Falcon Lake Incident

The Falcon Lake Incident was an alleged UFO sighting on May 20, 1967, at Falcon Lake, within Whiteshell Provincial Park in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The incident was investigated by various Canadian authorities including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Royal Canadian Air Force, the Department of Health, Department of National Defence, and American authorities including the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization and the United States Air Force, as a part of the Condon Committee.
The incident has been dubbed "Canada's best-documented UFO case" by CBC News and "the world's most documented UFO sighting" by Atlas Obscura.
On May 20, 1967, Steve Michalak reported to a passing member of the highway patrol that he had been burned by a "spaceship". Later that night, Michalak sought medical treatment for first degree burns. Two days later, Michalak contacted press, and the resultant media coverage triggered multiple civilian and official investigations in both Canada and the United States. On May 23, a civilian UFO investigator photographed Michalak's torso, showing typical burns that are irregularly-shaped and unevenly-spaced.
Though he had promised not to disturb the site, on June 26 Michalak unexpectedly reported to authorities that he had returned to the supposed landing site to collect artifacts including a burnt shirt, steel tape, and a soil sample. After a soil sample provided by Michalak tested positive for potentially-dangerous levels of radioactivity, Michalak led authorities to supposed landing site. While trace amounts of radiation were found, suggestive of a natural radium vein or perhaps contamination by a luminescent radium paint, nothing dangerous was detected.
Near the end of 1967, Michalak published his story in a booklet. The following January, he again contacted press, which ran photographs of Michalak with a grid of uniform, evenly-spaced marks on his abdomen which he described as burns that had come back. Suspected of factitious disorder, Michalak was examined by a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist who failed to find evidence of significant mental illness.
On Saturday May 20, 1967, Constable G.A. Solotki of the Falcon Beach Highway Patrol was driving on Trans-Canada Highway 1 at around 3pm when he was flagged down by Steve Michalak. Michalak warned the constable not to approach too close, citing fears of spreading a skin disease or radiation. According a police report from just days later, Michalak, a 50 year old mechanic, reported having seen "two spaceships" that glowed red and rotated. He claimed he had touched the craft, and that his hat and shirt had been burned; He refused to show the officer the burned shirt, claiming it was in a briefcase he carried. Solotki witnessed a burn on the hat but not Michalak's head. Michalak showed marks that Solotki said appeared consistent with rubbing ash on skin.
While Michalak claimed he had been prospecting, Solotki noticed he had no camping or prospecting equipment, nor a vehicle. Solotki reported that he felt Michalak "had been on a drunk and was suffering from a hangover". Solotki's report notes he did not smell alcohol on Michalak, and that he offered to help Michalak return and seek treatment at Falcon Beach, but was declined.
Returning home to Winnipeg by means of the Greyhound bus, that night Michalak was treated for first-degree burns as an out-patient at the Misericordia Health Centre
Michalak contacted the The Winnipeg Tribune, which subsequently published his account under the title "I was burned by UFO". On May 23, papers throughout the region told of Michalak's report of having seen strange objects at Falcon Lake the prior Saturday. According to Michalak, one of the objects landed. He described the object as 35-feet long and metallic. He said a door had opened, emitting bright violet light, air hissing sounds, and voices that were "definitely human". Michalak reported speaking to the craft in multiple languages but without response. Michalak was reportedly burned in a "checkerboard pattern" when the craft took off; Press quoted the family doctor as having examined the burns. Michalak reported headaches, vomiting, rapid weight loss, and emitting a "foul smell" after his encounter. He claimed the craft left behind a circular indentation where grass and leaves had been removed, he presumed by the craft's heat.
On May 23, Michalak was visited by J.B. Thompson, a member of UFO group APRO. Thompson photographed Michalak's burns, which medical records described as "several round and irregular shaped burns the size of a silver dollar". While Michalak claimed the burns were a grid caused by UFO exhaust from evenly-spaced holes, the Thompson photo shows irregularly shaped blotchy burns.
On May 23, Michalak was interviewed at his home by two members of the RCMP. He reported having lost 13 pounds in the three days since the incident due nausea and vomiting, headaches and a strange taste and smell. The officers witnessed the burns on his abdomen, likening the look to "an exceptionally severe sunburn" but localized to the one spot. Michalak recalled his encounter with Constable Solotki and explained his unwillingness to show the officer his shirt by saying he feared he had been exposed to radiation and did not want to contaminate anyone. He explaining his past unwillingness to provide a specific location by saying he had discovered a high quality nickel strike nearby and did not want the location known, but he offered to escort officers to the site when he was physically able to.
Michalak showed the officers his burnt cap, melted grinder goggles, and burnt undershirt. The shirt was sent to a lab where it was tested for radioactivity, but none was found. A glove that was partially melted was given to the UFO group representative J.B. Thompson. On May 25, members of the Mounted Police and the Air Force conducted aerial search followed by a ground search. They found objects Michalak had mentioned discarding that day: a shopping bag and an old saw he had found along a trail, but failed to find the supposed landing spot.
On June 26, Michalak contacted the Air Force to report that he, along with a partner named Gerald Hart, searched for the landing site over the weekend and located it. He had promised to bring investigators to the location, but now refused to cooperate, citing concerns about his mineral claim. While under instructions from authorities, he had previously agreed not to remove items from the site, Michalak reported he had removed a number of items including his burnt outer shirt and soil samples.
The sample provided by Michalak was tested and found to be "highly radioactive". Officials swept Michalak's home for signs of radioactive materials, taking possession of the remainder of the supposed soil sample. In light of the lab report showing potentially-dangerous radioactivity, Michalak reportedly become fully cooperative, now agreeing to lead authorities to the supposed landing site. When Michalak led investigators visited the site, they noted semi-circle of removed moss. Trace amounts of radiation were detected in a crack in a rock, but the levels posed no danger to life. Chemists suggested the radiation was due to contamination from commercially-available radium-based luminescent paint.
On June 30, press reported that Michalak's case was being investigated by defence authorities amid a rash of UFO reports in the area. The incident was featured in UFO investigation group NICAP's May/June bulletin. In October, press reported that Michalak had been interviewed by University of Colorado professor Ray Craig of the Condon Committee, and that Michalak later led RCMP to the reported landing site where they confirmed the presence of burnt vegetation. On November 6, Defence Minister Léo Cadieux stated the government would not publicly release a report on the official investigation into the case.
A series of dramatic comics about the incident ran in papers in November 1967.
Late in the year, Michalak published his accounts in a 40 page pamphlet titled My encounter with the UFO, published in 1967 by Osnova Publications in Polish and retold by Paul Pihichyn, who had translated the account into English.
On January 17, 1968, the Winnipeg Tribune reported Michalak's claim that the burns had returned. Michalak claimed the burns had previously returned once before. Michalak was photographed showing a grid of uniform, evenly-spaced marks, significantly different from the unevenly-shaped burns described in medical records and depicted in the Thompson photo eight months prior. Many sources mistook the 1968 grid of marks for being the burns from May 1967.
On August 6, 1968, Michalak was examined by a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. In the resultant report, the physician observed "Despite the fact that his lesions have been diagnosed as obviously factitial, I can find no overt evidence of significant mental or emotional illness."
By October, American UFO conspiracy theorists accused the Canadian and American governments of covering up the incident. By November 14, 1968, Michalak was himself accusing the government of a coverup to avoid a national panic. Editorials called on the government to release documents about the Falcon Lake sighting.
By November 1968, papers reported on a piece of metal that Michalak said he had found near the supposed landing sight. Analyzed by professional astronomer and UFO researcher Peter Millman, the material was found to be 95% silver but very slightly radioactive on a level likened to a glow-in-the-dark wristwatch; Millman suggested the metal had been dipped in pitchblend to create a hoaxed artifact.
Skeptics of the Falcon Lake UFO Incident state that Michalak's burns were as a result of an accident stemming from alcohol use, and that his claim was in order to hide their cause. In reporting the incident, Michalak would potentially dissuade any competitors from prospecting in his site. The subsequent frenzy by the public and media caused the reverse effect however, with numerous individuals descending upon the site. The pieces of melted radioactive metal were purported by skeptics of the case to have been planted following the incident to solidify the hoax.
John B. Alexander writing in the Journal for Scientific Exploration states that some of Michalak's long-lasting effects, including the skin lesions which he claimed to be due to his exposure to the exhaust blast, were as a result of an allergic reaction. Alexander highlighted the inconsistencies within Michalak's testimony with regards to the event.
Aaron Sakulich writing for the Iron Skeptic agrees with the alcohol-use explanation. Michalak's inconsistencies in his testimony when discussing his interactions with highway patrol officer G.S. Solotki as well as the nature of the drinks Michalak had prior to the incident were of note. Michalak's claim of his interactions with G.A. Solotki are directly disputed by Solotki's own report for the RCMP the night of the incident, which stated Michalak was reluctant to answer Solotki's questions despite his visible burns and possibly inebriated state. In claiming that he was victim to a UFO related attack, Michalak could deflect attention away from prospecting competition on a site in which Michalak had already staked a claim.
The incident was featured in Unsolved Mysteries Season 5, Episode 8. Michalak was interviewed on his account of the events, and the incident was reenacted with actors.
In 2010, singer-songwriter Jim Bryson with The Weakerthans released their album The Falcon Lake Incident which was recorded in a cottage at Falcon Lake, named after the incident. John K. Samson speaking with the National Post stated that he "[did not] believe in extraterrestrials" but that he "certainly believes in people's encounters."
A 2013 film, Rulers of Darkness was inspired by the claimed events at Falcon Lake. In the film, the protagonist's mother is killed by burns from a UFO at Falcon Lake, mirroring Michalak's claims.
Fifty years after the incident, Michalak's son, Stan Michalak with the aid of UFOlogist Chris Rutkowski, published When They Appeared—Falcon Lake 1967: The Inside Story of a Close Encounter which compiled the Falcon Lake Incident according to eyewitness testimony. Other books have been published regarding Michalak's alleged encounter, including George Dudding's The Falcon Lake UFO Encounter.
In 2018, in commemoration of the event's 50th anniversary, the Royal Canadian Mint issued a $20 non-circulating silver coin featuring the incident as a part of its Canada's Unexplained Phenomena series of coins. The commemorative coin was illustrated by Joel Kimmel. In line with Michalak's claims, the coin glows in the dark with beams appearing to emanate from the craft's underside. It is the first coin of its type to feature glow-in-the-dark elements. On the front side, the coin depicts Queen Elizabeth II, while the back's illustration depicts Michalak's claim of falling to the ground from an exhaust blast in the Manitoba wilderness while a UFO hovers above him. Only 4,000 copies of the coin exist; they initially sold at the retail price of $129.95.
Documents collected pertaining to the incident were donated to the University of Manitoba Archives in 2019, along with burned articles of clothing which Michalak had claimed came from the incident.
Falcon Beach Ranch, a ranch operating nearby and owned by Devin and Kendra Imrie, who had inherited the land containing the alleged landing site, offers a "UFO Tour" for those wishing to visit the area.
Library and Archives Canada contains an extensive collection of the archived documents from civil authorities referring to the incident within its database, compiled under a special database titled Canada's UFOs: The search for the unknown:
The Canadian Encyclopedia discusses the Falcon Lake Incident as a part of its UFOs in Canada article.