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Category 6
Physical Trace Cases

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Shag Harbour Crash
October 4, 1967

Don Ledger:
On the night of October 4, 1967, numerous residents of Shag Harbour, a small fishing village on Nova Scotia's southeast coast, witnesses a multilighted craft which eventually appeared to 'crash' into the Sound. The Sound is the western entrance to Shag Harbour proper. The unidentified flying object was observed drifting with the current on the Sound by more than a dozen witnesses including 3 RCMP officers. All of the witnesses both in and around Shag Harbour reported what they thought was an airplane crashing near Shag Harbour. The three Mounties contacted local boat captains and the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) in Halifax, NS. The Mounties initiated a recovery operation, fully expecting to find bodies and wreckage out on the water. Initially two fishing boats loaded with volunteers went out on the water and searched. They were eventually joined by others and Coast Guard Cutter 101.  What is impressive is the amount of documentation of armed forces teletypes, principally the RCAF's AIRDESK in the nation's capitol, Ottawa. The newspapers responded to the event carrying stories about the event and one inch headlines in eastern Canada's largest, conservative newspaper, the Chronicle Herald. For a short time the Shag Harbour UFO Incident became a world wide story and as Case #34 was left unsolved in the Condon Report. The incident is in two components, the documented case and the subsequent anecdotal case supplied by retired military personnel from the Canadian army, air force and navy. During the first two hours of the incident Coast Guard Cutter 101 joined the search but it also brought news from RCC, Halifax. No airplanes were reported missing. This left the searchers and witnesses wondering; what had they seen that evening in the sky and floating on the waters off Shag Harbour;  a mystery that has endured to this day. The Royal Canadian Air Force designated it a UFO.
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