Year Of The UFO Invasion

By Angie Mindus
The Williams Lake Tribune

In 1967, an abundance of UFO sightings were recorded around the world. Out of those, UFO researchers sat up and took notice of one area in particular ... the Cariboo. Canadian UFO Report focused an entire section of their publication on the region in 1969 entitling it "the year we were invaded without knowing it." Sightings of flying saucers were reported in detail, the witnesses accounts, from Lone Butte, Green Lake, Lac la Hache, and McLeese Lake. Here is one of the stories from that time.

The year was 1967. According to locals who remember the time, residents of the Cariboo enjoyed a hot summer and beautiful fall weather with clear night skies. For Barbara Begin, 1967 will remain a memorable year for much more than just great weather.

It was an evening in August before dusk, when Barbara and eight family members and friends witnessed what they believe was a UFO. "You could see it as clear as day. We were just dumbfounded," Barbara recalls with enthusiasm from the kitchen of her cozy lakefront property at McLeese Lake. "We watched it until it went over the trees". "What they watched, Barbara says, was obviously much bigger than an airplane and made no sound. "It looked like a big, fat silver cigar."

Below Picture: Caption For Photo: Barbara Begin At her McLeese Lake Home.



Although it was still light out, Barbara says the bright silver look of the object seemed to be caused by self-illumination. The object appeared above Sheridan Hill to the north (Barbara and the other witnesses were at McLeese Lake), and headed southward until it disappeared. The "cigar" UFO was the first encounter Barbara ever had with a UFO, but it wouldn't be her last. "Everybody was seeing them (UFO's). You didn't walk outside in 1967 without looking up."

Barbara's next sighting would be only 24 days later, with her good friend Barb Beck. "It was like a pulsating red light about the size of a soccer ball. It was quite a ways away." Barbara says the object travelled above the newly installed cables leading to the Peace River power project as if it were studying them." The sighting lasted for approximately three to four minutes before it disappeared over a ridge. At least a dozen residents of McLeese Lake witnessed the sighting.

Barbara estimates she saw about 10 other sightings of strange lights in the sky in the fall of 1967 ... but has never seen another since then. "I know what I saw," Barbara says with confidence, "It only stands to reason ... we can't be the only ones in the universe". And what did she think of that time in 1967? "It was an exciting year!"

At the time of this incident the power project had not yet started operation and no power was passing through the cables. It seemed as though the object was studying the mere existence of the lines. A long time employee for B.C. Hydro's Peace River Project in Hudson Hope has confirmed unusual sights in and around the power project since its completion up until just a couple of years ago, including fast - moving lights and objects.

He would not give his name for fear of being judged by his peers and co-workers as "insane."