This article was published in the daily newspaper Airdrie Echo, of Airdrie, British Columbia, Canada, on December 24, 2003.
Paul Wells
Echo Editor
Airdrie Echo — Even the animals seem to be sensing something strange.
Brian Vike, one of Canada's most experienced UFO sighting investigators, said the most recent reports of unusual activity in Airdrie and area have come from both humans and, vicariously, via humans through their canine companions.
"There are many reports of animals responding funny to an unusual object. Their senses are far superior ours," Vike said.
"So it is a possibility that the pets around this one certain area were aware and frightened of something that was truly an unknown to them."
The following are the most recent witness sighting reports emanating from Airdrie to Vike's HBCC UFO Research facility.
Airdrie: Dec. 13, 2003 (approximately 11:10 p.m.)
"I was reading (the) article about sightings in the Airdrie Echo last week and found it very interesting. I was driving home from work last Saturday night (Dec. 13) from Calgary, Alberta. It was about 11:07 p.m. to 11:10 p.m. – not exactly sure of the time. I'm at the first Airdrie exit. I saw this bright tunnel of light come down from somewhere in the sky. It lit up all of Airdrie and then it went back up again. It took seconds. I was stunned at first and still driving, looking around to see more. I was looking for a vapour trail from a plane. No sight of any evidence left behind or a plane. So logic set in, I thought maybe a falling star ... no, it wouldn't go back up again. Maybe a shooting star ... no. The person in front of me slowed right down and so did I. I'm kicking myself in the butt right now for not getting him to pull over and talk about what we saw. Or did I just see it? He wasn't too far ahead of me. I'm sure that he saw what I had. As I'm taking the third exit to go home, I look down Highway 2 to see if I see anything else is happening down the highway. I would like to know of anyone else who had seen this. If you know of anyone, please let me know. Could that possibly be a UFO?"
Airdrie: Sept. 14 (approximately 5:50 p.m.)
According to Vike, he received a call from a male Airdrie resident.
"I had a call from a fellow who resides in Airdrie. From his home he reports using a street lamp for a reference point and using binoculars and his naked eye he was able to clearly observe an object which sat stationary in the sky. The object was reported as having five rows of lights around it. From his location, he figured the object was approximately one-and-a-half miles away and was larger than a basketball. The object sat south/southwest of Airdrie for about 45 minutes. As planes approached, the object would start to move up and then move back down to it's original position. The gentleman reports that whatever this thing was, it has been seen a number of times over the last five months and is returning more frequently. A slight hum was noted coming from the direction where the object was hovering. Something rather important about this sighting is that in the 45 minutes it was visible before the object was covered over by cloud cover, it did not move from it's position other than it moving up and down when a normal aircraft was close by. The witness also said there was light reflecting off it, which would have been from the setting sun. So it sounds like whatever it was had a solid body to it, besides the five rows of lights which ran around the object. The colour of the lights in the ring were from red, blue, white and a yellow to amber. The lights were also reported moving counter clockwise around the object.
Airdrie: Sept. 15 (from 11 p.m. until midnight)
HBCC UFO Research reported on a sighting which took place on Sept. 15. "The witness said, ?I know what I saw,' and it was a big circle of lights twirling around and hovering above the (Highway 2) walkway," Vike recounted.
"(Then) on Dec. 19, I received a call from a really nice lady who wanted to tell me a rather unusual story. This again took place back on Sept. 15, 2003, sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight. Although she admits she and her family did not see anything unusual, the witness reports their dog was acting very weird. On the night of Sept. 15 and two days following, the family dog would not sleep with the owners – it paced back and forth and even jumped up on top of a dresser. The pet would not settle down, so the lady's husband put the dog out just in case it needed to do its business and the dog ran to the fence and just stood there. The family pet is six years old and the family told me the dog has never acted like this in prior years. This was a first! Something else the lady mentioned – which again I found of interest – was on the night their dog was acting up, only in the night did the dog go to the west side of the inside of their home, get up on the dresser and sit looking out the window. The dog was very stressed out.
"The next day the lady's husband went to his work place in Airdrie and happened to mention how strange their dog was acting that night. To his surprise, his co-workers all told him that their pets were acting the very same and took a couple of days before all these animals finally settled down.
"All of the families who reported their pets acting unusual live in the one area or close by. Also what is interesting is the night the Airdrie witness reported seeing the ring of lights hovering over the walkway, she also lives in the area where all the pets started acting strangely."
Sightings normally explainable
A recent flurry of witness reports of strange lights and objects in the skies in and around Airdrie may be thought provoking and food for extraterrestrial thought.
But one of Canada's leading UFO researchers and investigators said that when he receives a report, his first course of duty is to attempt to establish a logical explanation for what has been witnessed.
And according to Brian Vike, if that can't be done the sighting is then – and only then – classified as an unidentified flying object.
"HBCC UFO Research (Vike's operation) is very grateful to the residents in Airdrie for taking the time to sit and write up their sighting reports, or calling my toll-free number to report what it was they witnessed," Vike said. "Alberta residents have reported many unusual sightings over the many years – some can be explained away as simple meteors, planets, stars and the return of space debris."
But that's not always the case.
"There are also the sightings that no explanation can be found for what people are seeing," Vike said. "Actually, in past years, folks have reported some close up encounters where farmers have seen many objects flying overhead, some even landing and leaving behind markings on the ground."
So what are these strange flying crafts? A super secret military project? Normal aircraft which has been misidentified? Or are we being visited from elsewhere?
"These are the questions I would like to have answers for," Vike said. "But as it stands right now, Airdrie seems to be having a good number of sightings taking place and I wonder just how many more are not being reported."
And the more information, the better.
"I would like to request that if any resident living in Airdrie or folks living in surrounding communities have witnessed something odd, that they please contact me," Vike said.
To do so, contact Vike at HBCC UFO Research's Canadian toll free UFO Hotline at 1-866-262-1989 or by e-mail at: hbccufo@telus.net
