This article was published in the daily newspaper Calgary Sun, Alabama USA, on October 4, 2002, written by Melissa Ridgen.
Area 51, move over -- Deer Run may be taking over as destination of choice for visitors from outer space.
A southeast Calgary family saw a strange sight in the sky Tuesday evening [Oct 1], hours before a northern lights display danced overhead.
Tammy Woodward's boyfriend came into their Deer Run home around 7 p.m., to get her to look at an odd object he'd spotted in the sky.
"The sun was just going down and the sky was perfectly clear except for this thing," said Woodward. "We saw what looked like a small piece of really bright-white cloud but it was moving way too fast to be a cloud," said Woodward, whose two children also saw it.
"It was going really fast, west-northwest. It was diamond-shaped and it was gone from sight over other houses in about 10 seconds," the 34-year-old said.
Environment Canada meteorologist Bill McMurtry is at a loss as to what the family saw.
It could have been an aircraft, satellite or meteorite -- but he doubts it was, because the latter two aren't visible while it's light out, and most people know a plane when they see one.
On Sept. 6, 1991, three people in the city's Monterey Park reported three amber, diamond-shaped lights moving in the eastern sky.
An unexplained spectacle was also witnessed in Edmonton, according to the Alberta UFO Study Group. On Sept. 13, a person in Edmonton saw 10 yellow-white lights moving "fast like a fighter jet" to the northeast, then disappearing 30 seconds later.
