It was on May 20 1967 that the most famous UFO encounter in Canada took place. This happened in Falcon Lake, Ontario, seventy-five miles east of Winnipeg at about midday. Geologist Stephen Michalak who was wearing protective clothing including gloves and goggles was chipping away at rock strata, when he saw two red, cigar-shaped UFOs coming in to land near him. One just hovered and then sped away, vanishing in the cloud cover. The second landed and appeared to cool down, its colour changing from a glowing red to gold.

Michalak estimated the craft's dimensions as 12ft high and 35ft in diameter. With astonishing presence of mind, he drew a sketch of what he saw and mad notes of its appearance. There were narrow slits at the base of a dome-shaped projection of top and grilles he took to be ventilation panels, or possibly an exhaust, on each side of the fuselage. Purple light was shining out of these and he was aware of the noise of an engine and the strong smell of sulphur.

Suddenly a door opened on the craft's left side. What he had taken to be an exhaust was clearly a hatch. He heard voices inside and walked towards it. He called out in English, French, Russian and the smatterings of other languages he'd picked up over the years. There was no response and the hatch closed again. Michalak could feel the heat on the craft's surface. He reached out to touch it and his glove melted. Without warning there was a blast of hot air from the exhaust vent on the right side. He fell back, his coat and shirt burning, and the craft took off.

Michalak's health was altered and he was admitted to hospital. On his stomach was a mark exactly matching the grid pattern of the exhaust vent, a series of thirty circular burns. He suffered from skin infections, weakness, weight loss, dizziness, diarrhoea, blackouts and vomiting long after the burns had healed. Nearly two dozen specialists who tested him came to the conclusion that he was suffering from radiation burns, and that a longer exposure would have killed him.