KEEP WATCHING THE PRAIRIE SKIES
Mark Melnychuk can’t forget the retelling of Saskatchewan’s most famous UFO story.
Do you believe him?
This is a question I am continually asked ever since writing a feature in September about Edwin Fuhr’s 1974 UFO sighting.
Fuhr, a retired farmer who lives in Langenburg, southeast of Yorkton, was in a cheerful mood when I called him one afternoon in the summer. I was doubtful that he would want to speak to me after having done countless interviews about his experience, but Fuhr was happy to chat, and even took us outside of Langenburg to the field where he says he saw five saucer-shaped objects floating above the ground.
I originally heard about Fuhr’s story from retired Leader-Post photographer Don Healy. Healy went out to Fuhr’s farm in 1974 and took pictures of him pointing to the markings the saucers left in the field. Of all the stories Healy had accrued during his more than 40 years at the Leader-Post, this was my favourite. I never got tired of hearing it.
I was hooked on The X-Files when I was a kid and ate up UFO books before you could read about the subject on the internet. Naturally, I was drawn to Fuhr’s story.
After seeing an interview with Fuhr on YouTube that was done by Russell Klitch, I decided it couldn’t wait any longer. Even though it was a story that had been told before, I wanted to speak to Fuhr myself.
Fuhr is of course only one half of the story. There’s also the RCMP officer who investigated his sighting, Ron Morier. Like Fuhr, I was surprised at how willing Morier was to talk about the sighting, about which he has also been interviewed several times.
Morier has also done an incredible job preserving the story by keeping a file of paperwork, photos and newspaper clippings from over the years.
The response I got after doing the story proved that after all these years, Fuhr’s story still draws interest. I got one email from a man from California who was adamant that Fuhr was lying. I got another from a man who attempted to explain the technology behind the UFOs Fuhr saw, which he referred to as “unifying field oscillation.”
I prefer not to tell people whether or not I believe Fuhr. Part of what makes his story so enjoyable is deciding on that for yourself. The uncertainty is what makes it so intriguing. There is no concrete proof of UFOs landing in that field, just the account of a friendly farmer who did not have a reputation for making up stories.
The lack of hard evidence and the compelling account from a likable person makes Fuhr’s sighting the quintessential UFO story. UFO enthusiasts want to believe him and skeptics are incensed that Fuhr still won’t concede what he saw.
I guess that old X-Files slogan applies here too: The truth is out there.