Local
UFOlogists say facts buried by official secrecy
By Jim Brown
Staff Writer
Believe
it or not, Michel Deschamps and Jerry Pihursky are ufologists.
They
believe extraterrestrial life has visited earth although
a spokesperson for the North American Air Defence (NORAD)
base in North Bay says most UFO sightings can be explained
through natural or man-made phenomena.
Deschamps
and Pihursky say the truth about UFOs is buried behind
a shroud of official secrecy.
Both
say they have seen UFOs in Sudbury.
Pihursky
and Deschamps are detectives in a field of UFO research.
Like regular gumshoes, they have their recording devices,
ledgers of notes and invaluable contacts, even a camcorder
that Deschamps bought in March.
"It
allows me to film anything, day or night," he says.
Just
a couple of weeks ago, the men visited Manitoulin Island
to investigate a report of "strange markings"
in a gravel pit that have been there for nearly eight
months. The two markings were spherical and cannot be
explained by natural causes, says Pihursky and Deschamps.
A
few days prior to the discovery of the markings, last
September, witnesses reported strange lights in the area,
says Deschamps.
Pihursky
and Deschamps are excited about their investigations and
about the contacts they've made over the years, including
a local man called "UFO Don", who has recorded
more than 51 confirmed sightings from 1967 to 1969.
Pihursky
says contacts are assured of confidentiality, and won't
have to worry about "the fear of ridicule."
Though
Pihursky and Deschamps are convinced they are on to something
big, they don't want to give too much of a profile to
their investigations for fear of "panicking the public."
They
use words such as "strange markings" instead
of UFO landings, to prevent a "War of the Worlds"
hysteria.
Deschamps
has a thick binder filled with typed notes, UFO literature,
sketches of aliens and newspaper clippings. Both men are
members of the world's largest organized UFO organization,
the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and regularly send in written
reports and photos to the organization's Canadian office.
And
Deschamps recently spent more than 35 minutes in a phone
conversation with Stanton T. Friedman, e renowned American
nuclear physicist who believes in the existence of UFOs.
Skepticism
and downright ridicule are constant companions in the
elusive business of tracking down UFO sightings, but the
two are undaunted.
They've
both experienced sightings and they've heard others describe
UFOs in exacting detail.
Deschamps'
first sighting was in July 1974, when he was nine years
old. From his Sudbury home, he saw a "spherical,
metallic-looking object" hovering near the neighborhood
playground.
That
year and 1975 were banner years for UFO sightings across
North America. In Sudbury alone, there were reports that
a UFO had almost collided with a Canadian Pacific Airlines
jet.
Pihursky
had also recorded a sighting during 1974, when he was
traveling with a friend from North Bay to Sudbury on Highway
17 West
In
1975, phone lines lit up across the city with callers
reporting sightings of UFOs above the Hanmer Radar base.
The skies above key military installations throughout
North America were also filled with strange lights and
odd-shaped craft.
The
list of people who have seen UFOs or believe in their
existence is growing everyday and include doctors, lawyers,
physicists, pilots, teachers, chemists, "and people
from all walks of life," says Pihursky.
And
people aren't willing to swallow explanations that sightings
were the result of weather balloons, the orbit of the
planet Venus, man-made satellites or mass hysteria, says
Pihursky. One Laurentian University professor has even
attibuted local sightings to "gases created by stresses
in the rock", says Deschamps.
Sgt.
Phil McGrath at the North American Air Defence (NORAD)
base in North Bay, insists that "99 per cent"
of all UFO sightings can be explained through natural
or man-made phenomena.
McGrath
says: "all the information" gathered from the
1974-1975 UFO flaps has been sent to the Hertzberg Institute
of Astrophysics in Ottawa.
"The
majority (of UFO sightings) can be explained through atmospheric
conditions," such as the Northern Lights.
