140 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
140 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
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<<UFONET I>> * 416-237-1204 * PC-Pursuitable * File Requestable * HST
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* 24 Hour Operation * Sysop - Tom Mickus * Toronto * FREE
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SASKUFO.TXT - Text file that was scanned and processed via OCR by
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^^^^^^^^^^^^ Harvey Stewart [UFONET I] .
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The file was run through the Microsoft Word 5.0 spell
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checker following conversion so most errors in character
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recognition should be ok. Now that I finally have OCR
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software that works there should be lots of files on the
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way so stay tuned.
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Do you have important material that needs to be shared?
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Contact us here at UFONET I and perhaps we can convert
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your document to a text file for you using our OCR
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software and hardware. You can contact either myself
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Harvey Stewart or the Sysop of this board Tom Mickus
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for details.
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SASKATCHEWAN, 1933: UFO STOPS FOR "REPAIRS"
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BY JOHN BRENT MUSGRAVE (FSR Vol 22 # 6 1976)
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Even as late as the mid 1930's, much of the prairie
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provinces of Canada was still on the frontier of
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immigrant settlement. Particularly in the northern
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areas homesteaders were just beginning to open up
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the land to commerce and agriculture, and such
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Luxuries as telephones, paved roads and electricity
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were things of the future. The town of Nipawin,
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Saskatchewan, is situated in the northwest corner of
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the province and in the 30's was on the edge of this
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settlement. During the summer of 1933 stories
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drifted into Nipawin that some homesteaders. as well
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as a forest tower ranger, bad been observing strange
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lights in the sky and near the ground. Whatever it
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was, they had been seeing it for the better part of a
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week. The land to the northwest of Nipawin, near
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the Tobin Lake area, is made up of rolling hills and
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low lying marsh. Parts of it bad begun to be farmed
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just a few years earlier, and it was without improvement
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Because of the local marsh, most of the towns-
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folk who beard about the strange lights explained
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them away as swamp gas - a convenient scapegoat
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that still gets used today.
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Fortunately, not everyone in Nipawin was con-
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vinced that the stories were based on nothing more
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than ""hot air,,: and shortly after midnight that
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summer night two men and a woman (names known
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to the author) jumped into a small pick-up truck and
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drove to the area where the lights were reported to
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have been seen. They were not disappointed as the
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glow on the horizon gradually grew brighter as they
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drove on. After driving as close as the rough trail
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would allow them, they got out and hiked through
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the woods in the direction of the glow. They were
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blocked a quarter of a mile or less from reaching
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the source of the glow by a strip of muskeg that was
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too boggy to risk on to in the middle of the night.
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But it was close enough. From their vantage point
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they were able to make out that the light came
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from a large oval shaped object that was domed
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at the top and slightly rounded on the bottom. It
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was supported by legs and from a central door-
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way, or hatch, about a dozen figures could be seen
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going up and down a ladder-like stairway. The
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Occupants appeared to be slightly shorter than the
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average man, and were all dressed in what appeared
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to be silver colored suits or uniforms. All appeared
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to be wearing helmets or ski caps, and all were busy
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running around ""repairing,, the craft.
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All about was a strange sort of quiet, even though
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the occupants were busy scurrying about. Not a
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sound could be heard. The three witnesses stared in
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silent amazement at what was going on, no one even
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thought to speak out. The bright orange glow that
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emanated from the craft lit up the surroundings area,
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and the three of them bad no difficulty spying on
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the activities. The light from the craft was not only
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bright, but bad an ""unearthly,, quality never seen by
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any of them before and added to the mystery of the
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scene. After about a half hour the three of them
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returned to the truck and started back to town
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hoping to find a way around the muskeg to get a
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closer look at the strange machine parked in the
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middle of a marsh miles away from the nearest farm-
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house or forest tower. But when they finally did
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come across a cut-off trail that might take them
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closer they realized that they didn't have enough
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gasoline to take them in and out. So they had to
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return home that night.
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It was not until a couple of nights later that they
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were able to make a return trip out. It was a clear
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night with almost a full moon, and they hoped to get
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an even better view. But this night the object was
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gone. No trace of the glowing craft could be seen
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from the vantage point of two nights previous, and
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they returned to the truck to await dawn. They then
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walked back in across the muskeg to see if nay
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evidence of what they had seen was Left. And there
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was. six large square imprints that must have been
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the bases of the legs that supported the craft proved
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that there indeed had been something there that
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night. Each imprint was the same size - 2 to 2 1/2
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feet square, and approximately S to 10 feet apart.
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The imprints were 2 to 3 inches deep, and reminded
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the three of them of a kind of mark that would be
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made by boiler plate stomped into the ground. They
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could also see markings where the base of the stair-
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way met ground. As if this wasn't remarkable enough,
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a great burn mark in the center of the area covered a
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circle approximately I 2 feet in diameter. They
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looked for footprints but found none though there
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was some scuffling of the vegetation surrounding the
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spot where the craft had been.
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They came better prepared this time. One of the
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witnesses had brought along a small brownie box
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camera and took photographs of the burn marks
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and of the imprints. Later two of them wrote up an
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article about the whole affair and submitted it, along
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with copies of the photos, to a number of magazines
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and newspapers in Canada. But no publication was
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interested, and those publishers that replied
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wondered what kind of party they had been to those
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nights. Like many other UFO witnesses the three of
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selves. In the course of the 40 plus years since the
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incident, the original photographs have been lost by
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the witness who took them, and who bad learned the
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hard way that they were apparently of no interest to
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anyone else. Perhaps copies of them are still in
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existence stored in an attic or sandwiched between
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vacation shots in some photo album. If they are
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ever uncovered they may prove to be the earliest
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photographs of a physical trace case where there were
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witnesses, and which even had occupants to boot.
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