Stories involving unidentified flying objects often include accounts where the objects appear and leave physical evidence behind. These incidents, while rare, do carry with them a higher level of credibility than the simple eyewitness accounts in the eyes of skeptics. One such account to enter into the history of UFOlogical studies was the Falcon Lake Incident of May 20, 1967 which included not only a physical object seen by a witness, but an unexplained radioactive material left behind.
The witness, Stefan Michelak, spotted two cigar shaped objects as he was hiking on vacation and prospecting for quartz in Falcon Lake near Whiteshell Provincial Park. The objects described by Michelak as chrome and cigar shaped as they cast their shadows over the area, were unlike anything he had ever seen in the sky before. And after one of them landed nearby where the witness had been camping, he approached. The injuries he reportedly sustained during the incident would occur only after he drew near one of the nearest object as it landed.
When he came within 160 feet of the craft, he noted that it had a grid-like sequence of lines spread across the lower anterior side, appearing like a large mesh exhaust port or a grid for ventilating heat. When one of the doors opened on the craft he became suddenly very still, straining to hear what he would later describe as voices from inside.
He approached the vessel and peeked his head inside the vessel, still thinking that the ship was most likely terrestrial in origin. Later he would recount that at this point he still thought the voices may have belonged to two humans, and attempted to call into the vessel by using phrases from multiple languages. The response was distinct. The massive door through which he had been peering screamed shut and Michalak found himself bracing his hand against the hull of the vessel to get out in time. Even through his thick gloves the exterior of the craft burned his hands.
After the door closed, Michalak says the craft took off and disappeared along with the other one, leaving him with burns on his hand and chest and a lot of questions about what he had just witnessed. After feeling pain and an unexplained sickness, he left his gear behind and returned to the road in search of medical assistance. When he was examined, doctors were shocked to discover burns on his chest in a shape similar to what he had seen on the ship.
The Mounted Police investigated the area and discovered the location Michalak had left behind. They noted the presence of radium 226 nearby the location where the ship was said to have landed. Was the radioactive material left behind by the vessels? Or was it naturally occurring in the area, possibly acting as a motivation for them to visit that particular area?
As for Stefan Michalak, he would eventually recover from the incident, though it would leave questions forever in his mind. He died at the age of 83 in 1999.