Wait! What's That Thing Hovering Up There?!!

"There were no windows, lights, lines or markings on the object's surface and the edges were all rounded."

"Within [one minute] of us seeing the object, we witnessed a military plane flying in the direction of our sighting."

Transcript of UFO sighting

 

"Anything that is seen in the sky that a person doesn't think is a star, planet or plane is [a] UFO. That's strictly an unidentified flying object by the definition."

"There's a persistent phenomenon that won't go away. It certainly is very, very impressive and causes [people] to report them to various agencies from police, RCMP, to national defence and other agencies."

"As an astronomer, my background suggests there probably is alien life out there, but travelling between stars is very, very difficult."

"People [during COVID restrictions] were spending more time with their families, in their own backyards, and were ... appreciating nature and what's surrounding them [and] UFOs are a part of human culture."

"This is probably a way of just imagining what life is like in the universe, beyond the borders of our little blue speck in space. So, if you've seen a UFO, you're in very good company."

Chris Rutkowski, Astronomer, Ufology Research, Winnipeg

The shapes and colours of reported UFOs tend to vary widely. A new report from Ufology Research in Winnipeg says Canadians who say they spotted unidentified flying objects increased by 46 per cent in 2020. (Markusaram/flickr.com)

A report of a UFO sighting was made by a man who was driving on a rural road in Alberta when a pie-shaped object came into view, levitating, then rotating, turning black and disappearing. With the man in the car was his son. That report to Winnipeg's Ufology Research group was only one of hundreds they received throughout the year of COVID-19. According to Chris Rutkowski sighting reports of levitating discs, erratic spaceships and floating triangular objects saw a whopping 46 percent increase in 2020, over the year before.

A total of 1,243 sightings were reported last year representing one of the  highest numbers recorded in any year. Of the reports, about 30 percent emanated from sightings in Ontario, while another 24 percent made their appearance in Quebec. On average, according to the numbers, there were three UFO  sightings daily. In Toronto there was one person who reported that a UFO levitated 1-1/2 metres from his balcony before he saw it fold on itself and disappear. 

 

In another instance in Ontario, a pilot flying from Thunder Bay reported seeing an object about a metre in diameter that passed over his plate's right wing while perplexingly his radar signalled no traffic in the immediate airway. There were rational explanations for some of the sightings, ultimately attributed to a satellite, a plane in flight seen at an awkward angle, and in other instances light playing visual tricks. Of the total, however, 13 percent ended up being unidentifiable and were classified as unexplained.

 

After reviewing 30 years of UFO reports, Chris Rutkowski told the CBC’s Darren Bernhardt in December he found 75 cases from Christmas Day. (Raggedstone/Shutterstock)

 

Despite the mystery, the astronomer has his doubts that UFOs signify that extraterrestrial beings are travelling in them. Still, occasionally a police officer or a pilot -- both professions considered observationally credible -- report a sighting of a UFO and researchers tend to take their reports of sightings seriously. "What do you do with those cases? Do you just chalk them up to 'one of those things'? Or does that make you think there is something behind all the mystery and mileau?"

He surmises two issues to be behind the fact that Canadians are reporting more objects being seen of a mysterious nature that science cannot readily explain. He points out that the U.S. government released videos of unidentified aerial phenomena recorded by the navy. "That [drove] some people to look a little more carefully in the sky and [to] believe that UFOs are a little more popular and frequent than one believes."

He theorizes as well that the effect of the pandemic on peoples' sensibilities has caused them to ponder over their lives, to wonder if we truly are alone in the universe. At the same time, he feels that any being intelligent enough to travel between stars may have reached some conclusions over the problems existing on this planet endemic both to nature and to the nature of humankind -- such as conflict, famine and climate change.

• Shovelling snow off his apartment balcony in Toronto on January 23, 2020, someone reported seeing a two-metre-long object levitating some 1.5 metres distance to where he stood, watching as the black and silver object folded on itself, then disappeared.
• On the very same day, January 23, 2020, an individual near Guelph, Ontario reported sighting two bright lights following a plane, and when the plane deviated course. the lights continued in the same direction picking up speed when a huge circular object appeared behind the lights as though the lights were escorting the UFO.
• A man in Ottawa drew out binoculars when he observed an object with flashing lights hovering in the clear sky on August 30, 2020. The chevron-shaped UFO was black with green, blue and purple on it, and flashing lights beneath. He and his wife watched the object levitate for roughly 20 minutes until it moved on.

Grace Capati looks at a UFO display outside of the Little A'Le'Inn, in Rachel, Nev., the closest town to Area 51, July 22, 2019. A recent survey posted by Ufology Research in Winnipeg says there was a jump in UFO sightings in Canada last year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-John Locher