Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Summer 2013 Dive Expedition Planned

Planning for the third dive expedition is underway for July 2013. Although there have been other dives attempted, we are hoping that this "third" dive will produce some additional results. There has been 5-6 dives attempted, but only two thus far are considered "successful" in obtaining more info and data on the Shag Harbour UFO Incident. The dive expedition is truly a challenge, with organizing and scheduling divers, videographers, photographers, equipment, boat and of course, weather. A number of dives have been hampered or cancelled due to unexpected weather conditions off the coast creating unsuitable diving conditions. We are attempting to dive at the point of low-tide, slack-tide where the current would be at its slowest, and the suspension and sediment would be at its minimum. There is only a 45 minute window to do the dive before the change in the tide, creating currents up to 6-8 knots. Follow the blog or the facebook page at Shag Harbour UFO Incident of 1967 for updates.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

2010 Dive Expedition to Shag Harbour Rip

The follow-up dive expedition to the 2009 dive expedition was scheduled for July 24, 2010. Its objectives were three-fold: a) re-confirm that the depressions discovered were only two of the four expected as were discovered in 2009; b) to collect measurements the depressions in detail, such as diameter, depth, distance from other depressions; c) to collect samples of the seabed bottom exterior to the depressions, a sample of the seabed within the depression, and excavate the centre of a depression and collect samples from the excavation below the surface of the bottom.

The bottom was observed to be entirely different from the previous year's dive. The observations made during the last expedition indicated that the bottom was peppered with kelp growth, and the depression was relatively easily identifiable, despite the limited visibility, due to it being devoid of plant growth, giving the impression of a "clearing in the woods". However, in this dive expedition, the bottom was rocky and pebbly, and was covered in a 2-3cm spherical sponges packed into what could be described as "broadloom" on the bottom. The characteristics of the spherical sponges were observed to be relative turgid and slippery, with their surface pocked-marked, similar to what one finds on golf balls. It was nearly impossible to stick one's finger through the spongy mass into the underlying substrate. This was considered most unusual and inconsistent with the seabed characteristics observed in the dive expedition of 2009. The dive proceeded for approximately 20-25 minutes, at which time, there was nothing found, and the dive was concluded.

For a complete report on this dive expedition, along with photos, click "Shag Harbour Rip Dive Report - July 24, 2010".

Friday, August 21, 2009

Shag Harbour UFO Symposium and Festival August 14-15, 2009

A shot of the audience during the presentations on Saturday - photo by Steven H. MacLean
The good people of the Shag Harbour UFO Incident Society had organized yet, another successful weekend event, this being the second of such events. Even organizer, Cindy Nickerson, with the help of the members of the Society pulled off an interesting and engaging festival, with attendees from as far away as California and Pennsylvania.

The panelists, L-R: David M. Cvet, Dr. Stanton Friedman, Don Ledger, Chris Styles - photo by Steven H. MacLean
Friday opened with a number of events, which included a press conference at 10am, followed by a bar-b-que. Chris Styles delivered a teaser on his new book, which is nearing completion, and revealed that additional material which wasn't included in the previous book "Dark Object" will make its way into this publication, along with much more information and latest developments with the incident research. Later that day, a large number of visitors to the festival enjoyed a traditional Nova Scotia lobster boil hosted by the Stage Coach Inn. All of the presenters for the next day's symposium were on hand for questions and answers. A local musical ensemble entertained the guests after the dinner.

A pair of aliens having their way with Dr. Stanton Friedman - photo by Lorna Nickerson
Saturday's schedule began with a presentation by David M. Cvet entitled "From the depths of Shag Harbour" and presented much material on the findings of the dive expedition executed on July 20, 2009. Fascinating details of the dive, including the discovery of a pair of large depressions, approximately 18ft in diameter, and approximately 12 in deep at their centres. These may be two of the four anamolous sonar targets detected by the survey ship, Navicula in 1988. Following David's presentation and break, Dr. Stanton Friedman took the podium, and delivered a fascinating presentation on UFOs in general, touching upon abduction cases, such as Barney and Betty Hill, the first well documented and researched abduction case. Chris Styles took the podium after Stanton's presentation, and went into detail on new findings supporting the case, including the introdution of the co-pilot, Ralph Loewinger, who was flying PanAm Flight #161 at the time of the UFO incident, and who clearly described a string of 6 lights banking towards the left, and (while at 33,000 ft altitude) flew across the bow of the plane and disappeared into the distance. His story was extremely engaging, and the audience was at his full attention. The final presentation was made by Don Ledger, who presented numerous Canadian UFO incidents, in particular, those found in Nova Scotia. The day closed with the four speakers forming a panel, taking on direct questions from the audience.

The day ended with a talent show and a contest for the best alien costume. The visitors to the show were treated by talented local musicians and vocalists. Overall, an excellent event.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Shag Harbour Rip Dive - July 20, 2009

The events and evidence surrounding the Shag Harbour incident of October 4, 1967 are compelling, resulting in a number of individuls who actively continue research into this incident, and who are uncovering more intriguing evidence and facts in support of this extraordinary event. A dive expedition organized by David M. Cvet, is another research angle contributing to the growing data and evidence collected supporting this incident.
Sonar reading taken by the
Navicula in 1988, highlighting
the anomalous sonar targets

The target of the dive are the anomalous sonar targets detected by a survey ship called the "Navicula" in 1988, operating on behalf of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. The targets were described as "may not be boulders". What is compelling about these sonar targets is that they reside on or near the presumed path taken by the "dark object" on that evening on October 4, 1967, when the "dark object", apparently under its own power, exited Shag Harbour, and ultimately, turned northward towards Shelburne about 27 km away.

The targets highlight something on the seabed which appears to be inconsistent with the rest of the seabed surrounding these anomalies. The dive on July 20 was executed to determine the diving conditions in that part of the coast, and to possibly discover the anomalous sonar targets. Both objectives were satisfied, although, only two of the four targets were discovered and therefore, remains inconclusive.

A full report with photos can be found on the CUUN website by clicking here.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Shag Harbour UFO Festival in Review August 9 - 10, 2008

A rendition of what was witnessed at the impact site at Shag Harbour, by Bill Burt
The festival weekend began with a yard sale at 9am at the Shag Harbour Post Office, where Cindy and Dale Nickerson (the organizers of the festival) are employed. This was followed with the opening of the Shag Harbour Incident Museum at 10am. Following this, at 11am, a bar-b-que hosted by the local firemen at the Post Office which was attended by a young crafter, Jillian Kendrick, who had some of her work entitled "Sea Glass Items" on display in the community.

At 1pm, David M. Cvet, a UFO researcher and diver who specializes in searching for underwater evidence in support of UFO incidents and "cold UFO cases" was on hand at the UFO Centre met with visitors, fielding numerous questions by curious visitors, and who reviewed the Shag Harbour incident with the visitors. Later that afternoon, a group of locals and witnesses along with David gathered at the UFO Rest Stop, adjacent to the area where witnesses originally experienced the incident in October 1967. David continued with fielding questions regarding the incident, as well as Laurie Wickens, one of the witnesses of the 1967 incident. Later that evening, dinner was served at the firehall, providing an opportunity for the visitors to meet with Saturday's speakers, which included Don Ledger, Chris Styles, Carl Feindt, Michael Macdonald and Stanton Friedman.

The lectures on Saturday attended with up to 40 individuals, began with Chris Styles presenting a variety of updates with respect to his work on researching the Shag Harbour Incident. Updates includes his writing a new book on the subject which includes more details and evidence collected since the last book. His lecture was followed with Carl Feindt's presentation on a review of fascinating water-related UFOs, and some of the proposed physics behind the phenomena.





The panel: D.Ledger, P.Kimball, S.Friedman, C.Feindt,C.Styles
Stanton Friendman presented various details on Ufology and the science of Ufology. After lunch, Michael Macdonald presented a film he's working on which presented compelling stories of abductees, and how their lives were changed as a result of their abductions. This was followed by a presentation by Paul Kimball and his film on the ten best UFO cases ever. The last presenter, Don Ledger presented details on the UFO phenomena in Nova Scotia. At the conclusion of the presentations, a panel comprised of the presenters fielded questions from the audience.

The UFO festival was successful in conveying the current and active work being done in Ufology in Canada, and spectators were given the opportunity to discuss this subject with experts in the field. It is hoped that any revenue generated during this festival will facilitate the construction of the Shag Harbour Incident Museum's permanent home.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Shag Harbour Incident Society Museum

Chairperson Cindy Nickerson and associate, Dale Nickerson (un-related) opened the doors to the newly established Shag Harbour Incident Society Museum (UFO Museum) on June 22nd 2007. The pair says that the temporary museum building may be humble but believes the museum has huge potential for the future and the community.
Cindy Nickerson (L), Dale Nickerson (R) and "Errol" (Centre) pose in front of the temporary home of the Shag Harbour UFO Museum.


The Shag Harbour incident has been chronicled in books and on television and has captured the imaginations of UFO enthusiasts and others.

The Nickersons says the society hopes to continually add material about the incident to the museum as funds become available. They plan in the near future to commission interpretative panels at the site.

The museum also includes items and information about the history of Shag Harbour.

The Nickersons says there have also been people interested in joining the society. Dues are $5 annually. Members are welcome to participate in meetings and will receive the SHIS newsletter.

The "UFO Musuem" is the place to stop to learn everything about the Shag Harbour UFO sighting. You can view collected memorabilia, watch TV programs about the incident and perhaps even meet a witness.
The official Canada Post Shag Harbour cancelation stamp (designed by Eric Shand).


There are also souveniers for sale, proceeds collected will aid this non-profit institution and the local community.

Visitors are able to also obtain an official Canada Post cancellation stamp, which will be used for any postcards or letters mailed at the "UFO Museum".

The Shag Harbour Incident Society is putting on an Incident Festival this coming summer, August 8-9th in Shag Harbour. This will include lectures and presentations, including local eye witnesses to the incident from 1967. Contact the museum for details on this interesting event.

The Shag Harbour Incident Society Museum
P.O.Box 53
Shag Harbour
Nova Scotia, B0W 3B0

t: +1 902 723 0174 (Cindy Nickerson)
t: +1 902 723 2385 (Dale Nickerson)

e: shagharbour@gmail.com

Hours: M-F (10:00am - 5:00pm); Sat (noon - 5pm); Sun (1:00 - 5:00pm)

Note: The UFO Museum can be opened during off-hours by appointment only.

Really?

The name is certainly "catchy" enough and may have actually directed you, the interested reader to this blog, however, it may be a valid statement with respect to UFOs or more correctly Unidentified Aerial Objects (UAOs) or Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs), hence the name of the Canadian UAO-USO Network or CUUN.

So, are they really out there? "Not sure" is the usual answer by most people. The basic problem with the entire field of Ufology is the distinct lack of quantifiable evidence to support the claim that UFOs exist. In truth, people see UFOs every single day, such as a low-flying bird, reflecting the setting sun or early morning sun off it's abdomen, causing a flashing visual phenomena, can indeed be difficult to recognize with an unaided eye, hence, that "thing" is determined to be an unidentified flying object. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of reports from across Canada of strange lights in the sky, most often in the evening, and most frequently during the warmer months of the spring, summer and fall (you think that more people are outdoors during this period, hence, greater frequency of sightings??). Aside from pro and con arguments on nearly every faucet of Ufology, CUUN exists to NOT debunk the claim that extra-terrestrials exist, nor does it outright support that ET's exist and visit our little planet with regular frequency over the ages, but uses whatever resources, skills, expertise, equipment, time, money, energy to examine certain Canadian only incidences, peel the numerous layers of the onion in order to identify the root "truth" with respect to an alleged UFO incident.

Why such a narrow bandwidth? The bottom line, Ufology is mega-huge, and can easily suck every resource available, usually comprised of personal resources at best. CUUN focuses on very few cases, and takes the time and effort to examine each case under a microscope, avoiding the hype caused by the media, and carefully and slowly works each incident until there is no stone unturned. Yes, this could take years, and in fact, it does. However, in the end,the results of the investigation will be undeniable (that is the hope) that either a) some extraordinary unexplained event really did happen there or; b) there is no supporting evidence of any kind that the incident actually happened.

IF "b" turns out to be the most frequent result, this is not necessarily bad. It does mean that as investigators of extraordinary incidences, care must be taken to ensure that whatever results are made, that it is relatively bullet proof, credible and accurate allowing one to "close the book" so to speak allowing the investigators to move on to other possibly more viable extraordinary incidences to investigate!

CUUN is engaged in two projects at this time. The most notable being the UFO incident reported at Shag Harbour, NS, and the second one reported at Ebenezer, PEI. There has been a number of books published on the subject of Shag Harbour, in fact, in Shag Harbour, a Society has been created whose purpose is to educate the public on this significant event that evening on October 4, 1967. We encourage visitors to that part of the country to visit the Shag Harbour Incident Society Museum setup by a pair of lovely local ladies who envision this helping the community raise some much needed funds to keep the little fishing village alive.