UFO

I thought the title of this post dramatic and attention catching. I was going to call it 'Have a Cigar' after the Pink Floyd song, except it could be misconstrued as a reference to a popular ex-president (and I'm not referring to Fidel here). As always, I strive to have this blog stay educational, informative and entertaining so I present you with this recent event from land's edge that made national news. I can't say that I noticed anything about this (thankfully) on CNN.

The photo below was taken, on January 25th of this year, from the small community of Harbour Mille at the top of Hermitage bay about 2 1/2 hours drive from St. John's.

The photo was taken by Darlene Stewart of that community while taking sunset pictures. She and two neighbours witnessed three of these 'missile-like' objects for 5-8 minutes as they moved in different directions across the grey sky. The closest object appeared to have flames coming from the back end and was leaving a trail of smoke. These people noted that one of the objects appeared to come out from the bay.The photo represents the closest and clearest of the "over sized bullets." I'll provide you with a link (in case you are interested) to the original CBC story here. I have a second link to a Canada.com story here.

Not surprisingly, the locals want an explanation about what they saw. I know my first thought would have been "my God, the invasion has begun." The second thought? "I wonder how long until I have to take out US citizenship and will I need a green card...

The RCMP investigated but couldn't reveal what they had uncovered. The Sgt. said that he had contacted the Department of National Defense and "they had given him some info," but it was up to the DND to release information publicly. The DND said they were awaiting a final report before commenting and that the RCMP were in charge of the investigation. The RCMP referred media inquiries to Public Safety Canada. That department referred inquires back to the RCMP. Hmm, the vicious circle.

There have been a number of theories floating about the past few days. The French, coincidentally, conducted a missile test the same day but on the other side of the Atlantic. Pointing a finger at the French is a natural reaction here because the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, a French colony, are only a few miles off the south coast of Newfoundland, just SW of Harbour Mille. The PM's office is convinced that there was no threat to national security and are prepared to move on. Another theory put forward is that the area is popular with model hobbyists. This one was quickly dismissed by the witnesses. If that theory were true, then thousands of teenage boys (and boyish men) would be lining up to purchase these flaming cylinders that could stay in the sky for 5-8 minutes. All good, if it keeps them away from the X-Box.

Enter the voice of reason. Just yesterday a Finnish UFO researcher by the name of Bjorn Borg presented a plausible theory. He noted that sitings like this come up every year about the same time and refers to it as "the December Phenomenon." He feels that the witnesses saw an optical illusion caused by the jetliner vapours catching winter sunlight. "The sun is shining on the (condensation) trail. In winter time, the colour of the trail will show up very strong yellow or even red. It looks like fire." I'll provide a link to the full Yahoo news story here.

The Finnish theory makes a lot of sense. I guess. Then again, is anybody's government going to come out and admit to definitive evidence of alien activity? I think not as what government wants to create national or international panic. A theory I considered...a few days before the sighting, three US fighter planes (notice how I naturally assume they are from the US) did a circle around the east end of St. John's, rattling windows, and landed at the airport. Is it possible that they had departed here on that day and were witnessed by the good people of Harbour Mille? I wonder if the "December Phenomenon" can be confirmed by studying flight paths of passenger jets that may have been flying over Newfoundland at the time of the sighting?

My final theory on this sighting. As I think back to the day, it was on the 25th of January. As any good Scot knows...that is Robert Burns Day (date of his birth). I'm thinking that perhaps Newfoundlanders of Scottish decent wisely gathered up all the haggis on the island, prior to the Burns suppers, and launched them into space in three home-made rockets. A public service to all.

Just in case, I'm not throwing out the layers of tinfoil covering the top of my head, preventing them from picking up my thoughts.