Stephen Michalak was visiting Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada in May of 1967 when something unusual happened in the sky above him. According to his account, he witnessed two cigarette-shaped objects overhead before one of the UFOs landed nearby. Assuming this was an “experimental vehicle from the United States”, Michalak moved closed to investigate.
He soon heard voices coming from the craft and called out in several languages to make contact. However, no response was heard. Michalak looked through the doorlike opening to the interior of the domed craft, which measured about 35 feet wide and 12 feet high and smelled sulphur. He briefly saw a “maze of lights” inside before three panel doors closed the opening. He touched the outside of the craft, burning his gloves, when suddenly hot hair was pushed through a gridlike vent as the strange craft took off and rose into the air. This surprising liftoff shocked Michalak and his shirt caught fire before he became nauseated. Disoriented, he arrived home nine hours later.
Soon complaining of pain, Michalak visited the hospital to get checked out for his sickness from the strange encounter. There were burn marks on his chest of the grid he noticed on the craft before his clothes caught fire. He smelled of sulphur for weeks and was tested for radiation poisoning, but results showed no positive signs of it. A few weeks later, he and a friend returned to the area where the alleged UFO landing occurred. They found a burn marks on the ground, dead branches, and other evidence that Michalak felt proved his story.
However, officials never fully believed he was telling the truth, especially when the radiation they measured at the scene was discovered to be from the radium that ran under the region. A year later, the friends returned to the landing site to revisit it one more time, finding radioactive molten material which analysis proved to be rare. Nevertheless, it is believed to have been planted by someone who wanted the story to be believed.
The Falcon Lake Incident remains “unsolved” according to the Canadian Government. Stephen Michalak passed away in 1999, the burns remaining on his body even after over 30 years, leaving his family behind to continue his search for answers.