Laurie Wickens

Laurie Wickens was a Canadian witness of the Shag Harbour UFO incident of 4 October 1967 in Nova Scotia and was among the first to see a large luminous object crash into the waters of Shag Harbour. His call to the RCMP in Barrington Passage triggered a search-and-rescue operation involving the RCMP, the Canadian Coast Guard, RCMP divers and the Department of National Defence; Wickens later observed the object from a better vantage point hovering 250–300 metres offshore.

• Canadian witness of the Shag Harbour UFO incident of 4 October 1967 in Nova Scotia
• Among the first to see a large luminous object crash into the waters
• Travelling by car with four friends when the descending object was spotted offshore
• Report to the RCMP in Barrington Passage, initially taken as a presumed plane crash
• Investigation by RCMP, Canadian Coast Guard, RCMP divers and the Canadian Department of National Defence
• Multiple witnesses, including Wickens, observed the object hovering 250–300 metres offshore
• No conventional explanation found; one of the best-documented UFO cases in Canadian history

For the UAP timeline, Wickens is the initial witness without whose quick RCMP call the Shag Harbour sighting would probably have sunk into local folklore. He provides the file moment in which a civilian call leads within minutes to a multi-agency search-and-rescue operation — Canada's most state-documented UFO case.