yukon1960

Destruction Bay, Canada

1960 (no time given)

Mrs. van Der Veen, wife of the motel proprietor at Destruction Bay (See January 31, 1968), also made a sighting which, though earlier by several years than others we have reported, fits into our coverage because of the object's behavior.

As she and two women companions watched one night in 1960, an orange - white ball of light gave a remarkable performance over the mountains across Kluane Lake.

"It went back and forth over the mountain tops just as if it were having a good look at them, " she recalled. "It seemed very deliberate. We watched it for about an hour."
How similar this was to one of the sightings made years later by Mrs. McCreedy and others at Swift River ! They, too, watched a light go back and forth over a mountain range as if on a mission of scrutiny.

From "Strange Sights in Yukon Sky" by John Magor, Canadian UFO report, Vol 1, No. 1

Near Swift River, Canada

February 1965

As confirmed by other observers, this sighting occurred on a February night in 1965. Looking from her kitchen window facing the mountains, Mrs. McCreedy noticed a reddish orange glow traveling slowly across the sky from the northeast. With her husband and two friends, she watched the object through binoculars.

"It was far too bright to be the light of any aircraft that I've ever seen," she said. "Also it was much larger than a satellite."

While unsure they were looking at anything beyond reasonable explanation, non of the others could identify it with any aircraft or natural phenomenon they had seen before. Eventually the thing disappeared behind a round topped mountain to the southwest. This particular mountain became significant in view of the experience of Mrs. Peter Radford, wife of a diesel technician for CNT. Mrs. Radford told us that as she was returning home from a curling game one clear, cold night of about the same date, her attention was attracted by a reddish orange glow above that same round topped mountain.

"I saw it for a second or two before all at once it seemed to burst," she said. "Flashes went off in all directions and the thing was gone."

This remarkable sighting became all the more mystifying a few nights later when, in almost identical conditions, Mrs. Radford saw another similar glow, again over the smoothly cut mountain.
"This one darted about an made me think it was looking for something," she said. "It moved so fast it seemed to be in different places almost in the same second, but it never went far from the mountain. Then suddenly it was gone."

Could this have been a case: of one UFO searching for another or its wreckage ?
The mystery of the mountain top so intrigued the residents of Swift River that later a party on snowmobiles was organized to climb up there and investigate. Meanwhile, however, heavy snow had fallen and nothing unusual was found. As far as we could determine, no further search was made.

Other Strange Air Traffic Near Swift River

Like many others in northwest Canada who are impressed by the number of sightings made in their part of the country Mrs. John McCreedy at Swift River, Mile 733 on the Alaska Highway, often scans the sky at night in hope of seeing the unusual. She has been rewarded several times -- "at least half a dozen" as she recalls, but none since 1966 -- by spotting objects which do not match the description of any aircraft known to her. That covers a wide field, for Mrs. McCreedy wife of the public worked forman at Swift River in charge of Highway maintenance, was a member of the Ground Observation Corps until it was discontinued. In that capacity she reported and described and aircraft that was off the designated flying routes.

"With one exception the objects had the size and appearance of satellites which we often see overhead up here," Mrs, McCreedy told us. "But they acted so differently I am positive they were not satellites. They moved far more quickly, or slowly.

"There was one in particular that I remember. It was first noticed by my daughter, Marina, while she was playing outside with other children. She ran in to tell me about it and, going outside, I saw this star like thing dashing across the sky. Suddenly it stopped dead, then resumed its terrific speed and in the next instant came flying back in exactly the opposite direction. Several of us watched it until it disappeared over the mountains."

Her husband missed this unusual performance but recalled the night was "black and dirty, unfit for flying." besides virtually eliminating the possibility of a helicopter doing such stunts, this raises the interesting point that the object must have been below cloud level and therefore at fairly low altitude.

Marina, 13, had two additional significant sightings of her own to report. On one occasion, playing outside in the evening, she and other children noticed a strange star in the middle of the Big Dipper. As they watched, it started to move. Marina went in to call her mother but by the time Mrs. McCreedy came out the object had disappeared. As the children continued playing, they saw the object move slowly in sight again toward the Big Dipper where it resumed its exact previous position ! Then abruptly it disappeared.

On second occasion, again at evening with other children, Marina saw an object resembling a satellite traveling overhead.

"It moved right in the direction of the microwave tower on the hill over there," she said, "and when it got there it seemed to slow down a bit and suddenly it sort of shot off flashes or sparks.
Then it went on again."

That microwave tower is one of the relay points in the vast northern system maintained by Canadian National telecommunications. As mentioned before this system is the communications link between the northwest, including Alaska, and the rest of the continent, and it is a vital part of the North American defense complex.

Of special note in Mrs. McCreedy's sightings is that all the objects, again with the exception of the one exploded, appeared from the southwest and moved toward the northeast (excluding the reversal of direction just described). Also in each case they flew an almost identical course above a ridge of the Cassiar mountains bordering the highway at Swift River. Such a course cuts almost at right angles across the commercial flying route between Whitehorse and Vancouver which, in any case, is well beyond the view of Swift River.

With so many well reported and strange sightings, Swift River on the Alaska Highway stands, like Kluane Lake far to the northwest, as a key northern point in the UFO phenomenon. What is there about that ridge of the Cassiar range that so invites their attention ?

From "Strange Sights In Yukon Sky" by John Magor, Canadian UFO Report, Vol 1, No. 1

Canyon Creek, Alaska Highway

December 1966

This sighting occurred in December, 1996, by bob McKinnon and his family and friends at Canyon Creek on the Alaska Highway.

Bob who operates a stopping place there, told us it was about 8:30 at night when he, noticed a strong light beaming through the windows from tile direction of an old Indian burial ground on a mound about half a mile away. Like many others in the north, the burial ground is dotted with wooden huts about four feet high, fashioned exactly like small houses, under which the Indians have placed their dead. They believe these huts provide protection and comfort for the departed souls.

"At first I thought the light must be coming from someone working over there," Bob said. "but I soon saw this was impossible. It was hanging absolutely motionless in the air, may be 100 feet up, and looked to be about two feet in diameter. It was a bluish, orange color, something like the reflections off a diamond."

Bob called the others in the lodge and, going outside, they had a clear view of the object for about three minutes. At first it just stayed there, right above the graveyard," he continued. "Then after a moment it stated to come down slowly. We definitely had a feeling it was interested in the place. It came down to within a few feet off the ground and lit up the graveyard huts. Then suddenly it disappeared. maybe it went behind the mound, I'm not sure, but it looked more as if it flashed right out."

When Bob made his report to the RCMP, they said the object must have been a meteor but none of the witnesses would agree that was the least bit likely. The light was unmistakably hovering when they first saw it descended with feathery slowness.

"I never had any time for flying saucers before I saw that thing," Bob concluded, "and I'm not particularly interested in them now. I think most of it is just baloney. But definitely there was something strange happening out there over the cemetery that night."

From "Strange Sights In Yukon Sky" by John Magor, Canadian UFO Report, Vol 1, No. 1

Destruction Bay, Canada

March 20, 1967, 6:00 PM

It was 6:00 PM, March 20, 1967, when Kenneth Green, a CNT lineman at Destruction Bay, happened to glance out while sitting at home and saw something move at the top of the mountain behind his house.

"That's funny," he said to his wife, "there must be somebody with a snowmobile up there."

But immediately the two realized that at that distance the mountain, about five miles away, is ,ore than 6,000 feet high -- and in the dimming light, a snowmobile almost certainly would not be visible whereas this object had a spread of about two inches. Obviously they were looking at something more the size of a couple of freight cars.
Ken got his binoculars and he and Mrs. Green studied the object.

"It had a wide oval shape and, while I couldn't tell for sure, it seemed to be brownish in color," he told us. "What was most noticeable was a cone-shaped light beneath it, as if it was controlled by a thrusting device. This thrust or whatever it was changed colors, mostly between red and yellow. When the object moved vertically, the cone was directly beneath it, and when it moved horizontally, the cone trailed at an angle."

At first the object stayed near the top f the mountain, then after a few minutes started to descend.

"It seemed to be flying a few feet above the surface of the mountain and came about a quarter - way down, moving quite slowly," Ken said. "Then it headed over the mountain next to it. After a few minutes over there, it flew part way back and disappeared through the notch between the mountains."

Ken figured the total time of sighting was half an hour. During this period the Greens' neighbors, Tom Glare, diesel technician for CNT, and his wife had also observed the object. Others in the camp saw it as well.

Ken Green, a thorough man, later checked with transport department officials to determine if there were any helicopters in the area at the time. There were none.
"Oh, there's one thing I almost forgot," he said at the end of our interview. ''About 10 minutes after the thing disappeared, I went outside to see if it was there again. It wasn't, but I did see a white vapor trail leading across the lake to the point where the object went between the mountains."

Did the object reappear and leave the trail in its wake, or was it left by another UFO joining the first ? naturally Ken did not know but he was sure of this: "that notch between the mountains leads right through the mountains behind. I know because I've been up there. Whatever it was, that thing knew what it was doing."

From "Strange In Yukon Sky" by John Magor, Canadian UFO Report, Vol 1, No. 1

Whitehorse, Yukon

January 5, 1968

Filed with the RCMP at Whitehorse is a report of a UFO sighting that must rate as something of a classic because of the proximity of the object, the details given by the two observers and the apparent interest of the object in what they were doing. The incident occurred under a cloudless sky late in the afternoon of January 5, 1968, with temperatures a few degrees above zero (F). The observers were Tommy Banks, 15 and Errol Smythe 17, both of Whitehorse.

Errol was not available during our brief visit to that Yukon city, but we spoke to Tommy who told us how the two of them had spent the afternoon touring the lower slopes of Grey's Mountain on their skidoos. These slopes on the northwest outskirts of Whitehorse are studded with spruce trees and, with two or three feet of snow in the winter, are ideal for this kind of sport. the woods are not too dense and the slopes are gradual.

Tommy continued:

"It was just beginning to get dark and we had our lights on, though it was still clear enough to see everything, when we decided to start for home. Errol went first and I was followed close enough to see him all the time until we came to a small knell and for a few seconds I lost sight of him.

"As I went up the knell I felt a sort of heat and when I got to the top I saw this bright thing moving just over the trees slightly behind Errol. It seemed to be following him. Just then Errollooked back -- he thought it was my light at first -- and he saw it, too." We asked Tommy to draw a sketch of what he saw. It was an egg-shaped object with two distinct bands of luminous color following the, lines of its circumference. The outside band was red and inside this was one of yellowish orange. In the center the two colors seemed to blend and move in what Tommy described as a "pulsating" manner. The object, about 10 by 20 feet and flying horizontally, was noiseless. Although bright, its glow was not sufficient to penetrate the darkness under the trees.

"I saw it for about 10 seconds before it disappeared over the trees, and I guess Errol saw it for a little less than that," Tommy said. "When I felt the heat it seemed to me that my skidoo was slowing down a bit. Maybe it was just because I was excited bu it definitely felt that way."

After they had sped home and reported their experience, Errol's father and a friend, a clergyman, went to examine the spot where the sighting occurred. But the object had left no visible evidence. In that frigid temperature its heat apparently was not sufficient to affect the surface of the snow.

On Errol, however, the effect was more definite. Unlike Tommy e had no previous interest in the subject of UFOs and understandably was perhaps the more upset of the two, with the result he missed the following day of school. For Tommy the experience was also disturbing, but interesting. he had read numerous accounts of UFOs, written about them for school work and now had a unique personal encounter to add to his material.

How many other Ufologists wish they could be so lucky ?

Sighting 100 Miles Away

Unknown to either of the boys at the time a similar object was seen the night before over Atlin Lake, 100 miles southeast of Whitehorse. We did not have time to check personally on this report but were particularly interested, not only because it tallied so closely with the boys', but also because of the setting. Atlin, once a center of boisterous activity in gold rush days, is now almost a ghost town. A few trappers and traders still live there but long gone is the time when paddle-wheel steamers piled the lake carrying eager hordes in quest of Klondike gold. It was the era when Robert service wrote, "the northern lights have seen strnge sightings..."

Once more the north is seeing strange sights.

Canyon Creek

January 31, 1968

Just over a year after the McKinnon sighting a strange ball of light again was seen in the vicinity of Canyon Creek. It as observed by two speparte witnesses on the highway. One was Pieter Van Der Veen, proprietor of the talbot Arm motel at Destruction Bay, who gave us this description of the incident. It occurred the night of January 31, 1968.

"I was driving south along the highway from Canyon Creek to see what had happened to a pickup truck overdue from Whitehorse when I noticed a bright light high and ahead of me. As I watched it come down close to the road from a height I would estimate at 2,000 feet, veered off to the right in a half arc, then it shot and disappeared. I saw it for three or four seconds. It was reddish - yellow in color and had no discernible edges. It was just a glow.

"When I met Doug Smith in the pickup truck which was stalled about five miles ahead of me (due to explainable mechanical failure -- J.M.) he said he had seen exactly the same thing. But since he was facing in the opposite direction, the object had veered off to his left."

From "Strange Sights In Yukon Sky" by John Magor, Canadian UFO report, Vol 1, No. 1

Alaska Highway, Whitehorse

A month after the experience of Tommy banks and Errol Smythe another sighting of an egg shaped object was made in much different on the Alaska Highway north of Whitehorse.
Two of the observers were Jim jack, forman of the highway surface crew at Destruction Bay on Kluane lake, and fellow employee Tom Campbell, together in a truck at the time. The third was Nick barnett, a petroleum truck operator working out of Whitehorse who was on the highway about 60 miles north of the other two. The sightings of each party was made at about 8:30 AM.

Jim Jack gave us this account:

"Tom was driving and we had just started out to work when he noticed something funny in the sky and pointed it out to me. we could both see it from the cab of the truck. It looked like an oval cloud at first but it stuck out for two reasons -- it was brick red against the grayish white clouds and was traveling east to west, almost dead against the wind."

The morning was a normal winter's one for that part of the country, with a steady wind of about 20 knots and temperature between 20 and 30 degrees below zero. The clouds were scattered, which accentuated the object as it passed across patches of blue.

"We were traveling south when we saw it, " Jim continued. "I was ahead of us to our left, coming across the lake, coming across the lake. Judging by the mountains, it must have been about 5,000 feet u. we watched it for two or three minutes until it went behind the side of that mountain." me pointed to a slope about 15 miles west of the lake.

By rough estimate the distance traveled in that time was 20 miles, giving the object a speed up to 600 m.p.h. Asked about its size, Jim formed an oval with his hands which he judged would cover it at the distance observed. This would make it many times larger than a jet aircraft at the same distance.

"It flew with one end leading but the ends and edges didn't look quite as solid as the center part," Jim added. "It seemed to have sort of a mist around it. Neither of us had seen anything like it before or since."

Nick Barnett, being along in his truck following far behind, had been reluctant to mention his sighting to anyone until he met his two friends on the road the following day and the subject came up. although the object had looked black not red to Nick, possibly because an angle in the road caused him face into the sun, his description matched other' almost exactly.

However, Nick had this to add:

"It looked to me as if the thing was flying at an angle of about 45 degrees, with the rear end lower than the front. And just before I lost sight of it, it put o a terrific burst of speed."

A clear description given by these three men suggests that what they saw was a "mother" ship, the type from which smaller objects have occasionally been seen to emanate. Typical features were the elongated shape, the large size, the angle of flight and the vaporous outline.
Possibly there is something about Kluane Lake and the St. Elias Mountains bordering it that excites the interest of the big ones, as witness the following experience of Kenneth Green and at least three other observers a year earlier "UFO" 'blinds' truck driver in Yukon Territory"

. From "Strange Sights In Yukon Sky" by John Magor, Canadian UFO Report, Vol 1, No. 1

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