Résultat de la visite du site

A comprehensive site visit was made by the author on October 7-8, 1983 [I am greatly indebted to Donald H. Haines, my father and registered civil engineer who accompanied me and who performed the survey of the site. I am also grateful to the Fund for UFO Research, Maryland who supported a part of the travel costs to British Columbia from California]. Photographs, measurements, and general inspections were made of the entire vicinity of the Provincial park where the photograph had been taken. Figure 13 is a topographic chart of the area with the mountain darkened. This location is just east of highway 19 at the Eve River bridge, about 49 miles west northwest of Campbell River, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. Area X on this chart marks the approximate location of the photographer. This spot is located at 126° 14' West and 50° 19.4' North. The photographer and her family had stopped at this park for a rest when the photograph was taken. The rectangular area marked with a C is property operated by the McMillan-Bloedel Lumber Co. Ltd. camp which was unoccupied when the author was there. The clearing in the forested area was gravel covered with a few buildings, fuel pumps, a dynamite shack, and vehicles of various kinds. Intense white yard lights illuminated the area at night (in 1983). A registered civil engineer³ conducted a site survey and determined that the photographer stood approximately 4,240 feet north of highway 19 (within the Provincial park) and faced 3° 18' north by west toward the peak of the mountain. The slant distance to the mountain peak was 7,580 feet for an elevation angle of 24° 17'. The height of the mountain from the local horizontal was 3,117 feet, while the elevation of the photographer's position was 984 feet above mean sea level.

Although the Provincial park was located within an area cleared of evergreen trees, second growth timber extended from the base of the mountain almost to its top. After inspecting the site it was clear that there was sufficient flat ground to have flown a model airplane or thrown a Frisbee [Both Mr. and Mrs. D.M. stated that there were no other persons at the Provincial park before, during, or while they were leaving the camp site. The large open area would have afforded a wide and unobstructed view of the surrounding terrain had there been someone else there. They also stated that no sounds were heard from the direction of the mountain while they were at the camp site] into the air. Neither the photographer nor her husband admit to doing this. There are no buildings or stores within a radius of 15 miles of this spot. The photographer does not remember passing any vehicles on the morning she took the photo other than a few logging trucks with loads of logs.

Crédibilité de la photographe

In cases such as this it is essential to establish the credibility of the persons involved. Mrs. D.M. (age 26) was the photographer. She was accompanied by her husband (age approximately 30) and their 18 month-old daughter and the family dog. The family was on their way to visit her sister at Holberg, located at the northwest tip of Vancouver Island. Mrs. D.M. was an outgoing, pleasant person with a casual interest in UFOs. Inspection of their home did not indicate any interest at all in the occult, the psychic realm, or related subjects. Mr. D.M. worked at the lumber mill in Campbell River. Neither person claimed to have read any books specifically on UFOs, but had seen the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The husband was an avid science fiction fan in earlier years.

When asked what they had done immediately after noticing the disc on the photograph (some 18 days later on October 26, 1981), Mrs. D.M. replied, "Well, we didn't know what to do. Eventually we showed it to our neighbors and Mr. and Mrs. M. Sr. (husband's parents). "Mrs. D.M. phoned the Canadian Forces Base at Comox in mid-November 1981 concerning their possible interest in seeing the photograph. She ". . . just wanted to see if they were interested in it and if they knew anything about what the object could be." An Air Force representative (allegedly) said they were not interested in viewing it, but did take her name and address. It was not until the summer of 1982 that the family travelled to Vancouver, B.C. bringing one 4" x 5" color print with them. They visited the Vancouver Planetarium and spoke with the Director, David Dodge who called in David Powell who was interested in UFO phenomena. The couple were persuaded to lend the original negative to them to make enlarged copies. The negatives were delivered to Mr. Powell in June 1982 and were returned to Mr. and Mrs. D.M. on January 28, 1983. These dates may be significant since they suggest that the photographer was willing to wait a long time before pursuing an explanation for the disc-like image on her photograph. If this event had been a deliberate hoax it is more likely that some overt action to capitalize on it might have been taken soon after the disc had been discovered and not almost a year later. Of course this is not a conclusive argument to support this contention [While it is true that Mr. and Mrs. D.M. have had color enlargements made of their photograph and have sold some, this was done as a courtesy to their friends and to others who wrote asking for copies. Almost no profit has been made from the sale of these photographs].

The author found the photographer and her husband to be middle-class, hard-working people. Their property was well kept. Nothing could be found which pointed to a deliberate hoax. Both displayed genuine puzzlement about the origin of the disc on the photograph. Mr. and Mrs. D.M. were not defensive nor did they ever attempt to cover up anything as far as could be determined. For example, when asked if he owned a Frisbee, Mr. D.M. said yes and located it immediately for the author's inspection. It was a 9" diameter, dull black, "Professional FIFI model." He claimed to have been proficient in throwing it in the past, but had not done so in some time. There was no indication that some type of dome-like structure had been attached to it. The suspicion lingered throughout the investigation that a Frisbee or other similar object had merely been tossed up into the air and photographed. It became important to learn more about the subject of Frisbees and their "flight" qualities.