Within Alberta UFOs
Did Something Land Near Duhamel?
The Duhamel pasture marks remain Alberta's strongest physical-trace case, but the evidence is more puzzling than conclusive.
On this page
- What was found in the pasture
- What defence linked investigators recorded
- Why the case remains unresolved
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Introduction
Did something land near Duhamel? The safest answer is that something left unusual circular marks in a pasture near Camrose, Alberta, in August 1967, but the evidence never proved what caused them. The case matters because it is one of Alberta’s strongest physical-trace UFO incidents: defence-linked personnel inspected the site, measured the marks, checked radiation, considered hoax and mechanical explanations, and still did not reach a firm conclusion. Library and Archives Canada’s UFO collection includes multiple Camrose records for 8 August 1967, within a wider federal archive drawn from National Defence, Transport, the National Research Council and the RCMP. [Library and Archives Canada]lac-bac.gc.casightings, unidentified flying objects, UFO's. Location. Sighting Date (text). Document Date (mm/dd/yyyy). Record Number. Camrose, AB. 8/…
The Duhamel marks are therefore more puzzling than conclusive. They are not proof of an extraterrestrial landing, and the case was weakened by public trampling, uncertain timing and incomplete laboratory follow-up. Yet they remain important because the surviving record shows investigators treating the marks as a real physical problem rather than dismissing them as a simple rumour. [Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caDigital Collections
What was found in the pasture
The reported site was on land owned by farmer Edgar Schielke near Duhamel, a small community in Camrose County. According to the Defence Research Establishment Suffield inspection transcript, Schielke said he found the first circular mark on Saturday 5 August 1967 after heavy rain the previous day. He also said he had not been into that pasture during the previous week, which means the marks may have been made days before he noticed them. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
The first mark was described as roughly 30 feet across. After Schielke mentioned it to a neighbour, the story reached Ray Sanders, a local schoolteacher and UFO enthusiast, who visited the site with others. They reportedly found three more similar marks and sent sample material to a UFO society in Edmonton before official investigators arrived. This sequence matters because the site was already becoming a public attraction before the defence-linked inspection took place. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
The marks themselves were not dramatic burn scars or deep craters. They were ring-like impressions in pasture grass, generally five to seven inches wide. The smallest measured circle was 31 feet 9 inches in diameter, while the largest was slightly elliptical, ranging from 34 feet 5 inches to 36 feet 3 inches. Three rings were described as nearly circular, and each was incomplete on one side. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
The most interesting detail is not simply their shape, but their texture. The DRES transcript says the marks looked like the effect of a heavily loaded rubber-tyred wheel moving in a close circle. Grass was crushed and discoloured, cow dung within the marks was compressed, and there were reported tread or lug-like impressions on a repeating pattern of about three inches. At the same time, investigators found no single tyre track leading away from any circle. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
That combination is what kept the case alive. A simple vehicle explanation would need approach and departure marks, especially after rain. A simple landing explanation would need a plausible object capable of producing the pressure pattern without leaving heat, blast, chemical, or disturbance effects elsewhere. The inspection found no scorching, no exhaust blast and no disturbance of loose surface material outside the narrow ring marks. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
What defence-linked investigators recorded
The key inspection was carried out by G. H. S. Jones of the Defence Research Establishment Suffield, then at Ralston, Alberta. His memorandum was labelled “Onsite Inspection of Reputed UFO Landing Marks at Duhamel, Alberta” and identified as Suffield Memorandum No. 49/67. Jones wrote that he was asked on Friday 11 August 1967 to inspect marks in a pasture near Duhamel after local reports connected them with the landing of one or more UFOs. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
The response was improvised but serious enough to involve defence channels. Jones travelled by RCAF aircraft to Camrose, met Captain Walker, an Army helicopter pilot acting as the Canadian Forces Headquarters on-site inspector, and was accompanied by an Army photographer and a representative of the Camrose Canadian newspaper. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
By then, the field had been compromised. Jones wrote that the pastures had been visited by many people, including people who drove cars across the land and left vehicle tracks in many directions. He nevertheless reported that the circular marks were still clear after a week, including rain and visitor traffic. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
Jones’s analysis is unusually balanced for a UFO case. He did not endorse a flying saucer explanation. He also did not say the marks were obviously faked. Instead, he worked through a few possibilities:
A rolling wheel or tyre. Jones thought rolling contact was plausible because the marks resembled the effect of a loaded wheel moving in a near-perfect circle. But he estimated that the wheel would need a load of at least half a ton, perhaps three-quarters of a ton, and would have to be moved in a very exact circle. He also noted the problem of making isolated circles in soft ground without visible tracks leading to and from them. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
A deliberate hoax. Jones considered a hoax possible, especially given the prior local UFO rumours, the discovery of additional marks, the speed of press involvement and the farmer’s relaxed attitude while visitors crossed his pasture. But he also wrote that he could find nothing that strengthened the hoax explanation. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
A heavy object on a circular base. Jones calculated that if a vehicle had descended vertically onto a narrow circular support, the object might have needed a load of about 135 tons to create the visible marks, with his rough calculation allowing for a possible range closer to 100 to 200 tons. This was not a claim that a spacecraft had landed; it was an estimate of the kind of weight that might produce the observed pressure pattern. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
The radiation result was negative. Jones recorded beta counts from the circles, nearby tracks and control areas away from the tracks, and described the readings as normal background. Later historical analysis of the federal files says Walker returned on 15 August to collect soil samples and that gamma-ray spectral analysis found normal radioactivity levels. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
Why the case remains unresolved
The Duhamel case remains unresolved because the best evidence points in different directions. The marks were physical, measurable and still visible when inspected. They were unlike ordinary car or truck tracks nearby. They had a repeated tread-like pattern and looked mechanically produced. Yet investigators could not identify a vehicle, farm machine, aircraft, natural process or hoaxing method that comfortably explained all of the features at once. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
The timing is one of the largest weaknesses. Schielke found the first mark after heavy rain, but he had not checked the pasture for about a week. That means there was no certain moment of formation, no direct observation of the marks being made, and no reliable way to connect them to any specific aerial sighting. Prior reports of “strange phenomena” in the area were noted, including a report from two schoolgirls, but Jones himself treated that background cautiously and warned against assuming witness reliability from his brief summary. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
The site handling also weakened the case. Before official inspection, local visitors, press interest and civilian UFO investigators had already moved through the pasture. Vehicle tracks were everywhere. Samples had reportedly been taken before the defence-linked team arrived. That does not mean the marks were fake, but it does mean the scene was no longer a clean evidential site. [The Experiencer Support Association]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
There is also a document-count problem that readers should notice. Some accounts focus on four circular marks, reflecting the early discovery sequence. Later historical analysis of the government files says Jones and Walker identified six circular marks, ranging from 31 to 36 feet in diameter, with a site map showing them arranged separately in the field. This variation does not destroy the case, but it reminds us that the surviving record is not a neat modern forensic file. [Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caDigital Collections
The laboratory results did not strengthen the extraordinary interpretation. The on-site radiation readings were normal, and later soil testing was inconclusive in the ordinary sense: it did not reveal abnormal radioactivity or decisive foreign material. A Department of National Defence summary cited in later research stated that it had not been possible to arrive at a conclusion; a later defence response likewise said DND could not determine what caused the impressions on Schielke’s property. [Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caDigital Collections
What makes Duhamel different in Alberta’s UFO record
Most UFO reports are fleeting: a light in the sky, a moving object, a strange glow, or a pilot report that cannot be matched immediately to known traffic or weather. Duhamel is different because the claim centred on marks that could be measured, photographed, walked around and compared with ordinary vehicle tracks. That is why it sits near the top of Alberta’s UFO history, even though it does not prove a landing. [CityNews Calgary]calgary.citynews.caCity News Calgary Alberta 'holds its own' in UFO sightings: AuthorCityNews CalgaryAlberta 'holds its own' in UFO sightings: AuthorSeptember 16, 2022 — 16 Sept 2022 — Rutkowski, who has been studying UFO…
Chris Rutkowski, a long-time Canadian UFO researcher, has described Alberta as having “significant representation” in Canadian reporting and has specifically pointed to the Duhamel marks as among the province’s notable historical cases. His broader point is important: Alberta’s UFO record is not only made of spectacular claims, but of reports that entered newspapers, police or aviation systems, archives and public memory. [CityNews Calgary]calgary.citynews.caCity News Calgary Alberta 'holds its own' in UFO sightings: AuthorCityNews CalgaryAlberta 'holds its own' in UFO sightings: AuthorSeptember 16, 2022 — 16 Sept 2022 — Rutkowski, who has been studying UFO…
Duhamel also belongs to the unusually busy Canadian UFO year of 1967. In the same period, the Falcon Lake incident in Manitoba prompted federal attention because of alleged burns and trace evidence, and St. Paul, Alberta, opened its UFO Landing Pad as a Canadian Centennial attraction. Duhamel sits between those worlds: less famous than Falcon Lake nationally, less playful than St. Paul culturally, but more evidentially interesting than a standard sky sighting because investigators had ground traces to examine. [Canada+2St. Paul]canada.caepisode 053UFOs at LAC: The Falcon Lake incident, part 1May 15, 2019 — In part one of this two part episode, we unravel Canada's most infamous…
The fairest reading today
The Duhamel marks are best described as unexplained physical traces, not as confirmed UFO landing evidence. The strongest points are the measured circular impressions, the absence of obvious approach tracks, the contrast with ordinary vehicle marks, and the fact that defence-linked investigators did not simply dismiss the case. The weakest points are the lack of direct observation, the contaminated scene, prior UFO publicity, inconsistent counts of the marks, and the absence of abnormal radiation or laboratory confirmation. The Experiencer Support Association+2The Experiencer Support Association [experiencersupport.org]experiencersupport.orgort Association…
A hoax remains possible, but it would have required planning, equipment and care to avoid leaving obvious access marks. A mechanical cause remains plausible, but no specific machine was identified in the surviving evidence. A heavy descending object was considered only as a pressure calculation, not as a demonstrated craft. That is why Duhamel still matters: it is unresolved because ordinary explanations do not fit cleanly, not because extraordinary explanations were proved.
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Endnotes
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Source: canada.ca
Title: ‘s UFOs: The search for the unknown
Link: https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/collection/research-help/science-technology/ufos.htmlSource snippet
Canada's UFOs: The search for the unknown - Canada.ca...
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Source: digitalcollections.trentu.ca
Title: Digital Collections
Link: https://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/_flysystem/fedora/2022-04/A_History_of_Canada_s_UFO_Investigation_1950_1995.pdf -
Source: calgary.citynews.ca
Title: City News Calgary Alberta ‘holds its own’ in UFO sightings: Author
Link: https://calgary.citynews.ca/2022/09/16/alberta-ufo-sightings/Source snippet
CityNews CalgaryAlberta 'holds its own' in UFO sightings: AuthorSeptember 16, 2022 — 16 Sept 2022 — Rutkowski, who has been studying UFO...
Published: September 16, 2022
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Source: canada.ca
Title: episode 053
Link: https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/collection/engage-learn/podcasts/discover/episode-053.htmlSource snippet
UFOs at LAC: The Falcon Lake incident, part 1May 15, 2019 — In part one of this two part episode, we unravel Canada's most infamous...
Published: May 15, 2019
-
Source: youtube.com
Title: Canada’s First Reported Crop Circles
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAAE9Q7ysqMSource snippet
The Alberta UFO Wave of 1967...
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Source: lac-bac.gc.ca
Link: https://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=41bt6o0o2fvsbn3l0ot8221112&brws_s=&q4=AB&sk=271Source snippet
sightings, unidentified flying objects, UFO's. Location. Sighting Date (text). Document Date (mm/dd/yyyy). Record Number. Camrose, AB. 8/...
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Source: experiencersupport.org
Link: https://www.experiencersupport.org/declassified/onsite-inspection-of-ufo-landing-marks-at-duhamel-camrose-county-in-albertaSource snippet
ort Association...
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Source: stpaul.ca
Title: ufo landing pad
Link: https://www.stpaul.ca/visitors/ufo-landing-padSource snippet
St. PaulThe Landing PadIn 1967, a proposal was made to build the world's first UFO Landing Pad as a landmark for the Town. The Government...
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Source: experiencersupport.org
Link: https://www.experiencersupport.org/points-of-interest -
Source: collectionscanada.gc.ca
Link: https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/ufo/001057-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=taq6tkh1mabsust3353mthnd63&brws_s=&q7=National+Research+Council&sk=1386 -
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Falcon Lake Incident
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Lake_Incident -
Source: documents.theblackvault.com
Title: Canada FOIA Part 29 Pages 8401 8759
Link: https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/canada/Canada%20-%20FOIA%20Part%2029%20-%20Pages%208401-8759.pdf -
Source: canadaufohistory.com
Link: https://www.canadaufohistory.com/1967
Additional References
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Source: dokumen.pub
Title: soil samples, which they forwarded to the Edmonton ufo society
Link: https://dokumen.pub/search-for-the-unknown-canadas-ufo-files-and-the-rise-of-conspiracy-theory-9780228012290.htmlSource snippet
Search for the Unknown: Canada's UFO Files and the Rise...The 1967 case of the “reputed ufo landing marks” at Duhamel, Alberta, remains...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Falcon Lake Incident: The Most Credible UFO Case in History
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e6dKxkqbn8Source snippet
What Really Happened at Falcon Lake in 1967...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Crop Circles in Canada | UFOs or Simply a Hoax?
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDybRaQ61pkSource snippet
Falcon Lake Incident: The Most Credible UFO Case in History...
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Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/1NewsNZ/posts/our-initial-investigation-has-found-scuff-marks-on-one-of-the-aircrafts-tyres/10156193050016218/ -
Source: academia.edu
Link: https://www.academia.edu/45497950/Timeline_of_World_Wierdness -
Source: academia.edu
Link: https://www.academia.edu/56676403/What_in_the_World_are_UFOs -
Source: researchgate.net
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387054986_Gamma-Ray_Spectrometry_of_Soil_Samples_From_a_Pilot_Site_of_Uranium_Anomaly_in_the_Sahel_Region_of_Burkina_Faso -
Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/albertastorm/posts/1005516020961037/ -
Source: pappers.fr
Link: https://www.pappers.fr/entreprise/duhamel-bruno-838772804 -
Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/431894484446093/posts/1563176971317833/
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