This article was published in the daily newspaper The Star Phoenix, Saskatchewan, Canada, on September 27, 1974.
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An unidentified flying object (UFO) was reported sighted over Saskatoon Thursday about 6 p.m. by the Martensville constable and his wife.
Albert Goddue said he was parked in front of Ford's Pharmacy on Ave. H. South while his wife, Zenia, was inside shopping, when he noticed a craft moving in an "arc" from the south-west.
Mr. Goddue said the craft remained stationary for some time over Nutana. "I didn't have my watch, but I would say it hovered for quite a while, perhaps five minutes," he said.
When Mrs Goddue came out of the store, she saw the craft too, just as it started to slowly head south, picking up speed as it went.
Mr Goddue said there was "no visible means of propulsion, no tail or propellers, and no noise." Both he and his wife described it as an upside down saucer, or like a parachute, with a flat bottom and a domed top.
Mr. Goddue described it as a bright aluminum color, "glowing brighter than the Northern Star." He said that, although it was still daylight when he saw the craft, the sun was not shining, and against the clouds "that thing was really glowing brighter than just about anything I have ever seen."
Air traffic controllers at Saskatoon airport said they have no report of UFO sightings, and suggested that what Mr Goddue saw was an aircraft landing with his lights on.
Mr. Goddue said "No one will ever convince me it was any type of conventionnal aircraft. It was like nothing I have ever seen in the sky before."
Earlier this month, Edwin Fuhr, 36, in Langensburg, claimed to have seen "five stainless steel objects" on his farm. Mr. Furh said the objects stayed for 15 minutes and left depressions in the foot-high grass about 11 feet in diameter where they had been.
REGINA (CP) - The mysterious force which left strange circular rings of dead grass earlier this month on a farm near Langenburg, might have been mushrooms.
Dr. Allen McNamara, head of the National Research Council's upper atmosphere research section in Ottawa, said Thursday the description he had seen of the rings are exactly the same as so-called "fairy rings" produced by underground mushroom filaments.
Asked about the reported sighting of five unidentified flying objects (UFO) with shapes similar to saucers, a University of Saskatchevan biologist said some mushrooms produce a luminous glow.
"There are whole lists of mushrooms which glow on the ground which produce a bioluminescence," said Dr. Hans Gruen, who specializes in study of mushrooms.
"It's possible some of these could cause fairy rings."
At least one person found mushrooms beneath the flattened ring of grass discovered in the Langensburg farm, but the mushrooms were discarded as unrelated to the phenomenon.
Dr. McNamara also said the flattened grass which seemed to suggest some object had landed on the farm could be the result of dead grass being pushed over by the wind.
But those who believe the farm was visited by unidentified flying objects can still maintain their belief.
In another interview, Dr. Allen Hynek, head of the UFO centre connected with Northwestern University in Chicago, said on the basis of photographs he has seen of the Langensburg rings: "I would discount the mushroom ring interpretation."
"They resemble photos I've seen from Australia, France and Spain which are unexplained.
And Dr. Gruen also said it is unlikely any glow produced by mushrooms could be detected in daylight - when a farmer says he saw the saucer-shaped objects - although rotting vegetation in a nearby slough could have produced patches of mist.
