Investigating the Shag Harbour Incident

Earlier in the week, we were innocently moving in the motorhome from north of Halifax, out to the western tip of Nova Scotia near Yarmouth, when we noticed on our map a marker for the "Shag Harbour Incident Interpretive Center."  We thought it was probably another one of those battles between the Acadians and the Brits that preceded the Great Expulsion, when we spotted a sign for "UFO" as we entered Shag Harbour.

Hmmm...So we rechecked "Shag Harbour Incident" on Wikipedia:

"The Shag Harbour UFO Incident was the reported impact of an unknown large object into the waters near Shag Harbour, a tiny fishing village in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, on October 4, 1967...."

Wow, this was too cool -- an interpretive center for a UFO incident -- almost as great as Roswell or the Marfa Lights!

So, on Tuesday, August 14, 2018, we drove down to Shag Harbour to investigate this unusual phenomenon.  We found the site of the crash --

-- and, lo and behold, it had a RED CHAIR!  What an omen!  Kathy sat in the red chair and, suddenly, a mysterious object crashed into the waters off Shag Harbour.  Coincidence?  We think not.

The crash site was marked by a large statue of an alien lobster.

We're really not at all sure why an alien lobster would be involved in a UFO sighting, but we thought perhaps our questions would all be answered when we arrived at the interpretive center.

The "interpretive center" was a ramshackle old shop on the side of the highway, manned by a know-nothing teenager who was more than willing to take our "$4 per" to tour the one-room museum.  This sign greeted us:

David was astonished to learn this Shag Harbour Fact:  While the Shag Harbour Incident is Canada's most famous UFO case, NO ONE INVOLVED AT THE TIME EVER REPORTED A UFO!  It seems everyone thought it must be an airplane or something.

One teenage boy constructed a complete Science Fair project on the event, with newspaper clippings, photographs of the site, and such.  His project was on display.  This is an example of the high level of curation we found in the museum.

Someone else constructed a model of the presumed UFO, complete with lights, mounted on a mysterious piece of volcanic rock found at the bottom of the harbour where boats searched for the crashed object:

Kathy salvaged something from the museum visit.  She met up with a friendly local who gave her the inside story on the UFO:

David, on the other hand, thinks he may have caught some bug during the visit, because he was starting to feel a little green:

We're not sure we learned much more from the museum than we had already learned online, but here's what we learned online:

"The date of October 4, 1967 holds a special significance for residents of Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia.  That evening just after 11pm an object hovering over the water's surface was seen by several witnesses in the small fishing village.  The object was reported to have been 60 feet in diamter with four lights flashing in sequence.  Tilting to a 45 degree angle, the object descended toward the water causing a bright flash and loud roar upon impact.

"The Barrington Passage RCMP received calls from witnesses who believed that an aircraft had landed in the harbour.  One officer on highway patrol was able to view the strange object while it was still in flight.  He later reported that he saw the object change shape as it descended to the water.  Soon, he and two other officers from the Barrington detachment were on the scene.  The officers observed that the object was glowing pale yellow while it floated a half mile from shore.  A dense yellow foam was left by the object as it drifted.

"A coast guard lifeboat from Clark's Harbour and several fishing boats from the area were called to investigate.  Unfortunately, the object had submerged before the boats reached the site.  The spot where the object went under was marked by the yellow foam which rose to the surface to form a 120- by 130-foot slick.

"The Rescue Co-ordination Centre (Halifax) and the radar facility at nearby Baccaro had no knowledge of any missing civilian or military aircraft.  Local search efforts were taken over by seven Navy divers from the HMCS Granby.  These divers searched the area until October 8, 1967.  The next day the search was called off due to a lack of results.

"Of the dozen or so witnesses of the Shag Harbour Incident, all gave testimonies that were neither contradictory nor exaggerated.  The authorities on the case were the ones to suggest the possibility of a UFO crash, perhaps being a vehicle of extraterrestrial origin.

"Several other sightings over eastern Canada and off the coast of Nova Scotia on the evening of October 4, 1967 were reported.  Approximately two hours before the Shag Harbour sighting, four UFO's were seen by men on a dragger fishing off Sambro, Nova Scotia.

"The Shag Harbour Crash/Retrieval has been the subject of many articles and radio programs, and has been featured on TV's 'Sightings' and 'Strange Universe.'"