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Dark Object: The World's Only Government-Documented UFO Crash
Mayday over Canada ... the world's only government-documented UFO crash.In 1965 a massive wave of UFO sightings occurs worldwide. In 1967 residents of Shag Harbor, Canada, witness a huge UFO crash into the bay. Three Royal Canadian Mounties watch it float before sinking. Navy divers mount an extensive search. Now officials say nothing ever happened. Why?Researchers Don Ledger and Chris Styles have tackled one of the best documented and most top-secret incidents in the annals of UFO sightings. What they have found out will astound -- and outrage -- readers. From mysterious surveillance twenty-five years after the crash to the sudden disappearance of written records, someone wanted the investigation stopped. But Ledger and Styles now file their stunning report -- and reach a chilling conclusion about the Dark Object, what really happened, and what remains hidden today....From the Paperback edition.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 17, 2021
It's mostly very boring. There's no compelling narrative. The Shag Harbour UFO incident is well documented, and all of those documents are boring.
October 14, 2019
Shag Harborin lahteen pudonnut tuntematon esine on yksi merkillisimmistä tapauksista ufologian historiassa. Vuonna 1967 useat silminnäkijät todistivat miten mereen syöskyi jotakin, jonka he kuvittelivat olevan lentokone. Se painui nopeasti pinnan alle, josta valot loistivat vielä hetken ennen katoamistaan. Viranomaiset hälytettiin paikalle ja etsinnät käynnistettiin veden varaan joutuneiden pelastamiseksi. Ketään ei kuitenkaan löydetty, eivätkä vedenalaiset etsinnätkään tuottaneet tulosta.
Mielenkiintoinen aihe, tosin hiukan toisteisesti kerrottuna. Kirja on nopealukuinen eikä pituudella pilattu. Tapausta tutkivien asianharrastajien vaiheita on ihan kiva lukea. Kyllä tällä pääsi X-files fiiliksiin.
Mielenkiintoinen aihe, tosin hiukan toisteisesti kerrottuna. Kirja on nopealukuinen eikä pituudella pilattu. Tapausta tutkivien asianharrastajien vaiheita on ihan kiva lukea. Kyllä tällä pääsi X-files fiiliksiin.
February 18, 2022
Though there is no solid conclusion, this book does a good job of laying out the basic facts of the case: who saw what, where they were, and corroborating witnesses and evidence. Unfortunately, the authors overstate their case as far as the government-documented part is concerned. The end of the book contains facsimiles of four of the 'many' documents the authors found — presumably the most compelling evidence obtained from the government — but it basically amounts to various government departments saying 'we have a bunch of people calling us telling us something crashed — you'd better go check it out.' Hardly the most compelling evidence that the Canadian government is actually covering up anything.
By the end of the book, the authors weaken their own case that a UFO crashed or landed and the government covered it up when they spend a lot of time and money checking out the waters around the crash and find zip. This is after getting tips that the UFO in question supposedly disappeared from the alleged crash site a week after it crashed. What exactly were the authors expecting to find 30 years later? One theory they proposed before they described their failed recovery expedition was that a government barge came and hoisted up the UFO and removed it. That's an interesting theory and one that smacks of government cover-up, but they don't pursue tracking down the barge theory and end up wasting time and money searching the water.
One thing that bothers me with UFO books like this is that there is zero time spent hypothesizing what the supposed aliens are doing entering earth's atmosphere. Are the aliens trying to find something? Exploring? Researching? It seems odd that these aliens would announce their presence by placing lights on their UFOs, because it seems that if they wanted us to know of their existence they would do so more directly, and if they didn't want us to know of their existence they wouldn't place lights all over their vehicles.
Further, if a craft is capable of interstellar travel (or at least capable of space travel) and atmospheric, hypersonic travel (without making a sound, no less) and undersea travel (a feat of engineering to do all three in one vehicle!), then why in the world can they not make sophisticated observations of earthlings without having to approach closely? If you have the technical means of making craft as described in this book, surely they would have technology to accomplish whatever they are trying to do without actually coming to earth.
That's a long ramble and not part of a real book review, but all of that to say, the authors could have improved this book by giving a compelling reason for aliens to actually land in Shag Harbour, motor underwater a short way, rest for a week, and then take off again (as also is proposed as a theory).
All in all, this book is an interesting read, but readers can learn as much in a shorter time by paying a visit to the Wikipedia page for this event.
By the end of the book, the authors weaken their own case that a UFO crashed or landed and the government covered it up when they spend a lot of time and money checking out the waters around the crash and find zip. This is after getting tips that the UFO in question supposedly disappeared from the alleged crash site a week after it crashed. What exactly were the authors expecting to find 30 years later? One theory they proposed before they described their failed recovery expedition was that a government barge came and hoisted up the UFO and removed it. That's an interesting theory and one that smacks of government cover-up, but they don't pursue tracking down the barge theory and end up wasting time and money searching the water.
One thing that bothers me with UFO books like this is that there is zero time spent hypothesizing what the supposed aliens are doing entering earth's atmosphere. Are the aliens trying to find something? Exploring? Researching? It seems odd that these aliens would announce their presence by placing lights on their UFOs, because it seems that if they wanted us to know of their existence they would do so more directly, and if they didn't want us to know of their existence they wouldn't place lights all over their vehicles.
Further, if a craft is capable of interstellar travel (or at least capable of space travel) and atmospheric, hypersonic travel (without making a sound, no less) and undersea travel (a feat of engineering to do all three in one vehicle!), then why in the world can they not make sophisticated observations of earthlings without having to approach closely? If you have the technical means of making craft as described in this book, surely they would have technology to accomplish whatever they are trying to do without actually coming to earth.
That's a long ramble and not part of a real book review, but all of that to say, the authors could have improved this book by giving a compelling reason for aliens to actually land in Shag Harbour, motor underwater a short way, rest for a week, and then take off again (as also is proposed as a theory).
All in all, this book is an interesting read, but readers can learn as much in a shorter time by paying a visit to the Wikipedia page for this event.
June 7, 2023
From the discard sale of the Seward Alaska Community Library!
If you can get past the self congratulatory forwards, this is fun to read as a journalist-thriller. Kind of like All the President's Men meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
If you want answers and theories about strange things that fall from the sky--you'll be disappointed. If you want to see how two investigators attempt to find those answers--the methods, the difficulties, scrolling through microfilms, surprising leads, dealing with sensationalism--this is entertaining.
Consider it a textbook for the serious UFO journalist.
I love the cameo by Stanton Friedman.
I liked this 160 page book!
If you can get past the self congratulatory forwards, this is fun to read as a journalist-thriller. Kind of like All the President's Men meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
If you want answers and theories about strange things that fall from the sky--you'll be disappointed. If you want to see how two investigators attempt to find those answers--the methods, the difficulties, scrolling through microfilms, surprising leads, dealing with sensationalism--this is entertaining.
Consider it a textbook for the serious UFO journalist.
I love the cameo by Stanton Friedman.
I liked this 160 page book!
March 5, 2020
Excellent Overview of a Forgotten UFO Case
Berliner and Styles deliver facts as they unravel the events of 4 October 1967 at Shag Harbor and Shelburn, Nova Scotia, Canada, when a UFO was seen crashing into the water, possibly moving afterwards, and leaving no traces. That we know of. It’s possible there was salvage. The Canadian Navy was involved and files have been cleansed of information. Fascinating, detailed, and straightforward, this is one of the best books about one of the most important UFO incidents known. Strongly recommended. / Gene Stewart
Berliner and Styles deliver facts as they unravel the events of 4 October 1967 at Shag Harbor and Shelburn, Nova Scotia, Canada, when a UFO was seen crashing into the water, possibly moving afterwards, and leaving no traces. That we know of. It’s possible there was salvage. The Canadian Navy was involved and files have been cleansed of information. Fascinating, detailed, and straightforward, this is one of the best books about one of the most important UFO incidents known. Strongly recommended. / Gene Stewart
October 17, 2023
The book is dedicated to a single and very intriguing case, a supposedly UFO crash, that was probably not a real crash, but a fake crash from a real UFO. Very interesting book, with many cover up aspects.
November 16, 2025
an important part of Canadian UFOology
Very well written. Very concise. Very informative. Still want to know if the yellow saving cream like foam was ever analyzed. Is there any plausible explanation for it or is this just another case for the Xfiles
Very well written. Very concise. Very informative. Still want to know if the yellow saving cream like foam was ever analyzed. Is there any plausible explanation for it or is this just another case for the Xfiles
April 28, 2020
A good book if you are interested in the subject, is the evidence presented within mind blowing enough to win over the sceptics, probably not. It does provide a fair bit of witness testimony though, and there does seem to be a fair bit of documentary evidence from back in the day. The authorities have shut a lid on the case since the 60’s, though. One of the more interesting UFO incidents, even it it isn’t necessarily the most well known. Definitely one for the aficionados.
August 8, 2007
short and easy to read. A UFO hit the water in Shag Harbor, Nova Scotia. Like Roswell, there were witnesses and yet the govt. does a great job of either hiding documentation or denying it existed. Yet the taxpayers are the ones who pay for the studies.
March 20, 2012
Excellent! Especially after having visited Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia and vicinity, I really enjoyed this very convincing account of the UFO sighting there. Should be a must read for anyone with an interest in extraterrestrial encounters. I really enjoyed it and recommend it very highly.
November 26, 2012
This book billed itself as probably the best evidence for alien spacecraft visiting this planet, and after having read it, I'd have to say it's up there. I'm just glad the object (or objects) decided to hover at one point in their half-orbital journey and didn't touch off World War III!
October 19, 2017
Short book, and roughly the first quarter of it is various anecdotes written in a narrative style about where witnesses of this UFO event were when they saw it - this part was pretty boring and nearly lost me.
It's nice to see a book about a UFO incident that does actually care about getting facts correct rather than being roughly 100% conjecture, but there were still many moments where the sources used didn't seem overly trustworthy. On the other hand, it's the first thing I've read about a "real" supernatural event in ages where there were moments that did genuinely make me go "Huh, assuming this isn't a total lie, it's kinda weird".
The writing isn't...great, but it's not terrible either. It's readable.
👽
It's nice to see a book about a UFO incident that does actually care about getting facts correct rather than being roughly 100% conjecture, but there were still many moments where the sources used didn't seem overly trustworthy. On the other hand, it's the first thing I've read about a "real" supernatural event in ages where there were moments that did genuinely make me go "Huh, assuming this isn't a total lie, it's kinda weird".
The writing isn't...great, but it's not terrible either. It's readable.
👽
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews