Harbour Mille — the “missiles” over Fortune Bay
At about sunset on Monday, January 25, 2010, Emmy Pardy and two friends in the small community of Harbour Mille, on Newfoundland’s south coast, saw three objects moving fast across the sky over Fortune Bay. Through binoculars Pardy described one as large and grey or silver with fire coming out of it; they trailed smoke. Darlene Stewart, who had been photographing the sunset, took pictures. When the photographs reached the news, the story became a small political puzzle: the RCMP first spoke of a missile launch and withdrew it, the Prime Minister’s Office said no rocket had been launched, the Defence Minister called the information “spotty”, and the French embassy said there had been no French military activity near Newfoundland or Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
Explanation
Canada and France both said no missile or rocket had been launched; France’s M51 test from the submarine Le Terrible was on a different day and did not match the time or direction. A Royal Military College engineer judged the object subsonic and much smaller than a missile; federal officials suggested model rockets, which the witnesses rejected; and a television station later aired viewer video from the same time that showed a passing aircraft, whose contrail lit by the setting sun would look like a fiery trail. The RCMP closed the file as an unexplained sighting.
What was seen
Shape: Three large grey or silver “bullets” with fire behind them and trails of smoke
Witnesses: Emmy Pardy, the postmaster, and two neighbours, one of whom, Darlene Stewart, took photographs
Duration: Several minutes
Sources
- The Globe and Mail — Was it a missile or a hoax?
- CBC — No evidence UFO was rocket: PMO
- The Canadian Press — Woman who saw “missiles” says the area is not used by model hobbyists