Michel Deschamps, a UFO researcher/historian, has spent several years compiling data on UFO sightings in Sudbury and Northern Ontario.

He has investigated abductions, UFO crash sites and obtained “official” UFO documents. Deschamps has witnessed 17 sightings since the age of nine.

He encourages people to contact him with their experiences and is currently writing a book on the history of flying objects, abductions, crop circles and other paranormal activities across Northern Ontario. Deschamps shared his findings at a workshop during the weekend at Rayvin’s Eclectic Enchantments. It was the first one he has presented in six years. Only a handful of people attended, but one could tell by the binders of documents he hauled in with him that Deschamps takes his work very seriously. He stood behind a podium and said when it comes to the subject of UFOs, people are more “close-minded” than they were 15 years ago.

Today, people are reluctant to admit they’ve seen something unusual hovering in the skies overhead and are even more reluctant to leave their name with him. Glancing at Sudbury Star newspaper clippings, it’s surprising the amount of space that was dedicated to reports of flying objects. Eye witnesses are clearly identified, including their exact address. In 1948, for example, Joe Caruso of 294 Albinson St., spotted a “long oval-shaped black object with 20-foot orange-coloured sparks shooting out from the rear.”

“To me, newspaper articles are our history a history that is not spoken of often,” Deschamps said.

Most people are skeptical of his work and tell Deschamps there’s no physical evidence of close encounters of the first, second, third or fourth kind. With encounters of the first kind, there is no interaction between the eyewitness and UFO, while encounters of the second kind involve actual landings often involving scorched ground.

Encounters of the third kind include sightings of aliens or human-like entities, while abductions are characteristic of encounters of the fourth kind. The largest number of UFO sightings in Sudbury occurred during the summer of 1967, when there were eight incidents reported. While it became known as the (psychedelic) summer of love, the 1967 sightings were so vivid eyewitnesses often called the Ontario Provincial Police and the Canadian Forces station at Falconbridge to report what they saw.

In one incident, police were called to investigate a report of an attempted UFO landing, but when they tried to contact headquarters there was “heavy radio interference,” the Sudbury Star reported. Often a UFO sighting was corroborated by other people who saw the object from different areas of the city. It was 1974 when Deschamps, then nine years old, had his first UFO encounter. He was playing with friends at the end of Pharand Street in Hanmer when something caught his eye.

“I remember seeing this metallic silver-looking ball above the tree line. It was probably no more than one-metre wide. I thought it was an advertising balloon, so I looked to see if it was tied down. It wasn’t.”

Years later, Deschamps bought a book about UFOs and one chapter discussed sightings in the Sudbury area, particularly sightings during the first few weeks of July 1974 the time he figures he saw the UFO.

“Up until then, I thought I had imagined it,” he said. That’s when Deschamps started spending considerable time conducting research.

“I still get bugged at work,” said Deschamps, who works at Wal-Mart.

Deschamps created posters of physical evidence to show skeptics, including: cow mutilations, sketches of eyewitness accounts and photographs of crop circles one of which was discovered in Spring Bay on Manitoulin Island in the early 1990s. Called a hoax by non-believers, to this day Deschamps says there’s no way it was a joke. The imprints look like they were burned and they’re located off a beaten path. Surely if it was a hoax, the jokers would have placed the crop circles in an area frequented by passersby, he said.

Shortly after that experience, Deschamps joined the UFO Network, an Internet-based initiative designed to unite researchers across the world. He is also a member of the Mutual UFO Network. Many UFO sightings have occurred in mining areas like Copper Cliff, Garson and Falconbridge, he said. Deschamps said that’s because a mining centre gives alien life an indication of our technology base. “If NASA is interested in us, I’m sure others are curious, too.”

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By Laura Stradiotto/The Sudbury Star

For: www.thesudburystar.com