Falcon Lake Incident

The Falcon Lake Incident was an alleged UFO encounter on May 20, 1967, at Falcon Lake, within Whiteshell Provincial Park in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Unlike typical UFO reports, the lone witness, Steve Michalak, claimed to hear human voices, said the craft was man-made, and claimed burns on his abdomen were caused by its exhaust.^[1][2]

Initially telling police he was burned by a spaceship, Michalak later told the press it was a man-made aircraft, prompting investigations by law enforcement and the military. CBC News has called it "Canada's best-documented UFO case".^[1][3]

Despite agreeing not to disturb the site, Michalak unexpectedly gave authorities objects he claimed he had collected from the site. When some of those objects tested positive for low-level radioactivity, chemists suggested the objects might have been contaminated with substances like radium-based paint, which was accessible at the time.

In 1968, Michalak told press his burns had returned and they photographed a grid-like pattern of marks on his abdomen that bore little resemblance to his earlier burns. A psychiatrist concluded the new wounds were likely self-inflicted. In 2017, CBC news quoted Michalak's son as saying: "If Dad hoaxed this — remember we're talking about a blue-collar, industrial mechanic — if he hoaxed it then he was a freakin' genius."^[1]