UFO researcher: ‘It’s starting to look like Shelburne is going to give the Shag Harbour story a run for its money’

Renowned Nova Scotia UFO researcher Chris Styles says he now has “two great reasons” to visit Shelburne County these days.

Thirty-one years ago, he began researching the Oct. 4, 1967, Shag Harbour UFO incident, which, at that time, had largely been forgotten and wasn’t being talked about much.

“I was the first one since the original military investigation to go at the case,” says Styles.

“My work and the work of those who followed me certainly resurrected the case and it’s now considered Canada’s most important UFO case,» he says. «It’s a compelling argument for UFO reality and remains such. There was nothing controversial about the witnesses or sources of the documents that other cases like Roswell might have.»

On Oct. 4, 1967, multiple witnesses, including RCMP officers, saw an unidentified flying object (UFO) around 60-foot in diameter, with flashing lights, splash down into the waters of Shag Harbour, after flying across the horizon. There were no missing aircraft and an extensive military search could not resolve the case, which remains open and unsolved.

During the course of the Shag Harbour investigation, Styles had the opportunity to talk with Navy divers who had dove in the waters off Shag Harbour where witnesses saw the UFO crash.

“I would talk to them about Shag Harbour and then they said, ‘Well do you know about Shelburne?’” he says.

It was Oct. 12, 1960, and eight Canadian and 10 U.S. warships were at the mouth of Shelburne Harbour participating in a mine-sweeping training mission.

The divers said that “when they dove in the water at the mouth of Shelburne harbour on this mining sweeping training mission, they claimed they encountered two UFOs on the bottom and live aliens in the water,” says Styles.

Although the divers remembered details, they didn’t remember the date and names of the ships.

“I was looking for the answer for 29 years and never thought I’d get it,” says Styles, until last year when he says he “came up with the evidence.”

Styles was able to get a copy of the logbook for the HMCS Cape Scott, which was the command ship of the mission.

“When I finally got the log book for the Cape Scott, I saw when they started doing their training, about an hour in everything went to hell… the ship’s log order, assume DEFCON 1, signaling the outbreak of nuclear warfare. Supposedly that’s never happened in history. That’s nuclear war. This is right in the ship’s log, not an internet rumor.”

Styles spoke about his Shelburne UFO incident research at a UFO expo held in Yarmouth last year.

Over the years, people have tied to connect the Shelburne incident with the Shag Harbour incident, says Styles.

“I never agreed with that interpretation,» he says. «In 2022, I came up with the evidence of the document that it was a separate case seven years earlier. It’s still early days in the investigation… I’m learning more and more about it every day.”

Since releasing the book he’s written – Sweep Clear 5: NATO’s UFO Encounter – Styles says the book has been well received.

“I’m hoping there will be a second one somewhere down the road, but that will depend upon getting continued results from the research effort,» he says.

«There’s more to learn about the Shelburne case. The terrible irony in that one, I never knew, my dad took it to the grave; he was part of the mission in 1960. He was the medic on the Cape Scott,» Styles says.

Styles believes there is more to learn about the Shelburne incident.

“I’m hoping at some point there’s a reason to go dive and take a look to see if anything was left behind. It’s starting to look like Shelburne is going to give the Shag Harbour story a run for its money,» he says.

Styles is the co-author of two UFO books on the Shag Harbour Incident: Dark Object (Dell Bantam) with Don Ledger, and Impact To Contact (Arcadia House Publishing) with Graham Simms.

His new book, Sweep Clear 5: NATO’s UFO Encounter, is available through Amazon and will also be available at the Shag Harbour UFO XPO in Yarmouth on Sept. 9 to Oct. 1. Styles is one of the guest speakers at the expo.

You can find out more about the expo by visiting: https://shagharbourufoexpo.com/