Sue Darroch and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

Over the weekend I shared some vintage UFO reports from the Ottawa Valley, Canada area with you. These were sent to me by a fellow researcher. Today I will share a few more from you that are originally taken from newspaper clippings:

An equally bizarre apparition jumped across valley skies the following spring. Driving from Chalk River, James Turcotte and his family saw a fireball streak across the car's windshield. It had a green light and discharged a multitude of colours before fading away. He suspected it was a military aircraft, as they were nearing Camp Petawawa.

On the outskirts of Pembroke, Orville Wasmund's wife noticed the object from her kitchen window. She thought it was silver, and promptly alerted her neighbour, John Murack, who described it as a "big ball of light." On Chamberlain Street, Shirley Corrigan saw this spectre, which was shooting particles and emitting a greenish glow. It abruptly disappeared somewhere over the Ottawa River. Scientists observing the same object from Ohio determined it was probably a meteor travelling at an orbit 80 miles above the earth.

Were meteors the answer to all these sightings? Possibly. But then how to explain away what Leo Chaput saw? One night in May, 1969, the 54-year-old mill worker was sitting in his summer kitchen when he saw a white light soaring above the Wabush Line. The "machine," as he called it, landed in the field behind his Chapeau farm house. Chaput investigated the next morning and found three crop circles burned into the grass. The rings were 27 feet in diameter. The needles on a nearby pine tree appeared singed off and there was no indication of carbon deposits. Chaput professed he got a good look at the UFO.

"I was standing near the field and watched this bright object travelling below the tree-line," he explained to a horde of skeptical reporters. "The front of it had two large red eyes. I watched it for about 10 minutes, then it disappeared."

The most serious close encounter occurred weeks later in Petawawa Village. In the early morning hours of July 13, a woman ran into the Arrow Taxi stand with an incredible story. She was in a hysterical state but calmed down long enough to recount what she saw to the on-duty cabbie, John Chesson. She had been driving down Black Bay Road when a huge light swooped down from out of nowhere. It hovered over the car for a couple of minutes, lighting up the roadway. What terrified her was the UFO then followed her for a few miles before bolting from the scene. Chesson stepped out to see for himself. In the far distance, he caught a glimpse of what he described as a "bright star" sailing through the sky.

Meanwhile, panicked phone callers flooded the police switchboard. Others had seen the entity. Provincial constables Jack Mackay and Grant Chaplin were dispatched to investigate. Entering the village, the officers suddenly stopped their squad car. There in the sky was the UFO, moving slowly in a south-easterly direction. The officers were soon joined by a small crowd of 12 other disbelieving motorists who had pulled over to watch the anomaly. Mackay figured the object was cylindrical in shape, hovering some 1,500 feet above the ground. What puzzled Mackay was it had no solid body or form. From the main gate of the base, three military policemen also watched the object in amazement. The UFO moved in a slow, continuous orbit for another 40 minutes before it disappeared west of Pembroke.

While the Petawawa incident garnered national media attention, this incredible night was all but forgotten a week later. Every person on the planet with a television set was watching American astronaut Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon.

Chilling .... particularly the Petawawa Village incident. To be honest I am not sure what my reaction would be to such an event, but i can say that I too would have been terrified under those circumstances.