Sighting record / 1969
Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. February 1969. Gordon Mercredi and his wife were driving home from Fort Rae when a bright light appeared out of nowhere, at about treetop level. It began as a large ball of white light. Then it flashed orange. Then it started to gain on them. Gordon sped up. The light kept coming. At the Bell Rock corner he stopped the car and took three pictures. The thing seemed to turn into the bush along the power lines. All that week, other residents reported lights at 6 p.m. or later. The photographs have never been traced.
Fort Smith sits on the Slave River, right on the Alberta border, in the Northwest Territories. Since 1966 an all-weather road had linked it to Hay River. Bell Rock, an old barge landing, lies 13 km downstream. In the first week of February 1969, something began appearing over the town. People were seeing lights every night, about 6 p.m. or later.