UFO sighting in P.E.I. backed by national group
CBC Radio & TV - January 12, 2016
A Moncton man is convinced what he saw off the north shore of P.E.I. was a UFO, and believes he has the video to prove it.
John Sheppard was camping at Twin Shores campground, near Kensington, with his wife in June 2014.
He was about to join his wife, who was already asleep in the tent, at around 11:30 p.m. when out of the corner of his eye he saw a light out over the water.
After watching the diamond-shaped light dancing about 75 meters above the water, around a kilometre off shore, for several minutes, Sheppard grabbed his cell phone and started filming. He narrates as he watches what he calls a light show.
"It's flashing bright, on and off a little bit. It reminds me of a dreidel or spin top," said Sheppard.
2nd light appears
About three minutes later, a second light appears.
"No idea what it is. Never seen anything like it," said Sheppard at the time, musing he hopes the video can be enhanced or brightened so people can get a good view of what he's seeing.
"Cause people are going to think I'm crazy or something."
This week, more than a year after the incident, Sheppard told CBC News he still can't explain what he saw.
"I couldn't really put anything to what it would resemble, like a helicopter or a plane or anything."
Adrenaline starts to kick in
As the light show continued, Sheppard admits he started to feel unsettled as his adrenaline kicked in.
"I was very nervous. You know, I don't really want to admit that, but, yeah, I was pretty nervous."
He continued filming but huddled close to a bush so he was hidden.
"I didn't want to be seen by it. I didn't want it coming over."
Then about eight minutes after he started filming, the light disappears.
UFO investigator steps in
Sheppard sent his video to the Mutual UFO Network of Canada. MUFON is a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to the scientific study of UFOs.
Assistant director Stu Bundy said an investigator was assigned and every effort was made to explain what Sheppard had captured on tape.
Bundy estimates there are about a thousand reports of possible UFO sightings in Canada each year, but many are actually the star Sirius or the international space station flying over.
But neither was the case with Sheppard's sighting.
MUFON uses an open source website called Stellarium to see what could have caused the bright lights in the sky that night, including satellites, but Bundy said the investigator still couldn't find an explanation.
MUFON's drone expert didn't think a drone was a likely explanation either, given there were 20 km/hr winds that night and a drone's battery wouldn't likely be able to last as long as the lights Sheppard saw in the sky.
The fact that there were two objects also convinced MUFON drones weren't the cause.
1 of very few confirmed cases
After an extensive investigation, including a site visit, MUFON concluded what Sheppard saw was a UFO or, in the group's terminology, an UAV — unidentified aerial vehicle.
"It's very rare. Extremely rare," said Bundy. "This is great. This is a really serious sighting, and we still refer to it as one of the best UFO sightings in the Maritimes."
The case was listed as one of the top 10 MUFON sightings of 2014, but CBC News only became aware of the case after a recent re-posting by the group.
Sheppard knows some people will scoff, but he's convinced what he saw was out of the ordinary.
"Yeah, it was definitely unidentified for sure. Was it a spaceship? I can't say for certain, but it was something you don't see every day."
MUFON said it will continue to monitor the P.E.I. site.
VIA: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ufo-sighting- ... 00030.html
UFO in PEI
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UPDATE
UFO sighting in P.E.I. disputed
[CBC] January 13, 2016
Theories are pouring in to explain what some say was a UFO sighting off P.E.I.'s North Shore in June 2014, but a national UFO group is standing by its conclusion.
Moncton's John Sheppard shot around eight minutes of video showing bright lights in the sky over the Gulf of St. Lawrence while camping at Twin Shores campground in the late spring that year.
He submitted the video to Mutual UFO Network of Canada (MUFON), which looked into the sighting and concluded it was an unidentified aerial vehicle — or UAV.
But a number of people have written to CBC News looking to debunk that conclusion.
Paul Gray, the Halifax president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, has been an amateur astronomer for 27 years, and says he's debunked many alleged UFO sightings.
Gray believes what Sheppard filmed that night was likely the 11:42 p.m. Air Canada flight approaching the Îles-de-la-Madeleine airport. Gray said the airport's main runway is directly in line with the area of the North Shore where Sheppard was filming.
He said the landing lights of the aircraft are turned on 10 to 15 minutes before landing and can be seen up to 160 km away, making it possible for someone on the P.E.I. shore to spot them.
As for the erratic behaviour of the light, Gray has a challenge for those who believe this is a UFO.
"Next clear night, if you are 10 to 20 miles from an airport, go out with your cell phone and try to hold it steady for five minutes or more and take a video of the plane on approach. I bet you will find it looks almost the same, a bright light bouncing around the screen," Gray wrote to CBC News.
He argues MUFON should choose the most likely hypothesis.
"Is it more likely to be a UFO with aliens, or a plane approaching a known runway at night at a known time of arrival?" wrote Gray.
UFO group stand by conclusion
But MUFON Canada assistant director Stu Bundy isn't convinced.
He said MUFON's B.C. director is also an astronomer and a former pilot, and he didn't think it was an aircraft on approach.
Bundy said their investigator checked flight schedules out of the Charlottetown and Halifax airports for that night.
"We could be wrong. Never say never," said Bundy, but he stands by MUFON's conclusion.
Theories abound
Hugh McCormack, who worked at the P.E.I. National Park in the mid-80s, believes what Sheppard filmed was two parachute flares dropped by Canadian military planes, which he's seen during search-and-rescue exercises or regular training.
Sheppard, in his video, does mention he heard planes a short time before the lights appeared, and in his follow-up interview with CBC News he said a large military plane did make several passes over the campsite the next day.
Bundy said MUFON is happy to sift through all theories, but he warns that this is a very polarizing subject with many on both sides who believe they know the truth.
'It flew very similarly to the man's video'
Thunder Cove cottage owner Ross Thompson floated a third theory.
Thompson wrote to CBC News that in the summer of 2014 he thought he saw a UFO between his cottage and the water late one night. But after some investigation, it turned out to be a large drone with multi-coloured lights owned by a cottage renter in the area.
"It had red, blue and white lights, plus one bright light. It flew very similarly to the man's video," said Thompson. "Moved up and down very quickly and around the area several hundred meters up."
Bundy said MUFON already considered that possibility.
He said one of the group's field investigators in Montreal, who owns a drone company, doubts the lights were caused by one of these flying devices.
"He sells these things and he's very familiar with them and he said it didn't really have any characteristics, or not many, of a drone," said Bundy.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ufo-sighting- ... 07132.html
UFO sighting in P.E.I. disputed
[CBC] January 13, 2016
Theories are pouring in to explain what some say was a UFO sighting off P.E.I.'s North Shore in June 2014, but a national UFO group is standing by its conclusion.
Moncton's John Sheppard shot around eight minutes of video showing bright lights in the sky over the Gulf of St. Lawrence while camping at Twin Shores campground in the late spring that year.
He submitted the video to Mutual UFO Network of Canada (MUFON), which looked into the sighting and concluded it was an unidentified aerial vehicle — or UAV.
But a number of people have written to CBC News looking to debunk that conclusion.
Paul Gray, the Halifax president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, has been an amateur astronomer for 27 years, and says he's debunked many alleged UFO sightings.
Gray believes what Sheppard filmed that night was likely the 11:42 p.m. Air Canada flight approaching the Îles-de-la-Madeleine airport. Gray said the airport's main runway is directly in line with the area of the North Shore where Sheppard was filming.
He said the landing lights of the aircraft are turned on 10 to 15 minutes before landing and can be seen up to 160 km away, making it possible for someone on the P.E.I. shore to spot them.
As for the erratic behaviour of the light, Gray has a challenge for those who believe this is a UFO.
"Next clear night, if you are 10 to 20 miles from an airport, go out with your cell phone and try to hold it steady for five minutes or more and take a video of the plane on approach. I bet you will find it looks almost the same, a bright light bouncing around the screen," Gray wrote to CBC News.
He argues MUFON should choose the most likely hypothesis.
"Is it more likely to be a UFO with aliens, or a plane approaching a known runway at night at a known time of arrival?" wrote Gray.
UFO group stand by conclusion
But MUFON Canada assistant director Stu Bundy isn't convinced.
He said MUFON's B.C. director is also an astronomer and a former pilot, and he didn't think it was an aircraft on approach.
Bundy said their investigator checked flight schedules out of the Charlottetown and Halifax airports for that night.
"We could be wrong. Never say never," said Bundy, but he stands by MUFON's conclusion.
Theories abound
Hugh McCormack, who worked at the P.E.I. National Park in the mid-80s, believes what Sheppard filmed was two parachute flares dropped by Canadian military planes, which he's seen during search-and-rescue exercises or regular training.
Sheppard, in his video, does mention he heard planes a short time before the lights appeared, and in his follow-up interview with CBC News he said a large military plane did make several passes over the campsite the next day.
Bundy said MUFON is happy to sift through all theories, but he warns that this is a very polarizing subject with many on both sides who believe they know the truth.
'It flew very similarly to the man's video'
Thunder Cove cottage owner Ross Thompson floated a third theory.
Thompson wrote to CBC News that in the summer of 2014 he thought he saw a UFO between his cottage and the water late one night. But after some investigation, it turned out to be a large drone with multi-coloured lights owned by a cottage renter in the area.
"It had red, blue and white lights, plus one bright light. It flew very similarly to the man's video," said Thompson. "Moved up and down very quickly and around the area several hundred meters up."
Bundy said MUFON already considered that possibility.
He said one of the group's field investigators in Montreal, who owns a drone company, doubts the lights were caused by one of these flying devices.
"He sells these things and he's very familiar with them and he said it didn't really have any characteristics, or not many, of a drone," said Bundy.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ufo-sighting- ... 07132.html
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson