Canada reported unidentified aerial event — 1978-12-20 — Soulis Brook, NFLD

At about 12:30 a.m. on 20 December 1978, Gilbert Heffern and his girlfriend, Judy Marie Hiscock, were travelling west along Newfoundland’s Trans-Canada Highway near Soulis Brook, in the Benton area roughly twelve miles east of Gander. Heffern first noticed an object approximately half a mile south of the highway. According to the subsequent RCMP report, it appeared to move over their automobile, hover briefly, and disappear from view. The entire observation lasted about a minute and a half. He initially thought it was an aircraft but became frightened after looking again; the couple reportedly panicked, and he accelerated from approximately 55 to 85 mph toward Gander. Heffern contacted the Gander Airport detachment at approximately 1 a.m. The object was described as oval, with two bright white lights resembling aircraft landing lights about twenty feet apart. Several red and blue lights appeared between them. No sound was noticed. The police report describes clear, cold weather, excellent visibility and visible stars. It records no occupants, landing, physical contact or close examination of a structured vehicle. Police consulted Gander air-traffic controllers, who reported nothing unusual but identified a possible ordinary explanation: an Eastern Provincial Airways flight from Halifax had arrived at approximately the relevant time, approaching over the Soulis Brook area at relatively low altitude. The RCMP explicitly considered that aircraft a possible source of the sighting, noting the brief observation from a moving vehicle and the witnesses’ alarm. The file therefore documents an unidentified-light report with a contemporaneous aircraft hypothesis, rather than confirmation of an extraordinary craft.