Canada Had 15,000 UFO Sightings in The Last 25 Years - Some Are Bizarre

Posted: 01 Sep 2014 05:00 AM PDT

There have been about 15,000 UFO sightings in Canada in the past 25 years 

Back in 1992, a Winnipeg nurse reported a close encounter of the third kind.

At about 2 a.m. on Nov. 1, the woman claimed she found two small, human-like creatures in her home after a shift. She was purportedly taken inside some kind of hangar for several spacecraft, then taken for a trip around the Earth. When she found herself back at home, she discovered several unexplained hours missing from her life.

That was just one of the top 10 strangest Canadian stories of the last 25 years listed in the recent 2013 Canadian UFO Survey Report released by Ufology Research, which is based in Winnipeg, and co-written by Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman.

“There have been about 15,000 sightings in Canada over the last 25 years, which is quite a lot,” Rutkowski said. “About 13% of them are unexplained. And there were a high number of quality cases reported by pilots and RCMP.”

So, are they really among us now?

“It doesn’t say anything about aliens inhabiting Canada, but there is a real phenomenon where people are seeing something alien,” Rutkowski said. “But it could simply be the result of some kind of military testing, lights in the night sky, a planetary phenomenon, or something else. But there is about 2% of the sightings that cannot be explained and, out of 15,000, that is very significant.”

The number of UFO sightings officially reported in Canada has increased from 141 in 1989 to a record high of 1,981 in 2012. That could be because there are now more UFOs present, people are being more observant, and/or have easier access to the Internet to report them.

The goal of the UFO survey was to provide data for use by researchers trying to understand the controversial phenomenon. Rutkowski and Dittman basically compiled the research and wrote the report on their own dime, but believe an official scientific study should be established.

“There isn’t one now for the same reason that most people just shrug when they hear about UFOs,” said Rutkowski.

Rutkowski, who has written several books on UFOs, was asked if he believed aliens exist.

“There’s probably life out there, but that doesn’t mean they’ve come here,” he said.

But would they be friendly?

“I hope so,” Rutkowski said. “If they were smart enough to fly here, they would be beyond our intelligence, so I would think so.”

Take a ride on the wild side

The curious can visit one of the most documented cases of a purported UFO sighting in Manitoba — on horseback.

For the past decade or so, the Falcon Beach Ranch has offered a UFO ride that will take you to the scene of what is known as the “Falcon Lake Encounter” — for $80 for two.

Stephen Michalak in Hospital

In May 1967, Winnipeg mechanic Stephen Michalak claimed he encountered two UFOs while prospecting for silver in the forest near Falcon Lake, and actually got burned when he touched one of them.

“It’s probably the most famous one (sighting),” said local astronomer Chris Rutkowski.

Michalak, who died in 1999, went to the hospital with burns on his chest. He became very sick, suffering from symptoms consistent with a radiation burn.

The site was investigated by RCMP and Royal Canadian Air Force, among others. Some soil samples were radioactive. The Canadian Department of National Defence officially deemed the incident unresolved.

The ride has proven to be quite popular, said ranch co-owner Marg Imrie.

“We take people in there and tell them what the alleged story was,” Imrie said. “But a lot of them already know the story, they just want to see the site. It takes about 45 minutes to get there and you have to scramble up on some fairly rough rocks on horseback.”

The site is not marked in any way.

“We know where it is and we want to keep it fairly remote,” said Imrie, who has never seen a UFO herself.