What happened
On the evening of October 26, 1978, residents of Clarenville and nearby Random Island reported to police a bright, oval object hovering about 30 meters (100 feet) above the waters of the bay. RCMP Constable Jim Blackwood came to the scene and saw an object with something like a tail fin and flashing lights. He tried signaling to it with his patrol car’s headlights, and the object reportedly responded. The sighting lasted between one and two hours, and in total about twelve people saw the object. Blackwood wrote a report that ended up in the Canadian archives. In 2020 the Royal Canadian Mint commemorated the event with a collector coin.
Witnesses
RCMP Constable Jim Blackwood and about eleven residents of Clarenville and Random Island.
Explanations and hypotheses
The RCMP report gave no explanation. A bright planet or star seen through a layer of cold air over the water, an airplane, or a helicopter have been proposed, but the description of a hovering object with a fin does not fit any of these possibilities well. The case is considered one of the best documented in Canada.
Unexplained There is no convincing explanation.
More: Wikipedia (en)