We kick things off by finding out a little bit of background on Chris Styles and how he gravitated towards the UFO phenomenon. Chris takes us back to October 4th, 1967 and gives us a thumbnail sketch of the UFO event that has come to be known as "The Shag Harbour Incident". We discuss the interesting aspect of the SHI, where the general population who saw the object thought it was a downed airplane, while the government called it a "UFO". Chris explains why many in the population probably didn't consider the possibility that it could be a downed UFO. Chris talks about the "Oz Factor" and how that can influence a UFO investigation.

We talk about one of the key players in the UFO field in Canada at the time : Father Burt Gafney, a strong skeptic of the UFO phenomenon, who did research on the subject at the behest of the Canadian government. We move on to discuss the sensational media coverage of the Incident, at the time, and the rumours and theories of a cover-up of the incident.

Jumping ahead to 25 years later, we find out what made Chris decide to resurrect the Shag Harbour Incident. Chris tells us the path his research took, some of the key people who advised him on how to begin the investigation, how the nature of Shag Harbour allowed him to find the witnesses before he'd even received any documents from the government, and how the documents he did receive ended up showing how serious the incident was taken by the Canadian government.

Chris tells us about the pilot testimony that he discovered, amongst the documents, that tells of pilots sighting a UFO, in the vicinity of Shag Harbour, a few hours before the incident happened. He goes on to explain how the night of October 4th could be called "The Night of UFOs" in Eastern Canada. We find out about the availability of the documents that Chris discovered, were they freely available in 1967 or did they only get released more recently ?

This segues into a fascinating discussion on Canada's "X-Files", legitimate government files, bearing the designation of "X", that existed "outside of the system" and were not catalouged by the government. Chris tells us how he first discovered these X-Files, in a truly remarkable and ironic way. We find out if the government tried to re-sieze the X-Files that Chris discovered, since they were presumably still classified. Chris talks about the APRO report on Shag Harbour that provided him with a wealth of information that went beyond what he found in government files.

From there, we discuss the recently discovered, simultaneous, second search for a UFO that was going on about 25 miles away from Shag Harbour, which was going on in-secret. This, in turn, takes us to a discussion on the testimony of the divers at this second search site, who saw the craft underwater and saw "beings lending assistance to the craft". Chris tells us about how this aspect of the case remains the most difficult part to get details on and he recounts his face-to-face interviews with the divers and their reactions to getting pressed for details on what they saw underwater during the search.

Chris explains how extensive the US military was involved in investigating the Shag Harbour Incident. We talk about the "race with the undertaker" problem that plagues Roswell research and we find out how much of that "race" as affected Shag Harbour research. As principal investigator of Shag Harbour, how does Chris feel about dealing with ill-informed media trying to investigate the case and skeptics who conveniently omit facts to bolster their case against Shag Harbour.

He tells us about a new case, from 1990, in Prince Edward Island, Canada, which could turn out to be a very strong UFO case. Heading towards the end of the interview, we discuss Canadian Ufology v. American Ufology and how similar or different their individual evolutions have been.

Wrapping it up, we find out what's next for Chris Styles, including an appearance at the Massachusetts MUFON event on October 12th, 2007. He also reflects on how big the Shag Harbour Incident got and what the reaction has been from the townspeople of Shag Harbour.

Chris Styles is an active UFO researcher who investigates both classic and current UFO incidents that have occurred in Atlantic Canada. He is best known for his work on the Shag Harbour Incident of October 4, 1967. His work on the Shag Harbour Incident has had a great impact on how UFO crash scenarios are viewed within the field of Ufology. In 1993 Chris received a modest research grant from the Washington based group The Fund for UFO Research, which helped underwrite the expense on an on site research effort at Canada’s National Archives in Ottawa

In 1995 Styles directed an underwater search for physical evidence that may have remained on the seabed of Shag Harbour. That effort was funded by Paramount Television and resulted in several segments for their syndicated show "Sightings". He has appeared in several US documentaries such as the 120 minute A & E production "UFOs II, Have We Been Visited?"

Chris did much of the on screen work and served as a technical advisor in several Canadian UFO feature documentaries such as Ocean Entertainment’s "The Shag Harbour Incident" and "Northern Lights", a 2 hour feature production of Roadhouse Films. His most recent on camera appearance was in the US History Channel’s 60 minute feature documentary "UFO Files – Canada’s Roswell", which was first broadcast in March, 2006.

In 2001 Chris co-authored "Dark Object" with fellow UFO researcher Don Ledger. He has published several speculative papers on different aspects of UFO research and has presented at various UFO symposia. He can be reached via E-mail at shagharbour@hotmail.com

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1 Hr 25 Min.
6.9.07
228
Chris Styles