Charlie Redstar

Charlie Redstar was a name given to some UFOs sighted across Manitoba in 1975–1976, many of them near the town of Carman, Manitoba.^[1] It was described as a red fireball, sometimes stationary and sometimes speeding off rapidly, and similar fireballs were also dubbed Charlie's "friends" and "cousins". Other similar UFOs were reported as flying saucers or "Ferris wheel"-shaped. It was often described as playful, friendly, or mischievous by witnesses.^[1]

Examples of sightings

• February 1975, north of Lundar, Manitoba - A farmer walking to his barn saw a basketball-sized light swooping over him. As he gazed up, he felt as if hot plastic was poured over his face.^[1]
• March 27, 1975, near Graysville, Manitoba - At 2 am, a young girl wakes up to a shrill siren-like pulsating sound, and an earthquake-like tremble. She saw a red ball of light, as bright as the sun, zipping southwards.^[1]
• April 10, 1975, near Carman, Manitoba - The Diemert couple was walking to their private airfield, when they saw a large red slow-moving light, hovering at the treeline. They saw a disk-shaped object with a dome attached. It then turned direction and disappeared after five minutes.^[1]

• Starting May 7 of that year, the same couple saw the object every night for several months. In the summer, many others came to their airfield to see the UFO, observing incredibly fast changes in direction. On May 9, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Constable was called to their farm to see the UFO.^[1] He reported that the object was at approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) in altitude. He described it as an oval red light, surrounded with an x-shaped white halo. When he followed it in his car, it appeared stationary for about two to three minutes, then started moving away.^[1] The object behaved rather similarly to an airplane descending into Winnipeg.
• On May 11–14, the Diemerts contacted CKY-TV to send their TV crews to capture footage of the object. Nothing of interest was observed on the 11th, but on the 12th, a "Light At The End of the Road" (LATER) was observed, appearing as a stationary light that sped away when approached.^[1] On the 13th, at around 11:30 pm north of Carman, a light was observed to rise above the trees in the west, then moved slowly and shot up incredibly fast and disappeared. It was smokey red and was estimated to be 50 feet (15 m) tall and 20 feet (6.1 m) thick. Another group saw it hovering behind the trees, appearing like a blood-red moon. It rose upward, then suddenly sped east.^[1] Another group caught "Charlie" on film, showing a red light near the ground, enlarging in apparent size, then shooting up into the sky. Another group captured the object jumping up and down and pulsating. Some of the films were examined by experts. Radioactive soil was also found near some of the sightings.^[1]

• May 16, 1975, near Stephenfield, Manitoba - Three drunk youths were at a party north of Boyne River Lake, when one of them saw a stationary moon-sized red light. After ten minutes, it shone a white searchlight-like beam onto the lake. An underwater object shone below the beam that made the lake bottom visible, then moved towards the shore, creating ripplets. One youth threw a rock at the object, which broke into four, then separated and individually moved "like a conveyor belt" towards the beam of light. The lights in the objects went out, then the hovering object was observed to break in half and the halves moved away from each other in opposite directions. Although they admitted to being drunk, hallucination seemed unlikely as they each saw the same event.^[1]
• June 4, 1975, north of St. Claude, Manitoba - A farmer saw a flying saucer with two domes top-to-bottom, made from a glass-like material. The top of the craft was silver in colour and the bottom was described as a fish-like milky white. He attempted to leave the area but his truck failed to start.^[1]
• July 1, 1975, west of Roland, Manitoba - Three people saw a strange object moving towards them with a bobbing motion. The UFO shone a bright light onto a grain elevator, bright enough to make its nails visible. It was about 85 feet (26 m) across and perfectly circular. It appeared as a similar flying saucer, but the domes were rotating in opposite directions. The centre disk was stationary and appeared to have several oval windows. The object landed in a nearby field, and the three approached the object, but it flew away before they reached it.^[1]
• July 2, 1975, near Halbstadt, Manitoba - A farmer discovered a barren patch in his field of sugar beets, oval and 39 feet (12 m) in diameter. Vegetation in the patch was dehydrated, and a 50 ft (15 m) swath west of the patch was also damaged, but less so farther from the patch. A tripod-like mark was also discovered in the oval.^[1]

In 1976, fewer sightings were reported, but many people still saw the familiar red light, bobbing in the distance. A ufologist was able to look at "Charlie" and his cousin, "Little Charlie", a twinkling LATER that often receded when approached.^[1]

• April 3, 1976, near Sperling, Manitoba - At around 8 pm, an orange ball of light was observed to suddenly appear over a bridge, about 5 feet (1.5 m) wide. As the observers followed in a car, they saw a second ball appear over their car. The objects reportedly disappeared or receded when they were chased, but then suddenly reappeared when they started leaving.^[1]

See also

• UFO sightings in Canada
• UFO

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} Rutkowski, Chris; Dittman, Geoff (2006). The Canadian UFO Report: The Best Cases Revealed. The Dundurn Group. pp. 333 pg. ISBN 1-55002-621-6.