1989: The Carp, Ontario Contact Case – Article

Tom Theofanous was an investigator with CUFORN, in Toronto, from 1987 to 1992. He and his wife, Lise, have been with MUFON Ontario since then. Tom is now Deputy Director of MUFON Ontario, in Toronto. This case has had much coverage in the media. Tabloid television shows like ‘Unsolved Mysteries’, ‘Sightings’ and ‘Encounters’ have given it much air-time, as have cable-tv stations all over North America. Internationally, magazines newspapers and news-letters have devoted hundreds of pages to it and UFO conferences around the planet have intrigued many thousands of attendees with it’s seemingly startling details. ‘Carp’ has achieved ‘One Of The Most Significant Cases In UFO History’ status. You’ve probably heard, seen and read about it yourself.In this and succeeding issues we’ll deal with the FACTS of the case. We’ll describe the events, as told by the media and as we’ve experienced them – and we’ll try not appear too judgemental.

Beginnings – 1989

Tom Theofanous, working with The Canadian UFO Research Network (CUFORN), received a package from someone calling themselves ‘Guardian’. It had no return address. “The package contained a story about a UFO crash that supposedly happened close to Carlton Place, which is about a half-hour drive from Ottawa”, Tom said. “There was also a photo-copied picture of an Alien.” “For the most part, we thought it was a joke. But, CUFORN director Harry Tokarz decided to call Arthur Bray, a well-respected UFO author and researcher who lives in Ottawa, and ask him if he had someone in the Carlton area who could check out the story for us. As luck would have it, Arthur knew a fellow who was fascinated by the field of ufology, Graham Lightfoot.”

Graham, with what was to become typical thoroughness, used the somewhat sketchy co-ordinates he got from Arthur Bray to not only pinpoint the ‘UFO crash-site’ near Manion Corners, but also locate a number of witnesses.

One of those witnesses, Diane Labanek, claimed that on the night of November 4th 1989, she saw an intense, bright light pass overhead, heading towards a swamp at the far end of the field behind and south of her home. She said she also saw several helicopters earlier that evening using bright lights to scan the area. Another West Carlton resident recalled that that was the weekend when some cattle escaped from a nearby pasture and that it took till late Sunday to round them up. A couple told Graham about the wife being scared by a very bright light shone through their south-facing bathroom window. “It reached right down our hallway!”. The wife also mentioned that she vaguely remembered hearing the sound of helicopters at the time. Others talked of “dogs and cattle being disturbed”.

Many people could think of absolutely nothing unusual happening during the course of the weekend, including a couple who had a telescope set-up. Graham reported those findings to CUFORN, along with results of his examination of the field and swamp behind Labanek’s home – there were no signs on the ground, anywhere, of the heavy equipment that would be needed to recover a ‘crashed craft’.

His report closed with, “although I could find nothing conclusive to support or disprove any of the witnesses claims. I shall check back around the area later this summer.” The same Guardian material had been sent to several other investigators, researchers and UFO groups and as the story spread, both the former Provincial Director of MUFON Ontario Clive Nadin, and the current Quebec Director Christian Page, visited the area on separate occasions, and spoke to the ‘witnesses’. They confirmed Graham Lightfoot’s initial findings and agreed with Tom & Harry at CUFORN that someone was “trying to put us on – a hoax!”

Guardian re-surfaces – 1991

In the middle of October 1991 CUFORN began receiving more Guardian ‘information’ via the mail and all postmarked ‘Ottawa’. An envelope with some documents that mention a ‘conspiracy’ between the Chinese and ‘Grey Aliens that are planning to take over the world’, arrived first. Then came a Polaroid photograph of a ‘UFO’ flying across an unidentified road. A while later came a black & white picture of a grey-type ‘Alien’. The fourth delivery in the series was a package. It contained the now infamous VHS video tape with a green label on the cassette, with a thumb print and the word GUARDIAN printed on the label. There were also three playing cards in the package, all with hand written notes on them – an Ace, King and Joker. A photo-copied map showed the ‘Grey’s landing area’, along with notes explaining that the flares in the video were used to help the UFO, which can out maneuver anything on the planet, fly under the radar and know where to land! There were also ‘Canadian Department of National Defense documents’ enclosed – which, upon later investigation, proved to be forgeries.

These ‘documents’, it is thought, were designed to look like the official documents on UFOs that Canadian UFO author/researcher Stanton Friedman acquired, via ‘The Freedom of Information Act’, from the United States Government. The video – a few minutes long – showed two different angles of what Guardian alleges was an ‘alien craft’, on the ground. First, a long shot of bright lights clumped together to the right of the scene and what looked like four red emergency road flares or fires in barrels on the left side of the screen. The second scene showed the same clump of bright lights from approximately the same distance but more to the centre without any flares and the sound of a single dog barking in the distance.

The third scene was only three frames long and was a close-up of a a pair of wipers half-way across a very Earth-bound vehicle! CUFORN pondered what to do with all the Guardian information that arrived in October of ’91 and decided, that in view of the season – winter, that they would hold off visiting Carlton until after the spring run-off. Enter Oechsler At the beginning of March ’92, Bob Oechsler (pronounced Bob Ex-ler) an American MUFON investigator – who describes himself a ‘former NASA mission specialist’ – called CUFORN from his home in Maryland.

Apparently, he too had received a video and documents from Guardian, although when comparisons of the two videos were discussed, his had an additional scene – a somewhat closer one minute shot of the ‘alien craft’. His version also had a couple of minutes worth of the windshield, plus several still shots of the ‘Grey Aliens’. The most important difference, however, was that his version of the tape had no audio-track at all – “it seems it was intentionally removed”, says Tom Theofanous. Oechsler had shown the tape to Bruce Macabbee and they agreed that what they saw was a UFO and should be investigated further – and that’s why Oechsler called Tom at CUFORN. They agreed they would meet in Carlton, Ontario on May 10th 1992. Tom then called and spoke with Graham Lightfoot, for the first time, and Graham agreed to act as guide for the May meeting. It transpired that Graham worked for The O.F.A – The Ontario Federation of Agriculture – and knew the Carlton area and its farmers well.

The First Visit

On May 10th, Mother’s Day, 1991, Torontonians, Tom & Lise Theofanous, Victor Lourenco, Vaughn [LAST NAME?], Drew Williamson, Harry Tokarz and Wayne St. John met with Oechsler, his son and Graham Lightfoot at the motel the Oechslers were staying at in West Carlton, near Ottawa, Ontario. They all had breakfast together as Oechsler told many, many fascinating stories. Eventually they ended up in Oechsler’s motel room to compare their copies of the Guardian video. “Oechsler, despite being an expert in video analysis, had a great deal of difficulty connecting my video camera up to the tv set in his room so that we could play back the Guardian videos. In retrospect, his combination of technical ineptness and more story telling seemed to be a stalling tactic”, said Tom.

They stopped at a spot off Highway 7 near Manion Corners and Graham pointed out the direction from which the 1989 ‘UFO’ had come when it ‘crashed’, and where the Labanek’s house was in relation to where the group was standing. Oechsler seemed to be stalling once more, shooting video of everything. Finally, they set off again. “This time Oechsler took the lead, with me following him and Graham who’s supposed to be our guide following me!” Tom says. “I thought at the time that this was pretty odd. How did Oechsler, who supposedly had never been to Canada, let alone this area before, know his way, using side-roads and making the correct turns toward our destination?”

Earlier, Oechsler had asked the Toronto group to check for anomalies on their compasses while they were driving, because the Guardian papers described magnetic changes in certain parts of the area the group was travelling in. “So, we’re driving down a small hill when Oechsler braked suddenly up ahead of us, stopped and came back to our car to tell me that he had found an anomaly on his two compasses”, Tom recounts, “now, he had both of his laying in the back of his pick-up on the metal floor where they were bouncing around. His son was keeping an eye on them from the cab. I told him that the three compasses, we were holding in the palms of our hands, in our car didn’t waver at all. But, he insisted that he’d go back up the hill, by himself, and check again.” While the rest of the group stood around waiting for Oechsler, Drew Williamson noticed a Stop-sign at the end of a long driveway leading to an abandoned farmhouse with a For-Sale sign on it. Tom continues – “I looked through my binoculars at the Stop-sign and saw that it was propped up by rocks. There were other signs around it that read ‘Do Not Enter’ and ‘DND Killing Fields’. The last one had pictographs of tanks, helicopters and weapons on it and appeared to be riddled with bullet-holes.

“So, out of curiosity, we went over to the signs and looked more closely.” “We found tracks left by cars and what might have been four- wheeled vehicles, leading into the property. We felt that perhaps the field around the old farm house was being used for ‘War Games’ – or maybe even was the location used for the Guardian video.” “Why? Because the terrain was perfect – lots (200 acres) of open field. I also noticed a dog barking up at the house at the top of the hill.” said Tom. This would become significant later in identifying the possible location of the Guardian video shoot. “Eventually, we continued along Corkery Road. But, when I mentioned to Oechsler that we should be interviewing the people in the neighbourhood we were passing, who were out sitting in their front gardens or working on their lawns, he insisted that we look for the ‘crash’ or ‘landing’ sites.” Guardian’s map described an area about one and a quarter miles square, which consisted of dense, knee-high scrub, and wet, swampland.

The group headed toward it, using a path beneath high-tension power transmission lines that cut across below the southern end of the Labanek’s property. Most of them had great difficulty with the rough conditions and became very tired, annoyed by biting mosquitoes and soaked by the swampy ground. They gave about a half way into the swamp and headed back to the back to the parking lot. Tom picks up the story again: “Bob and his son continued to look for the landing site as the rest of us left the swamp in a couple of different groups. Lise, Drew, Wayne and I left first and drove off looking for a drink of cold pop.” “When we got back to the parking lot twenty minutes later, the second group out had left a note on our windshield saying they’d meet us at a restaurant twenty minutes away in Carp. We left a note on the Oechsler’s truck windshield telling them where we’d be. “The first of our group to arrive at the restaurant ordered their food and twenty minutes later the rest of us arrived and placed our orders.”

“Thirty minutes later, as Oechsler and his son were walking through the door, I jokingly said: I bet he’ll say he found the spot!” “As he sat down, I asked him what had happened. He smiled and said he’d found the spot.” “I asked how he’d managed to do that when we’d left him a about a mile from his car in a dense swamp halfway to the alleged site and it was getting dark. There simply hadn’t been enough time to get there examine the ‘site’ and get back out to his truck and drive to the restaurant. He just smiled, but didn’t answer.” After they finished their dinner, Drew, Victor and Vaughn decided to leave for Toronto. Graham suggested that the remainder should go talk to the Labanek, and he and Harry left ahead of Tom & Lise and the Oechslers, since Oechsler senior was still eating. The seven of them would meet at the corner by the Labaneks. “Lise, Wayne and I confronted Oechsler out in the parking lot, where the three of us had gone to discuss the days events privately.”

“I asked him what he was trying to pull here. He responded by asking “what’s wrong with trying to make a buck?”, I answered that there was nothing wrong with making money as long as we didn’t compromise our ethics.” “Oechsler came back with: “No matter what or how good the story is, 50% of the people will believe you, 50% wont. All you have to care about is the 50% that will”. “It was at that point”, recalls Tom, “that I decided to back away from the investigation for a while to see what Oechsler would do.” They joined the others at Manion Corner by the Labaneks house – Graham had knocked on their door but there was no one home. So, they waited, enjoying a pleasant early summer evening, talking. The Labaneks didn’t get home till after 10 p.m, which the group felt was late to do an interview. Graham and Oechsler would come back the next morning and talk to them Tom finishes up this part of the story: “I told Graham about the conversation that I had in the parking lot of the restaurant with Oechsler, after he left the restaurant. Then Lise, Harry, Wayne and I left for Toronto, shaking our heads.”

*The following morning, Graham Lightfoot, Oechsler and his son met and drove to the Labanek’s home at Manion Corners near Carp, Ontario. Graham reintroduced himself and asked Diane Labanek if she remembered him. “Vaguely” she said, and then remembered their conversation about a bright light that had headed towards the swamp at the bottom of her field back in 1990. *When asked if she had seen anything strange since then, she described an event that happened in their field. It seems she was putting her children to bed one night in August 1991 and something caught here eye from the second floor bedroom. *Labanek described seeing what she thought was a fire, or perhaps flares burning at the far end of the field behind the house and as she watched, a ‘craft’ landed next to the fire/flares. “After a few minutes, maybe five or eight, the very bright lights on the craft went out – just like you turn off a light-bulb. And soon after, the flares went out. Then some minutes later, a helicopter came and hovered over the area – like they were looking for something” she said. *When she was asked later why she hadn’t called the fire department about a ‘fire’ burning in her field, which was tinder dry in the August heat, she replied “I didn’t think that anyone would believe and I thought I’d get into trouble!” *On Oechsler’s next visit to the Labanek’s, she was asked to draw what she had seen. She drew a craft that she described as being silver/grey, with a zigzag design around it, sitting on three blocks which, coincidently, matched a drawing that was in one of the Guardian packages (see MUFON Ontario Newsletter, Volume 1.1, page 14) – a drawing that she maintained she’d never seen. *Labanek was able to see an object and details that were over 2200 feet away in the dark and brightly lit from the bottom up. Guardian’s video camera, which was closer, couldn’t see the ‘thunderbolt insignia’ around the ‘craft’ or the three ‘blocks’ beneath the craft. The video clearly shows the ‘craft’ to be red and not silver/grey.

MORE ON GUARDIAN’S VIDEO

*In the version of Guardians video that was sent to CUFORN, the Canadian UFO Research Network, the last three frames show a windshield with the wiper blades in an upright position. Why would Guardian put those frames that appear to have been shot at night with artificial light, on the tape? Were those frames designed to give a clue as to what the craft really was? *In the course of one of many discussions between the investigators, Tom Theofanous asked Oechsler what he thought about the windshield footage on Guardian’s video. Oechsler replied that it wasn’t a windshield but rather the design on the side of the ‘craft’. Tom asked how he’d come to that conclusion? Oechsler replied “Well there’s Diane’s evidence together with my expertise in analysis – that’s how.” *Oechsler had once again brought up his ‘qualifications and expertise’, which he seemingly did and still does at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately, Oechsler’s qualifications on the subject of windshields were definitely non-existent when compared to Tom’s – he’s been running a windshield repair company for the past seven years!

FIELD INVESTIGATOR OECHSLER

*Oechsler and Graham went out to the field after their first talk with Diane Labanek. The previous night, at a restaurant, Oechsler had claimed that he had found the ‘landing site’ and now insisted that they look for ‘evidence’. He spotted an area of grass that had been “dug up during the landing”. Graham, who works for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, patiently explained that skunks caused that kind of damage while looking for grubs. *Oechsler’s biography touts his experience in dealing with the UFO phenomenon and his expertise in ‘field work’, an expertise not on display that day. “He seemed not to know what he was looking for or anything much about country nature” Graham observed later. *Oechsler’s inexperience continued to make to show as he pointed to vegetation that had “been treated with microwave radiation”! How did he come to that conclusion without using any instruments? “It’s very dry and brittle, so it’s obviously been irradiated” Oechsler said. * *The ‘irradiated’ plants were Juniper bushes that always look that way after a Canadian winter – bleached, dried and flattened by heavy snow, probably in much the same way as in Maryland, Oechsler’s home-state . *Graham and Oechsler continued to examine what Oechsler was convinced was the landing site. He then asked Graham if he had anything to put samples in. Graham thought that it was extremely odd that an investigator of Oechsler’s ‘calibre’ would show up with no sample containers and handed over some empty film canisters for Oechsler’s samples.

*On returning to Labanek’s house later that day, Labanek told them that her husband Bill had “gone for milk” at around 10:00pm on the evening of the ‘landing’ and had missed it. Bill Labanek had been doing a ‘milk-run’ on the night in 1989 when there had been a ‘crash’ in their swamp. *He didn’t seem to be at all concerned about what had transpired on his property on either occasion. He didn’t bother to take the time to go look at the spot which his wife said had been a ‘UFO landing site’. *Diane Labanek claims to have gone only part way into the field the day after the ‘landing’, looked briefly in the direction of the ‘landing site’, didn’t see anything, and walked back to the house. *She had told no one about what she saw that night until Graham and Oechsler asked her about it. *Why didn’t she walk the remaining couple of hundred yards to where this ‘amazing event’ took place? She says that it was a beautiful summer evening too. *That evening Graham called Tom in Toronto and recounted the days events. They discussed Oechsler and his amateurish approach to the investigation and observed that a pattern seemed to be emerging. It seemed that Oechsler was incompetent, egocentric and attempting to steer the case and its facts to fit in with his own agenda.

HELICOPTERS

*As a follow-up to Diane Labanek’s assertions about helicopter activity following the ‘landing’, Investigator Drew Williamson called the Department of National Defence (DND) on May 12, 1992. He was told that the military held exercises every August using helicopters and that they had to get permission from landowners for the choppers to land in their fields. If an emergency were to arise and a helicopter had to land DND would pay compensation for any damage caused. *On July 12, 1992, Graham made a number of calls to various military establishments to get information on helicopter activity. He was told that they don’t use flares during landings at night, but do use Chem-Sticks that glow in the dark. Captain Mark Bigoutte said that although choppers were on exercise on August 19, 1991, they were many miles to the west of Manion Corners. ** *** *On July 14, 1992 Oechsler arrived back at Graham’s place and the next day they went to Uplands Royal Canadian Airforce base and showed Colonel Cajo Brando and Major Norm Patterson the Guardian video – over and over.

*Colonel Brando didn’t think it was a helicopter and when shown a photograph taken by one of the Labanek children of a Huey Helicopter that Diane Labanek maintained had ‘buzzed’ their home after the ‘landing’, he said, “It’s not one ours, they were decommissioned (taken out of active-service) two years ago.” *Brando suggested that it may have been an American chopper that had come across the border without notifying Canadian authorities – something which, apparently, happens often. *Later that day, Graham and Oechsler returned to the Labanek’s and collected some fifteen soil and plant samples from the supposed ‘landing’ site. On a radio call-in show, March 30th ’93, Oechsler claimed to have collected “over a hundred samples from all over the area”! UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

*Oechsler, in a conversation with Graham and Tom expressed interest in getting the case on the ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ tv show, feeling that it might flush Guardian out. Tom countered that it might be better to further investigate the claims of the ‘witnesses’ before giving the case national tv exposure. *What neither Tom nor Graham knew at the time, was that Oechsler had already gone ahead and made a deal with Unsolved Mysteries to shoot a segment on the Carp Case in the fall. *** *In the following three months preparations were made for the shooting of the ‘Unsolved’ segment with Graham received many calls from and eventually met the tv show’s Bob Kiviat and Bob Wise. **** *Oechsler flew into Ottawa in mid October 1992 with the ‘Unsolved’ crew and interviewed Major Patterson about the Guardian ‘Documents’.

*Graham, feeling as he did about Oechsler’s ‘slant’ on the case was very reluctant to appear on the show and it took many calls from various production people to eventually talk him into appearing. *On November 15, 1992 participants in the Carp segment gathered at General Assembly for the taping. Graham met Bruce Macabbee for the first time and, to use his words, “was not very impressed.” He put his contribution ‘in the can’ the next day at the Labanek’s.

GUARDIAN REVEALED

*In the course of a meeting on November 19, 1992 Graham learned that a man named Andy Williams claimed that he knew who Guardian was. Graham and Oechsler arranged to meet with Williams the next day in Ottawa. Andy Williams explained that a friend of many years, Bobby Charlebois, had an on-going interest in UFOs and had called himself ‘Guardian’ over the course of those years. He went on to give details about Bobby Charlebois and his ‘interests’. *Oechsler, inexplicably, gave Andy Williams much material regarding the Carp case. *On November 22nd, Graham discovered that a co-worker knew Bobby Charlebois well – his sister, Meg had dated the Guardian ‘suspect’. Graham talked with Meg and she confirmed that Charlebois was an avid UFO buff and had discussed the phenomenon on many occasions in the past. *Despite having signed an ‘exclusive’ with Unsolved Mysteries to not do another show until 30 days after their ‘airing’ of the Carp Case, Oechsler records a segment for ‘Sightings’ in January of 1993 without telling Graham until after the fact. *Interestingly, Dr. A.J. Quarington a ‘witness’ participates in ‘Sightings’ after refusing meet or even discuss the case with Graham and Clive Nadin (the former Director of MUFON Ontario) in the early stages of the investigation.

FINGERPRINTS

*On February 1, 1993 Oechsler and Graham meet with reporter Lois Tuffin, who also knows Bobby Charlebois well. Oechsler asked her to deliver a large package of UFO material to Charlebois in the hopes of getting his fingerprints. She did so, but the package was returned to her an hour later. *The following day Oechsler collected the package from Lois and took it to the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) to have it checked for fingerprints. There were none and the feeling was that Charlebois had out-smarted them, wiping the package clean. It seems that Charlebois has something to hide. *Diane Labanek, on hearing Bobby Charlebois name said that she had known him “for a while” and that he was a good friend who visited often. *Oechsler asked her to try and get Charlebois’ fingerprints from any drinking glasses that he might use. Labanek claimed that Charlebois always wiped them clean.

*On February 4, 1993 Graham and Oechsler went to the Labanek’s where Leanne Cuzak interviewed Bob Oechsler and Diane Labanek for CJOH-TV, Ottawa. *During this interview Labanek claimed that “a lot of others had seen the event that had transpired in my field”. She didn’t, however, seem to recall any names and in talking to many residents in the Manion Corner area, MUFON Ontario has not been able to find any other witnesses to the ‘UFO Landing’. *During the CJOH-TV interview that day Oechsler also claimed that he too had received a large number of calls from ‘witnesses’. Graham wasn’t aware of any calls to the Labanek’s or anywhere else other than a few to Oechsler’s hotel.

*Later that day, Graham Lightfoot and Oechsler met with a couple of high school girls in Almonte, a short drive from the Labanek’s. They had called the Unsolved Mysteries Hotline, which again Graham wasn’t aware of, to report that they knew who Guardian was. The name they gave wasn’t Charlebois’. Oechsler told them who Guardian was. Oechsler, despite avowing not to, was blowing Guardian’s cover’. *On February 24, 1993, Labanek told Graham and Oechsler about a sighting that her mother had the previous week. Her mother had seen a ‘craft’ hovering “not fifty feet from the house” but was too scared at the time to call out to anybody. *Later Labanek claimed that her husband saw a ‘craft’ around the same spot as the August ’91 sighting. There were no explanations as to when or if there were any traces of this second ‘landing’. *Apparently, neither of these ‘incidents’ were of interest to Oechsler and he has only mentioned them very briefly since and only in passing!

*If these two events were ‘real’ why wouldn’t he have investigated them too, instead of making such a fuss about the ‘evidence’ that he’d found nine months after the August ’91 ‘landing’? Labanek’s mother’s and husband’s ‘experiences’ would have surely produced more witnesses and ground effects?! *Labanek has constantly complained about being harassed by ‘low-flying’ helicopters that blew shingles off her roof. When close neighbours were questioned by MUFON Ontario investigators about any low-flying choppers they might have observed, they only mentioned the regular Air Ambulance flights that passed overhead and the occasional military or Mountie aircraft. Not one mentioned choppers flying at unusually low altitudes – below the regulation five-hundred feet.

*At the time of describing her mother’s ‘sighting’ to Graham and Oechsler, Labanek told of a white helicopter that passed over the house the following day. Subsequent investigation showed that it was a NATO aircraft on a training-exercise and that it too would not have been flying below the standard five-hundred foot level. *Due to the proximity of the Labanek’s neighbours it would be impossible for a helicopter to fly low enough to blow the shingles off one house and not be noticed by the residents of neighbouring houses.