The Alien. Canada

Drawing of the sighting by artist Brian James. (Canadian UFO Report)

It was turning five in the morning on New Year’s Day 1970, when Miss Doreen Kendall, a practical nurse at the Cowichan District Hospital on Vancouver Island, noticed that one of the elderly patients in her ward was restless. Deciding the patient was too warm, she went to a window and parted the drapes to let in a little air.

“Just as I pulled the drapes a brilliant light hit me in the eyes,” she said. “It was still dark outside, but about 60 feet away right above the children’s ward to my left there was this object so big and bright I could see everything clearly.”

“The object was circular and had what I guess you would call a top and bottom. The bottom was silvery, like metal, and was shaped like a bowl. There was a string of bright lights around it like a necklace. The top was a dome made of something like glass. It was lit up from inside and I could see right into it.”

Continuing her account in question-and-answer form, Miss Kendall told me there were two male-like figures in the craft, one behind the other, facing to her right away from the hospital. The one in front appeared taller, or perhaps was positioned higher, than the other. Their heads were encased in close-fitting dark material.

As she watched with intense curiosity, yet completely unfrightened – “I never felt so peaceful in all my life. I wish I could have talked to them” – she became aware of seeing more of the interior of the craft and realized it was tilting. In a moment she could see to a point just below their knees and noticed they were standing in front of what looked like stools.

“They looked like fine, tall, well-built men,” she said. “They were dressed in tight-fitting suits of the same material that covered their heads but their hands were bare and I noticed how human they looked. Their flesh seemed just like ours.”

Intrigued as she was by the appearance of the two figures, Miss Kendall found her interest centered on what looked like an instrument panel facing the one in front.

“The man in front was staring at the panel as if something very important was going on, and I wondered if they might have had mechanical trouble. I even thought they might have landed on the roof of the hospital and then had trouble taking off.”

She described the panel as a very large one, taking up almost half the interior of the object and reaching nearly to the top of the dome. The instruments, if that is what they were, seemed to be inset in the chrome-like metal of the panel and there was a variety of sizes.

The total sight was so absorbing that at first Miss Kendall’s thoughts were lost to everything else, and for a moment she forgot Mrs. Frieda Wilson, a registered nurse, was in the same room.

“Then when I did think of it, I guess I hesitated. I felt I mustn’t make a noise or do anything that would break the trend of what was happening.”

At this point, almost as if her thoughts were being read, she saw the figure in the rear turn slowly and face squarely in her direction.

“He seemed to look right at me but I couldn’t see his face. It was covered by a darkish material that looked softer than the rest of his suit. I’m sure he saw me because then he touched the other man on the back. When he did this, the man in front reached down and took hold of something like a lever beside him. I’ll never forget how deliberately he did it. He pushed it back and forth and the saucer, or whatever you’d call it, started to circle slowly, still close to the building, in an anticlockwise direction.”

The motion seemed to break the spell for Miss Kendall, for then she remembered Mrs. Wilson was there and called her over.

Later I spoke separately to Mrs. Wilson, who said, “I noticed Miss Kendall standing at the window and wondered what she was looking at. In fact, I was just going to see when she beckoned to me, and then I saw this great big light over the patio outside the children’s ward. I’d say it was quite a bit larger than a car. (By the estimate of both witnesses, the object spanned a width of about five windows of the children’s ward. This gave it a diameter of at least 50 feet.) It looked circular in shape and the far side seemed to be higher than the side near us. It was moving around slowly and then it started to move away. I didn’t really see any top or bottom to it. It was all just tremendously bright.”