I Want to Believe

It's been a dull, damp day here in Vancouver. After a few spring-like days it was just another typical winter's day on the west coast.

We went for a walk, like many walks before, to the coffee shop at VanDusen Gardens. Afterwards, a walk around the gardens; it's always changing through the seasons. Sometimes we see coyotes roaming the paths on days like this.

Rounding a bend, near the Rose Garden, a cluster of people were looking and pointing at something apparently above the tree line. An eagle perhaps? We came closer and saw it too.








There were lights in the sky and they were spinning ever so slowly.




Obviously connected in some fashion, a circle of sorts. Spinning. Turning. Hovering. Seemingly without substance, yet clearly a substance of some kind. A floating sphere of lights in the sky. Hovering. Most definitely: hovering.

I struggled to get my camera out out of its bag, and after fumbling with my cold hands and frustrated with getting the video on the camera to work, I managed to get a couple of still photos.

The people around us, a few more had arrived, still pointing, mesmerised it seemed, murmuring things like "What the hell is that thing?" and "We should leave right now." No one left.


Within seconds of taking the first few photos, a startled voice, that of a child's, exclaimed, "There's another one!" I was taking many photos at this point, not worrying about settings or focus. Trying to get as many photos as possible.

A scant moment later, the light shapes, shot up into the sky and disappeared. We waited, or at least most of us waited; some people hurried away with troubled looks on their faces. The rest of us waited, hoping.


I checked my camera. Only a few photos turned out; some of what I thought would be the best shots were completely blank. It's as if they had been erased. Not deleted because the camera still registered them as being photos. I looked over at my partner, "Did I have the lens cap on?" No, of course not.

We walked home in silence. What did we see? Did we see anything at all? Was it some sort of natural occurrence, like sun dogs in a prairie sky? I don't know. There was nothing on the news about it.

I should have interviewed the people around me. At least taken names and contact information. It all happened so quickly. We all saw the same thing. Or did we?




And just like the poster my daughters gave me years ago, which still hangs in my office, I want to believe.

But what did I see this day?

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2015 by Jim Murray