Steep Rock Lake entity encounter — 1950-07-02

The Steep Rock Lake story was an invented encounter published in the Steep Rock Echo, a workplace magazine, in September 1950, with a further installment in October. Its supposed setting was Sawbill Bay near Atikokan, Ontario, on the evening of July 2. Later catalogues converted the anonymous narrator into a named witness and repeated the tale as a physical encounter. The imported summary also attributes its source to Gordon Evans, while research identifies the author as Steep Rock employee Gordon Edwards. In the fictional account, a couple felt a vibration and saw a shiny double-saucer resting on the water. Small figures moved mechanically on its upper surface while hoses appeared to transfer water. Their caps, metallic chest coverings, rotating hoop and windowed craft supplied memorable details that survived repeated retelling. The object then rose, tilted and departed with a blast of air. Robert Badgley's inquiries in the 1970 s established that Edwards had written the story for amusement and satire. Later histories reproduce the original magazine material and discuss his admission. Its circulation through prominent UFO books therefore documents how a fabricated story entered the literature, rather than corroboration by multiple investigators. The plate presents the author-and-manuscript context; no surviving photograph of a real encounter is implied.