Mysterious red and white lights witnessed by several people over Lansdowne Park on March 30 were the latest in an upsurge of UFO sightings over Sarnia.
The circular objects hovered in the night sky, changed direction, and at one point moved toward each other, a Borden Street resident told the Mutual UFO Network, a non-profit organization that investigates reported UFO sightings.
The unidentified witness said he and three other people watched the strange lights that night.
“These objects we are seeing are definitely not stars and sure as heck don't look like any planes I have seen before,” stated the witness, who also contacted the University of Western Ontario observatory.
“Something in our sky tonight is not normal,” he added.
The March 30 incident was the seventh UFO sighting in Sarnia in 15 months.
So what’s up with that?
Well, the reports here are part of a growing national trend, says Chris Rutkowski, a University of Manitoba astronomer.
In fact, the annual Canadian UFO Survey recorded 1,180 sightings in 2013, the second highest number in 25 years, or about three a day.
Rutkowski says social media has made it easier to report unidentified flying objects. There’s even a phone app that links directly to UFO organizations, he said.
“And perhaps our education system isn’t doing a good enough job in helping young people understand their world, since many reported UFOs turn out to have explanations such as satellites, aircraft and planets.”
Nevertheless, some objects do not have obvious explanations, he added.
UFO sightings over Sarnia in 2013
June 1, 9:29 p.m.
Three separate reports from at least six witnesses, who describe a fireball or orange light moving in a straight line over Sarnia that stopped, resumed its path and disappeared.
July 18
One person reports an object over the city that emerged from the clouds, hovered, reversed direction and disappeared into the clouds.
Aug. 17, 10:20 p.m.
A red sphere observed by one person over Corunna that made a 90 degree turn before moving straight up.
Oct. 13
A man and woman see a non-reflective, disc-like object over Sarnia that travelled across the sky for more than a minute.
Said the witness: “I was at my window having a smoke and looking at the clouds when I saw the dark disk-like object passing behind and in front of the clouds and plane exhausts. I immediately told my boyfriend and pointed it out to him … I ran for my camera to try to document it on video but at the last minute I watched it go behind a cloud and it never emerged again.”