Canada reported unidentified aerial event — 1968-11-12 — Barons Dist., AB

On 12 November 1968, a Barons-area farm family reported a bright oval object low in the southwest between approximately 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. The father watched with his wife and four children. He first noticed it while looking through the front window and then gave it closer attention. Its colour reportedly changed from bright red to yellow-orange as it appeared to move west and then back toward the southwest before disappearing. A second family, about five miles north, was alerted by telephone and observed a similar bright light for part of the same evening. Their description included changes from red toward nearly white and gradual apparent movement toward the western or southwestern horizon. People nearby who had not been outside did not provide additional sightings. The police considered the families responsible and did not dismiss their reports as invented. The Lethbridge weather office advised that Venus occupied the reported region of sky and was unusually conspicuous. The RCMP report concluded that Venus was the probable explanation, noted that the families accepted that possibility and closed the matter without further action. The precise astronomical wording in the transmission should be treated as the contemporary explanation rather than a new independent ephemeris calculation. No beings, landing or resolved vehicle surface were reported. The illustration consequently shows the family observing a low bright point and makes the probable Venus explanation visible.