Research and Investigation into Anomalous Light Phenomena
on and over Lake Ontario, Ontario, Canada
North Shore, Lake Ontario
Frames from VHS video - Please click on image above to see full-sized version
"This isn't actually a boat.. It looks like...ummmm.. a saucer"
Quote above from soundtrack of video (recorded on Panasonic VHS camcorder) just before 8.34 p.m. on 21st May 1997 from North shore of Lake Ontario.
I do not recall saying those words at the time (May 1997) and only noticed the comment when I finally used decent BOSE headphones to listen to the commentary in 2008.
The Panasonic video camera used regular VHS tape and I had it set to x12 optical zoom. A x5.5 teleconverter was attached which provided x66 magnification.
According to T. Roy Dutton's chart on calculating the horizon, the height at which the camera was located would suggest an approximate horizon (where sky meets water) of five statute miles. The far shore, hazily visible beyond the lights, is approximately 19 miles distant from where the camera was located just west of Oakville harbour.
The yachts were a great deal closer to the camera and all appear blurred as they passed by because I was solely focused on the distant bright lights. Despite being mounted on a sturdy tripod the camera was constantly jostled by a very brisk breeze.
The anomalous lights gradually dulled right down as can be seen in these frames from VHS video.
Click on the image below to see full-size version:
Back in 1999 one frame from the video was looked at a little more closely and the following emerged, one in colour and the other in greyscale:
On the evening of 22nd May 1997 the objects seemed further from my camera's location and focus was not as good.
Two of us had initially gone down to the shore of Lake Ontario in Oakville on the evening of the 20th May 1997, setting up the camera approximately 15 feet above water level.
This was the same spot we then used on the 21st and 22nd May 1997.
Again, according to T. Roy Dutton's chart on calculating the horizon, the height at which the camera was located would suggest an approximate horizon (where sky meets water) of five statute miles. The far shore, hazily visible beyond the lights, is approximately 19 miles distant from where the camera was located just west of Oakville harbour.
We had been intent on watching a smaller sphere-like object moving along a few degrees above the horizon to the left and it was much later on that I realised the "runway lights" as we called them were most likely the large, anomalous objects that I had recorded on video on the evenings of the 21st and 22nd of May 1997.
The Panasonic video camera used regular VHS tape and I had it set to x12 optical zoom. I had not used the tele-converter on that evening to zoom in as I did on subsequent occasions.
The wind was very strong causing quite a bit of microphone noise on the recording.
We continued visiting the North shore of Lake Ontario in Oakville in the last week of May 1997. On the 26th I set up the new SuperVHS video camera at the same location as on the evenings of the 20th, 21st and 22nd but the object/lights had a different appearance.
The ground there is on a hill that rises up from the beach and harbour below. Unfortunately I did not place the tripod on the horizontal correctly. Looking within the bright cluster of light there seemed to be vortices of some kind. As the video progresses the cluster of light appears to be rising higher.