NUFORC Sighting 56407

Occurred: 1999-02-10 23:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2007-04-25 14:26 Pacific
Duration: ~3 Mins
No of observers: 0

Location: Lake Makokibatan (Canada), ON, Canada

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Landed

Orange sphere descends and touches surface of wilderness lake

I’d like to relate a second-hand sighting that I found compelling, based on my own personal opinion about the credibility of the witness, and because I know if I were never to share the account, it would go forever unreported officially.

A few years ago, I went on a fly-in fishing trip with my father and brother on a lake in a very remote area in northern Ontario, Canada. The location was Makokibatan Lodge, an outpost on Makokibatan Lake which is only accessible by float plane. We had our own "cabin attendant," a very sweet and down-to-earth woman in her 50s, who would knock on our door early every morning with coffee, and remind us that the fish are not going to catch themselves. We got to know her well by the end of the trip.

One night, my brother and I went outside, and stepped into a wooded area just out of range of the dock light’s glow, and looked up to enjoy the sky. I’ve seen many star-dense skies in zero light pollution areas, but this one, presumably because of our boreal latitude, was breathtaking. The thing that immediately struck us both though, was all the STUFF flying around up there! I’m versed in the subject of aerospace, and my brother is a high-level electrical engineer that maintains a military security clearance for the work he does with the Department of Naval Intelligence, for which he has worked on satellite projects. We recognized this satellite/space junk mess above our heads for what it was, but it was quite a sight. I've never seen so many star-like objects in transit across the sky in my life. The night sky in this place is alive. At times we would see as many as 4 different satellites in various orbits at once. My brother pointed out a couple that were in polar orbits, which he said were either military or WX. We saw a very tight constellation of three evenly spaced satellites forming a triangle traversing the sky in formation, and a blinking star-like object, which my bro informed me was a spin-stabilized satellite of some kind. I’d be lying though if I said I wasn’t watching all of them very closely for a change in vector or speed, but of course they were what they were. Quite a show.

The next morning, our cabin lady came in, and in small talk, we told her what a great sky we enjoyed last night and how we couldn’t believe how much garbage was flying around up there, and she related that the sky is one of the reasons she feels lucky to live up there etc. With last night’s light show still fresh in our minds, to my surprise especially coming from my brother, he followed up with, "So, have you ever seen anything strange?"

She replied in her thick Canadian accent, "Oh yeah, well, me, once." Her response was patently nonchalant and innocent. Surprised, we pressed her for more. She went on to describe a night a few years previous, off-season, where she was up by the cabins while 3 or 4 "hands" were working at the dock, and they observed a "large" orange sphere, self luminous and about the brightness and color of "one of those orange street lamps," casting shadow as it approached over the treetops on the opposite side of the lake, hover over the center of the lake at 300-400ft AGL (my estimation based on where she pointed), then descend to touch the surface of the lake. She said it "dipped" slightly into the lake and just sat there. (Note: It's a very large, choppy lake, so no "ripples" would be visibly cast and were not mentioned, nor did she mention any bobbing in the chop). It stayed there for a number of seconds, then ascended slowly, accelerated, and "shot straight up" and out of sight.

She spoke in a quiet tone and gave me the impression as if she was almost a little embarrassed to share the story, but again, casual about it. She ended the account by saying dismissively, "I don’t know what it was." and dispensed a shrug. She did imply during this conversation that many of the employees have their own experiences. As she spoke, i got the impression that her attitude was that in this place with such a conspicuous, immersive, impossible-to-ignore sky that occasionally seeing something "strange" is just kinda bound to happen eventually if you work and live here.

In retrospect I wished I had pressed her for a little more detail, but didn’t think it was appropriate at the time. The previous night, while gazing at that crystal clear, star-blanketed dome that betrayed to us every single little chunk of trash parading above us, I couldn’t help but think, "Well, if UFOs are real and one got anywhere near this place, you sure as hell wouldn’t miss it." I think the unassuming, down to earth folks that work in this place are probably quite aware of that too.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD

Posted 2007-04-27