On a Tober 4th, 1967, 17 year old Laurie Wickens and his friends drove their dates home from the school dance. The plan was to make it just in time for their curfew. But as Wickens pulled off the highway into the sleepy fishing village of Shaggs Harbor in Nova Scotia, Canada, something peculiar caught his eye.

A series of lights flashed in the night sky. One blinked and a second, then four at once. It was a pattern, perhaps on the wing of a plane. If so, the plane appeared to be crashing.

It wasn't spiraling out of control, but if it didn't pull up soon, it would hit water. Adrenaline coursed through the teens as they watched, they'd forgotten all about their curfew. If this was indeed a crashing plane, the crew would need serious help. Wickens struggle to keep up with the objects trajectory as he drove down the winding roads of this maritime town.

Soon the object was so low that the roof of the car blocked it from sight. Even worse, they were running out of road and rapidly approaching the harbour. But when they skidded to a stop at the water's edge, they found the thing in the ocean. Already it bob there, ominously masked by a thick, sparkling foam on closer look. It was obvious that the flying object wasn't a plain matter of fact.

They had no idea what in the world they were looking at.

Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify original from podcast, every Monday and Wednesday, we dig into the complicated stories behind the world's most controversial events and search for the truth. I'm Carter Roy. And I'm Molly Brandenberg. And neither of us are conspiracy theorists, but we are open minded, skeptical and curious.

Don't get us wrong. Sometimes the official version is the truth, but sometimes it's not.

You can find episodes of conspiracy theories and all other Spotify originals from Cast for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

This is our first episode on the Shag Harbor incident in 1967. Numerous witnesses saw an unidentified flying object crash off the Nova Scotia coast. Despite many firsthand accounts to date, there has been no official explanation as to what crashed there.

Today will present many of the facts and testimonials available to us as we pieced together what happened that night will detail eyewitness reactions from the night in question. And we'll also learn about the extensive search for evidence and what it uncovered.

Then in our next episode, we'll dive into theories that explore what actually fell from the sky, from Cold War ploys to unidentified submersible objects. We'll look for the definitive truth behind The Shaggs Harbor incident.

We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. On October 4th, 1967, the first person to notice anything strange in the skies that night over southeastern Canada was Captain Peter G. Charboneau of Air Canada, Flight 305. At 719 p.m., the commercial airline pilot relaxed in his seat, monitoring the gauges and instrument panels of his passenger jet. Each glowed with a subtle red light so as not to interfere with his night vision.

He maintained an altitude of about 12000 feet while flying between Sherbrooke and St.. John Service Shalu in southeastern Quebec. It was a clear, moonless night, and it seemed like it would be just another typical flight.

That is, until Captain Charboneau saw something on his left, his entire body stiffened.

Outside his window was a large orange rectangular object. Off the strange items tail, a line of smaller lights gently fluttered behind like the string of a kite.

Captain Charboneau immediately got the attention of his first officer, Robert Ralph.

It was standard practice for airline captains and their officers to keep one another apprised of traffic in the vicinity, which is to say that Captain Charboneau didn't alert Ralph because it was an object out of the ordinary.

He alerted him because while he could see the thing right outside his window, it was nowhere to be found on the airplane's radar.

Captain Charboneau grew concerned as the object tracked parallel to them. His hands gripped the yoke as he prepared to switch off the autopilot and take control of the plane manually.

He and first officer Ralph stared out to their left, afraid to blink. Their jaws dropped as something exploded towards the back of this mysterious object. Its tail was now obscured in a plume of smoke. They were amazed as the big ball of cloud turned white, then red and violet, and then finally blue.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Captain Charboneau held his breath. He worried that this mysterious flying object might be crashing.

He knew that such an accident would pose an even greater threat to the Air Canada flight plan.

A mere two minutes later, there was a second explosion, bigger and brighter than the first. Both pilots watched it speechless.

Then they saw the light switch, retaining the object flicker and spiral out of control before dancing away into the sky. Strangely, the unidentified object appeared to maintain control.

Then, after approximately five minutes, the event was over. The object was now on a different trajectory aimed away from their flights route. Capt. Charboneau exhaled. First Officer Ralph asked if he should file a report. The captain wasn't sure. Both of them feared ridicule and damage to their careers. If word got out about them seeing things, they could kiss any sort of hope for further advancement. Goodbye.

Ralph tried to make sense of it all. He wondered if they'd just witnessed a drill performed by a mysterious military aircraft. Perhaps it was something out of the American Air Force Base in Maine that was to the southeast of them and well within range. When Ralph shared his suspicion with his captain, Charboneau shrugged.

Ralf's guess was as good as any as they discussed a possible report and the excitement of what they'd seen diminished, they began to think more logically. They'd witnessed an explosion near their plane with their own eyes.

Their passengers could have been at risk from this if they didn't report it, their inaction could be considered negligent.

After much deliberation, once they were safely landed, the two submitted in-depth summaries, including drawings that detailed what they'd seen. But nothing ever came of their claims.

As far as we know, their reports were ignored. However, they weren't the only ones in the sky who saw something that night.

Ralph Lowinger was co-pilot in Pan Am Flight 160 from New York to London on October 4th, 1967, and he too reported something strange, just like Air Canada Flight 305.

The object was similarly flying out to low. Just left around the flying thing. He saw a formation of five bluish white lights to him. It resembled an airplane with a large fuselage like a B 52 or a 707 soon.

Just like the crew on the Air Canada flight, lowinger began to worry about a collision with the craft, he said to his captain, Get a load of this guy.

The captain confirmed it looked like this bizarre object was on a collision course with them. As a result, they prepared for an invasive maneuver.

Lowinger radioed down to their air traffic controller in Boston. He asked if there was anyone else in their airspace on radar.

After a hesitation, the air traffic controller said negative lowinger replied, Well, I'm looking at somebody.

Then just like that, the object accelerated and zoomed away from them.

It vanished into the night lowinger and never forgot certain details of the incident. For one, he can recall the outline of the object perfectly, and he also remembers his all encompassing fear.

The thing was incredibly fast and bizarrely powerful. He felt that at any minute the craft could have ended his very existence.

That night, two passenger airlines had encounters with an object that was too close for comfort.

It was luck and vigilance on the part of both crews that kept their passengers safe and prevented a collision, especially when considering that the object evaded radar detection both from the planes and from air traffic control down on the ground. However, despite failing to show up on airplane radar screens, this object notably wasn't invisible to instrument detection at sea level. Coming up, we'll continue to trace eyewitness reports as we attempt to uncover what exactly happened that night. Tirelessness Carter here with a quick but special announcement, the newest Spotify original from podcast is Unlocking the Mysteries of Superstitions.

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Now back to the story at approximately seven, 19 p.m., October 4th, 1967, an unidentified object was seen streaking through the sky over the east coast of Canada. Two separate commercial airline crews witnessed the thing before it disappeared from their view. What's more, it never showed up on their radar, but there was radar at sea level that caught it.

The peninsula of Nova Scotia hangs off the east coast of Canada and angles down towards mean Chag Harbor lies at the southwestern tip. From there, one can practically see Massachusetts straight ahead on the horizon.

Up until this strange encounter, SAG Harbor was known only as a small fishing village. It was one of hundreds that line the Nova Scotia coastline and welcome fleets of trawlers traveling between the fishing grounds.

That evening, one of those fishing vessels, the M.V. Nickerson, drifted offshore. The Nickerson's crew was waiting out the night so they could make their run back into port in the morning.

When they were fresh at about 9:00 p.m., Captain Leo Mirzaei was getting annoyed with his rowdy crew. He and his first mate were trying to focus on their radar because something strange was on its scope. Captain Leo could see four solid, bright red dots holding steady on the altimeter about a mile above the water.

The first mate speculated as to what could cause the radar anomaly. He thought it might be some kind of new flare that the Navy was testing. It wasn't uncommon for them to run exercises in these waters in commercial vessels were always given a courtesy notice.

But Captain Mirzaei shook his head. He had already radioed the harbor master. The Navy didn't have any exercises scheduled. Besides, the radar painted the targets as substantial flares wouldn't ping back so actively, if at all, and they certainly wouldn't hang in the air for such an extended period of time.

That's when the first mate noticed something. One of the dots was on the move it arct upward gaining altitude. Then the DOT appeared to pass right over their boat. The pair rushed out onto the deck, bringing the crew with him. But all that anyone heard was the creak of old wood underneath an empty sky full of stars.

Moments later, inside the boat, the radio lit up on responding. The crew discovered that the mainland was bursting with reports of a UFO sighting.

A woman in Halifax offered one of these reports. She phoned her local radio station. Her voice quivering with excitement. She told them that she had seen a large object 40 to 50 feet in diameter.

Glowing fire, poker, orange, the woman described watching as the thing zigzagged across the sky, awestruck. She said that she'd seen it drift between coves and curved back around before finally heading southeast.

After the woman's call, more reports of sightings came. Flooding in the Marine radio similarly exploded, with captains reporting strange lights.

Fishing vessels strung along the coast bombarded the airwaves with tales of the bizarre light show happening overhead. Captains reported that their entire crews were left awestruck by the triangular formation streaking through the sky.

One captain came on the radio and exclaimed, I wish you boys could see what I can make out with my binoculars.

The area was abuzz with excitement, but with all the radio reports, nobody had thought to take a picture of the strange falling lights in the sky. That is, no one except photographer will see Eisner.

Eisner was at Mason's Beach one hundred and twelve miles north of SAG Harbor. He was there to give a sendoff to a trustee old boat that was beyond repair. He loved that thing, but it was time to let it go. So Eisner pulled the boat ashore, set fire to it and watched it burn. It was a ceremonious bon voyage to his worn out skiff.

Fortunately, he brought his camera with him, hoping to capture one last memento. But he wound up capturing something much more remarkable.

Instead, even in the glow of his boat's flames, Eisner was stunned by the light show happening overhead. He set his camera for a five minute long exposure.

What he captured defied the very principles of photography and Motion said. Lights appeared in his picture, each of them hung in the sky around a bright orange round object in Isness photograph, all of the captured lights have a streak emanating from them except for the orange sphere.

But this was seemingly impossible because when objects are in motion during long exposures, they're blurred instead of clear. This is appropriately called motion blur, and it holds true for stars, planes and even flashlights being waved through the air. Often, photographers use long exposures as a way to capture a stream of lights on a highway or to get a sense of smokiness to waterfalls.

Despite these clear scientific principles, the orange orb that Eisner captured in the sky had no motion blur, which could only mean that it was standing still. But there are very few, if any, aircrafts that we know of from 1967 that could maintain their position in the air for a solid five minutes. Even helicopters appeared blurred in an exposure of that length.

It's a mystery as to how exactly the object held still in Eisner's photograph or on the movie Nickerson's radar. Unfortunately, we may never solve it, and that's because the orange object didn't stay still for long.

Several people like Laurie Wickens, the 17 year old who was driving his friends home from a school dance, later witnessed the thing crash after Wickens and his friends sped through the Nova Scotia night in pursuit of the falling object.

They found the ripples that left after impacting the water of SAG Harbor. And what's more, they saw a bright object bobbing about 300 yards off shore.

They stepped out of the car and approach to Harbour's edge. In doing so, they realized they weren't alone. Locals from across the area flocked to the point, and all of them watched as the school bus sized thing started to slip beneath the surface and it appeared to be glowing orange while doing so while it sank.

The object seemed to drift out to sea, and in yet another strange occurrence of that night, the orange things somehow managed to move faster than the current and tidal flows.

For a moment, it appeared as if it was moving under its own power through the water. But then it finally disappeared from view.

That's when panic set in amongst those on the beach. Wickens that the object was a plane. As far as he was concerned, that meant that every moment they stood there watching the people on board were in danger.

Desperate to save the supposed victims of the crash, Wiggins and his friends hopped back into his car and sped down the road. They were heading towards the only payphone in the area.

After pulling into an empty gas station, Wickens cut the engine, jumped out of his car and rushed to the payphone. He picked up the receiver and dialed the emergency line.

Meanwhile, at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment in Barington Passage, a mere five miles away from Shaggs Harbor, Corporal Victor were Becky was alone. His office was understaffed, and he was trying to pick up the slack as the hours edged toward midnight that said, nothing out of the ordinary had happened were Becky was likely already anticipating his warm bed at home.

And then at 11, 25 p.m., the phone rang where Becky picked it up.

He heard the excited voice of a teenage boy on the other end and was Wickens, he told, were about a plane crash he had just witnessed. At least he thought it had been a plane.

Regardless, something had sunk into the waters of the harbor. And if there were people in the flying craft, then they would need help and fast.

But were bickie frowned. He could hear the whispers of other teenagers. Wickens friends in the background behind the boy. To the corporal, it seemed like nothing more than a juvenile prank. He remembered that there had been a school dance at the local high school on that very night. As a result were bikies shook his head. He wasn't going to let some teenagers get one over on him. Irritated, he ask Wickens if the boy had been drinking.

Wickens was shocked a plane crash required immediate action. Why was he being asked if he was drunk? He tried to convince the skeptical corporal to send help now. But all that were bickie would promise to do is take down the phone number, the pay phone and call the teenager back if he learned anything more as he hung up the receiver, one of Wickens friends.

I asked him when the police were arriving, Wickens responded that he wasn't sure if the cops believed him, his friends were outraged. They just seen some kind of terrible accident. Something was sinking into the bay, probably with people inside. They wanted to know why the Mounties weren't mobilizing at that very moment, that Wickens didn't have an answer for them.

The group stayed there waiting, has their anxiety built. They felt helpless and they're now disheveled. High school dance outfits. Every moment that they spent standing around hoping for the pay phone to ring could cost lives. They leaned against the car doors and stared the silent phone booth.

Meanwhile, we're bickies line was ringing again. A woman called in from a nearby town and reported that she may have seen an airplane crash near the bay. Suddenly, Wickens story seemed much more plausible. Maybe the kid hadn't been drunk after all.

Then another call came in. This person was driving by when she saw a light formation descend into the harbor. She, too, thought it may have been a crash landing. Her voice was tense. She was worried the people were drowning. There could be many deaths.

Back at the gas station, the minutes ticked by. Wickens considered driving back to the bay and conducting his own search. Why should he wait for a phone call from an officer who didn't believe him? He had to do something.

Just as he was about to start up his car. The pay phone rang. Wickens threw open his door, ran to the booth and grabbed the phone off the hook. It was where bickie.

The officer called with an apology. He believed Wickens, and it was clear from his voice that he was determined to find out what exactly was going on.

Next up, we'll dive deeper into Chag Harbor as we continue the hunt for the mysterious object beneath the surface. Now back to the story.

As the bizarre craft made its way across the Nova Scotia Peninsula, onlookers from a span of over 200 miles reported UFO sightings.

Later that night, a car full of teenagers sped after the object, tracking it as the thing headed straight for the bay. Then when they reached the harbor, they saw it sink beneath the surface.

Laurie Wiggins, the 17 year old driver, was convinced that he had just witnessed a plane crash after calling corporal were bickie and convincing him of the seriousness of the accident. An investigation was underway, however.

By the time corporal were bickie, Wickens and his friends made it back towards the harbor. The locals were already conducting their own search flashlights shown in every direction as they searched the water.

But no matter how much they looked, there was no visible wreckage. Eventually, local law enforcement took over, but they, too, came up empty.

Desperate for answers. They sent out a call across the region asking for a report on any missing aircrafts.

They were startled to discover that every single plane within a thousand mile range was accounted for, even stranger, no distress signals or Mayday's had been received. This meant that if there was a plane missing, it hadn't been reported.

As the local search continued and information was gathered from witnesses, three separate Mounties, all road at the top of their investigation notes u f o. The letters were circled, start or underlined.

But just because they marked the crashed object as unidentified didn't mean that they assumed it was anything extraterrestrial. All it meant was that they didn't know what it was and whatever it was was still missing.

That meant that it was time to widen the search beyond what local law enforcement was capable of.

Laurence Smith, a captain of a local fishing boat, was turning in for the night when he received the call. A plane had gone into the water. The Mounties wanted to know if Smith would ready his boat and lead a search and rescue team.

Smith responded in the affirmative, saying, When help is needed, of course I'll help.

He arrived at the harbor to find a crew of Mounties and other civilian volunteers standing by ready to look for survivors.

Smith quickly ushered them aboard and then cast off.

As they motored out to the sound, the mood on the boat shifted, the adrenaline was wearing off, and the crew of volunteers began to seriously contemplate the mission they were embarking on.

The man only spoke when Nasser. And in hushed tones, they needed to ensure that they could hear survivors who may be calling out for help, but soon the thought of maimed human bodies floating on the water began to overwhelm them.

Many of the volunteers grew nervous about what they might see as they scanned the water surface with spotlights. Everything was quiet as they cruised along at top speed and looked. And yet, despite their vigilance, they saw nothing as they got closer to the impact site.

Their vessel slowed. The volunteers recoiled when they realized that the water surrounding their boat was now covered with a thick, glittering yellow foam.

The men were familiar with seafoam, but this was something else. It had the viscosity of shaving cream and floated about four inches thick on top of the water. The strange substance smelled like burnt sulfur and stretched for half a mile.

The crew became wary. One member hollered out, What do you make of this? In response, his crew mate yelled back. Never seen anything like this before. Can't say I care for it.

One man who was on the boat that night recounted how some of the brackish foam was bubbling.

A majority of the men aboard didn't even want to pass through the stuff out of fear of what it could do to their vessel. For all they knew, the substance could have been corrosive or toxic. And if Captain Smith had just been going fishing, then he would have avoided that area altogether. However, he was looking for survivors, given that he had no choice but to motor through the foam, whatever it was.

So the crew continued on the prowl of the boat, pushed through the stuff, and the men held their breath. Fortunately, nothing happened. The foam didn't eat through the prow, the boat like acid. As a result, the men sheepishly returned to the search, scanning the water with their lights. But they saw nothing. No wreckage floating, no debris, no survivors, nothing except for the thick, shining yellow foam.

Fortunately, a more capable search team arrived in the form of Coast Guard cutter one on one with Captain Ronnie Newell at the helm at the side of Captain Newell, the civilian cruise happily back down and let him take over.

But as they toiled in the early hours of October 5th, 1967, the Coast Guard didn't find anything either. It was as if the black waters had swallowed the object entirely. By the time Dawn came, Captain Newell had called off the search. It was clear to him that the only way to find answers was by going deeper into the water.

One day later, on October six, 1967, the Royal Canadian Navy's Fleet Diving Unit arrived. It had taken them that long to move their equipment from the capital of Halifax down to SAG Harbor.

The diving unit was optimistic. The water surrounding Shak Harbor was shallow, despite its strong current. So whatever the object was, they felt certain that it would be an easy recovery.

A few spectators arrived and watched eagerly as the dive team readied. Two of the observers, a father and son, had heard the events unfolding on the radio that night. Now they curiously approached the Navy divers while the men geared up.

When father and son asked them what they hope to find, one of them responded flying saucers.

While it's easy to fall for the frivolity of the divers response. The context also has to be considered. These men were military and they had been dispatched to find the remains of a plane crash. Perhaps they were genuinely hoping to uncover an extraterrestrial object, or maybe they were making light of what could have been potentially a very grim situation for the young boy. Human remains and airline scraps isn't exactly something someone should say to a 10 year old.

Regardless, they weren't spilling any secrets that day.

Soon afterwards, the dive team headed off shore.

Locals followed them, bobbing nearby on their fishing boats. Some of them clutched binoculars, anxious to get a glimpse at what the Navy divers recovered. Then, miraculously, at one point, the divers started to haul something up from the bottom of the bay. According to one eyewitness account, they winched out a large, rugged aluminum thing.

The object wasn't at all clear to the eyewitness, but when asked, the divers explained. That the thing they brought up was simply one of their underwater markers. It was just some weighted object used to help maintain their orientation under the surface.

But the object was jagged and rough. It didn't look like any markers that the locals were familiar with. Something wasn't right.

And yet, after two and a half days of diving, the Navy called off the search. The official report said that they found no evidence, not a trace, not a clue, not a bit of anything. In other words, the Canadian government offered no official explanation as to what had hit SAG Harbor that night, but it didn't matter.

Once word got out about the strange occurrences, rumors spread around the world. It became headline news. Ufologist flock to the scene and a comic book detailing the event was even released.

It essentially became Canada's own Rosewell. However, unlike the legend around that place in New Mexico, the story quickly died out after the initial media frenzy.

Since nothing was recovered and no official explanation was offered, other remained of the strange occurrences in SAG Harbor with the hundreds of eyewitness accounts, each positing a different theory.

But unverified individual accounts played poorly in the mainstream media. No one had an explanation, and as a result, local news stations weren't too keen on dragging out a story with so few concrete facts.

As time passed, the mystery only deepened. That's what led Chris Stiles, who witnessed the bizarre event on October 4th, 1967, as a young boy to revisit the story is a man.

Decades after the initial occurrence, Stiles was determined to unearth what exactly had happened that night, thanks to the effort put forth by Stiles and his team of researchers in 1995, the TV show sightings funded an extensive dive of the area.

Their expedition was outfitted with underwater cameras, highly advanced sonar and other state of the art equipment.

But due to challenging weather off the Nova Scotia Peninsula, the team was unable to cover all of the proposed areas. Thus, they, too, were left with no new discoveries.

But Stiles vowed to press ahead. In 2001, he published a book and released a documentary that helped revive the incident on an international level.

Today, the town of SAG Harbor has an annual UFO convention that features a panel of witnesses who discuss and theorize about the night's events. While it could be a tourism gimmick for the otherwise sleepy town. The event is something that the locals take very seriously.

However, it took until 2019 for the government to even acknowledge what occurred on that day. That's the year when the Canadian Mint released a limited edition silver 20 dollar coin that illustrated the SAG Harbor incident.

The coin is rectangular and glows in the dark in color. It features a large flying saucer dipping into the sea as three excited boys pointed out in awe in the foreground.

It seems strange that the Canadian government would so boldly illustrate the event with a flying saucer.

Perhaps they wanted to hint at the truth behind the Shag Harbor incident 52 years after the cover up.

Or maybe they were simply trying to peak the interest of conspiracy theorists with a quirky novelty.

Either way, it's undeniably odd that there is still no official explanation as to what street to the sky that night. As a result, the question remains about what could have crash landed off of Shaggs Harbour, leaving behind no evidence other than a shining shaving cream thick foam.

This leads us to conspiracy theory. Number one. On the night of October 4th, 1967, a group of rowdy factory workers lit off flares in an event that was wildly misconstrued as an aircraft crash.

Conspiracy theory number two, a piece of military equipment, either foreign or domestic crash, landed or fell from orbit. The Canadian government did everything possible to cover up this incident or conspiracy theory.

Number three, an extraterrestrial unidentified flying object landed into the sound off the coast of SAG Harbor and disappeared into the depths.

Join us next time as we enter a secret government bases and new eyewitness testimonies that turn the entire incident on. It's had. Thanks for tuning into conspiracy theories, we'll be back Wednesday with part two. You can find all episodes of conspiracy theories and all other Spotify originals from podcast for free on Spotify.

Until then, remember, the truth isn't always the best story, and the official story isn't always the truth.

Conspiracy Theories was created by Max Cutler and is a Spotify original from hardcase executive. Producers include Max and Ron Cutler, Sound Design by Billy Pace with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden and Travis Clark.

This episode of Conspiracy Theories was written by Melea Gasca with writing assistants by Obiageli Megu and stars Molly Brandenberg and Carter Roy. Remember to follow superstitions for new episodes featuring our most unusual beliefs, are they side effects of ancient folklore or truly the masters of our fates?

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