biased, whether the site is giving you facts or opinions, and what the author’s purpose is.
- Example: You are looking for information on the legalization of marijuana in Canada. You find a site telling you that there are no health concerns associated with marijuana, and that it is safer than cigarettes or alcohol. You look further, and you discover that the site is maintained by a group that has been putting pressure on the government to legalize marijuana. You realize that the group’s information is likely to be biased.
How current is the website?
Scroll down to the bottom of the website to find out when it was last updated. You don’t want to include out-of-date information in your writing.
- Example: You are writing about rates of lung cancer in B.C., and you are trying to find out whether these are increasing or decreasing. Your research is going well, until you realize that you are looking at statistics from 2003. The information you need might have changed since that time.
Is the information accurate?
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet! There may well be mistakes in what you find. If you have a feeling that something is not quite right, trust yourself. Try searching for the information somewhere else, perhaps on a more reliable website.
- Example: You are writing about smoking. You find a website that tells you that 3,600 Canadians smoke cigarettes every day. You think this sounds too low, so you go to a more reliable source: Statistics Canada, a government site. Here you learn that the true figure is around 3,600,000. The first website had clearly made a mistake with the number.
A Note on Wikipedia
Everyone loves Wikipedia! For many people, it is the first place they look for information. With over five million articles, Wikipedia is a good starting point. However, keep in mind that Wikipedia articles can be written by anyone. The information you read may not always be accurate. Wikipedia can be useful to get an overview of a subject, but use it with caution.
