What Happened To Stefan Michalak? (Falcon Lake; Canada; 1967)

[EnolaGaia]

... What we can't necessarily do (yet) is verify Bissky's suggestion that it was taken by APRO immediately after the incident itself.

One thing I've noticed in digging for documentation and reports ... The relevant organizational linkage would have been to the Canadian CAPRO group - loosely affiliated with APRO, but apparently an independent group.

 

[eburacum]

This drawing intrigues me.

The grid portion is in an awkward position considering it somehow managed to place grid-shaped burns on Michalak's lower abdomen.
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One imagines the spaceship coming down and hovering over him,
like the Planet Express ship canoodling with Bender the Robot.

 

[BS3]

It doesn't really work in lots of ways; I mean if we are supposed to think heat was emerging from the holes then he'd have to be right up against it and parallel to the grid to get that pattern. It's physically impossible if all was as described.

Ironically the previous 'blotchy' irregular burns were rather more believable - but as I've said there is a lot about this case that doesn't make a great deal of sense.

 

[maximus otter]

...if we are supposed to think heat was emerging from the holes then he'd have to be right up against it and parallel to the grid to get that pattern. It's physically impossible if all was as described.

maximus otter

 

[EnolaGaia]

This drawing intrigues me.

One of the few consistent elements of this case is the claim this sketch is the one Michalak made at the time - the first several minutes during which the object had "landed" but before Michalak approached it.

Based on certain elements of Michalak's story (not always cited the same way in the many retellings) one has to believe this sketch wasn't finalized prior to his approaching the object. For one thing, the door / portal is noted as not opening / appearing until some time (perhaps on the order of 30 minutes +/-) after the landing. The more detailed accounts state the door opened before Michalak began approaching the object.

The door didn't close until after Michalak had approached the object and shortly before the object took off. Michalak's written note says this opening was "fast closing" - something he wouldn't observe until he was standing next to the object.

Another item that couldn't have been added to the sketch before he approached the object were the perforated "exhaust" panels. These didn't appear until the door closed and the object rotated so as to bring the panels into view, positioned directly in front of Michalak.

Another oddity in the sketch concerns the note about rotation (upper right). He wrote "anticlock rotation", but the curved arrow and position of the note (to anyone familiar with blueprint conventions) indicate the object rotated in a clockwise direction when viewed from above. This is an odd error for an experienced mechanic familiar with blueprints / drafting protocols.

 

[EnolaGaia]

The grid portion is in an awkward position considering it somehow managed to place grid-shaped burns on Michalak's lower abdomen.
-----
One imagines the spaceship coming down and hovering over him, like the Planet Express ship canoodling with Bender the Robot.

Michalak's testimony indicated the object landed on the ground and wasn't hovering. This, combined with his initial sketch, puts the elevation of the grid panel(s) at less than 4 feet off the ground. This is roughly consistent with the panel(s) being at the elevation of Michalak's lower torso.

However ... It's unclear how Michalak was positioned (laterally; horizontally) relative to the panel(s) when the object took off and "blasted" his torso. Both the "splotches" and the "grid" photos of Michalak's torso indicate he was upright but tilted at an angle relative to the panel(s). The relative angles and locations of the "burns" / "splotches" on his torso don't match.

Finally ... His sketch indicates these panels were tilted at an angle that placed the panels' holes closer (to Michalek's torso) at their top and slightly farther away toward their bottom. Unless the emanations / exhaust from the holes in these tilted panels shot straight outward (horizontally) it's unclear how they caused the consistent size, circularity, and degree of "burn" effects seen in the grid photo.

These factors don't pose the same issues for accepting the "splotches" photo at face value.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

My favourite skeptical UFO blog now features a detailed analysis of the Falcon Lake case. Whatever side of the fence you are on it is well worth a read for the archival material alone:

"Rather than go through every piece of evidence and contradiction, I will be focusing on the burns, specifically the pattern of red dots allegedly produced by the screen on the exhaust, which Michalak claimed kept disappearing and reappearing as welts every few months. Suppose the evidence shows he was lying about those burns. What does that mean for the rest of his case, given we otherwise have only his word that he encountered a UFO?"

https://threedollarkit.weebly.com/falcon-lake.html

 

[Frideswide]

My favourite skeptical UFO blog

That;s a very useful resouce @Paul_Exeter Thank you! I find it easier to read the sceptical view of things first, and then try to disproove it by looking at the other side!