Close encounter revisited

The Falcon Lake flying saucer case remains unexplained, with many inconsistencies and red herrings… and a protagonist with recurring burns

When They Appeared Falcon Lake 1967: The inside story of a close encounter Stan Michalak & Chris Rutkowski

August Night Books 2019 Pb, 243pp, illus, £12.99, ISBN 9781786770851

The lack of new close encounter cases (unless you know otherwise) means older, ‘classic’ incidents are getting dusted off and reappraised. In particular, the Pascagoula abduction has had a revival of interest due to Calvin Parker finally detailing his side of the story.

Now we have a new look at the Falcon Lake incident that took place on 20 May 1967. This volume contains Stefan/ Stephen Michalak’s original account of his experience which he wrote to save himself having to constantly repeat it to journalists and interested parties. He tells how he was doing some amateur prospecting in Whiteshell forest near Falcon Lake, when he saw a flying saucer land nearby. He thought he could hear human voices coming from it and, being curious, he popped his head through an open side-hatch. Inside he saw a bewildering maze of lights that flashed in a random manner.

The craft seemed to be made of seamless steel and was so hot it burnt his glove when he touched it. When the craft took off, a hot beam of light hit his chest, causing his shirt and vest to ignite in flames. Once the craft left, Michalak felt nauseated, weak and disorientated. He also had a splitting headache and he noticed a grid of burn marks on his chest.

Michalak provides a relatively detailed report of this harrowing ordeal and its aftermath. He explains his struggles to get back to his hotel and his meeting with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) constable who seems strangely uninterested in Stefan’s plight. Fortunately, he does get back to his motel and safely home later that day.

Constable GA Solotki filed a report on their meeting in which he notes that Michalak acted as if he was intoxicated and that he had a black substance like wood ash rubbed on his chest. He would not let the constable get any closer because he might have a skin disease or radiation. Michalak did not cooperate with the police and, on failing to find a local doctor, he decided to telephone a local newspaper for help. Eventually he got a bus to take him home, which seems rather strange given his fear that he might contaminate others with a disease or radiation. Perhaps, we can put such odd inconsistent behaviour down to being befuddled by his encounter?

Other elements of the story are equally confusing. For example, he was unable to locate the landing site for the RCMP and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), even when they gave him an helicopter ride over the locality, yet he found it in the company of a colourful character called Gerald Hart. Hart hated all forms of authority and led Stefan into being suspicious of the RCMP. Into this mix the media was constantly trying to interview Michalak, and Barry Thompson, a member of the Canadian wing of the US Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), became a regular visitor who presented himself as working for Michalak’s best interests. Like Hart, Thompson had his own motives for getting involved with the case; both hindered rather than helped the investigation.

The best part of this book are the chapters by Stan Michalak, Stefan’s son, who was nine years old at the time of the incident. He gives a very clear account of how it disrupted their family life and caused him to be bullied at school.

Like most CE3K cases, there are are plenty of inconsistencies and red herrings – at one stage there were thoughts of cordoning off the landing site due to the threat from radioactivity, but this was was ruled as being insignificant for such an action. A year later small silver fragments are found under the rock at the site, but has this got anything to do with the UFO or something seeded by a hoaxer or hoaxers? Like they say, it’s complicated.

Despite all the probing by the RCMP, RCAF and amateur investigators, no satisfactory explanation has been put forward to explain this encounter. What is certain is that Michalak suffered from ill-health after whatever happened in the forest, and the markings on his chest often reappeared.

Chris Rutkowski, a UFO researcher and long-time friend of the family, summarises the varying pet theories, from outright hoax, alien spacecraft to the testing of a secret military vehicle. He notes this is “a solid report of a landed UFO, complete with physical and physiological effects”. So rather frustratingly, all we can say is that it remains explained as unexplained.

Nigel Watson

★★★★ ★