Within New Brunswick UFOs
Did Something Leave Marks at Mc Leod Hill?
The McLeod Hill case is intriguing because it includes alleged ground marks, but its public record remains too thin for firm conclusions.
On this page
- What witnesses reportedly saw
- The circular holes claim
- Why the evidence remains limited
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Introduction
McLeod Hill, on the north side of Fredericton, has a small but intriguing place in New Brunswick UFO history because it is one of the province’s few publicly cited “physical trace” claims: a report in which an unusual object was allegedly followed by marks in a farm field. The core claim is simple. In April 1965, a loud hissing object was reportedly seen hovering low over a farm field; the next morning, a series of circular holes was said to have been found there. That sounds more substantial than a distant light in the sky, but the evidence trail is thin: no publicly available laboratory report, no known official case file, no contemporary newspaper account located by later researchers, and no surviving measurements detailed enough to test the claim firmly. [Canadian UFO Report]canadianuforeport.comCanadian UFO Report
That tension is why McLeod Hill matters. It is not a “proved landing” case. It is better understood as a local report that sits between folklore, witness memory and UFO cataloguing, showing how a striking provincial story can persist even when the documentary record remains too limited for confident conclusions.
What witnesses reportedly saw
The shortest published catalogue version dates the case to 14 April 1965 and places it at McLeod Hill, New Brunswick. It says a loud hissing object was seen hovering low over a farm field, and that a series of circular holes was found in the field the following morning. The source named in that catalogue is CUFOR, a civilian UFO research source, not a government agency or contemporary newspaper report. [Canadian UFO Report]canadianuforeport.comCanadian UFO Report
A fuller later retelling connects the location with the farm of Walter Lint at McLeod Hill, Royal Road, Fredericton North. In that version, Dorothy Dearborn, a New Brunswick writer who included UFO experiences in a 1996 local-interest book, heard rumours of a reported landing and tried to trace the story. The later account says Lint was reluctant to discuss it because of the attention he had received at the time. It also says Dearborn searched the local Daily Gleaner but found nothing, then used a public request for information to locate people connected with the story. [jimlawrenceavondale]jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.comfrederictonnb canada multi ufo sightings of the 1960sFredericton,NB, Canada Multi UFO sightings of the 1960’s | jimlawrenceavondale…
The most vivid reported witness detail in the later account comes through Dr David Wade, who said he learned of the McLeod Hill incident while he was a university student in 1965. According to that account, Wade, his brother and a friend visited the Lint farm after hearing about the sighting. Lint’s daughters allegedly took them to the field, where the hay had been cut and three circular indentations were visible. They reportedly said the object had glowing, dinner-plate-sized features around it. [jimlawrenceavondale]jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.comfrederictonnb canada multi ufo sightings of the 1960sFredericton,NB, Canada Multi UFO sightings of the 1960’s | jimlawrenceavondale…
Those details make the story memorable, but they also show the weakness of the record. The richer version appears decades after the alleged event and is mediated through local-history writing and a 2022 blog retelling of that material. The concise trace catalogue gives a date and a summary, but not names, statements, photographs, police notes, soil analysis or field diagrams. The two strands are compatible in broad terms, yet they do not produce the kind of independent, contemporary documentation that would make the case much stronger.
The circular holes claim
The phrase “physical trace” can sound more decisive than it is. In UFO studies, it usually means that a sighting was associated with a mark, burn, depression, broken vegetation, residue, hole, ring, or other alleged effect on the ground. McLeod Hill is included in a Canadian list of crop circles and physical traces associated with UFO reports, alongside many stronger, weaker and openly uncertain cases. Its entry is only one sentence long: a hissing object, a low hover, and circular holes the next morning. [Canadian UFO Report]canadianuforeport.comCanadian UFO Report
The later Lint-farm account changes the emphasis slightly. It describes three circular indentations in cut hay, marking out an area of about 30 feet. That is not exactly the same wording as “a series of circular holes”, and the difference matters. Holes imply punctures or cavities in the ground; indentations in grass or hay could be depressions, flattened patches, machinery marks, animal activity, drainage effects, or ordinary field irregularities noticed after an unusual story had already spread. [jimlawrenceavondale]jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.comfrederictonnb canada multi ufo sightings of the 1960sFredericton,NB, Canada Multi UFO sightings of the 1960’s | jimlawrenceavondale…
For a trace case to carry much weight, investigators would ideally want several kinds of evidence:
- precise measurements of every hole or depression;
- photographs taken before the site was disturbed;
- soil, vegetation or residue samples with a clear chain of custody;
- weather records and field-use information;
- witness statements taken close to the event;
- checks for farm equipment, animals, posts, drainage, lightning, hoaxing or pre-existing marks;
- records from police, aviation, airport or federal reporting channels.
None of those items is publicly attached to McLeod Hill in the accessible sources. That does not prove the witnesses were wrong. It does mean the marks cannot now be assessed as a reliable physical effect of an unknown object.
Why the evidence remains limited
The first problem is the missing contemporary paper trail. The later retelling explicitly says Dearborn searched the Daily Gleaner and could not find a report. That absence is important because a local newspaper article from 1965 could have fixed the date, names, description, location, number of marks and public response much closer to the event. Without it, the case leans heavily on memory and later reconstruction. [jimlawrenceavondale]jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.comfrederictonnb canada multi ufo sightings of the 1960sFredericton,NB, Canada Multi UFO sightings of the 1960’s | jimlawrenceavondale…
The second problem is that McLeod Hill does not appear, in the accessible record, as a clear official Canadian investigation. Library and Archives Canada says its UFO collection includes government records from the Department of National Defence, Department of Transport, National Research Council and RCMP, with about 9,500 digitised documents accumulated between 1947 and the early 1980s. It also warns that searches by date or location can be incomplete because many records are undated or lack precise locations. [Canada]canada.cas UFOs: The search for the unknownCanada's UFOs: The search for the unknown - Canada.ca…
That caution cuts both ways. A failure to find a McLeod Hill file does not prove that no report was ever made, because Canadian UFO paperwork was uneven and sometimes poorly indexed. But it also means the case cannot borrow credibility from Canada’s official UFO archive unless a specific document is actually found. In Canada, federal UFO responsibility shifted over time, and by 1967 the National Research Council became the main body for receiving reports from the public, municipalities and agencies such as the RCMP and Department of National Defence; this was still a largely passive and inconsistent system rather than a single well-funded investigative bureau. [Science.gc.ca]science.gc.caManagement of Public Reporting of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in CanadaManagement of Public Reporting of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in Canada
The third problem is the timing of the fuller narrative. Dearborn’s book was published in 1996, more than thirty years after the alleged 1965 event. Dearborn was a real and locally significant New Brunswick writer and journalist, and her bibliography does include Legends, Oddities & Mysteries — Including UFO Experiences — in New Brunswick. That gives the story a traceable local source, but not the same evidential status as a contemporary investigation. [New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia]nble.lib.unb.caNew Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia Dorothy Dearborn | NBLENew Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia Dorothy Dearborn | NBLE
What can and cannot be concluded
The most careful conclusion is that McLeod Hill is a weakly documented but locally significant UFO trace claim. It has three things going for it: a specific New Brunswick location, a date in at least one UFO trace catalogue, and a later local account naming the farm family context and describing field marks. It also has three major weaknesses: the lack of contemporary press coverage in the known retelling, the lack of public official documentation, and the lack of physical evidence preserved in a form that can be checked.
That puts it below better-documented Canadian physical-trace cases in evidential strength. It should not be presented as proof that an unknown craft landed near Fredericton. Nor should it be dismissed as worthless folklore. Its value is more modest: it shows how rural UFO reports in New Brunswick could combine ordinary farm landscapes, family witnesses, local rumour, later oral history and national UFO catalogues into a case that remains interesting precisely because the evidence stops short of resolution.
Within New Brunswick’s UFO history, McLeod Hill is useful as a cautionary example. A ground-mark claim naturally feels more concrete than a light in the sky, but “something left marks” is not the same as “the marks were caused by the reported object”. The missing step is investigation. Without measurements, photographs, samples or contemporary records, the circular holes remain an allegation attached to a sighting, not a tested physical trace.
How later reporting affected the case
Later reporting kept McLeod Hill alive, but it did not greatly strengthen it. The 1996 Dearborn book appears to have preserved the local story, and the 2022 online retelling made some of that material easier to find. Those later accounts add human texture: the Lint farm, the reluctance to revisit the episode, the alleged visit by David Wade and others, and the description of three circular field indentations. [jimlawrenceavondale]jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.comfrederictonnb canada multi ufo sightings of the 1960sFredericton,NB, Canada Multi UFO sightings of the 1960’s | jimlawrenceavondale…
What later reporting has not supplied is corroboration of the kind that would move the case into a stronger category. There is no cited police file, airport log, Daily Gleaner clipping, original witness statement, site photograph or scientific analysis in the public accounts located. The Canadian UFO Survey’s broader work also reminds readers that UFO databases include many reports later found to involve meteors, fireballs, stars, aircraft or other ordinary causes, because the term “UFO” often records uncertainty at the time of reporting rather than an extraordinary origin. [Canadian UFO Report]canadianuforeport.comCanadian UFO Report
McLeod Hill therefore remains best read as an unresolved local trace story with an evidence gap at its centre. The claim is specific enough to deserve mention in New Brunswick’s UFO record, but too thinly documented to support firm claims about what hovered over the field, what made the marks, or whether the two were causally connected.
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Endnotes
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Source: canadianuforeport.com
Title: Canadian UFO Report
Link: https://www.canadianuforeport.com/survey/physicaltracecanadasep6.pdf -
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: science.gc.ca
Title: Management of Public Reporting of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in Canada
Link: https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/office-chief-science-advisor/sky-canada-project/management-public-reporting-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-canada -
Source: canadianuforeport.com
Title: Canadian UFO Report
Link: https://www.canadianuforeport.com/survey/UFOsOverCanada.pdf -
Source: open.canada.ca
Link: https://open.canada.ca/en/search/ati/reference/9219f387f05652c173443c337f9512ad -
Source: canada.ca
Title: episode 053
Link: https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/collection/engage-learn/podcasts/discover/episode-053.html -
Source: archive.org
Title: The Austin Chronicle 2004 12 17 djvu.txt
Link: https://archive.org/stream/The_Austin_Chronicle-2004-12-17/The_Austin_Chronicle-2004-12-17_djvu.txt -
Source: archive.org
Title: Canada FOIA Part 06 Pages 1501 1800 djvu.txt
Link: https://archive.org/stream/CanadaUFO/Canada%20-%20FOIA%20Part%2006%20-%20Pages%201501-1800_djvu.txt -
Source: youtube.com
Title: Stanton T. [Friedman]({{ ‘friedman/’ | relative_url }})
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-F80OfFY2wSource snippet
Canada's Famous Officially Investigated UFO Incident | Shag Harbour UFO Incident【4K】...
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AffaetLkx2USource snippet
New Brunswick UFO history The UFO Story you HAVEN'T heard Storied...
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Source: jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.com
Title: frederictonnb canada multi ufo sightings of the 1960s
Link: https://jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.com/2022/01/23/frederictonnb-canada-multi-ufo-sightings-of-the-1960s/Source snippet
Fredericton,NB, Canada Multi UFO sightings of the 1960’s | jimlawrenceavondale...
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Source: nble.lib.unb.ca
Title: New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia Dorothy Dearborn | NBLE
Link: https://nble.lib.unb.ca/browse/d/dorothy-dearborn -
Source: reddit.com
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/i0ms3o/canadas_ufos_the_search_for_the_unknown_this/ -
Source: facebook.com
Title: canada recorded 1052 ufo sightings in 2025 thats one every eight hoursin this ep
Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheCanadianGothic/posts/canada-recorded-1052-ufo-sightings-in-2025-thats-one-every-eight-hoursin-this-ep/1598993678897538/ -
Source: sites.google.com
Title: national research council
Link: https://sites.google.com/view/canadaufohistory/glossary/national-research-council -
Source: jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.com
Link: https://jimlawrenceavondale.wordpress.com/
Additional References
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Source: amazon.ca
Link: https://www.amazon.ca/Legends-Oddities-Mysteries-including-experiences/dp/1896270069?tag=searcht-20Source snippet
Author · Carol Taylor. Illustrator. Legends, Oddities and Mysteries: including UFO experiences in New Brunswick. 5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars (...
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Source: nimbus.ca
Title: legends oddities and mysteries
Link: https://nimbus.ca/store/legends-oddities-and-mysteries.html?srsltid=AfmBOooOsZ0ppjxpNYJaEBMHwM0YNWKMbdgxUETDBq9jEglfukKZuwCKSource snippet
Legends, Oddities and Mysteries including UFO...10 Dec 2013 — Legends, Oddities and Mysteries including UFO experiences in New Brunswick...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Stanton Friedman; Canada’s Flying Saucer Physicist (featuring Paul Kimball)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAITlI4qAUESource snippet
Stanton T. Friedman - Canadian Government and UFOs...
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Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/CKBCFM/posts/31-years-ago-today-there-were-several-witnesses-to-a-ufo-outside-the-heath-steel/10159462641996988/ -
Source: newengland.com
Link: https://newengland.com/yankee/history/ufo-sightings-alien-sightings/ -
Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/news4buffalo/videos/cherry-creek-sightings/10153523094965505/ -
Source: goodreads.com
Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/229010.Dorothy_Dearborn -
Source: documentcloud.org
Link: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21273403-canadian-government-releases-20-years-of-ufo-reports/ -
Source: cfga-acgf.com
Link: https://cfga-acgf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/33rdgfga.pdf -
Source: abebooks.com
Link: https://www.abebooks.com/author/b001k7up02/dorothy-dearborn?ref_=nav_crb_srp
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