When preparing my two part series covering the 1978 Clarenville UFO Sighting I set out to gather and share as much of the original documentation as possible. Sadly, despite this event receiving heavy coverage at the time I wasn't able to gather as much as I had originally hoped. In this blog post, I will share with you the various items I was able to obtain.

You can listen to Jim Blackwood tell his story in Part One of The Night Time Podcast coverage of the event here.

You can listen to Part two of The Night Time Podcast's coverage of the event here.

Cst. Blackwoods UFO Press Conference

This is the 1978 press conference that was, and is still often, broadcast on the newfoundland TV station NTV. This press conference has been shared far and wide and is a common entry point for interest in this event.

Cst. Blackwoods Drawing of the "Object"

Jim Blackwood has made several hand drawn representations of the object, one was included with his policy report, one held up during his TV interivew.

Police Report Outlining the Basics of the Event

This is not the original report written by Jim (James) Blackwood, but is a summary of the event. A huge thanks to Chris Rutkowski for helping me locate this.

At 01 45 hours, Mr. Chester LETHBRIDGE, Marine Drive, Clarenville, Nfld., reported a UFO sighting in the area of Random Island, Trinity Bay, Nfld. The following described object was also witnessed by Mrs. Chester LETHBRIDGE and Cst. James BLACKWOOD of this Detachment. This object was observed with the aid of binoculars and a telescope from outside the LETHBRIDGE residence. The sky was clear at this time and the object was observed at an altitude of approximately three to four thousand feed. Object was described as oval shaped with a large triangular fin on top, completely white with red, what and blue flashing lights and very bright. The object was stationary for approximately one hour at which time it moved straight up at a slow rate of speed. This has been reported to the Department of National Defense, Gander, Nfld.

C.F. Davis, Cst.

Clarenville Detachment

Document Related to the NRC Investigation

This document is from the National Research Council's investigation files. It includes information on UFO reports from Clarenville (spelled incorrectly). In this document the NRC state the most likely explanation for the object is the planet Jupiter.

Note To UFO FILE. REPORTS: N78/192.198.199.

RE: Reports from Chesterville(sp), NFLD

1/ N78/192 03:00 am the Oct 12, 1978. Duration 2 hours, east.

07:30 to 06:30 ast, Oct 12, 1978

2/ N78/198 01:45 am 26 Oct 78. Duration 1 hour, east.

3/ N78/199 23:30 std NFLD time, 1 Nov 78 Gander

The first two reports, 13 days apart, are by the same people and describe very similar objects. These objects were most likely the planet Jupitar, which is quite brilliant. It rises about midnight in mid-October, and is near the meridian at sunrise. Saturn and several bright stars are also in the eastern sky at this time.