Cameron - Charlie Red Star: true reports of one of North Americas biggest UFO sightings

Americans assume that facts are solid, concrete, and discrete objects like marbles, but they are very much not. Rather they are subtle essences, full of meaning and metaphysics that change their color and shape, their meaning, according to the context in which they are presented.

Dwight Macdonald, Esquire, March 1965

This book is the recounting of my work investigating the numerous unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings that occurred in the Canadian province of Manitoba in 197576. The investigation initiated a long trip into the mystery of UFOs that has never ended.

I have held this manuscript for thirty-six years. The reason it is being published now is to put the events on the record. It is not to prove anything, but to detail a series of incredible events that occurred in a small Prairie town.

When the flap of sightings broke out in 1975 around Carman, Manitoba, I was a political studies student at the University of Manitoba. Prior to my first sighting, I cant recall ever having thought about UFOs. I certainly dont remember reading anything on the subject. The only reason I can recall venturing out on the first night to Carman was to observe what everyone else was reportedly seeing.

Once I was involved in the Charlie Red Star story, an evolution began in my thoughts on the subject of UFOs. When I first glimpsed the object, I went from ignorance to absolute amazement. My increased awareness and belief crystallized after speaking with many of the major witnesses in the flap area. It became apparent to me that something very extraordinary was going on.

The Charlie Red Star story is a unique tale. In terms of time and the number of sightings involved, it was one of the biggest UFO flaps ever to have occurred. It is perhaps for this reason that the National Enquirer , an American tabloid newspaper based in Lantana, Florida, considered calling Manitoba the UFO capital of the world after its initial investigation in the spring of 1975, followed by a two-week study of the sightings in 1976.

Despite the number of sightings that occurred, not many people have ever heard of the flap, since almost none of the sightings were publicized beyond local TV, radio, or newspaper reports. Even the largest local book publisher failed to help spread the word. When approached with a manuscript that would tell the rest of the world the story, the publisher wrote: Mr. Cameron. You may believe in this sort of thing. Consider me among the unbelievers.

The stories that follow will hopefully replace those constantly repeated in ufology, which have become thin through their constant retelling. It is hoped these stories will provide some researcher somewhere new information that might help solve the UFO mystery.

The majority of this book is simply a retelling of the many tales told to me by citizens involved in the sightings. Together, the witnesses and I agreed that the only proof existed in what we had seen.

Therefore, instead of this book being a vain appeal for others to believe what we saw, it looks at how others treated the witnesses, their personal opinions, and above all, their emotional reaction to a story that is personally theirs. The two-year flap is unique and worthy of being documented in book form.

In many circles the prevailing attitude is that sightings occur throughout a scattering of civilization when the witnesses are in the wrong place at the wrong time. In other words the general position is that you dont find UFOs they find you.

In Manitoba there was sufficient evidence to say that this model didnt apply. On at least five occasions, mobile TV crews from Winnipeg went out to find UFOs and did indeed do so. That was how CKY-TV in Winnipeg captured what came to be considered one of the most famous UFO nocturnal light movies in the world at that time. Nine different photographers made it a point to regularly seek out UFOs and photograph them. Hundreds of other people did likewise.

The story of Charlie Red Star is also a look at what has been learned with the perspective of more than 40 years after the sightings happened. It appears that the Manitoba experience didnt follow the general rules in a number of categories. Most UFO studies have shown that sightings are random, and yet for some reason the Manitoba ones werent.

The Manitoba UFO flap was also different from other historic ones in that the UFO became personified. The object that appeared almost nightly became known as Charlie Red Star. People and newspapers alike called it Charlie rather than a UFO. Charlie became a legend and was even part of advertisements placed in a local Carman newspaper by companies selling their goods.