Look, up in the sky...
By Sarah Payne
The Tri-City News
2-23-07
Turns out a lot of people in the Tri-Cities have, including former resident Brian Vike, who posts sightings of unidentified flying objects on his website (www.hbccufo.org) and now discusses encounters on his own radio show.
In the past few years, Vike has collected about 10 stories of sightings in this area, including these:
• Coquitlam, March 27, 2006, 4:45 a.m. — Three red lights in triangular pattern, along with several white strobe lights flashing from various locations, flies over Burnaby Mountain at approximately 2,000 feet.
• Port Moody, May 27, 2005, 10:31 p.m. — Cluster of large balloons in V-formation seen over Heritage Mountain, several blue and one red, at 7,000 feet.
• Port Coquitlam — Stationary grey saucer-shaped object at the end of a cloud reach down toward Burke Mountain.
"I've always been a real sci-fi nut," said Vike, who grew up in Coquitlam and joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 1979. But after years of star-gazing, he started to wonder whether there could be more out there.
"It's such a mystery. Is there or isn't there?
"I'm pretty level-headed," he said, "I don't go for the silly but I honestly believe in my heart there is life out there somewhere.
"The big question is, are they visiting us?"
Vike, who now lives in Houston, B.C., readily admits most so-called sightings are explainable but some are so unusual, and witnessed by so many people, that the stories warrant further investigation. He'll contact police in the area of such a report, check flight schedules, contact relevant government agencies, and says he often gets "the run-around."
"I think the government does know a little more than they're telling us but I can't prove that for a fact," he said.
He started investigating UFOs in 2000 as a hobby but said things "got out of hand" a year later when some crop circles (later found to have been created by humans) showed up in Vanderhoof and he worked on a cattle mutilation case in Falkland. He put up the website and, not long after, reports were flowing in from around the world.
Since then, he has become a regular on radio shows, television and in numerous newspapers and magazines. He took a couple of months off last year and is back at it in full force with his own radio show, The Vike Report, where witnesses recount experiences in their own words.
"Most radio shows bring in a ufologist like myself to talk about these stories but a lot of people are really interested in hearing the person who actually saw the thing," Vike explained. "And the emotional range is incredible. Some break down in tears. It's very serious for these folks."
• The Vike Report UFO Show runs Sunday nights at http://tinyurl.com/ysrok4
No comments :
Post a Comment
Dear Contributor,
Your comments are greatly appreciated, and coveted; however, blatant mis-use of this site's bandwidth will not be tolerated (e.g., SPAM etc).
Additionally, healthy debate is invited; however, ad hominem and or vitriolic attacks will not be published, nor will "anonymous" criticisms. Please keep your arguments "to the issues" and present them with civility and proper decorum. -FW