1967: City Youth Tells Of A Strange Ship

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTINGS REPORT

Date: May, 1967

Sighting Time: 2 am

Day/Night: Night

Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Urban or Rural:

Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter I) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness (i.e. within 500’)

Duration: 4 Hours

No. of Object(s): 1

Size of Object(s):

Distance to Object(s):  200 feet

Shape of Object(s): spherical with red and green lights

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses:  2

Source: The Edmonton Journal, May 8, 1967 (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) (Credit: UFO*BC) Original Source

Summary: “The bespectacled 14-year-old was just going to his home at 5311 106th St., when he said he noticed the “space ship” and began the vigil which has probably resulted in the most detailed report of any UFO in the Edmonton area.” 

Full Report

THIS, CLAIMS YOUTH, WAS IN CITY – = a drawing of alleged UFO, complete with beams of light

AT THE SCENE – Ricky Banyard says roadway was charred

City Youth Tells Of A Strange Ship, A Long Night And A Graveyard

The Edmonton Journal
Monday, May 8, 1967

An alleged four-hour surveillance of an unidentified flying object began shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday for Ricky Banyard.

The bespectacled 14-year-old was just going to his home at 5311 106th St., when he said he noticed the “space ship” and began the vigil which has probably resulted in the most detailed report of any UFO in the Edmonton area.

He said he noticed white beamed light moving over the neighborhood and followed it for several blocks.

“It disappeared over the Allendale district and I went home again.” “When I reached the front doorstep the second time, I saw it again and went and told my friend, Glenn Coates.” “Then we got some binoculars and watched it for a while.” “When Glenn had to go home, I watched for a while longer and then followed it into the cemetery.”  Ricky lives across the street from Mount Pleasant Cemetery where he said the closer observations and strange happenings occurred. “I hid under some trees for quite a while. I don’t know how long it was but it was long enough to get wet with dew.”

“It had a white ribbon of light coming down from the bottom of it. The ship was about 200 feet up in the air and it made sort of a muffled whistling noise as hovered.”  “I was about 50 feet away from the thread of light and the ground was white as though white hot, under it.” “The beam came straight down and then spreading out in kind of a rectangular shape about six inches above the ground.”

“When I stepped out from under the trees for a better look, the light disappeared, then there was kind of a screaming noise like a jet starting up.” “All the lights in the ship went out and there were about seven or eight bangs and it took off.” Observations of the cemetery later Sunday revealed several rectangular-shaped black streaks along the sand-gravel roads in the cemetery.

There were several cinder-like rocks in these “burned” areas and pebbles appeared to be charred. None of the grass areas or trees appeared to have been “harmed.” Joseph Laforge, foreman of the cemetery, said today he could not explain the black marks.

A grader went over the roads on Saturday, he said, and may have exposed some of the cinder base under the gravel. “But these ones here,” he said pointing to two other large black marks, “I don’t know about them . . . they look pretty unusual.”

Mr. Laforge had no explanation for the black marks on the stones.

“I don’t know . . . We don’t use oil on the roads at all,” he said. A sample of the rock has been sent to the Alberta Research Council for analysis.

Ricky described the “ship” as spherical with red and green lights. The top and bottom portions spun. “I could see it quite plainly because it was almost daylight when it took off.” Ricky sketched his observation and showed the sketch to several other people who saw either the “ship” or the light beam. All five agreed that was what the object resembled.