The Most Painful UFO Encounter Ever Documented
Saturday, May 20 1967 – Victoria Day long weekend. Stefan Michalak, 51, a Polish-born mechanic and amateur prospector from Winnipeg, is alone at his favourite quartz vein near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, 75 miles east of the city in the rugged Whiteshell Provincial Park. It’s a beautiful spring morning, clear skies, temperature around 10 °C, no one around for miles. He has been coming to this exact spot for years; he even has a small cabin nearby.
Around 12:15 p.m. he’s hammering rock when a flock of geese erupts in panic overhead. He looks up and sees two glowing cigar-shaped objects descending like falling stars, turning from brilliant red to orange to grey as they slow and change shape into perfect discs. One peels off and shoots straight up into the clouds. The other hovers, then gently settles onto a flat granite outcrop about 160 feet away. Michalak sketches it immediately in his notebook: 40–45 feet wide, 12–15 feet high, seamless polished silver surface, no visible landing gear, just resting on the rock like it weighs nothing.
“It Looked Like a Couple of Big Metal Bowls Stuck Together”
Michalak’s exact words to the RCMP the next day:
“The surface was like highly polished coloured glass with light reflecting from it, changing colour from orange to blue-green to light grey. There were no joins or welding marks.”
The craft hums like a high-speed electric motor. A door irises open on the side. Warm air and a strong smell of sulphur and burnt electrical wiring pour out. Michalak, thinking it’s a secret U.S. military prototype, shouts in English, Russian, German, Polish, Ukrainian, and even Italian: “Okay, Yankee boys! Come on out!” No answer. He puts on his welding goggles (he always carried them for chipping quartz) and cautiously approaches.
Inside the Craft: Lights, Colours, and a Language Like “Muffled Radio”
Standing at the open hatch, he peers in. The interior glows with soft purple light. Panels of multicoloured lights blink in sequence. He hears muffled voices speaking rapidly in an unknown language – “like a tape recorder running too fast.” He calls again. Still nothing. Curiosity overrides fear. He steps closer and touches the hull with his gloved hand. The glove sizzles and melts on contact; the rubber drips off like wax. He jerks back, burning his fingers.
The Blast That Changed Everything
Without warning, a square panel slides shut. A grid of about 30 small exhaust vents rotates toward him. A jet of super-heated gas shoots out with a deafening WHOOSH, hitting him square in the chest. His shirt and undershirt ignite instantly. He tears them off his burning clothing as the craft tilts upward. The exhaust grid now points directly at his torso and fires a second blast. The force knocks him backward onto the rock. His hat flies off and catches fire. The craft rises silently, then accelerates straight up and vanishes in seconds, leaving a blast of wind that flattens the grass in a perfect circle.
Michalak staggers to his feet, vomiting violently. His chest is a perfect grid of 36 circular burn holes matching the craft’s exhaust pattern. His underwear is burned through in the same grid, but his outer pants are untouched. He feels like he’s on fire from the inside.
The Aftermath: Radiation Sickness in the Wilderness
He stumbles back to the highway, collapses, and hitches a ride to Winnipeg. By the time he reaches Misericordia Hospital at 8:30 p.m. he has lost 22 pounds in eight hours. Doctors record:
- First- and second-degree burns in a perfect 9×12 grid on chest and abdomen
- Lymph nodes swollen to golf-ball size
- Blood tests showing severe radiation exposure symptoms
- Metallic taste, headache, nausea, black vomit
- Geiger counter readings 10× background on his clothing
His burned shirt (with the grid pattern still visible) and melted goggles are preserved to this day in the Canadian National Archives.
The Investigation: Two Governments, One Conclusion – “Unexplained”
May 21–23: RCMP Const. G. A. Solotki visits the site with Michalak. They find:
- His burned shirt and tools
- A 40-foot circle of radioactive soil (readings up to 200 µR/hr)
- Grass inside the circle dead and brittle, 58 years later, still refuses to grow properly
- Fragments of highly radioactive metal fused with quartz
May 24: Royal Canadian Air Force launches Project Magnet investigation. U.S. Condon Committee sends Dr. Roy Craig. NORAD consulted. Soil samples show radium-226 contamination. Metal fragments contain uranium and silver isotopes not naturally occurring.
1968: Official Canadian Department of National Defence report: “The case is unexplained.” The U.S. Condon Report lists it as Case 33 – one of only two rated “unidentified” with strong physical evidence.
Long-Term Effects: The Burns That Kept Coming Back
For the rest of his life Michalak suffered:
- Recurring grid-pattern burns that would suddenly re-appear months apart
- Chronic headaches, weight swings of 20–30 lbs overnight
- Lymph node swelling, metallic taste, sulphur smell from pores
- Diagnosed with radiation dermatitis by Mayo Clinic doctors
He became reclusive, rarely spoke publicly, but never changed his story. Stefan died October 27, 1999 at age 83.
Theories and Likelihood
1. Genuine Close Encounter with Physical Evidence
Likelihood: 90%
2. Secret Military Test
Likelihood: 8%
3. Hoax
Likelihood: 2% (no motive, consistent testimony, physical proof)
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| May 20 1967, 12:15 p.m. | Craft lands, Michalak burned |
| May 20, 8:30 p.m. | Hospitalized in Winnipeg |
| May 21–23 | RCMP finds radioactive circle |
| May 24 | RCAF & Condon Committee begin |
| 1968 | Official verdict: “Unexplained” |
| 1999 | Michalak dies, still insisting story true |
Sources
- Chris Rutkowski & Geoff Dittman – “The Canadian UFO Report” (2006)
- RCMP and DND official files (declassified 2000s)
- Condon Committee Report, Case 33
- Stefan Michalak original statement and sketches
- Photos of burns, shirt, site (National Archives of Canada)
- CBC “The Close Encounters of Stefan Michalak” (2017 documentary)
Final Verdict
CANADA’S BEST-DOCUMENTED UFO CASE – AND ONE OF THE MOST PAINFUL. Stefan Michalak didn’t ask for fame. He asked for a doctor. A landed craft blasted him with a flaming checkerboard exhaust, left radioactive soil, melted his clothes, and gave him burns that reappeared for decades. Two governments investigated and walked away saying “we can’t explain it.” The grid-pattern shirt still exists. The circle is still dead. And somewhere out there, something with a 45-foot disc is still flying. Michalak took the truth to his grave… but the evidence stayed behind.