Quick Info
October 4, 1967, Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia. Multiple witnesses saw a large, brightly lit object crash into the harbour waters with a whoosh and a splash. RCMP officers watched it float, then sink. Divers searched for days but found nothing. Yellow foam, underwater lights, and rumours of a second craft near Government Point kept the mystery alive.
This mysterious even still remains Canada’s most thoroughly documented UFO case.
Timeline of Events – October 4, 1967
The incident unfolded over several hours on a clear, moonless night. Times are approximate, based on witness statements, RCMP reports, and Chris Styles’ research.
- 7:19 p.m. Captain Peter G. Charbonneau (Air Canada Flight 305) and co-pilot Ralph Lowinger (Pan Am Flight 160) spot a string of bright orange lights streaking across the sky at high altitude. The lights appear to manoeuvre and dive toward the coast. No radar contact.
- 11:00 p.m. Several residents notice four orange lights flashing in sequence in the sky. Laurie Wickens (17) and four friends see the lights dive at a 45-degree angle toward the harbour. They assume a plane crash.
- 11:20 p.m. The object crashes into the water near Shag Harbour with a loud whoosh and splash. Witnesses hear a whistling, tumbling sound, then a bang. Laurie Wickens and friends rush to a phone booth and call the RCMP, reporting a plane crash.
- 11:25 p.m. RCMP Constable Ron Pond arrives. He sees a pale-yellow glowing object floating on the water, about 150–300 metres offshore. It leaves a trail of yellowish foam as it moves slowly. Other officers arrive and observe the same thing.
- 11:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. The object dims and slips beneath the surface. Divers from the Canadian Coast Guard and Navy are called. Yellow foam covers the water for hours. Locals gather to watch. No wreckage surfaces.
- October 5–6 Divers search the harbour bottom but find nothing. Rumours spread of a second craft or object near Government Point (25 miles away), near a submarine detection base. Underwater lights are reportedly seen. Military activity increases.
- October 7 onward Official statements deny anything unusual. Witnesses are told to stay quiet. The case fades from headlines but lives on through local memory and later research by Chris Styles and Don Ledger.
October 4, 1967 – A Quiet Fishing Village Meets the Unknown
Shag Harbour was (and still is) a tiny fishing community on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. Fewer than 200 people lived there in 1967. On October 4, the night was clear and moonless. Locals were winding down after a normal day.
Around 7:19 p.m., two commercial airline pilots (Air Canada Flight 305 and Pan Am Flight 160) saw strange orange lights manoeuvring in the sky. The lights dived toward the coast. No radar contact.
Later that night, at approximately 11:00 p.m., several residents noticed four orange lights flashing in sequence overhead. Laurie Wickens (17) and four friends watched the lights dive at a 45-degree angle toward the harbour. They assumed a plane crash and raced to a phone booth.
"We went right to the phone booth and called the RCMP and reported a plane crash, and he didn’t believe me at first, so I hung up. But he had gotten the number for the phone booth, so as I made my way back to my car, the phone booth rang, and he wanted to know where the crash was."
– Laurie Wickens (original witness, president of Shag Harbour UFO Incident Society)
RCMP Constable Ron Pond arrived quickly. He saw a pale-yellow glowing object floating on the water, about 150–300 metres offshore. It left a trail of yellowish foam as it moved slowly. Other officers arrived and observed the same thing.
"There was four lights in a row, and they were going on and off. One would come on, then two, three and four – and they’d all be off for a second and come back on again."
– Laurie Wickens (describing the lights)
The Crash & the Floating Object
At approximately 11:20 p.m., the object crashed into the harbour with a loud whoosh and splash. Witnesses heard a whistling, tumbling sound, then a bang. The object floated briefly, then dimmed and slipped beneath the surface.
"It kept getting brighter and brighter and brighter, like a full moon, but there was no moon. Then came a whistling and a tumbling, as if a massive object were flipping end over end through the air."
– Peter Goreham (local witness)
Divers from the Canadian Coast Guard and Navy searched for days but found nothing. Yellow foam covered the water for hours. Rumours spread of a second craft or object near Government Point, near a submarine detection base. Underwater lights were reportedly seen. Military activity increased.
Chris Styles' Research
Chris Styles is the single most important civilian researcher in the Shag Harbour case. A lifelong Nova Scotian, he was 12 years old in 1967 and personally witnessed strange lights in the sky that night. In the early 1990s, he began hearing older locals casually mention the incident as if it was common knowledge. Intrigued, Styles started interviewing original witnesses, cross-referencing RCMP reports, and uncovering military involvement that had been buried for 25+ years.
His research turned a forgotten local story into Canada’s best-documented UFO case. Key findings include:
- The crash was real and officially acknowledged - Multiple primary witnesses (including RCMP officers) watched a ~60-foot craft crash into the harbour with a whoosh and splash. RCMP filed official reports calling it a "UFO Report" (not a meteor or misidentified plane). The Canadian government never denied the crash occurred - they simply said nothing was found.
- Yellow foam & underwater behaviour - After the crash, a thick, yellowish foam (described as "sulphur-smelling" or "like detergent") covered the water for hours. The object floated briefly, then sank - but some witnesses (and Styles’ later sources) claim it moved underwater toward Government Point (about 25 miles away).
- The "second site" at Government Point / Shelburne - Styles’ most explosive finding: After divers found nothing in Shag Harbour, military activity shifted to Government Point (near a secret submarine detection base/SOSUS array). Witnesses and retired divers told Styles that a second UFO/USO joined the first underwater. Sonar contacts were made; vessels were positioned overhead for days. A salvage operation was planned - then abruptly cancelled when the second object arrived. Styles quotes a retired Navy diver ("Harry"):
"Now don’t call back!"
– Retired Navy diver "Harry" (implying divers were told to stop talking after seeing something extraordinary) - Military & government involvement - Canadian Navy divers (from HMCS Granby) searched the harbour - Styles obtained dive reports showing nothing found. But Styles’ interviews reveal a second phase at Government Point involving NATO/US monitoring. Some records disappeared; witnesses were surveilled years later (Styles himself was followed after photographing sites). The case was never publicly closed as "identified" - it remains "unexplained" in government files.
- Ongoing discoveries & legacy - Styles co-founded the Shag Harbour UFO Incident Society and helped create the Shag Harbour UFO Interpretive Centre (now a tourist site with exhibits, annual festival, and the "UFO Incident Trail"). His books (*Dark Object* with Don Ledger, 2001; *Impact to Contact* with Graham Simms, 2016) are the definitive works. He frequently says:
"To this day, I don’t know the absolute answer, but we’re still finding things."
– Chris Styles (civilian UFO investigator)
Styles’ 30+ years of interviews, FOI requests, and archival digging turned Shag Harbour from a local legend into a government-documented crash with physical evidence (foam, sonar contacts), multiple official agencies involved, and no prosaic explanation. It’s often called "Canada’s Roswell", but unlike Roswell, the government never denied the event; they just said they found nothing.
Key Videos and Interviews on the Shag Harbour Incident 1967
More eyewitness footage and analyses on YouTube
Official Response & Investigation
The RCMP, Canadian Coast Guard, and Canadian Forces investigated. Official statements denied anything unusual. Witnesses were told to stay quiet. The case faded from headlines but lived on through local memory and later research by Chris Styles and Don Ledger.
Legacy in 2026
Over 59 years later, Shag Harbour 1967 remains Canada’s most thoroughly documented UFO case: multiple witnesses, RCMP reports, military involvement, underwater search, yellow foam, and no conventional explanation. The Shag Harbour UFO Incident Interpretive Centre and annual festival keep the story alive. Witnesses and researchers like Chris Styles continue to push for answers. The case is frequently cited as one of the strongest in UFO history.
