Tuesday, February 2, 2010

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.

15 comments:

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Tee hee - nothing better than a "light in the sky" controversy!

Anonymous said...

Obviously Canada launched a pre-emptive strike on the US, but had to call off the war days later after the US failed to notice it had started in the first place.

You ever see "The Mouse That Roared"?

I'm not making any DIRECT comparisons between the Duchy of Grand Fenwick and Canada, but...

Aaron Polson said...

Gotta be the haggis. A true, logical theory if I've every read one.

Laura Eno said...

While I do love the haggis theory, I present a different take for your ruminations. The missles were actually from Atlantis, tests if you will, to see if we would notice before they raise their island back up.
Please show us a picture of you wearing your tin foil hat! That would be awesome!

Rebecca Nazar said...

Haggis: the mighty mystical mystery meat. ; )

EC said...

How about Central Reverse Polarity Magnetism, coming from the Bermuda Triangle? Or maybe Washington's penis.
Thanks for UFO alert Alan-I definitely feel more educated this morning:)
And yes, I'll admit, the title was catching.

Laurita said...

As long as we're consipracy theory-ing, the news today is that the Premier has left the province...for "surgery". Suspicious? I know I am.

Fox Lee said...

Go flaming cigar, go!

Alan W. Davidson said...

Cathy-I try very hard not to be controversial.

Pablo-Of course...Peter Sellars. That reminds me of the novel Exxoneration (I think)that opens with the US attempting to invade Canada.

Aaron-Theories based on internal organs are the soundest.

Laura-I must admit, I haven't heard the Atlantis theory this week. Hmm, I would be embarassed to reveal my tinfoil.

Becca-that was amazing alliteration.

Erin-I haven't heard about CRPM. That would be three penises from Washington. I'm sure there's a larger number than that...

Laurita-That's funny, I had a passing thought about mentioning that, but as soon as I think about Danny being abducted by aliens I get thinking about the old 'Kids in the Hall' skits about alien abduction and what happens to them, etc...I wasn't going to go there!

Nat-I was expecting more 'colourful' talk about the cigar...

Fox Lee said...

Well, all right ...

Go, flaming phallic euphemism, go!

Cate Gardner said...

They walk amongst the Canadians... In fact, I've often suspected one was hiding in your beard.

Katey said...

Dude... totally Haggis Rockets. What the hell is the PM's office thinking? Are they BLIND?!

That was a really fun post, Alan. You always have the coolest news-- it's downright inspirational.

Anonymous said...

Well, seeing as I live a hop, skip, and a jump away from Area 51...

I ran in a race that passed right by Area 51 in the middle of the night. It was amazing and beautiful. Bounding through the dessert with glow sticks, watching the stars fall. Or the aliens. Or whatever. :P

K.C. Shaw said...

Obviously it was a duck that ate a bottle rocket. Vrooooom!

Alan W. Davidson said...

Natalie-Now that was what I was looking for!

Cate-You may be right. As long as he doesn't eat all the food I've been storing there to get me through the winter...

Katey-I'm glad you liked the post. I'm going for more strange and eccentric.

Mercedes-That would be so cool living around there. I suppose they must chase away the groupies on a regular basis.

KC-Or perhaps the hunters here are going to more extreme means to hunt their ducks.